School board won't make special list after fiery debate over library books

It was a wild school board meeting that involved talk of exotic dancers, and a presenter walking through a horseshoe of trustees carrying posters depicting sex acts.

And in the end, Greater Essex County District School Board (GECDSB) trustees resisted the call to put the titles of books in their school system on a dedicated page of their web site so that parents can scrutinize the content.

Three presenters at a meeting Tuesday night spoke in favour of trustee Linda Qin's motion to publicize the titles of books, even though those titles already exist in a publicly available database. Patsy Copus read out passages about sex between LGBTQ characters from books she says are in the system, saying she wasn't homophobic, but the content was too adult for students.

Presenters with her held up posters depicting images of the book Fun Home by Alison Bechdel, which Copus said is in the system, but couldn't say which school.

"What happened to protecting children from seeing graphic sex acts and language that would make your jaw drop but no education about the dangers of online predators?" said Copus, who said she was a parent and a grandparent.

'The most disgusting book I've ever read'

She also mentioned the novel Push by Sapphire, calling it "the most disgusting book I've ever read." Another presenter mentioned How Mamas Love their Babies, a children's book that features mothers in various occupations — including one who is an exotic dancer.

Clara Howitt, superintendent of education — programming and professional learning, said the latter is in the system, but as a teaching resource and not directly available to kids. She said some books address social issues that are a reality for students in the system.

"Parents are entitled to their opinions and there is space for that," she said, but "these are topics in the reality of the world, and that's education."

Qin said the motion would improve transparency and parent involvement in the schools, and she said she wanted to be inclusive of parents of all backgrounds.

Helps students support each other

"This motion doesn't make any judgment to any books. It's just for the transparency," she said.

In the end, no trustees supported Qin's motion. Trustee Cathy Cooke said that this information is already being tracked — anyone can search school library offerings online.

Trustee Ron LeClair worried it was a "slippery slope" and the beginning of pressure to start banning books. He noted several titles like The Color Purple and The Handmaid's Tale that have been banned elsewhere.

Student trustee Paige Hawkins said her class read one of the books singled out by one of the delegates from the public, Looking for Alaska by John Green. She said that trigger warnings were provided by the teacher and the book taught her Grade 10 English class about how to support their peers through challenging times.

"The book not only addresses themes of teenage sexuality but themes surrounding friendship, mental health, depression and suicide. I go to high school and I see and hear about these themes every day in the ... real lives of my peers."