After an hour and a half of discussion, the Redlands school board hit a stalemate on a proposal to make it easier to take books with sexually explicit content off library shelves.
There was standing room only Friday, March 21, in the Redlands Unified School District board room as trustees discussed potential policies on removing sexual content from libraries, a flag ban and a parent notification policy. Despite the 1 p.m. start, parents and community members filled the seats and lined the walls for the board workshop.
Many people spoke, with the majority opposing the proposals and questioning the board’s transparency — particularly for meeting at an inconvenient time for students and parents.
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“Our education and our right to think are being questioned,” Emma Vara, a high school student in Redlands tearfully told the board.
Vara, who skipped classes to attend, said that the proposed rules would create fear in the classroom.
Past school board candidate Valerie Taber gave the board what she called a “visual representation” of the community’s stance by asking foes of the proposals to stand. A majority of the audience took to its feet.
Taber said the policies would not support teachers or students and would harm education.
The main point of contention for the board centered on a policy section on the removal of “pervasive pornography, erotica, graphic descriptions of sexual acts, sexual violence, inappropriate vulgarity or profanity, or other obscene material.”
Board President Michele Rendler said she was willing to relinquish the rest of the policy if the board changed the way the book review committee was structured and added a guideline restricting sexually explicit content.
“My concern is that sexually graphic material should not be anywhere in our schools,” Rendler said.
The district’s current policy for “book challenges” begins with a review by the principal. If the principal decides to keep a book in the library, then a complaint can be filed and a committee would review the book and makes a decision, Superintendent Juan Cabral said.
Rendler said that is part of the problem: Books have been allowed to stay on shelves because of who was on the committee.
Over the past two years, since the board last discussed its book policy, 15 books have been challenged. The majority stayed in school libraries and one book was moved from a middle school to a high school.
Rendler implied that teachers and librarians, who she said picked the materials, had a bias.
Under the proposed policy, there would be a six-person committee comprised of the principal and five non-employees who would read and review a challenged book.
If the those making the challenge disagree with the school’s decision, they can appeal to the district and the board can decide to discuss the book.
On Friday, the board could not come to a consensus and the issue was left unresolved.
Board members Melissa Ayala-Quintero and Patty Holohan opposed any part of the policy.
“This may not be banning but this is restricting books, which is wrong,” Ayala-Quintero said.
She added: “The board doesn’t agree on anything, so let’s expand the committee and allow people with a diverse background — I know that word upsets everybody — but let’s allow people with a diverse background to make a decision.”
Rendler, Wilson and Olson backed the proposed policy, saying it would protect students.
“It is harmful to children, it is about protecting children’s innocence,” Olson said.
Ayala-Quintero said: “You don’t get to get to dictate my child’s innocence.”
Ayala-Quintero said books sometimes cover uncomfortable topics, but they teach empathy and can speak to many experiences and prepare students for the outside world.
“It is uncomfortable and it is meant to make you uncomfortable, which is sadly the reality for some people,” Ayala-Quintero said.
Olson said: “If it was clean and talked about the experience without the graphic sexual nature that would be fine.”
Before being elected, Olson spoke out in a March 2024 about sexually explicit content on Redlands school shelves. She said no one was trying to ban books and that the community is “free to read pornography as much as you like, obscene content as much as you like to your children at home.”
On Friday, Olson said books do not need sexually graphic scenes to convey empathy.
The Chino Valley Unified School District passed a similar policy in November 2023 to make it easier to take books with sexually explicit material off shelves.
Chino’s policy required principals to review a book for sexually explicitly material within two days of a complaint. If a book has no explicit content, it would stay on the shelf. If it does, the principal would tell the superintendent within three days. The superintendent would tell the school board within two days and it would set a public hearing within 45 days of the book’s removal from the library or classroom.
During Friday’s lengthy session, the Redlands school board also addressed two other topics: a potential flag ban, which was brought to the board in January, and a parent notification policy.
In January, the board agreed to further investigate the potential flag ban proposed by Olson. That policy would remove from campuses all flags other than the United States, California and military flags. It also would “guide” which events and holidays the district would endorse, with an eye toward avoiding any that promote “political, social or ideological movements.”
The policy was first seen in Chino Valley, where the board voted to prohibit school displays of the pride flag in June 2023.
The Redlands board decided to survey students, parents and district employees about potential flag rules. As of Friday, no survey has been sent. The Redlands Teachers Association took action to halt the board from moving forward.
The proposed parent notification policy, similar to Chino Valley’s revised policy, would require schools to inform parents if their student moves to change their official or unofficial record. Some have criticized such policies as veiled attempts to target LGBTQ+ students.
