BY KAREN VAN VLIET

In response to Rep. Todd Carver’s recent column, the N.C. General Assembly has taken a misguided step with HB 636, “Promoting Wholesome Content for Students” Act, by creating a bureaucratic and legal nightmare for school districts and educators. Instead of allowing parental input and common sense to guide reading content, this legislation would allow the educational landscape to become a litigious environment that is politically guided and the result is a fractured and wounded school district.

HB 636 mandates each school district to form a 10-member board — half from the school system and half from the community — to review book challenges. More concerning, however, is the provision that gives any resident of the county the ability to sue the school district over this board’s decision. Someone who is inevitably be angry about whether a book is removed or retained would have legal standing to drag the district into court.

This bill sets up schools for endless litigation and puts them in a no-win situation. It strips time and resources away from students and education, replacing thoughtful curriculum design with legal defense. It places a stigma on school libraries, their staffs, and the principals that is unjust and unfair. Furthermore, HB 636 would chip away at the funds that could have been spent on science supplies, new band equipment, classroom materials, etc.

But the real harm will lie in what this bill says to parents: Your judgment doesn’t matter. Rather than empowering families to guide their children’s reading — something that should be done at home through communication and trust — HB 636 puts that decision-making in the hands of strangers, many of whom may not represent your values or even have children in the school. Only parents should have the right to decide what is age-appropriate reading material for their children, and there are processes to allow them a voice.

Parents who want to shield their children from particular books already have the right to do so. HB 636 goes further; it seeks to remove books from everyone’s children, based on the objections of a few, and it gives those few a legal tool to punish schools that don’t comply.

Is this the message we want to send our children, that all disagreements should be solved through litigation? What happened to open conversations, what happened to compromises, what happened to forgiveness, what happened to seeing the other side and respecting it? What does it say to teachers and librarians who have devoted their lives to fostering curiosity and compassion? What’s next? Challenging the books read in English Literature classes, book fairs, classroom libraries, and reading with “Grandparents Day”?

HB 636 does not promote “wholesome” content. In reality, it promotes fear, censorship, and legal overreach. It discourages the inclusion of books that reflect different races, cultures, families, and ideas that represent the complex and diverse world in which we live. Which is the greater evil — a library book or a reality TV show on social media?

If one of the goals of education is to graduate students who are empathetic, thoughtful, and respectful citizens, we must give them access to past, present, and future literature that challenges, inspires, questions, and educates. This work must involve parents, and state lawmakers should not sideline or discount them. HB 636 is not the answer.

Karen Van Vliet retired as the lead library media coordinator for Iredell-Statesville Schools in 2024. She lives in Mooresville.