Jan. 25, 2024 11:45a
(WGTD)---The Kenosha School Board voted this week to streamline the process of dealing with challenges to school library materials.
The current policy—which has been on the books since 2000—has been used only rarely. But the current political climate has spawned 38 challenges which Superintendent Jeff Weiss believes would take four years to resolve under current policy. And that’s if no appeals were filed.
This week's vote to approve the revised process was three to two, with the board’s two most conservative members, Eric Meadows and Kristine Schmaling, voting no. Meadows said he’d prefer to see a policy that includes a reference to a specific state statute: Exposing a child to harmful material or harmful descriptions or narratives. "We have to build our policy in line with Wisconsin state statutes," he said. "It actually details in much better fashion what harmful and explicit material actually means."
District administrator Julie Housman said the revision takes into account the waterfront of concern and has been thoroughly vetted by the district's legal counsel. "We are very mindful of the concerns. We do hear what you are saying," she said. "We are walking a line where we have to stay on the legal side of this. There's another side to this which comes into play. We are staying right where we need to be."
In other action, the board approved a $1.65 million plan to convert Edward Bain School of Language and Art into a middle school to accommodate the enrollment of Washington Middle—a school that’s targeted for closure in the district’s right-sizing plan.
And the board approved a series of budget cuts for next year, including a provision to trim $1 million from the John Hosmanek Educational Support Center. Most of the savings will come from personnel reductions.
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