Date: December 1, 2002
Subject: Open letter to the Fairfax County School Board
As you are aware we have initiated the countywide challenge process for 23 books in the Fairfax County elementary and middle schools.
We currently have four children in the FCPS and over the past 16 years our five children have attended four different elementary schools, two different middle schools, and two different high schools in the FCPS. We have experienced 54 �child-years� in the FCPS in regular education, special education, and in gifted and talented programs. We have paid Virginia taxes for 26 years and Fairfax County property taxes for 17 years. Our children are currently in elementary, middle, and high schools in FCPS. We carefully considered all 23 of these challenges before electing to initiate this known tedious and onerous process.
So far we have submitted formal challenges on 15 books. The purpose of this letter is to let you know what is happening on ten of these challenges and to request your intervention in the challenge process for these ten books.
We requested that nine of these ten books be removed from all elementary and middle schools and that the future use of these books be prohibited. For one book, when submitting the formal challenge, we also requested its removal from high school. Some excerpts from all these books can be seen on the PABBIS website (www.pabbis.org).
FCPS has refused to accept these ten challenges and will not inform us if these ten books have been removed from student access countywide at these school levels and if future use of these books will be prohibited.
Reasons for refusing to accept these challenges appear to have been creatively developed with the intent of preventing the public from becoming aware of the content in these books and with the intent of continuing to use these books now or in the future.
Specifically here are five �reasons� FCPS has provided for refusal to accept these challenges:
1.�������� FCPS says that the books were there and in general circulation at one time but, despite what their library catalog system said, they were really not there when we initiated the challenge and therefore we cannot challenge them.� Principal Lamb told us all four of the book copies [3 titles] we challenged at Groveton ES were �missing in action.� [Tenderness, Girl Goddess #9 and The Rose and the Beast]� Principal Lamb in a later letter to us said that these books �are not part of the library collection�, and also they are �no longer part of the library collection.� See the attachment to this letter for details on Principal Lamb�s extraordinary, hostile and evasive communication with us.
2.�������� FCPS says the books were there when we initiated the challenge but, despite the catalog system showing them as being in general circulation, they were really in a �special section� of the library such as �professional� or �library office� and therefore we cannot challenge them. We received a letter from Principal Meier stating this about 2 of the books we challenged at Rocky Run MS. [Beloved and The Bluest Eye]
3.�������� FCPS says the book was there and was in general circulation but after we initiated the challenge the book was moved to a �special section� of the library and therefore we cannot challenge it. We received a letter from Principal Meier stating this about one of the books we challenged at Rocky Run MS. [The Perks of Being a Wallflower]
4.�������� FCPS says the book was there and was in general circulation but after we initiated the challenge the book was removed from the school and therefore we cannot challenge it. This is what Principal Coughlan is saying about the book we initiated the challenge process with at Waynewood ES. [Fallen Angels] This is also what Principal Noonan said, or seems to be saying since he did not indicate he had sent the challenge forward, in a letter about the book we challenged at Lanier MS. [Shogun] This is also what Principal Acuff seems to be saying about the book we challenged at Oakton ES. [A Time For Dancing] Although she initialed receipt of our challenge after our meeting with her, we still have not heard anything from her or anyone else in FCPS in 30 days.
5.�������� FCPS says that despite what their catalog system indicates the books were �not used� at the school and therefore we cannot challenge them. We received a letter from Principal Brogan stating this about the two books we started the challenge process with at Sunrise Valley ES. [I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings and another book] When we asked her if these books were actually at the school, Principal Brogan wouldn�t answer. At that time it was believable that some books might be accidentally miscataloged so we initiated the challenge process for these two books elsewhere. Since that time we have learned that books �not there�, �not used�, �miscataloged�, �lost�, etc. are extremely likely to occur when a challenge is involved. We resubmitted the challenge for I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings to Shrevewood ES. We received a letter from Principal McCoy of Shrevewood ES stating that this book was in a �library office� and therefore we could not challenge it. She did not know how the school obtained the book but it might have been from a donation.
All these �reasons� are simply ways to undermine the intent of FCPS Regulation 3009.5, Virginia law, and any accountability to parents, citizens and taxpayers.
Copies of many of these ten books are, or were, also in other elementary and middle schools in addition to those we challenged them in. Re-cataloging and removal of these books has been happening at some of these schools also. We are concerned that as easily as these books disappear, are removed, or are cataloged out of general circulation, that they could reappear or get cataloged back in.
It is apparent that the FCPS doesn�t want the public to know what is in some of these ES and MS books, wants to continue to use these books in the future at these levels, and does not want anyone to be able to formally complain about this. The FCPS is only accepting the challenges that they want.
A �shell game� is an unprofessional response to valid concerns of citizens. It smacks of a cover up. All the recent discussion about �standing� in challenges is insignificant and meaningless when it appears that FCPS already has the power to be as obstructionist as they want and only accept the challenges that they feel like. There already is �standing� required for FCPS to accept a challenge. However the definition of what standing is required is an FCPS secret and apparently ever changing.
You are responsible to the citizens and voters of Fairfax County.� We request that you have FCPS stop the obstruction and accept these ten challenges or inform us in writing that these books are not accessible to any students at any schools at the grade levels challenged and that their future use is prohibited.
It should be simple for the school board to investigate what is going on here. The iBistro catalog system and previous catalog systems keep on permanent file all changes made and when, including check out, re-cataloging, etc. Some of the more professional librarians in FCPS have provided book purchase dates, the number of times checked out and when. This is all on record. In other schools, such as Groveton ES where all the books were �missing-in-action�, we were told we must submit a Freedom of Information request to even find out the rationale for book selection in the first place.
As you consider whether to do something about this here is some additional information you should consider:
-�� The Fairfax County Council of PTA�s [FCCPTA] has asked potential members of challenge committees, who will consider the appropriateness of books, to sign a litmus test! That members of a review committee are being asked to determine a book is acceptable before having read it, or even knowing what book they will be reviewing is simply unbelievable. However, it is not really surprising to us. The FCCPTA, like the ALA and NEA, seems to be against the removal, restriction, labeling or special placement of any school library book. This is why we asked that members of the ALA and NEA not sit on challenge committees. It would undermine due process and be biased and discriminatory. FCCPTA challenge committee members should be asked to sign another litmus test that says they will consider the challenge only as individuals and not automatically comply with the position of the FCCPTA organization that appointed them.
-�� Immediately after we initiated the challenge process, but before we had met with more than even a few schools, articles and letters started appearing in the local press saying there would only be 15 challenges, or 18 challenges, or �some number� of challenges. How and why did non-FCPS employees get this [mis]information?
-�� Just today there was an article in the Washington Post saying there were now only nine challenges. The article quoted Andie Powell of FCPS as saying fourteen of the books were eliminated �because they were not found in a school library or were shelved in the teachers-only section.� That is an outright lie. Not only were these books in general circulation in some elementary and middle school libraries, many still are there. For example [if accurate] yesterday the FCPS iBistro library catalog system showed I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings was still in many middle schools. However our challenge to the use of this book countywide in elementary and middle school has now been refused twice. The Washington Post article also reported that three of the books we challenged were The Chocolate War, Heroes, and Shogun. Another lie. We have not even met with the schools on the first two books, as is required before submitting a formal challenge. For Shogun we met with the school, and submitted a formal challenge [twice], but based on the most recent letter from Lanier MS it appears that FCPS is not accepting our challenge. What is going on and why? As stated earlier in this letter, at this time we have submitted formal countywide challenges to 15 books and it appears that FCPS doesn�t feel like accepting 10 of them.
-�� Regulation 3009.5 on Challenged Materials defines library materials as �Any... books that are purchased or accepted as a gift by a school�s library media center.� It makes no mention of a �professional library� or �library office� book. This regulation is very specific that any library material challenged for countywide removal must be sent by the principal to DIT.
-�� If 5% of all FCPS library books are �miscataloged� by the iBistro system, the probability of all 4 copies [3 titles] we have challenged in Groveton ES being �miscataloged� is only 1 in a 160,000!
-�� Even if 10% of all FCPS library books are �miscataloged� by the iBistro system, the probability of all 4 copies [3 titles] we have challenged in Groveton ES being �miscataloged� is only 1 in a 10,000! Keep in mind that Groveton is not the only school where �miscataloging� has occurred.
Our challenges address both the current and future use of these books. It is apparent that instead of initiating this request and subsequent review process that the FCPS would rather dodge the question. Why? Are these books still in the schools? Will they be used in the future? If they are really not being used, and won�t be used, why wouldn�t the FCPS just send us a letter stating that.
We request that the challenges to these ten books be accepted and placed back in the queue in the order that we submitted them.
The chronological details of our communications with the various schools on these ten challenges is contained in Attachment 1, which is attached to this email as a word doc file.
Thank you for your consideration on this matter.
Sincerely,