GPEA Public Statement on Changes to Library Material Selection Policy
The Grants Pass Education Association strongly opposes efforts by the Grants Pass School Board to take decisions about library and classroom materials out of the hands of highly trained experts and instead hand them over to a political committee made up largely of non-professional personnel. Not only would this decision place an enormous burden on librarians and other educators who are simply trying to do their jobs by requiring bureaucratic approval of all books and supplementary materials used in our classrooms, it would also create the potential for a highly politicized review process that could result in the censorship and banning of library materials.
We urge the board to abandon this attempt to circumvent trained educators, like librarians, who are experts in their fields and instead maintain a district policy the empowers educators to do the jobs for which they were trained and hired.