Rochester Schools Act on Parent Concern

Rochester, MN (KROC-AM News) - In response to an objection submitted by the parents of a young elementary student, Rochester Public Schools Superintendent Kent Pekel has ordered the removal of a book from the open shelves of the school district's elementary media centers.

Pekel's decision is explained in a document included in an agenda item for Tuesday's regular meeting of the Rochester School Board. The elected officials are being asked to approve the submission of the Superintendent's decision to the Minnesota Department of Education, but under district policy, the school board cannot override his action to remove the book.

Rochester Public Schools

The document indicates Pekel took the action to remove the book titled The Rainbow Parade from the elementary school libraries solely on the depiction and celebration of public nudity in illustrations on two pages of the book. Pekel stated that state law allows the removal of materials based upon "the appropriateness of potentially sensitive topics for the library's intended audience," and school district policy that allows for the removal of material that is "vulgar or lewd to a degree that it is educationally unsuitable for students in the school given their ages and levels of maturity," noting that the book would be accessible to children as young as kindergarten without adult supervision or guidance.

Book Cover Illustration Courtesy of Penguin Random House

The Superintendent went on to stress that his decision was not because the book focuses on the experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer people. Pekel went on to say, "I strongly support the inclusion of books that introduce students to and celebrate the lives and experiences of LGBTQ people in our libraries and classrooms."

In further explaining his decision to remove the book from the media centers, Pekel stated that "being nude in public is not a fundamental aspect of living life as an LGBTQ person in our country today." He also wrote that "the nudity depicted in the book is inappropriate for placement on the open shelves of a library where students as young as five and six years old of age can pick up the book."

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Pekel says the objection to the book was submitted last spring by the parents of a student at Franklin Elementary School, where a first grade student checked it out and brought it home.

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The Superintendent's ruling concerning the book runs counter to the recommendations of the school district's library materials review committee. The Chair of the School District Media Department also submitted a letter to the school board indicating that the licensed media specialists working in the library's in the Rochester Public Schools would like to see the book remain on the shelves and stated that "not all books are for everyone, but our goal is to have books that represent all students in our school district."

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