Edmonton/CMEDIA: An online survey is reportedly being launched by the province of Alberta for feedback over the next 12 days on the creation of “consistent standards to ensure the age-appropriateness of materials available to students in school libraries” and aim for the new rules being in place by September.
“While this is a very contentious issue, we are pleased that the government is consulting with Albertans prior to deciding any course of action,” said Dennis MacNeil, president, Public School Boards’ Association of Alberta, in a news release.
The online survey will impact the books found in some K-12 school libraries across the province that show “extremely graphic and age-inappropriate content.”
Demetrios Nicolaides, minister of education and childcare, made the announcement in Calgary on Monday.
“As a parent, it is extremely concerning to me to find out that books explicitly depicting sexual acts are available to students in some school libraries. We are going to do something about this serious issue by consulting Albertans and creating standards to ensure students do not have access to age-inappropriate materials in school libraries,” Nicholas reportedly said,
Alberta doesn’t currently have a consistent province-wide standard for school boards to follow when selecting “age-appropriate school library materials,” said the province.
Instead, school boards have been given the freedom to select books for their own school libraries.
“Alberta’s government will begin work to develop new standards to guide school boards in selecting and managing materials with sexual content in their school library collections, and we’re looking for input from Albertans…We want to ensure transparency for parents so that they know what is available in their school library and to have a process for complaints and concerns about book materials and other library materials,” Nicolaides told a news conference in Calgary on Monday.
The public libraries including 55 public libraries located within schoolswill not be impacted by the changes
School boards would be required to implement the new standards along with publicly available policies by the start of the 2025-26 school year. The new standards will apply to public, separate, francophone, charter and independent schools.
A Monday news release from the province listed examples of books found in Alberta K-12 schools they decided were inappropriate, including:
- Gender Queer, graphic novel by Maia Kobabe
- Found in K-9 schools and high schools in Calgary Board of Education as well as high schools in Edmonton Public School Board
- Fun Home, graphic novel by Alison Bechdel
- Found in schools with students within the K-9 range, as well as high schools in Edmonton Public School Board
- Blankets, graphic novel by Craig Thompson
- Found in Schools with students within the K-9 range in Edmonton Public School Board, as well as high schools in Edmonton Public School Board and Calgary Board of Education
- Flamer, graphic novel by Mike Curato
- Found in schools with students within the K-9 range in Calgary Board of Education and Edmonton Public School Board schools, as well as high schools in Edmonton Public School Board and Calgary Board of Education
School libraries. Photo courtesy: Unsplash/Matt Benson
