By default, middle school students in El Paso County’s Academy District 20 schools can no longer access school library materials until a parent or guardian signs a form granting permission to use library resources through the district’s parent portal.
The change applies to middle school students old enough to check out young adult (YA) books from their school library.
The Young Adult Library Services Association defines YA books as those written for 12-to-18-year-olds. The organization states these titles “often explore themes like friendship, substance abuse, alcoholism, sexuality, identity, self-discovery, and the transition to adulthood.”
According to a link near the bottom of the district’s YA middle school information website page, “This choice to access YA literature is for families of middle school students to reflect the diverse literacy needs of readers grades 6-8, or ages 11-14. This does not impact students in elementary or high schools.”
The district’s library opt-in policy doesn’t stop at YA books. The posted document also states, “Middle school students will not have any access to Destiny or Sora materials until their parents/guardians complete the library access questions.”
Destiny is the district’s online school library catalog, and Sora is an online platform and app for e-books and audiobooks.
It’s unclear when the district changed the library policy, which previously allowed students access to these titles unless a parent specified otherwise.
Assistant Director of Communications Krystal Story said, “Every year, we revise what we call our extended parent portal, and one revision this year included allowing families of middle-school students additional options consistent with our goal of empowering parental choice.”
A presentation attached to a June 6 board retreat agenda lists “Opt-in/Opt-out Pros and Cons” as a discussion topic, and a chart shows what the board may have discussed.
Parents and community members couldn’t provide input, and many were caught off-guard when their children returned to school this month.
Tymm Hoffman said the process wasn’t straightforward when he registered his son to attend Mountain Ridge Middle School in Colorado Springs. “There were stations set up, and the librarian called us over to let us know we needed to check what our son could access or else it would be nothing,” Hoffman said.
“If we had missed that station or hadn’t known to go online to the parent portal, I don’t think our son would have access to any books.”
While specific studies on library opt-in policies might be limited, research in education and health care has shown that opt-in policies can reduce participation among disadvantaged groups, such as low-income individuals or those with limited access to technology, who may face more obstacles in navigating the opt-in process.
The effect may be to drastically reduce the number of YA books students request to read. Although Mark Belcher, D20’s chief communication officer, said 4,093 of the district’s middle schoolers have requested access to YA books, 1,051 have yet to make a choice, and 153 have said no.
Last year, the district faced intense criticism on both sides of the book-banning debate when a group called “Advocates for D20 Kids” demanded that the board remove three library books they considered obscene.
During public comment, Derrick Wilburn, who was elected to the school board later that year, warned, “School districts, you have abdicated your responsibility. You have failed our children. In 2021, the adults in the room said ‘enough.’ In 2023, you’ll learn that we meant it.”
Wilburn and Aaron Salt, who also serves on the district’s school board, are members of Advocates for D20 Kids.
Then Superintendent Tom Gregory approved the removal of three titles: “Push” by Sapphire, “Identical” by Ellen Hopkins, and “Lucky” by Rachel Vail. Those titles were later restored to shelves after a new superintendent took office and determined the district had failed to conduct an official book challenge.
District bans Pride flags
The district also changed its flag display policy over the summer, banning all but the U.S. and Colorado flags without input from the community.
According to the July 1 revision of policy IMDB, Flag Displays, “Only the United States and Colorado flags shall be displayed on district property or structures under the care of the Board of Education.”
“However, temporary displays of instructional or historical materials or student work products used as part of a lesson that includes a flag other than the United States of Colorado flag may be shown for a specific lesson. The flags, other than the United States or Colorado flags, may be brought out daily for the lesson and stored out of sight at the end of the lesson.”
Story said the district’s flag policy is an “administrative policy and, as such, flows through our Policy Review Committee, which is separate from Board of Education policy. Therefore, we have no recordings of any conversation surrounding the policy.”
Story noted that the Policy Review Committee includes several district leaders, including the Superintendent. The district doesn’t include a committee by this name on its list of committees and stakeholder groups.
According to the ACLU, the move is part of “a disturbing new trend where towns and school districts are banning the Rainbow Flag specifically or flags more generally.”
In an open letter drafted in partnership with the Gilbert Baker Foundation, the ACLU wrote, “Rainbow flags, pride flags, and other symbols celebrating LGBTQ pride are a protected form of free speech in school settings.”
A district teacher known as Dr.G on social media wondered how the change would affect teachers who teach world history and the district’s International Baccalaureate (IB) programs. IB is a global education program designed to encourage students to think critically, respect cultural differences, and develop a strong sense of identity while understanding their responsibilities as global citizens.
Also, three District 20 schools, Douglass Valley Elementary, Eagleview Middle School, and Air Academy High School, are located at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs. Yet, they won’t be able to display military flags.
Dr.G added that, in her opinion, the change is a thinly veiled attempt to ban gay pride flags from being displayed in schools.
During an August 8 board meeting, Hoffman reminded the board that three years earlier, when the board discussed banning certain flags, then-district parent Willburn, now a board member, stated, “I did not raise children so emotionally weak that they can’t stand the sight of a flag.
“I don’t have the right or ability to say ‘I don’t want my children to see it’ — and therefore neither should yours. That’s not my responsibility. That’s a decision for parents to make. Not for the board to make.”
Hoffman said he believes the flag ban is ludicrous. “My son is Ethiopian,” he said. “He’s seriously proud of his birth country, and he often wears a soccer jersey with the Ethiopian flag on it. Now he’s not allowed to do that on district property.”
Beth Hodgson, a parent and resident of D20, said, “I sit before you today to address a critical issue facing our community, the alarming failure of Academy District 20 Board of Education and its Superintendent to adequately serve our students … We are witnessing a disturbing pattern of neglect and mismanagement within our school district. Agenda items such as book banning and flag policing are taking away from the true needs of the students in our district.”
