Lake Travis ISD’s school board is meeting Wednesday to discuss potentially banning two books from the high school library.The
Jodie Dover has brought upwards of 25 books to the district’s attention since last February. She calls the books in question at Wednesday night’s board meeting obscene and extremely inappropriate for high schoolers.
“We actually started the reconsideration process in May of 2023, so it’s taken ten months to go through the full process, as outlined in policy,” she said. Dover says for nearly a year, she's been fighting to remove Jesse Andrews’ “Me and Earl and the Dying Girl” and “The Haters” from the shelves of the Lake Travis High School library.“That ‘fun’ story highlights acts of oral sex, masturbation, beastiality, and sexual intercourse,” said Dover. “You begin to question why those topics are addressed in a book that’s available to a minor on a public school campus.” This is the second time this year the board has voted on whether to remove a book from its school libraries. The way the district’s book challenge policy works is first a parent has to bring the concern to a staff member. If they’re not satisfied with how it’s addressed, it then goes before a parent review committee. The parent can then appeal the committee’s decision, and it goes to the school board, which is where things stand Wednesday.ALSO| Downtown commission suggests $600k for pedestrian barricades after deadly hit-and-run Others, like Bethany Hegedus, say that making a mountain out of a molehill, it’s only driving kids to want to get their hands on the books even more. “We’re raising the awareness of these books that people are calling graphic, and vulgar and problematic,” Hegedus said. “Myself, as a middle-aged woman, getting called a pedophile and a groomer, as I was referred to last month, is to me graphic obscene and vulgar.”She was at last month’s meeting and was inspired to speak again Wednesday, after attending it. “Seeing six high school students stand up in front of adults and talk about their commitment to books, why they felt these books were important to, not only their education but their social, emotional learning, and their awareness of the world think we need to listen to the teens on this,” said Hegedus.“Focusing our schools on age-appropriate curriculum, and age-appropriate library materials does not take these books out of circulation,” she said. “If they want to have that discussion with their parents, and they want to purchase that book via Amazon, Target, Barnes & Noble, or even go check it out at our Lake Travis library two blocks down the road from the school, they’re more than welcome to.” Hegedus said at the last meeting, one student walked to the meeting to be able to speak, because his parents wouldn’t drive him. “That’s the kind of situation you’re gonna place teens in, potentially,” she said. “They have to walk to a library to get access to these books.” CBS Austin reached out to Lake Travis ISD. In an email, the district said because of the pending grievance, they are unable to comment at this time.
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