Correction: A previous version of this story said Dr. Behm violated district policy. After further clarification, that statement is inaccurate. FOX 17 regrets the error.
The Board of Education for a Kent County school district does not plan to fire or take other action against its superintendent after he recently admitted to removing controversial books from the district’s libraries.
The Forest Hills Public Schools Board of Education met on Monday for the first time after Superintendent Dr. Dan Behm sent an email to staff members, apologizing for removing books from their libraries this past summer.
READ: Superintendent apologizes for book removals
According to Kristen Fauson, the board president, the incident was discussed with Behm during an evaluation last Tuesday.
Fauson said, based on those talks, as well as some future changes on how books will be checked out, some board members plan to continue supporting him.
"The Board of Education is comfortable with the procedures that Superintendent Behm is working on, and are hopeful that they will relay the concerns of both parents who greater control over what their students read, as well as those parents who wish for their children to access a robust catalog of diverse reading material," said Fauson.
However, they did clarify that they do not support book banning. "Let us be abundantly clear: Forest Hills Public Schools does not ban books. We are dedicated to providing a wide variety of reading material that allows students to grow and learn more about themselves and others."
Member Holly DeBoer expressed partial disagreement with the statement read by Fauson, specifically when she described the concerns brought forth by parents and other community members as attacks.
“I think part of the speech that you [Fauson] just gave, I don’t believe the parents came to the microphone to attack,” said DeBoer. “They have a concern and I would just like to clarify that there are a great number of parents that are concerned about things that are in our schools.”
She added, “I think for two years that we’ve been listening [we’ve learned that] people have a heart for protecting kids… I don’t think the word attack is what I would use for that. I think I would say it was a heartfelt concern that came to the mic just as it was for someone who came with a heartfelt concern to keep the books in the libraries as well.”
According to the board, the impacted books included Looking for Alaska, My Friend Dahmer, Me, Earl and the Dying Girl, The Handmaid's Tale (Graphic Novel), 19 Minutes, and Beyond Magenta, which have all come under fire in the past few years as being inappropriate for children.
All of the books have been returned to the shelves at Forest Hills Northern.
At Forest Hills Eastern, Looking for Alaska will not be re-ordered due to a lack of interest from students. Media specialists decided to move 19 Minutes to its high school section.
My Friend Dahmer and The Handmaid’s Tale (Graphic Novel) were not reordered at Forest Hills Central due to a lack of interest from students too.
Current district policy dictates that only library staff can make decisions on what shelves hold.
In an interview with FOX 17 following the board meeting, Behm said no other administrators were involved in the book removal and no one, besides those authorized to do so, has removed books from district libraries since.
"I take responsibility for that," he said. “That’s when our coordinators weren’t working at that point in time… We were working to make sure those books weren’t in our elementary media centers and when I learned that they weren’t checked out very often and subject to weeding, that’s what I did [remove the books].”
Behm says the district will implement a system, later this spring, in which parents can specify which books their children are allowed to check out and which ones they cannot.
He hopes this new procedure resolves some of the tension the district has been experiencing.
Behm says he's eligible for retirement. In his apology letter to staff, Behm mentioned that his time with the district is short, and during his interview with FOX 17, he said he is considering his options but has not made a decision at this time.
Watch the full meeting:
