GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Forest Hills Public Schools wants to change the way students check out books.
On Monday, the district’s superintendent, Dan Behm, introduced a draft, which he says gives families more options over what materials their child accesses.
It comes after complaints from parents over the past few years about the content of some books.
Beam explains a team of library specialists typically determine what makes it on the shelves.
He says while very few students select those books, they want to give families a say.
Under the proposal, the school would develop an online catalog that, for example, would let parents chose which books their child can check out.
“Right now, media centers are open to everyone snd there really aren't capabilities that parents would have to say, ‘Hey, you know, my, my child just lost a pet and I don't want them reading Where the Red Fern Grows,’ or something else like that,” said Behm. “A lot of times, those are conversations between a parent and a staff member at school, [but] what this would do is just allow those capabilities electronically, that parents could go into the card catalog and do that.”
According to Behm, there’s no timeline on when it could be approved, but he says the board and district will look into it further over the next few weeks.
