The Papillion La Vista Community Schools is keeping a book on high school shelves following a complaint filed by a community member about its content.
School board members voted Monday, Aug. 28, to uphold the decision of a subcommittee and Superintendent Andy Rikli to keep “All Boys Aren’t Blue” by George M. Johnson in high school libraries. It’s a memoir about growing up Black and queer that includes a depiction of sexual assault.
“All Boys Aren’t Blue” was the second-most-challenged school library book in 2022 across the U.S., according to the American Library Association. The book was the second to be reviewed in a series of challenges in Papillion La Vista, all made by community members with no children in the district.
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Shureen Seery, assistant superintendent of curriculum, said to follow school board policy, the district created a subcommittee to review the book. The group included parents from both high schools, high school principals, teachers and administrators.
Each subcommittee member had to read the book before the group reached a decision of keeping it in the high school libraries.
“They had to answer three questions,” Seery said about the book review process. “In its entirety, is there value for students? Do they feel that the book fits the community? Do they think it’s appropriate for the age group that has access to it?”
The community member appealed the subcommittee’s decision. The review then went to Rikli, who agreed with the subcommittee’s vote on “All Boys Aren’t Blue.” The community member appealed again, sending the decision to the full school board.
“I believe each individual parent has the right to decide for their children what they should read or not read. That’s a choice for you yourself to make and for you to make for your family,” board member Valerie Fisher said. “I do not support the right of an individual to make that decision for other individuals and their families. I felt very strongly that this book was vetted how it should be.”
School board member Brittany Holtmeyer argued that board member SuAnn Witt had asked a person in a previous meeting who was speaking during public comment to stop when they read sexually explicit parts of “All Boys Aren’t Blue,” calling it "pornography."
“It has no business to be distributed in our PLCS collection,” Holtmeyer said. “I am not a book banner — I have asked them to remove this book because it was stated that it was pornography.”
Witt said she had previously apologized for using the term “pornography” and said it was read in a sexually explicit manner. Skip Bailey, the school board president, pointed out that the community member had taken certain paragraphs throughout the book and pieced them together in one speech.
“When I read that book, there were parts of that book that made me squirm,” Rikli said. “Overall, I think the book had a beautiful message about understanding, about the importance of family, about the importance of faith, about the importance of higher education.”