Battle over the books continues at Brandywine

NILES, Mich.---- The conversation on book restrictions continued at Brandywine Schools during Monday Night's School Board Meeting as the Explicit Review Board Committee gave their first report following their first meeting Friday.

Parents and teachers have been showing up in high volumes to the board meetings for the past six months to discuss the controversial topic of book banning across the district.

"Still nothing is being accomplished that’s on the agenda….there's no action items it's still discussion…and to have 6 months of discussion and no resolution it's frustrating…we can't keep waiting the kids have now lost out on a school year, there's graduating seniors that have missed out on the chance to come back and have these books actively and easily accessible," said Jen Unger before the board meeting.

Monday Night Teachers and Parents took the floor once again, including Debbie Carew who questioned the existence of the Book Review Committee.

"I was disappointed tonight that the explicit book committee did not make a review to the school board after their meeting on Friday. I thought the public made it pretty clear, that we think a fair compromise is to have the districts proposed parent permission slips that would allow parents the deciding option of rather they would let their kids read the books that are somewhat controversial," said Debbie Carew, a teacher in the district.

She and other parents across the district argued that those high school seniors who could be restricted from certain materials will be entering the real world in just a few short months,

"A book gives a safe and appropriate way for them to begin dealing with these issues before actually having to deal with them in real life," added one father, Jeremy Colby.

Monday Evening, the school board did not adopt or recommend a plan to put in place.

"So, we're going to start the school year off with maybe no solutions still. So that’s now two school years, so I'm sure a lot of people will be frustrated that there's still no answers," said Unger.

"We've got a new year coming we'd like to add more books to our library but unless we have more information from them its going to be hard for us to do that," added Carew.

The next meeting is expected July 10.