YORK, Pa. — The Central York book saga appears to be over after a vote by the school board returns two previously banned books back to library shelves.
The books, “Push” and “A Court of Mist and Fury” were removed from the Central York school library back in January, after some raised concerns about graphic sexual content.
“It’s really looking good and I’m really proud of how far we’ve worked to get to this place,” said Zachary Smith, a recent Central York graduate.
Policy 109.1 will create a book rating system, which will allow parents to keep their children from reading certain books without banning those books for all students. Mike Stewart, who is running for the Central York School Board, said the policy is a fair compromise.
“The issue is parental rights,” said Stewart. “And parental rights means each individual parent gets to decide for his or her student, not one school board candidate, who happens to be a parent, making the decision for everybody, before other students, parents, and educators really get a chance to review it.”
The policy still received criticism during the meeting. Some parents asked the district to revise the policy to allow for some books to be removed if enough parents raised concerns.
“Please do not make a decision that is self-preserving, just because you want this to go away,” said one unidentified resident. “But instead, please make the decision that preserves the hearts and minds of young children.”
Central York students protested the school district when the two books were removed back in December. Students at the meeting said they don’t want to see books taken away from school.
“If I would not have had difficult books in high school, if I wouldn’t have branched out and worked on my emotional maturity, I would be horribly unprepared for my first year in college,” said Olivia Pituch, a 2022 graduate of Central York High School.
With a policy set in stone, parents and students are hoping to move on as a district.
“They all agree, it’s time to get Central York School District back in the news for the right reasons,” said Stewart.
Central York librarians will now be looking at 2,000 books over the summer to review for adult content.