RUSD Library Book Committee

We, the citizens of Redlands Unified School District (RUSD), are petitioning the RUSD School Board to establish a School Library Review Committee to reviews hard-copy and on-line library books in the school libraries to determine if they:
1. Contain depiction or description of sexually explicit material, including sexual intercourse, genitalia, “sadomasochistic abuse”, or criminal sexual activity.
2. Discuss or promote gender fluidity and transgenderism without appropriate warnings about the health risks of such gender identity choices.
3. Discuss or promote homosexual or bisexual sexual behavior without appropriate warnings about the health risks of such sexual activity.
Exception may be made for books with serious artistic, anthropologic, historical or scientific significance.
Committee Composition and Responsibilities.

The School Library Review Committee shall be composed of 13 volunteer RUSD citizens appointed by the School Board to serve a 2-year term. Initially, a minimum of 8 members shall be selected from the signers of this petition and subsequently replaced with parents of RUSD students. RUSD school librarians, teachers and administrators may not serve on this committee.

A book grading system may be established by the committee to assist in their book assessments. Committee members may use book reviews to develop a list of potential books to review, but they should review the entire book and record objectionable excerpts or images with page number references, in order to justify their decision. The committee shall have the opportunity to review any new books the libraries are considering placing in the libraries.
Based on their findings and a majority vote of the committee, recommendations to retain, remove or restrict access to specific library books shall be brought to the RUSD School Board for a vote as an agenda item.

RUSD School Board Response:
If the majority of RUSD School Board accepts the committee’s recommendations, the RUSD superintendent shall instruct the school librarians to remove or restrict access to the specified library books. The RUSD School Board may choose to pull certain books off the list for further review and a separate vote, but all books must be voted on by the School Board within 30 days of the submission of the committee report to the RUSD Board.