District 15 hopefuls discuss book bans, why parents should care about what their kids read

Palatine Township District 15 candidates weighed in about book banning, parents’ rights and the need to offer kids a wide variety of literature.

Newcomer Eric Bachmann and incumbents Frank Annerino, Lisa Beth Szczupaj, James Taylor and Anthony Wang are running for four, 4-year terms on the school board in the April 1 consolidated election.

“I oppose book banning because of its infringement on free speech and expression,” Wang said. “Education should promote freedom, critical thinking, diversity and empathy, and our school libraries should reflect that.

“I trust in our library staff to make the best selections for books that are available to our students,” he added. “Our families already have the ability to opt-out of any books that they don't want their child or children to check out.”

Taylor said if parents find a book they believe is inappropriate, they can ask the administration to review it or fill out a form online.

“A parent has the right to decide what their child should and shouldn’t read. But I do think it should be up to the parent to limit that,” he said.

The issue has become “a little bit weaponized as of late,” Taylor added. And a parent’s authority over books their child reads shouldn’t limit other children, he noted.

“I disagree with book banning in general,” Szczupaj said. She was a bookworm as a child and spent hours in her public library. “I feel I read every book in the children’s section; it was a haven.”

“Every child is different, every parent’s perspective is different. It’s really up to the parent and the child together to determine what is acceptable reading material,” Szczupaj said, adding that district staff puts a lot of effort into choosing the right subject matter and age appropriate items.

Annerino thinks “the phrasing of book banning is a bit of fear mongering, because people like to associate that with government control over books that the general public can read.

“And what we’re talking about here is having age-appropriate material for children, just like there’s movies with rating systems on them,” he said.

“I advocate for transparency of what’s in our libraries, I want the parents and the community to have access to the library catalogs, so they can review the material. If there are any objections to the material, there’s a process,” Annerino said.

For Bachmann, “just even hearing the words (book banning) gets me a little bit irate.” His family enjoys the public library, and “we love to see what our kids are coming back with,” from school. If a book raises issues, “we talk about it as a family.”

“To just take something out so that other kids don’t have the chance to read it — is unfair,” Bachmann added. Parents who are having a struggle with certain books could be offered alternatives, he suggested.