Controversy swirled around obscene materials in school libraries ahead of the start of this year’s Iowa Legislative session.  

Iowa Senate President Jake Chapman even went so far as to make comments that he wanted to make it a felony for school officials to allow what he found to be obscene materials in public schools. Paton-Churdan School Superintendent Kreg Lensch felt that was an attack on public education as a whole. He argues there are already safeguards in place to regulate materials in schools.

“Every school district in the state of Iowa has (a) board policy on materials within a library or curriculum materials to where if people would have a problem with them or difficulty, we all have a review process, it’s very transparent, it’s very open, and you go through that process. Sometimes that process does lead to an agreement to pull something out.”      

District 24 Senator Jesse Green of Boone shares his thoughts on obscene materials in schools.

“To me, in my Libertarian heart, I don’t want to go out and burn books or anything like that. I just want to make sure that parents know what’s being taught, they know when their child is checking out a book like that, and lastly, I want to make sure that they have the option to be able to find the educational place that best suits their family’s needs.” 

A bill has moved out of the Iowa Senate Education Committee that would give parents more control over what their child is being taught in the public school system. Parts of the legislation would allow parents to know what is being taught and require written permission ahead of a lesson that contains obscene material. Click the link below to access the bill, Senate Study Bill 3079.

https://www.legis.iowa.gov/docs/publications/LGI/89/SSB3079.pdf