'Fences' removed: LCPS cuts book version of award-winning play from curriculum

However, the book has been banned in other school districts around the nation with some complaining about the play’s dialogue. The lead character, Troy Maxson, an emotionally abusive Black man bitter over being robbed of a chance to play major league baseball due to segregation, often uses the n-word in the play.

Fences was one of four books LCPS parents sought to remove in the 2022-23 school year. It was the only successful challenge. Challenges are decided on by a textbook committee and the school superintendent.

“This Book is Gay” by Juno Dawson, a humorous look at growing up LGBTQ, was retained for high school libraries. ”Seeing Gender” by Iris Gottlieb, an illustrated book about gender identity, was retained for high school libraries, but removed from middle school libraries. “Feral Youth” By Shaun David Hutchinson, a novel about teenagers at a camp for at-risk youths, was retained in middle and high school libraries.

The removal of “Fences” comes at a time of record-high book banning nationally, primarily by conservatives. An American Library Association report said that through Aug. 31 of this year, 1,651 books were targeted. That exceeded the previous record of 1,597 in 2021.

“Efforts to censor entire categories of books reflecting certain voices and views shows that the moral panic isn’t about kids: it’s about politics,” ALA President Lessa Kananiʻopua Pelayo-Lozada said in a news release. “Organizations with a political agenda are spreading lists of books they don’t like.”

In April, the ALA released a list of the top 10 most challenged books of 2021. The most challenged book was ”Gender Queer” by Maia Kobabe, a graphic novel about growing up gender nonconforming that critics said was too sexually explicit. LCPS banned the book in the 2021-22 school year.

Number two on the list was ”Lawn Boy,” by Jonathan Evison, a coming-of-age novel about a gay man that critics said was too sexually explicit. The book was challenged at LCPS in the 2021-22 school year, but retained in school libraries.

Fifth on the list was ”The Hate U Give,” by Angie Thomas, a novel about a 16-year-old Black girl who witnesses an unarmed Black friend killed by a white police officer. Critics said it was anti-police and was attempting to indoctrinate young people with a liberal agenda. The book was challenged at LCPS in the 2020-21 school year, but retained. “This Book is Gay” was ninth on the list.

More challenges may be coming at LCPS as new policies designed to make it easier for parents to object to books take effect. On Jan, 1, policy 5055, a state-mandated parental notification rule about sexually explicit materials, takes effect. The Virginia Department of Education broadly defines what is sexually explicit under the policy. The definition includes “sexual bestiality, lewd exhibition of nudity, and sadomasochistic abuse.”

Parents — who already had the right to get substitute materials for their children if they didn’t approve of books in the curriculum — will be given at least 30 days written notice that materials deemed explicit are to be used in lessons. They can review the materials and opt out. LCPS will maintain an online list of explicit materials intended for classroom instruction by grade and subject on its website.

Policy 5055 requires LCPS staff to review school library books that teachers intend to use as instructional materials. LCPS libraries have about 91,000 books. “While the review process and broad definitions have added additional workload to our teachers, the intent of the policy aligns to our current prioritization of family engagement in their student’s education in Loudoun County Public Schools,” Deputy Superintendent Ashley F. Ellis wrote in an email.

However, Jessica Berg, a Rock Ridge High School English and Women’s Studies teacher, wrote in an opinion piece submitted to the Loudoun Times-Mirror that the policy encourages self-censorship. She said it caters to a “fringe subset” of parents and political groups seeking to undermine public education. Under the policy, two educators must review books to be used as instructional materials and flag passages that fit the VDOE sexually explicit definition.

Berg wrote that she’s currently teaching ”Night,” a novel by Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel about life in a Nazi concentration camp. She said scene in which Jewish prisoners being forced to strip naked by Nazi soldiers as they enter Auschwitz would have to be flagged by reviewers because it could fall under the VDOE definition of lewd nudity.

“These categories, as defined by the law and the Virginia Department of Education are vague at best and absurd at worst,” she said. “It undermines the expertise and professionalism of English teachers because absolutely no book can be judged by an excerpt taken out of context.”

Berg noted parents already have the right to get substitute materials for their children if they disapprove of books, but the new policy effectively allows them to dictate what the children of other parents can read. Berg criticized Gov. Glenn Youngkin, R, who ran on a parent’s rights platform in 2021 that included criticism of teaching on race and sex. She said the policy is “untenable” and teachers don’t have enough time to review thousands of articles, books, essays, poems and speeches that could be flagged.

“This policy takes away the freedom to engage our students with new material and engage in the discussions that matter,” Berg said. “But that is exactly the point, isn’t it?”

On April 7, Berg testified in Congress before the House Oversight & Reform Subcommittee about the dangers of the censorship campaign, calling it a “crusade against critical thinking.” Under the guise of parental rights, she said conservatives are instilling fear in teachers of being fired and they’re closing the window that books open for children, many of whom feel marginalized by society.

“If you do not want your child to read a book that is absolutely fine,” Berg testified. “But it does not give you the right to make that decision for every other student in the county or across the nation that might find a lifeline in the very book you banned.”