Alaska high school students are calling on local school districts to refrain from following national trends in book banning, which they say is happening for political rather than educational reasons.
A resolution on banning the books was one of three resolutions presented to the Sitka school board Wednesday (11-1-23) by local students who recently returned from the Alaska Student Government Association’s annual meeting in Fairbanks.
Sitka High senior Kylie Orlando prefaced her presentation of the student resolution by asking school board members to put aside their personal political agendas. Book bans, she argued, have become a political weapon, to the point where advocates don’t really understand what they’re banning.
“The resolution I’m proposing is about banning books, and it goes much deeper than reading,” Orlando said. “The message they convey is much deeper. It’s about education and representation and so much more. They highlight not only the representation of minorities in the books, but also the representation we don’t receive from many lawmakers who should be prioritizing the wants and needs of students.
The resolution of two pages written by the Alaska Association of Student Governments contained statistical information compiled by the American Library Association on the significant increase in book protests in recent years. The resolution’s language allows people to raise concerns about the books as an important First Amendment freedom, but “there should be an effort to verify their claims about the book, to read the work as a whole and to determine whose information needs are met.” by books.
Although the Sitka School Board may adopt some or all of the student resolutions in the future, this reading was only an introduction. Board member Tom Williams said he could not support it in its current form, which reads: “Therefore, be it Resolved that the Alaska Student Government Association does not support banning books in our state and country.”
“My problem with this resolution is that it’s all-encompassing,” Williams said. “All classes, all books, current books and upcoming books. And without having a provision that would allow a book to be banned, regardless of its subject matter, content, or content, that seems unwise, and I would not support a resolution and I did not have the ability to ban material that we know. or I don’t know, at the moment.
Orlando was joined by classmates Jasmine Wolfe and Olivia Skan to present a second resolution in favor of school staff receiving mandatory mental health training identify certain problems among students. In his remarks, Wolfe said, “It’s no secret that over the past two years we’ve seen an increase in mental health issues, not only at the state level, but also nationally. national. » She said she and Skan brainstormed ideas to try to create change, without making things worse. After many conversations with students and teachers, they felt that staff training would help ease the burden on students “so it’s not just on them” as they deal with mental health issues related to suicide prevention and social media.
Phil Burdick worked in the district for twenty-five years as a teacher and administrator before joining the board. He supported more training, but reminded Wolfe that mental health issues aren’t just a problem for students.
“We offered mental health first aid to the entire staff, and I think that was four or five years ago,” Burdick said. “This has had a huge impact on many staff, but also very difficult because it impacts the mental health of staff as well as the mental health of students.”
The third resolution of the evening involves gender equality in sport – but that’s not the issue that’s been making headlines lately.
Francis Myers said students identified an imbalance in the Alaska School Activities Association (ASAA) athletic program.
“While the ASAA Handbook states that a school must provide equal athletic opportunities to both sexes in numbers substantially proportional to enrollment.” Myers continued: “While volleyball is the only safe and unbalanced sport at one level 3A/4A which is not It is not mixed, meaning men are not allowed to participate.
Interim Superintendent Steve Bradshaw wanted to know how the resolution’s authors proposed funding a new athletic program. Myers responded that men’s volleyball has grown in popularity nationally by 50 percent in the last ten years alone. The purpose of the resolution was to support the creation of an ASAA-sanctioned men’s volleyball league and to provide districts – which had adequate funding and interest – with the momentum needed to launch the sport into their schools.
