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District parent Melissa Bollinger filed a request with High School Principal Daniel Kiel Nov. 29 and Middle School Ryan McBurney Nov. 30, stating that the books contained “excessive profanity, graphic violence and explicit sex,” and that the titles could be “harmful to minors.”

In total, Bollinger requested 163 books be removed from the middle school library and the 281 from the high school library.

Tadlock said as a former sitting library board member it’s standard to review books periodically but this may have been much.

“I think schools use common sense with books,” Tadlock said. “I do think it was not a reasonable request. It was a time suck.”

Books Bollinger requested for review included, “The Sisterhood of Traveling Pants,” “The Color Purple,” “World War Z,” “I am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter,” “Being Jazz: My Life as a (Transgender) Teen,” “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo,” The Grapes of Wrath” and “The Hunger Games.”

Bollinger cited School Board Policy 361 “Instructional Material Selection/Evaluation Procedures” for the books to be removed from library shelves and for McBurney and Kiel to review the titles.

The policy states that upon receipt of written objection of material at a given school, the principal shall temporarily remove the content from school while under review. After reviewing, the principal, that individual may allow the book to go back to shelves as normal, go back but with an advisory for certain age groups, go back but can only be checked out with parental permission or to remove it permanently.

The principal’s decision may be appealed in writing. The objection is then reviewed by the superintendent, as well as the librarian and instruction director of the assigned grade level. That decision may be appealed to the school board. The board may rely on readings or hearings from staff and “experts of any kind,” per the policy. The board’s decision is final.

The middle school request was 600 pages long and the high school request was 1,200 pages long.

Bollinger also cited state statute 948.11, which is exposing a child to harmful material or harmful descriptions or narrations.

In the complaints, Bollinger created documents to illustrate her points that had partial transcripts and “profanity and derogatory term” counts.

There were checklists that pointed out if there were “explicit or graphic” violence, sex or nudity; if the content is inconsistent with the district’s human growth and development curriculum or if it falls into one of 21 “controversial” topics. Those topics include abortion, activism, alcohol or drug abuse, bullying, hate, mental illness, pedophilia, rape, cannabilism and other topics.

The previous high for requests for book removals at one time in the district was two, Tadlock said.

Policy 361 is up for review at the Elkhorn School Board’s policy committee meeting Monday, Jan. 15 at 12 p.m. at the district office, 3 N. Jackson St.