Ten Guidelines for Dealing with Challenges

School districts will be better prepared for dealing with challenges if guidelines for policy are very specific, challengers are given their fair say, and such challenged materials are examined on the merits of the resource. The last thing that should happen in a challenge process is that an adversarial role is established between concerned parties – principal vs. parent, or library media teacher vs. parent, or administration, etc. The People for the American Way have stated numerous times that review policies tend to give the benefit of the doubt to the original selection process that put the books in the school in the first place.

Here are a few guidelines to follow:

1. Don’t allow the challenged material to be removed from the library by a school administrator or staff member during the review process.
2. Policy should describe precisely the steps in the review process including who is responsible at each step and also any appeal process in your district.
3. Complaints should be resolved at the lowest organizational level if possible – first with the library media teacher, then with the principal and so forth. The school board should be the court of last resort.
4. Committees to review challenges should have a broad representation, including teachers, parents, administration and library staff.
5. School board policies of the challenge review process should be available to every teacher and administrator in the district.
6. There should also be a written rationale prepared by classroom teachers and library media teacher for using specific works of literature in the classroom, which may also be available in the library.
7. The district superintendent should be informed of the formal complaint immediately.
8. Members of the review committee should have copies of the challenged materials.
9. The decision of the review committee should be binding for the district but if the challenger is not satisfied with the decision, a request may be made to place the matter on a future school board agenda.
10. Remember, emotion shown by school personnel during the review process will only accelerate the adversarial position by the complainant.

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