SMSD has restricted the use of Project LIT, a list of books that cover sensitive topics like racism and mental health by disallowing teachers to use the list in English classes. This was due to Johnson County parents expressing concern earlier this school year over a Project LIT book, causing backlash from English departments district-wide.
The novel in question, “All Boys Aren’t Blue,” was part of a reading list issued to students by at least one SMSD elementary school, and is currently part of the library collections at Shawnee Mission West, Northwest and East, according to the Shawnee Mission Post.
LGBTQ activist and author George Johnson intended the memoir to appeal to black queer adolescents, and it contains scenes of the author’s first sexual encounters. Multiple parents labeled the novel as pornography and demanded at district headquarters that it be removed from school library shelves, which caused SMSD to change their policy on how parents file complaints in October, according to Fox4.
Now, parents have to take up concerns about books first with a teacher, librarian or principal, then request a district review and ask for a public hearing if they can’t solve the problem at the school level. However, SMSD didn’t explicitly state the policy change was a result of these complaints.
Following the complaints, the district sent English teachers emails in November stating they can’t use the Project LIT list for whole-class, small-group or individual reading choice, or use them in their personal classroom libraries after the complaints were made.
East Librarian Jennifer Robinson and IB English teacher Meredith Sternberg have shared the Project LIT list to students looking for a book to read in the past, but are no longer able to do that. Teachers can still pick books that are from Project LIT and form a longer list with other books as long as they’re district-approved, but they can’t give students the official Project LIT list in class, according to Sternberg.
Librarians from SMSD high schools began using Project LIT in 2020, meeting virtually with students in a book club where members read a book from the list every month. While the Project LIT book club isn’t active at East this year, it continues at other high schools in the district including Shawnee Mission West and South, and school librarians can still use the list because it’s a voluntary out-of-class activity for students.
While they didn’t outright ban the list, SMSD discouraged the use of Project LIT by reminding teachers via email to follow district guidelines and use books from the district-approved novel list in class, according to Sternberg.
English teachers and librarians across the district reacted to these emails by vocalizing their opinions about SMSD marginalizing the voices being shared from the book list and by discussing Project LIT with SMSD staff at the district level in a curriculum council meeting, according to Sternberg. Robinson says that high school librarians responded with emails of their own, giving their input based on what they know about Project LIT to district-level staff.
“All the schools in SMSD were told [not to use Project LIT] and [teachers responded by saying] ‘what do you mean we can’t give them a list of books?’” Sternberg said. “What do you mean we can’t promote these kinds of books in class?’”
According to Sternberg, novels that have appeared on the list, which is updated yearly, include “The Hate U Give” and “Clap When You Land,” which contain topics like racial prejudice, gun violence and loss after the 9/11 attacks. These books help expose students to more real-world applicable and controversial concepts.
Despite concerns that some Project LIT books may be unsuitable for school, promoting books that shed light on these topics is important to the high school curriculum as it allows students to learn new perspectives and also feel represented in the content they’re learning, according to Sternberg.
“It sparks conversations,” Sternberg said. “It can reach out to a kid who perhaps feels marginalized, who doesn’t feel like they have a voice or representation in what we consider to be standard English curriculum — to put a book in their hands that speaks more to them and to their experience as a core person, as who they are.”
Junior Eero Alber agrees on the importance of reading about these topics in school and doesn’t think school districts should be able to restrict or ban books or book lists.
“I think we should give students every opportunity to expand their horizons and learn more and have conversations about important topics like what’s on the Project LIT list,” Alber said. “Like racism, sexism, sexual orientation, LGBTQ experineces and mental health.”
On the other hand, junior Tommy Marx believes schools should regulate what books are being used in the classroom to keep their curriculum appropriate, but shouldn’t control what a teacher recommends students to read as they did with Project LIT.
“I’d understand if they were saying no to a book because it had explicit content or something like that, I can get behind that,” Marx said. “But not if it’s actually educational. If it’s going to teach someone about mental illness, a racial matter or the LGBTQ community, that’s not explicit, that’s more informative.”
Before SMSD informed teachers they couldn’t use the book list, Sternberg had planned to give her students a project involving only books from Project LIT and compare the topics covered in each one. She has since had to change her project, now using Project LIT as a launching point for a larger list of books that she and IB English teacher Kristin Anderson have compiled, which Robinson will present to students in the library so they can choose a topic that interests them and promote real-world learning.
“I think that it’s difficult to say that diversity, equity and inclusion is a huge part of who we are,” Sternberg said. “If you look at our curriculum, it’s not that way. And so [the list we created] is trying to sort of offer different values and different views, different perspectives and different cultures, which again, really shake the status quo.”
While parents have complained that topics like those on Project LIT are unsuitable for school, Sternberg believes it’s important to promote books that cover relevant social issues so students can form their own opinion before hearing about it outside of school.
“I think that people still tend to view schools as these places of tradition, and everything must be the same and everything must be very tame,” Sternberg said. “But if I were to bet, there is nothing that’s more shocking in these books than what you would find on TikTok, or Snapchat, or Reddit or every single day on your phone.”