By Charlotte Matherly, contributor
The Rockingham County School Board banned two more books from its libraries on Monday, following its Content Review Committee’s recommendation regarding one of them but going against that panel’s other decision.
The board voted unanimously to ban “Looking for Alaska” by John Green, which the committee had recommended for removal, and 4-1 to remove “Allegedly” by Tiffany Jackson, which the committee had said should be kept on shelves. Board member Jackie Lohr was the only dissenting vote.
After the board members decided to ban those two titles without any debate or discussion among them, community member Michael Stemple said during the public comment section that the volunteers on the Content Review Committee are unpaid and taking time away from their families to help enact the new policies on sexually explicit content in library books.
Stemple called for more transparency from the board on this and other matters, like the curriculum changes it approved at the last meeting that remove textbook chapters about world religions.
He questioned the board’s multiple diversions from the guidance of their own committee, something Lohr has also noted in the past.
“Why would you create a committee for this purpose and ignore their recommendation?” Stemple asked.
Hollie Cave, the board member who initially proposed the list of 57 books to be prohibited from school libraries and who has pushed for most of those books to stay banned, didn’t offer specifics about why she broke with the committee’s recommendation. She said board members have “been advised to” state the page numbers of where they find sexually explicit content in each book if they do vote against the committee, then listed about a dozen pages for the record.
Board chair Matt Cross also reflected on nearly a year since the 2023 election, in which three new board members were voted in: Cave, Ashley Burgoyne and Sara Horst. He thanked them for helping adopt Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s model policies regarding transgender students, including one to notify parents when a student goes by a different name at school, at their first meeting on Jan. 8.
He recalled saying to Burgoyne last year: “After this year’s election, we will adopt Youngkin’s model policy in full on our first meeting.”
“That’s exactly what we did,” Cross said. “This board came on, and we addressed it.”
Students highlight peer program for mental health
Several students from Rockingham County’s four high schools told the board that a nationwide suicide-prevention program, Sources of Strength, is catching on by using a peer-support model.
The county’s student-led group operates across each high school to forge friendships, mentorships and connections among students and trusted adult staff members. These include everything from letter-writing campaigns that express appreciation for trusted adults in schools to games and athletic events.
It’s based on what students called the “wheel,” which they said includes eight forms of support that people can draw on in tough times: family support, positive friends, mentors, healthy activities, generosity, spirituality and mental and physical health.
Ideally, there’ll be one student in Sources of Strength for every 10 students, their faculty facilitator said. It’s like recruiting an “influential” student in all groups within the school, or someone at every lunch table, she said.
A student at East Rockingham High School said he’s involved because he wants to bring people together and build a bigger sense of community at his school.
“East Rock loves to come together,” he said, “and Sources loves to help facilitate that, build those relationships within the school, make sure everybody is seen and is always connected with everybody.”
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