Administrators at Dallas-Fort Worth’s Keller ISD announced Tuesday that the district will pull all books challenged within its system. This sweeping action includes the removal of all variations of the Bible. It began a high-profile and months-long review of challenged works in its schools following a Texas Education Agency investigation into alleged sexual explicit materials found in its curriculum.
The Dallas Morning News’ Taila Richman reports that Jennifer Price, curriculum director of Keller ISD, in an email sent Tuesday to school principals, relayed a new directive that urged staff to pull all titles flagged for review by day’s end regardless of past recommendations made during the review process.
“I need all books pulled from the library and classroom,” Price wrote, per Richman. “More information will be sent regarding action for these books…once this has been completed, please email me a confirmation. We must ensure this action is taken by the end of today.”
The decision comes on the eve of Keller ISD students returning to the classroom and leaves questions regarding whether administrators will consider past recommendations and deliberations on challenged books, which have been published in detail on the district’s site. Keller ISD’s book challenge page catalogs the titles, authors, and decisions made by staff, followed by meetings with teachers, staff, and the book’s challengers.
Among the works formally flagged by the district is “The Bible,” which is described generally as “(any variation—King James otherwise)” and whose listed authors are “Men who lived a long time ago—no 1 exact author exist for these books.”
As for Keller ISD, school trustees appear to be weighing the possibility of a re-review of its original list of challenged books, according to district spokesman Bryce Nieman, On Tuesday, he told Richman that trustees have approved the directive that would require a reevaluation of contested titles, however, the timeline for when that might happen remains uncertain.
