HOUSTON — Another Houston-area school district is dealing with book content concerns.
"There’s an army of parents doing a deep dive into all things literature in CCISD,” parent Mark Callahan said during this week's Clear Creek ISD board meeting.
Callahan said books available to children need better oversight.
"Because, ultimately, the buck stops with you guys, the school board," Callahan said. "The board of trustees.”
"Sex Is a Funny Word" is one book raising concerns in CCISD.
It's described by the author on his website as a comic book about bodies, gender and sexuality. He says it's the first for kids 8 to 10 that is inclusive of lesbian, gay and bisexual experience as well as gender-creative and gender-nonconforming children.
According to Clear Creek ISD, the book was available via a student-accessible app from the Harris County Public Library.
The district paused access to the library’s collection when concerns arose.
It's now exploring a way to allow parents to choose whether they want students to have access to the public library in addition to those at schools.
"A review of our policy as it relates to individual book titles will also be assessed,” CCISD Board President Jay Cunningham said.
This is the latest in a flurry of book content controversies from Katy ISD to the State Board of Education.
Gov. Greg Abbott has also called for the removal of any school books overtly sexual in nature.
"Whether it’s drag queen storytime, books like the one that was exposed, or any other attempt to sexualize our kids, we’re not going to stand for it,” Callahan said.
We reached out to the author of "Sex Is a Funny Word" but haven’t heard back.
Another young adult writer said they believe it’s important for children to have access to age-appropriate material even when it might make parents uncomfortable.
CCISD statement
"We have a partnership with Harris County Public Library which provides students free access to their digital collection. This particular book was accessed through the Harris County Public Library collection, not ours.
"When the parent brought the concern to our attention, we paused access to HCPL collection to investigate.
"The library has not moved this particular book from the category which is accessible to elementary students.
"We are exploring a way to allow parents to choose whether they want students to have access to the public library."