ELIZABETH, Colo. — The conservative school board in Elizabeth is expanding its crackdown on books from school libraries to classroom libraries.
On Aug. 12, the school board announced 19 books would be pulled from school library shelves and about a 100 more titles would be placed on a "sensitive content" book list. The list of sensitive books is broad, including religious views, drug use, profanity, LGBTQ+ content, sex and violence. Those books will be flagged in the school library system and parents will be notified when their children check them out. Parents can also opt-in to have their child prohibited from checking out any of the sensitive titles.
School board members decided the policy did not go far enough to regulate the content. Monday night, the district decided to review each classroom library and require teachers to remove books with "sensitive content."
"You elected us on these values to keep your majority rules in mind in this community, and that is what we're going to do," Elizabeth School Board Vice President Heather Booth said at Monday's meeting.
The district eventually plans to provide approved titles for classroom libraries or have classroom libraries removed altogether.
"If you want your kids to have access to materials, you can go to Amazon," Elizabeth School Board President Rhonda Olsen said. "You can go to the thrift store. Go down to the public library and get it for your child. We are an educational institution. We are not a public library."
Watch the full school board meeting below: