CLINTON TOWNSHIP, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – Despite several complaints, the Clinton Township police are not investigating books in Chippewa Valley Schools media center and libraries that may contain explicit content. 

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One parent, Marlene Centeno, filed a complaint in late March alleging that the books in the schools contain inappropriate content such as pedophilia, hate, suicide, and even child rape. 

“This smut does not need to be available to our children – elementary to high school,” Centeno wrote in the one-page report. 

According to the Macomb Daily, Peter Ludcido, Macomb County Prosecutor released a statement last week regarding the conflict between parents in the district and school officials. 

“This matter falls within the purview of school boards and is best addressed as a collaborative effort between parents and schools,” Lucido said. “We recognize the importance of safeguarding the First Amendment rights of individuals while acknowledging the legitimate concerns of parents regarding the content accessible to their children. Striking a balance between these rights and parental control is a delicate task that requires open dialogue and respectful engagement.” 

Between July 2021 and June 2022, 41 books were removed from several Michigan districts according to a report by PEN America, and another 18 were removed in the first half of the 2022- 2023 school year already. 

Opponents of removing books from public and school libraries such as, MI Right to Read, maintain that doing so would be an “infringement of First Amendment rights and intellectual freedom.” 

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The group has several resources for people to resist book removals, and even features a guide on its site “Kids’ Right to Read” Action Kit. 

“Many book challenges are motivated by an underlying fear that kids exposed to certain ideas at too early a stage will be negatively influenced by them because they lack the capacity to understand their content. Parents also sometimes challenge books that they believe will lead their kids to imitate behavior they disapprove of,” the guide says. “These fears are often irrational or overblown. In reality, the classroom is generally the best environment for children to be exposed to new ideas and, under the guidance of trained educators, develop the maturity required to contend with different styles of expression.”

Members of a book review committee in the CVS area have acknowledged that of the 67 books submitted for review, of the 19 reviewed so far, only 13 have been removed. Officials remarked that some were removed due to low interest and others for poor condition or being age inappropriate. 

While the school has voiced its desire for a strong partnership between home and school, for some parents like Centeno, the action by the school has not come quick enough to remove certain books. 

“The books don’t need to be there and accessible the whole time the review is going on,” she said according to the Macomb Daily. “They should be taken out of their (students’) hands and added as they go.”

She also has set up a website to help raise awareness on the issue of inappropriate books in school libraries, and highlights some of the explicit materials as a warning.