The Pine-Richland School Board voted Monday night to advance sweeping revisions to its controversial library policy, taking formal steps to reverse measures passed last year that critics said disproportionately targeted LGBTQ+ and Black authors.
The proposed changes, approved for advancement in a 6–3 vote, would roll back 2025 revisions that expanded the board’s authority over book purchases, restricted librarians from acquiring materials deemed to contain “pervasive vulgarity or profanity” or “explicit sexual content,” and increased parental control over library access.
Board President Ashley Fortier framed the revisions as a return to professional trust.
“We should be coming from a place of trust. I trust the librarians, I trust the administrators, I trust the senior leadership team,” Fortier said during Monday’s meeting.
The district’s policy overhaul began in late 2023 after 14 books were formally challenged by community members who claimed the titles were sexually explicit. Those books included The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison and The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood. At least four were written by authors of color, and more than half featured LGBTQ+ characters.
Superintendent Brian Miller and a district review committee ultimately recommended keeping all 14 books available for optional student reading.
Despite that finding, the then-majority Republican board passed revisions in March 2025 that gave board members final approval over all new library acquisitions and prohibited librarians from obtaining materials containing “explicit sexual content” or “pervasive vulgarity,” except in limited circumstances such as health instruction or works classified as “classic literature.”
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The language was vague and functioned as a mechanism to conflate LGBTQ+ identity and racial justice narratives with obscenity.
Notably, every book formally challenged in Pine-Richland, both in 2023 and again in early 2026, has centered LGBTQ+ characters, LGBTQ+ authors, or Black voices. No challenges have targeted books focused solely on heterosexual, cisgender, or white protagonists.
Last month, seven additional titles were challenged, five of which had already undergone review during the 2023 process. Board members questioned the timing of those complaints, noting they were submitted shortly after the district publicly announced plans to reconsider the existing policy.
Superintendent Miller described book challenges in the district as “extremely rare,” emphasizing that library use at the secondary level is voluntary and optional.
The recurrence of challenges, again focused on LGBTQ+ and BIPOC narratives, reinforced concerns among some board members that the policy had become a vehicle for ideological disputes rather than educational review.
The revisions now under consideration were informed by input from district librarians, according to board leadership.
The proposed revisions would require that challenged books be evaluated in their entirety rather than judged based on isolated excerpts or individual passages taken out of context. Anyone raising concerns about a title would first need to discuss the material directly with a school librarian before initiating a formal review process. The changes would also scale back the board’s hands-on role in day-to-day acquisition decisions, restoring greater authority to professional educators and library staff. Additionally, broad prohibitions on materials containing “pervasive vulgarity” or “explicit sexual content” would be rolled back, narrowing language that critics argued had been used to target certain books disproportionately.
The policy reconsideration follows November’s school board elections, in which four Democratic candidates won seats and flipped the board’s conservative majority. The previous revisions had drawn intense backlash, including a vote of no confidence from the district’s teachers union.
If the new changes receive final approval, Pine-Richland would effectively restore decision-making authority to professional educators and librarians and move away from a policy framework critics say disproportionately affected books reflecting LGBTQ+ experiences and the lives of people of color.
The board is expected to take up final approval of the revised policy in the coming weeks.