School Magazine: Peel Board’s book cull: how does weeding support inclusion?School Magazine:

The Peel District School Board (PDSB) has had its challenges over the past few years. After unresolved concerns about equity and diversity within the board, it was taken over by the province and only recently allowed to manage its affairs without the Ministry of Education looking over its shoulder. Now, there are questions about a massive cull of books that took place over the spring and summer and no one at the Board wants address them.

In September students returned to Peel schools to find library shelves cleared of thousands of books. Classics like Anne Frank’s “Diary of a Young Girl,” books from the “Hunger Games” series, “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” and thousands of others had just disappeared. Erindale Secondary School student, Reina Takata told CBC News that her library, full in May, was half-empty when she returned after the summer break. Staff at the school explained that they had to remove all books published prior to 2008.

By mid-September, the Ministry of Education got in on the act and  Minister Stephen Lecce, in a rare unambiguous statement, said it was  “offensive, illogical and counterintuitive” to remove books based on their publishing date, that are classics or teach about topics like history antisemitism. He told the Board to stop. Board Chair, David Green told the Toronto Star PDSB staff were just doing what they were told by the Ministry, looking at libraries and making sure the books in them  supported “marginalized Afro-Caribbean and Indigenous students, specifically.” Right now, everything is on hold.

Read more at School Magazine.