Celina ISD removes first books from libraries, classrooms under new state law

The Celina ISD board of trustees has removed eight titles from its library catalog, including "Beloved" by Toni Morrison and "The Color Purple" by Alice Walker.

The board voted to remove the books under Senate Bill 13, a state law which went into effect last September, at meetings April 20 and May 18.

The action taken

Out of 13 books under consideration, the board decided to remove three books April 20 and five books May 18.

The trustees upheld the recommendation of the school library advisory council on whether to keep or remove each book.

Materials the board has deemed inappropriate will be removed from all school libraries, including classroom libraries, Chief Academic Officer Kyla Prusak said.

Every challenge considered by the board so far has been submitted by trustee Michael Wagoner, who abstained from voting due to a conflict of interest.

In case you missed it

SB 13 allows school districts to form school library advisory councils, or SLACs, which can make recommendations to the school board regarding library policy but does not enact policy itself.

CISD approved the formation of its SLAC at a July 28 meeting last year, and the council held its first meeting Nov. 19, according to district documents.

The council consists of seven voting members plus additional nonvoting members. All council members are appointed by the board of trustees, and a majority of the council’s voting members must be parents of children in the district, according to district documents.

One of the SLAC’s primary responsibilities is addressing challenges to library materials that may be “inconsistent with local community values,” per district documents. Each challenge is reviewed by the SLAC, then goes to the school board for final approval.

Any district resident can file a challenge, regardless of whether they have children who are students in the district.

Residents are not required to read a book before submitting a challenge, and neither members of the SLAC nor trustees are required to read a book before voting on its removal.

Going forward

April 20 was the first board meeting where titles were removed under SB 13. Residents can continue to file challenges in the future.

The board will consider whether to renew the SLAC and appoint new members in July, Prusak said.

Trustees Jennifer Driver and Jarratt Calvert said the current slate of SLAC members has had issues with attendance. There are seven voting members, but only four members voted on each of the recommendations submitted to the board.

“I think we can do a better job vetting next time when we nominate people that will actually commit to show up,” Calvert said.

One more thing

SB 13 also allows parents to see what books their child checks out from the library and prohibit their child from accessing specific books.

During the 2025-26 school year, parents had to opt in to notifications when their child checks out books, Prusak said.

Trustees requested that parents be automatically signed up for notifications beginning in the 2026-27 school year.