Rockwood School District Complies with Missouri Law, Removes 22 Books from Libraries

News

Sep 1

On August 28, 2022, in response to the passage of Missouri Senate Bill 775, the Rockwood School District removed 22 books from its libraries.

The Rockwood School District shared this statement to KSDK:

The Rockwood School District closely follows any changes in state and federal legislation to ensure compliance with all applicable statutes. Missouri Senate Bill 775 went into effect Aug. 28 and establishes guidelines related to providing "explicit sexual material" to a student.
Rockwood librarians and administrators in our curriculum department carefully reviewed our collections in light of the new legislation and consulted with our legal team to identify books with images that may meet the definition of “explicit sexual material” under Section 573.550, RSMo. Those books have been removed from circulation, and the list has been posted on the district website to ensure transparency with all stakeholders.
Rockwood’s compliance with the state statute does not change our vision to provide a wide range of reading materials to meet the needs of all students and our goal of universal equity, opportunity and access outlined in our strategic plan, The Way Forward. Our libraries hold more than 450,000 titles for students to choose from in grades K-12, and we will continue to ensure that all students are represented in our library collections.

Images from Removed Books

These books were only removed from the Rockwood School District due to the passage of SB 775. For instance, Gender Queer was challenged and appealed, yet it remained in the district until August 28, 2022. The full list of removed books is shown below.