The Bondurant-Farrar school board voted unanimously Monday to permanently remove 17 book titles from the district and donate them to the city library.
The books include popular romance books and young adult novels that have appeared on lists of challenged or removed books in Iowa as districts work to comply with a sweeping education law that bans books with depictions of sex acts from schools. Officials said Monday that considerations to remove the books included the adult ages and perspectives of characters in the books, larger amounts of objectionable content and/or lack of interest from students.
Gov. Kim Reynolds signed Senate File 496 in May 2023. In addition to requiring that school libraries only contain “age appropriate” books, the law forbids curriculum and instruction about sexual orientation and gender identity through sixth grade.
Penalties against teachers and district officials who didn’t comply with the book restrictions were to go in effect Jan. 1, but a federal judge blocked enforcement while two lawsuits against the state over SF 496 work their way through the courts.