School board approves appeals committee recommendation on three challenged books after heated debate

The Davis School District Board of Education on the floor of its meeting considered appeals over three books challenged by members of the public and parents and ultimately approved the appeals committee’s recommendation to retain Drama and to move Twisted and The Hate You Give into a subjective-review process rather than returning them directly to library shelves.

The decision matters because it determines whether the two books will be immediately removed from circulation under the district’s objective statutory test for “sensitive material” or placed into a subsequent subjective-review process that evaluates community standards, appropriateness and educational value.

Board members debated multiple procedural steps before the final action. A motion by a board member to uphold the committee’s determination that Twisted and The Hate You Give contained material meeting the statutory objective standard and therefore should be removed failed on a recorded voice/hand vote that split the board 3–4. After that failed effort, the board adopted the appeals committee’s recommendation by voice vote; the appeals committee had recommended retaining Drama (after objective and subjective reviews) and reversing the objective-committee removal determinations for Twisted and The Hate You Give so those two titles would proceed to a subjective review rather than be removed immediately.

Members discussed the difference between the objective test and the later subjective analysis. Multiple board members and legal counsel explained that the objective test examines whether the material contains explicit depictions that meet a statutory threshold, while the subjective review weighs “serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value” and appropriateness for the district’s libraries. One board member cited a state statutory section by number during the discussion when explaining the legal standard that governs the objective test.

Board members pressed staff and each other on committee votes and margins. At one point a board member noted that the objective-committee vote on the two challenged books had been 4–2. Another board member urged caution before removing books from circulation and emphasized that the appeals-subject process exists to weigh context and value.

Following the final vote the board chair directed staff to carry out the appeals committee’s recommendation, which leaves Drama available in district libraries and moves Twisted and The Hate You Give into the subjective-review step defined by the district’s policy and prior committee process. The board did not publish an itemized roll call naming individual board votes in the final voice vote on the appeals recommendation; earlier procedural votes were recorded as tallies when counted.

The board’s decision does not change the district’s review process: books that are challenged continue to move through objective screening, then (if required or appealed) through subjective review and appeals. The appeals committee outcome now instructs staff to follow the subjective-review procedures for the two titles in question.

Board President Gerard said the board would follow the established process going forward and that staff would report back with the next procedural steps and schedule for the subjective review of the two titles.