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Parent objects to ‘Water for Elephants’ in district libraries, cites recent policy change allowing broader access
Summary
A resident read explicit passages from Sarah Gruen’s Water for Elephants during public comment and urged the board to reconsider a recent policy change she said allows middle school students to check out the book.
At the Gardner‑Edgerton USD 231 Board of Education meeting, a resident urged the board to reverse or clarify a recent change to the district’s library checkout policy after reading sexually explicit passages from the novel Water for Elephants.
Public comment and concern Commenter Carrie Schmidt addressed the board during the citizens’ comment portion and said the book is currently available in the high school library and that a policy change made the book potentially available to middle school students by request. Schmidt read multiple passages from pages she identified as 133–134 and described the excerpts to the board and audience; the quoted material in the transcript contains explicit sexual descriptions.
Schmidt’s stated concerns Schmidt said the policy change “gives the green light” for explicit material to enter district libraries and described the change as exposing children to sexually explicit content without adequate parental notice or protection. She called the book “not age appropriate” and said the policy change could lead to “grooming” — language she used as a characterization of the risk she perceives.
Board response and next steps The transcript records Schmidt’s remarks and the reading of the passages; it does not show board action taken at the meeting in response to the comment or a motion to change policy. Earlier in the meeting a board member referenced “changes that you’ve made to the policy last month,” but the transcript does not include the policy’s formal title or the precise language of the change.
What was specified in the record - Book cited: Water for Elephants by Sarah Gruen (passages read and described by the commenter). - Pages quoted by the commenter: referenced as pages 133–134 in her remarks. - Complaint: commenter said the district’s policy change (described by the speaker as allowing middle school access by request) reduces parental ability to block access; no board vote or policy amendment occurred during the meeting.
The board did not take formal action on the complaint at this meeting; the item remained a public comment on the record.
