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West Bend committee debates how to define 'limited' and 'excessive' content for book approvals
Summary
Curriculum committee members discussed splitting high-school grade bands, how to measure profanity/excess, and whether content is glorified or central to a book's theme; staff will take recommendations to the policy committee on Aug. 19.
Dr. Jennifer Wimmer, the curriculum committee liaison, told the West Bend School District curriculum committee on Aug. 5 that staff want to refine how the district defines content thresholds for book approvals and to surface clearer criteria for the full board and policy committee.
"We made a commitment to kind of drive a little bit deeper conversation into the 2 committees," Wimmer said, explaining that curriculum and policy committees would continue work that began at a prior full-board meeting. She said staff plan to bring proposed clarifications to a policy meeting on Aug. 19 and then back to the full board.
Committee members discussed two principal changes: (1) splitting the district’s current 9–12 grouping into narrower bands (for example, 9–10 and 11–12) or recognizing accelerated/honors tracks, and (2) refining what constitutes "limited" versus "excessive" content. June Krueger and other members suggested development and course placement affect maturity and access to material; Krueger offered an approach that considers whether profanity or other language is concentrated in a single character or appears across multiple main characters.
Wimmer and the committee also debated whether evaluators should weigh the context — for example, whether objectionable language or behavior is depicted critically or is glorified — and whether prevalence should be measured by scenes, characters, or thematic weight. She said staff will try to translate these qualitative judgments into workable guidance for reviewers without creating an unmanageable workload.
"We don't wanna get ourselves in a trap of where we're having to individually analyze all these books," Wimmer said, noting the policy committee will review legal and procedural considerations. Members asked staff to return with proposed language and examples that could be applied consistently at the committee level.
The committee did not adopt final definitions or new grade bands at the meeting; Wimmer said curriculum staff will take the discussion into policy committee work, consult teachers and vetters, and bring back recommended language for the board to consider.
