Community speakers urge Gilbert Public Schools to resist book bans

Isabel Guzman, a Gilbert resident, and Liz Costanzo Lee, a parent and librarian with 25 years of experience, addressed the Gilbert Public Schools governing board during the meeting's public-comment period to oppose book removal and censorship in schools.

"I'm here tonight to talk about book bans," Isabel Guzman said, urging the board not to let political pressure groups dictate which books are available to students. Guzman cited national data and said many challenges target works by authors of color and LGBTQ+ authors and titles that deal with race, immigration, puberty, mental health and other real-life issues.

Liz Costanzo Lee told the board she had spent her career in libraries and cautioned that removing books "isn't education, that's erasure." Lee argued that books give students tools to process difficult subjects and that banning titles removes opportunities for guided reflection and critical thinking. She pointed to the prevalence of real-world issues — including school violence — and said students need safe, instructional contexts to engage with such material rather than having the books removed.

Both speakers asked the governing board to trust educators' professional judgment and to allow parents, not organized pressure groups, to determine what is appropriate for their children. Guzman asked the board to "keep books on our school library shelves and let parents, not pressure groups, decide what books their children can read." Costanzo Lee added, "Trust our educators. Trust our students. Trust our parents."

The remarks came during the board's open-call-to-the-public sequence; board members did not take formal action on the issue at this meeting.