Library catalogs (Destiny) can be accessed through the Online Libraries link found on the Library Services webpage. Select the appropriate campus to view materials in the library. More help can be found by watching the Destiny Discover How-to video under Library Links.

Parents are encouraged to communicate with the campus librarian and their child’s teacher regarding self-selected reading material. Parents may select alternative library materials for their student. Parents can complete the Library Access Form if they wish to restrict a list of titles for their student. A parent’s ability to restrict access to library materials extends only to their child. (Education Code Chapter 26)

Conroe ISD Library Services has enabled this notification so that parents are informed of the items checked out by their student. Notifications for these daily messages can be managed in Parent Access Center (PAC) at https://www.conroeisd.net/parents. If you do not have a PAC account, you will need to register for one to access the email settings.

Conroe ISD Librarians are professionally trained and certified by the state of Texas in selecting materials for school libraries. Librarians purchase items in accordance with the Conroe ISD Board Policy EFB (LOCAL).

Orders that include titles new to the district catalog are posted for a 30-day review period on the Library Services website. Staff, students, parents, and community members may review the titles and comment on the titles prior to purchase.

When the District or a campus receives an objection to the appropriateness of a library material, the appropriate librarian or administrator shall try to resolve the matter informally. The librarian or administrator shall explain the selection process and discuss the intended purpose for the library material. If appropriate, the librarian or administrator may reevaluate the library material to determine if it meets the current selection criteria and offer a concerned parent an alternative library material to be used by that parent’s child in place of the library material in question.

If the complainant wishes to make a formal challenge, the administrator shall provide the complainant a copy of the Board Policy EFB (LOCAL) and the form to request a formal reconsideration of the library material.

A parent of a District student, a student who is 18 years of age or older, an individual employee, or any District resident may challenge a library material maintained in the District’s library program on the basis that the library material fails to meet the standards set forth in this policy.

Yes.  You can file a complaint about a book being removed from the library through the informal reconsideration process by following the process set out in the District’s formal complaint policy.  There are three formal complaint policies depending on the status of the complainant – DGBA if the complainant is an employee of the District, FNG is the complainant is a parent or student, and GF if the complainant is a community member.  Each of these policies along with the complaint form can be found at https://www.conroeisd.net/department/legal/public-complaints/.  A formal complaint must be filed in the month following the month in which the decision to remove the library book was made.

As outlined in Board Policy EFB (LOCAL):

1. The complainant completes the Request for Reconsideration of Instructional Resources form provided by the District and submits it to library@conroeisd.net
2. District Library Coordinator appoints a reconsideration committee consisting of a non-voting committee moderator, a campus administrator, a District level professional staff member knowledgeable with the material, a campus administrator, and four parents of currently enrolled students.
3. All members receive a copy of the challenged title and review the material in its entirety. As soon as reasonably possible, the committee will meet and determine an outcome. The review process should take no more than 45 school days. However, the committee may take additional time, if necessary, to complete the review and submit their decision. Within ten school days of the reconsideration committee’s meeting, the complainant will be notified of the committee’s decision.
4. Library materials under formal review shall not be removed during the reconsideration process.
5. Library materials reviewed through formal reconsideration will not be reviewed again within one calendar year of the date of the reconsideration committee’s decision.

Yes. The complainant may appeal the decision of the reconsideration committee in accordance with appropriate complaint policies (DGBA, FNG, and GF), starting at Level Three.

Additionally, in accordance with policy, any Board member may request an agenda item for the Board’s next regular meeting agenda to review the decision of the reconsideration committee by notifying the Superintendent and the Board President.

Parents of currently enrolled students, campus administrators, or campus educators who wish to volunteer to serve on a reconsideration committee, can complete the Reconsideration Committee Volunteer Form. If you have any questions, please contact Melody Hiser, Library Services Coordinator. The committee agreement involves a considerable amount of time to read and review the title.

Reconsideration Committee Volunteer Form

The school district may not remove materials from a library for the purpose of denying students access to ideas with which the District disagrees.

According to the U.S. Supreme Court in a 1982 decision, the First Amendment rights of students may be “directly and sharply” implicated by the removal of books from the shelves of a school library. Bd. of Educ., Island Trees Union Free Sch. Dist. No. 26 v. Pico, 457 U.S. 853 (1982).

The Supreme Court, in that case, stated there is a meaningful difference between the curriculum conveyed in a compulsory setting and the school library, which is a place for “voluntary inquiry.” The Supreme Court made clear that state and local discretion may not be exercised in a way that violates students’ free speech rights by removing books for partisan or political reasons: “In brief, we hold that local school boards may not remove books from school library shelves simply because they dislike the ideas contained in those books and seek by their removal to ‘prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion.’” Pico, 457 U.S. at 872.

In Board of Education v. Pico, the U.S. Supreme Court rules that a school board’s decision to remove books from the school library based simply on their content violates the First Amendment’s free speech right. The Court says the First Amendment protects the right to receive information and ideas. The justices allow that books that are “pervasively vulgar” or educationally unsuitable can be removed. Annenberg Classroom.