A San Antonio school district said it is reviewing more than 400 books in its libraries to assess whether the books’ content is age-appropriate more than a month after a Republican state lawmaker called for an inquiry into more than 800 books in public schools, including Margaret Atwood’s “The Handmaid’s Tale” and Ta-Nehisi Coates’s “Between the World and Me.”

       Wp Get the full experience.Choose your plan ArrowRight

       In October, Texas state Rep. Matt Krause (R), who heads the House General Investigating Committee, sent a letter to schools in an unspecified number of districts demanding that they say whether they own books named in a list of 850 titles, many of which cover issues of race and sexuality.

       The books included titles such as “How to Be an Antiracist” by Ibram X. Kendi, “So You Want to Talk About Race” by Ijeoma Oluo and “Identity: A Story of Transitioning” by Corey Maison. Krause’s list immediately sparked an outcry, with many teachers groups saying it was an attempt to silence the voices of people of color, women and members of the LGBTQ community. It wasn’t immediately clear in October whether schools would comply with Krause’s demand, with some saying the task was herculean.

       Advertisement

       Story continues below advertisement

       This week, however, the North East Independent School District, which covers parts of San Antonio, said it is conducting a review of its bookshelves, partly using Krause’s list as a guide. In a statement, Aubrey Mika Chancellor, a spokeswoman for the district, said the system had already been in the process of reviewing its library books before receiving Krause’s list. Chancellor said that upon reviewing that list, the district determined that it had 414 of the titles in its libraries.

       Most of the books, Chancellor said, “are appropriate and will stay on our library shelves as is.” Some, however, “may contain content that needs further review to ensure the books are accessible based on age-appropriateness.” She said the district has already reviewed about half of the books on its list.

       As an example, Chancellor said the district found that “The Breakaways,” a graphic novel by Cathy G. Johnson about a middle-school girl trying to fit in at her new school, was deemed “inappropriate” for readers in elementary school and was re-shelved. According to its publisher, the book is “a raw, and beautifully honest graphic novel that looks into the lives of a diverse and defiantly independent group of kids learning to make room for themselves in the world.”

       Advertisement

       Story continues below advertisement

       “For us, this is not about politics or censorship, but rather about ensuring that parents choose what is appropriate for their minor children,” Chancellor said. “Out of an abundance of caution, NEISD asked our staff to review books from the Krause list to ensure they did not have any obscene or vulgar material in them.”

       Moving forward, she said, the district will form a book review committee “to determine what books may need to go in a separate section of the library.” The district will also create an electronic tool for parents to see which library books are being checked out by their children.

       “The goal of the book review process is to determine the age-appropriateness of books,” Chancellor said. “If a book needs to be moved from elementary to the secondary level or whether a book at the high school level needs to be placed in a separate section that requires parental permission. The idea is more of a reorganization and a reshuffle — the purpose is not to remove books.”

       Advertisement

       Story continues below advertisement

       Adonis Schurmann, the North East Education Association president, said in a statement that the North East school district has, so far, determined that “only a handful” of the 400 books had been determined to be obscene or age-inappropriate. Schurmann said the teachers group supports an existing district policy that “allows parents to object to their own children checking out specific books from our libraries.”

       “The North East Education Association is seeking assurances from district administrators that no book is judged obscene or vulgar simply because it deals with a subject, such as race relations or LGBTQ issues, which make some parents or politicians uncomfortable,” Schurmann said. “That would be an abuse of the educational process and a disservice to our students.”