Thursday afternoon, the Instructional Materials Review Committee (IMRC) of the State Board of Education (SBE) met for the first time. The IMRC Chair called the meeting to consider materials that are currently available to students in South Carolina middle or high schools.
Many of these materials were referenced during the promulgation process of Regulation 43-170 or brought to the Board’s attention through media reports and past local challenges.
The Committee considered 11 materials during Thursday’s meeting. Members of the public provided testimony and South Carolina Department of Education (SCDE) staff presented during the meeting.
Committee members concurred with SCDE staff recommendations to recommend retention of the following materials: ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’, ‘1984’, and ‘Romeo & Juliet’.
The Committee reported that the following books violate the Regulation’s definition of “age and developmentally appropriate” because the materials contain depictions or descriptions of sexual conduct, as defined in longstanding South Carolina law (§16-15-305(C)(1). The Committee recommends removal of each of these materials: ‘Damsel’, ‘Ugly Love’, ‘A Court of Frost and Starlight’, ‘A Court of Mist and Fury’, ‘A Court of Thorns and Roses’, ‘A Court of Wings and Ruin’, and ‘Normal People’.
The Committee voted to postpone further consideration of the following material: ‘Crank‘.
The full SBE will meet Tuesday, November 5, at 1pm and will consider the IMRC’s recommendations. The Board’s action will result in written decisions that will be publicly posted and communicated to all local districts.
You can find the materials under review, along with excerpts and staff recommendations, here.