REQUIRED POLICY

Learning Materials Review 
 
Parents/guardians have the right to guide the reading, viewing, and listening of their own children but must likewise give the same right to other parents/guardians. The Board has a constitutional obligation to not remove materials simply because he/she disagrees with subject matter unless such ideas are in violation of I.C. 18-1514. The First Amendment to the US Constitution encompasses not only the freedom to share one’s views but also freedom to receive information. 
 
Any parent/guardian of a Charter School student, any student, or any employee, of the Charter School’s attendance area may formally challenge a specific learning material item used by the School's educational program. Challenges will only be accepted from individuals belonging to at least one of these groups. 
 
Learning materials, for the purposes of this policy, are not limited to Board approved curriculum but shall also be considered to be any material used in classroom instruction, materials available to students in the classroom, library materials, or any materials to which a teacher might refer a student to as part of the course of instruction. Materials include anything tangible, whether derived through the medium of reading, observation or sound including any picture, drawing, motion picture, film, or similar visual representation or image or any book, pamphlet, magazine, printed material however reproduced, or sound recording. 

The major criterion for deciding whether to keep or remove a challenged resource is the appropriateness of the resource for its intended educational use. This may include: 

For the purposes of this policy, the term “harmful to minors” and "sexually explicit" have the meanings provided in IC 18-1514 and I.C. 18-1517B:  
   
“Harmful to minors” includes in its meaning: 
   
1) The quality of any material or any performance or of any description or representation, in whatever form, of nudity, sexual conduct, sexual excitement, or sado-masochistic abuse, when it: 
 
A. Appeals to the prurient interest of minors as judged by the average person, applying contemporary community standards; and  
 
B. Depicts or describes representations or descriptions of nudity, sexual conduct, sexual excitement, or sado-masochistic abuse which are patently offensive to prevailing standards in the adult community with respect to what is suitable material for minors and includes, but is not limited to, patently offensive representations or descriptions of:  
 
             a. Intimate sexual acts, normal or perverted, actual or simulated; or  
             b. Masturbation, excretory functions or lewd exhibition of the genitals or genital area. 
 
Nothing herein contained is intended to include or proscribe any matter which, when considered as a whole, and in context in which it is used, possesses serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value for minors.   
 
"Harmful to minors" does not include material that, when considered as a whole, possesses serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value for an adolescent minor between the ages of 13 and 17 applying contemporary community standards. 
 
"Sexually explicit" includes in its meaning:  
 

"Sexually explicit" does not include diagrams about anatomy for scientific education, religious books such as the Bible and the Torah, or content relating to classical works of art. It also does not include breastfeeding, child-bearing, medical procedures, and examination, and any other non-erotic physical contact.  
 
No library material shall be removed solely because of the ideas expressed therein. 
 
Informal Process 
 
Any individual identified above who wishes to raise a complaint about a piece of learning material should first discuss the matter informally with the teacher, librarian, or other staff member who oversees its use. The patron should explain their objection to the material.  
 
The staff member shall try to resolve the matter informally through such measures as:  
 

All informal complaints made to School staff members shall be reported to the building Executive Director, whether received by telephone, letter, or in person conversation. If the complainant wishes to make a formal challenge, the staff member shall direct the complainant to this policy. 
 
Formal Process 
 
An eligible party who wishes to make a formal objection should submit their complaint in writing to the Executive Director using a form provided by the School. At minimum, the complaint shall reference specific sections of the materials or resources that produced the formal complaint. Vague or incomplete complaints will not be submitted to the learning materials review committee.  
 
Additionally, the School may decline to consider a request for reconsideration of a material that has already been the subject of such reconsideration within the past four years.  
 
The Executive Director shall convene a learning materials review committee, who will provide an objective evaluation of the material. The committee shall contain an odd number of members. Members of this committee may include such parties as:  
 

A person who has submitted a formal complaint regarding a learning material shall not participate in the review of that item as a committee reviewing the material. If the complainant serves on a standing learning materials review committee, they shall recuse themselves from all committee activities related to review of the material. 
 
All members of the committee shall review the challenged resource. They shall also consider written or verbal comments submitted by Charter School students, parents/guardians of School students, School employees, and residents of the School's attendance area on the material in question. For library materials, the resource in question must be read or reviewed in full by each committee member. For materials that are a part of material used in classroom instruction, the teacher shall present to the committee on its role within the classroom. Passages or parts of the work shall not be considered out of context, and the values and faults of the work should be weighed against each other. Decisions about what action to take regarding the material shall be based on the material as a whole. Where appropriate, the committee may solicit advice or opinion from other School staff and/or relevant professional organizations of librarians, English teachers, or other appropriate professionals. 
 
The committee shall vote on whether the challenged resource should be kept or removed in accordance with the principles set out in this policy or whether some other change should be made. In the case of library material, it shall include a recommendation to:  
 

The committee shall prepare a written report of its findings and provide copies to the Executive Director, the complainant, and to staff members who oversee use of the resource, that includes both majority and minority opinions on the learning material or library resource under consideration. The report may differ depending on the type of resource being challenged.  
 
The Executive Director shall review the committee’s report. If the material under consideration is part of the School's curriculum, and if the committee votes in favor of removing it from the curriculum, the Board shall review the report, and the Board shall determine whether the challenged resource should be kept or removed or whether some other change should be made. 
 
If the material in question is a library resource, classroom library resource, or other material available to students and not part of the School’s Board-approved curriculum, the Executive Director shall determine whether to accept the committee’s recommendation or whether some other change should be made. The Executive Director shall notify the complainant of the outcome, including the recommendation of the committee. This decision in this regard may be appealed to the Board.  
 
If an appeal of the Executive Director’s decision is made to the Board, the Board has the sole discretion in determining how to handle the complaint review, including but not limited to the Board’s option of solely reviewing the committee’s report and making a determination or seeking to speak with the parties involved in the complaint during a properly noticed meeting of the Board. The decision of the Board will be final.