UPDATE: 8 DAYS TO GO AND BOOKS WITH EXPLICIT SEX IMAGES ARE DISAPPEARING FROM ROCKWOOD'S LIBRARY DATABASE

August 28th, a new law takes effect that makes it a crime for schools to provide such images to students.

So far, records show Rockwood is removing copies of these three graphic novels: 

"The Handmaid's Tale, The Graphic Novel."
"Gender Queer: A Memoir."
"Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic."

"Fun Home" was gone from the database first, this summer. It no longer shows up in any Rockwood school. It was previously at the Individualized Learning Center (ILC).

"Gender Queer" is now gone from Lafayette's online database.
It is still showing the book at Eureka and Rockwood Summit. (It was never at Marquette.)

The graphic novel version of "The Handmaid's Tale" was previously in all four Rockwood high schools. 

Now:

Gone from Lafayette and Marquette high schools. 

Still at Eureka and Summit.

THESE ARE THE EXPLICIT IMAGES IN THE BOOKS that are at issue.

IT'S BECAUSE OF A NEW LAW

Rockwood librarians are looking for books that may need to be removed because Senate Bill 775 was passed this summer. It will officially be Missouri revised statue 573.550 when it takes effect August 28th.

It took this law to prompt action from the district. 

A committee of Rockwood parents and school administrators decided last fall to keep "Gender Queer" in Rockwood's libraries, after parents complained about the book's explicit images and filed formal challenges against the book. 

No committee ever reviewed "Fun Home." The district rejected the parents' challenges, saying the book was only at the Individualized Learning Center (ILC), which was closed to students at the time. 

Parents were not yet aware that the graphic novel version of "The Handmaid's Tale" was in Rockwood, and did not challenge it.

Note: The version of "The Handmaid's Tale that is written (as opposed to comic book style with images) is still in Rockwood's libraries. The new law prompting this only applies to images of explicit sex; not written descriptions of it.

Dr. Shelley Willott (in charge of book challenges in Rockwood) said the district will post a list on its website of titles of any books they remove, and, will post it by the 28th. 

THE EVIDENCE 

This screenshot shows "Gender Queer" only Rockwood Summit and Eureka high schools. It was previously also at Lafayette.

National Destiny database

Parents who want to check Destiny, the online database, should also check the websites of the high schools they are checking. We are now seeing inconsistencies between what's seen online through high school pages and what's listed in the overall database that includes all schools across the country that use Destiny.

Example: The screenshot below shows 'The Handmaid's Tale graphic novel only at Rockwood Summit, but, when we linked to Destiny through the high school web pages, we saw it was also still in the library at Eureka high school. 

For a while now, a search of Eureka high school in the national Destiny database has only shown eBooks, and has not shown hard copies. 

CHECK YOUR DISTRICT

To check your district's school libraries for books with explicit sex images, visit the school's web page. Click the library tab and then click the Destiny catalog. Start with the high schools.