Age appropriate, and explanation

By John Wills - Iowa House Speaker Pro Tem

Editor's note - The Dickinson County News reached out to Spirit Lake Schools after receiving State Rep. John Wills' newsletter the afternoon of Feb. 16. The school district was offered a chance to respond or otherwise comment on Rep. Wills' claims, and comment was received from the district Tuesday, Feb. 21. Prior to the district returning comment to the newspaper, Rep. Wills authored a second newsletter, which was received by the Dickinson County News on Saturday, Feb. 18. That supplementary newsletter appears below.

Wow, I did not think that one through! I feel I must apologize for throwing Spirit Lake School District "under the school bus" on Thursday with my newsletter titled "Banning Books — no, Age Appropriate — yes." When I am doing my weekly newsletter, I try to limit the number of words, first, so that you will read it and second, to be respectful of newspapers who publish my newsletter and often have space concerns.

In the data that I cited, there were 51 school districts in the state who were investigated as to having age inappropriate content in books. The closest school district on that list was Spirit Lake Schools, which I feel is a wonderful school and which I feel does a great job. I did not mean to cause the school district a problem, only to say that no school district is safe from this problem.

I honestly believe that a vast number of schools have simply made a mistake in putting these books on the shelf. Schools like Spirit Lake, who have 12 books, probably didn't even know the content of the books that were in the study. However, there are schools in Iowa that have 71 of these books on their shelf. I don't think it possible that those school districts don't know they have this content on their shelves.

In addition, in talking with Spirit Lake Schools, I understand that, by the time my newsletter came out, a majority of these books were already not available to children. So, to the Spirit Lake Schools, I am sorry for putting you into a position that caused you extra headaches. The school didn't ask me to say I am sorry, but it is the right thing to do. I am sorry! It was my intent to shine the light on this issue because many simply do not know how severe it is and to say it can happen in any school district.