Menomonee Falls parent group fights back against book ban

MENOMONEE FALLS, Wis. (CBS 58) -- A parent group in Menomonee Falls challenged the school district's decision to ban 33 books from the high school library.

The books were banned in October.

"It wasn’t a surprise to me, honestly, that they went after books, because it is a part of the agenda," said Hallie Schmeling, co-lead of Grassroots Menomonee Falls Area, a group of parent activists in Menomonee Falls advocating for their children's education.

She said the school district's latest move to ban 33 books from the high school library was unacceptable.

"The books got into the library in the first place by these library media specialists who followed their review process," said Schmeling.

The books being pushed out by the school district range from titles like "The Kite Runner," "The Perks of Being a Wallflower," and "Sold" by Arthur Patricia McCormick.

"It's about child trafficking, which is something that kids in the United States need to know about, it's happening here," said McCormick.

McCormick said with the introduction of book banning, kids could miss out on new worldly perspectives.

"We are failing our kids if we don’t make them aware of the world as it is, if we don’t prepare them for the world that they are going to encounter," said McCormick.

Nina Christensen, president of the Menomonee Falls School Board, sent CBS 58 a statement that reads in part, "This is not about banning books. It is about compliance with our district’s policy and procedure 365."

The statement goes on to say, "It is based on age/grade appropriateness with the focus on limiting material with sexually explicit content and profanity."

Schmeling still has questions about the policy used to enforce the removal of the 33 books.

"What about the policy? What about any type of vetting process? Which procedure and policy are we following? Why are we cherrypicking?" said Schmeling.

CBS 58 took those questions to Superintendent David Munoz, but we were turned away.

Schmeling said it's the lack of transparency and communication she's looking to change.

"We're not saying all of them need to be there, but we're saying go through the process with the professionals, with everybody at the table, let's do it," said Schmeling.