Board and Administrative Policies
Our Mission
Our mission is to teach information literacy in collaboration with classroom teachers within the context of the content curriculum, inspire and develop a love of reading and provide diverse materials and services to enable students to become lifelong learners and effective users of information.
Policies
Regarding donations: Richardson ISD appreciates your support to our school libraries and LITEs. At the moment, the District is not currently in need of donated library materials. In lieu of physical book donations, please consider a monetary donation to the Richardson ISD Foundation. Richardson ISD LITEs engage students in activities that extend far beyond library books, and the Richardson ISD Foundation Impact Grants provide funding to innovative RISD educators, including librarians, to support and enrich student learning.
School Library Advisory Council
In the 89th Legislative Session, SB 13 created the School Library Advisory Council (SLAC), a local body designed to provide recommendations on proposed library materials as well as policies and processes relating to library acquisition and challenges.
RISD Library Materials Selection
RISD campus libraries are designed to provide a balanced collection of materials that:
- Enrich and support the curriculum, taking into consideration students’ varied interests, abilities, learning styles, and maturity levels.
- Stimulate growth in factual knowledge, enjoyment of reading, literary appreciation, aesthetic values, and societal standards.
- Present various sides of controversial issues in an objective, balanced matter.
- Represent many ethnic, religious, and cultural groups; reflect the diversity of students and staff; and foster an understanding and appreciation of culture, class, language, ethnicity, and other differences that exist in society.
- Respect the rights and values of individuals and families.
In the selection of instructional resources, professional staff shall ensure that the resources:
- Support and are consistent with the general educational goals of the state and District and the aims and objectives of individual schools and specific courses consistent with the District and campus improvement plans.
- Meet high standards for artistic quality and/or literary style, authenticity, educational significance, factual content, physical format, presentation, readability, and technical quality.
- Are appropriate for the subject area and for the age, ability level, learning styles, and social and emotional development of the students for whom they are selected.
- Are designed to help students gain an awareness of our pluralistic society, fostering an understanding and appreciation of culture, class, language, ethnicity, and other differences that exist in society.
- Reflect the diversity of students and staff.
- Are designed to provide information that will motivate students and staff to examine their own attitudes and behavior; to understand their duties, responsibilities, rights, and privileges as citizens participating in our society; and to make informed choices in their daily lives.
Reconsideration of Instructional Resources
Challenge of Library Material
A district employee, a parent or guardian of a District student, or a District resident may challenge library material maintained in the District’s library program.
According to Board Policy EFB(LOCAL), the following principles shall guide the review of a request to reconsider a library material:
- An individual may challenge library material used in the District’s library program, despite the fact that the professional staff, School Library Advisory Council (SLAC), and the Board followed the proper procedure, and adhered to the objectives and criteria for recommending and procuring library materials set out in this policy.
- Access to challenged material shall be restricted during the challenge process.
In addition to compliance with state law and this policy, a criterion for the final decision on challenged library materials is the appropriateness of the material for its intended use. No challenged library material shall be removed solely because of the ideas expressed in the library material or the personal background of the library material’s author or the personal background of the characters in the material.
Formal Request
If an employee, a parent or guardian of a District student, or a District resident wishes to challenge library material, they shall follow the procedures to complete and submit the RISD Library Materials Challenge form.
No later than the fifth day after the date on which a school district receives a written challenge, the district will provide a copy of the challenge to the SLAC. In addition to copies of the completed form being provided to the members of the SLAC in accordance with law, copies shall also be provided to the Board, the Superintendent, the Library and Information Technology Educator, and any other staff designated in administrative procedures.
Formal Reconsideration
The SLAC shall consider the challenge in accordance with Board-adopted procedures and in accordance with law and shall make a recommendation to the Board no later than the 90th day after the date on which the council receives the copy.
Any meetings of the SLAC or a review committee must comply with the meeting requirements under Education Code §33.024(g) and (h).
The Superintendent, the Library and Information Technology Educator, the individual submitting the challenge, and any other appropriate staff shall receive a copy of the SLAC’s recommendation.
The Board of Trustees shall take action at the first open meeting held after the SLAC has made a recommendation regarding the challenge.
Appeal
An individual who submitted a challenge may appeal the decision of the SLAC to the Board in accordance with the challenge procedures.
When considering the appeal, the Board shall consider the factors in Education Code §33.027(f). The Board shall consider appeals in accordance with timelines set out in law.
Frequency of Review
After a library material has been challenged and the Board determines not to remove the library material from a school library catalog, it may not be challenged again before the second anniversary of the Board’s final decision not to remove the material.
Removal of Library Materials
If a challenge to a library material results in the removal of the library material from the school library catalog, each teacher assigned as the classroom teacher at the grade level for which the library material was removed shall be notified and instructed to remove any copy of the library material from the teacher’s classroom library, if applicable.
Request Forms
You can contact your school LITE or campus administrator to obtain a form.
You can also download the Request for Reconsideration of Instructional Materials form here. Please complete and sign the form, and schedule a meeting with your campus principal to submit the form.