LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Kentucky lawmakers established a statewide challenge process for parents last month, legislation they said is meant to protect kids from pornographic material in instruction material, school events or books.

Gov. Andy Beshear decided not to take action after Senate Bill 5 passed the House and Senate. Secretary of State Michael Adams said the bill moved on to his office to become law without the governor's signature.

While many school districts already have policies in place, the bill sets a statewide standard and time requirements for how districts should address complaints on books, instruction materials or school events that parents find harmful to minors. Here's how the challenge process will work under new state law:

  • Parents makes a complaint to a school principal
  • Principal then has seven business days to review it and make a decision and 10 business days total to meet with the parent on the decision
  • If the parent wants to appeal the principal's decision, it goes to the school board
  • The board then has 30 calendar days to weigh in
  • If the board still disagrees with the parent, then the parent can request their child not have access to the material

Supporters of the change said it will protect children from harmful content like graphic violence or pornography. Critics — particularly LGBTQ advocates — have called it a book ban, saying it's a slippery slope and oversteps the role of educators.

"It's a way of allowing parents who might have homophobic or transphobic tendencies to push their own agendas through the school board," said Emma Curtis, LGBTQ advocate against the measure. "It's the definition of what is harmful to minors and what can be banned as a result. That's really scary to me in regards to the LGBTQ community."

Under the new law, parents can argue something is harmful to kids if it falls under these parameters:

  1. Contain the exposure, in an obscene manner, of the unclothed or apparently unclothed human male or female genitals, pubic area, or buttocks or the female breast, or visual depictions of sexual acts or simulations of sexual acts, or explicit written descriptions of sexual acts;
  2. Taken as a whole, appeal to the prurient interest in sex; or
  3. Is patently offensive to prevailing standards regarding what is suitable for minors.

Jen Gilbert, a school librarian in Henry County and president of the Kentucky Association of School Librarians, said every school district in the state except for two already has a book challenge policy.

"I don't think a lot of formal paperwork is how we solve things," Gilbert said. "I think there's a lot of really good intentions but I also just have a lot of concerns about sweeping changes that take away freedoms."

"A lot of times those concerns can be addressed with a simple conversation. ... They don't go into a formal complaint."

Miranda Stovall, who challenged "Gender Queer: A Memoir" in Jefferson County Public Schools last year, said the whole process took her about eight months.

"This unifies a process across the state for parents to object to obscene materials that their children might have access to without their knowledge," Stovall said. "(But) eight months was very grueling to get through."

Stovall's challenge ended up being denied.

"I feel like that might help parents step up and be able to challenge or dispute something that they know is inappropriate in a shorter amount of time and not take almost a full year of your life to do," Stovall said.

Gilbert said the selection of books was careful and thoughtful before the new law passed and will continue to be.

"Educators want to work with parents and want to do what's best for students, and that's not changing," she said. "We we love kids and we want to do what's best for them.”

JCPS said the district's challenge plan already in place started with the principal, but any appeals ended with the superintendent. The new law also sets faster time requirements. 

The Kentucky Department of Education is required by law to create the model policy by May 1, and school boards and districts are required to adopt a policy that meets all of the requirements by July 1.

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