Joe McWilliams
For South Peace News
Rural newspaper reporters spent some time online with Alberta’s Minister of Education and Childcare June 17, talking mostly about age-appropriate materials in school libraries.
Minister Dimitrios Nicolaides started by saying the government’s purpose is to set some high-level guidelines on what sort of materials shouldn’t be accessible to elementary school students. After that, he said, it will be up to school boards to adjust their policies accordingly.
The issue came up earlier this year after somebody complained about pictures in four graphic novels they had discovered in a school library or libraries. Nicolaides returned again and again to the idea that “graphic depictions” of sexual activity, molestation and self-harm, should not, in the government’s opinion, be where young children can see them. None of the reporters who spoke up seemed to have any issue with that. One question, tough, was about the public libraries that share space with school libraries. How about their content?
Nicolaides said he does not have the authority to regulate what happens in them, but he has spoken about it with the new Minister of Municipal Affairs, Dan Williams, and expects something can be done. There are 55 such libraries in Alberta, he said.
George Lee, of the Macleod Gazette, asked what sort of evidence, beyond the handful of graphic novels, the government has that there are objectionable materials in school libraries.
It’s almost impossible to know the full extent, Nicolaides said.
“These are the ones that were brought to our attention.”
There were several questions regarding specific individual situations, The minister insisted the government does not want to interfere in board business. It’s up to them to set the policies, he said. The minister is going make a statement – in the form of a ministerial order – on the policy. Then it’s up to the boards to figure out how to put that into their policies.
What if it doesn’t work?
We’ll be happy to work with any school board, Nicolaides said.
The roundtable with rural reporters was the latest in a series of such sessions set up by the government, specifically to give smaller town news organizations access to government ministers.