As more books continue to get banned in different school districts in Texas, the Eagle Mountain-Saginaw ISD school board has yet to pull any books out of the library.

With scrutiny on the rise in the area, the CTHS librarian Mylie James said the opposition may come from the opposing sides of the elections.

“We are in an election year,” James said. “You see these things kind of pop up more during election years because of people trying to appease their voting base.”

James said similar to Keller ISD, the district would be open about it if it happened. While EMSISD officials have not made a statement, James said she thinks they would if asked about the information.

“Keller ISD has been very open about which books they have pulled from their library,” James said. “I don’t think [we] would advertise it on social media that we banned this book, but if somebody was asking about it, they’d be open and honest about whether or not we had to pull it and why.”

Senior Rosemary Souvannalath said since school is an environment for learning, being taught about them in school would be more comfortable than learning from the outside world.

“You’re meant to learn at school,” Souvannalath said. “It’s different whenever you’re exposed to it in the outside world, whenever it just hits you. But like school, you’re able to ease into the knowledge about that certain topic instead of experiencing it on your own and your like ‘Woah, that’s kind of a lot.’”

Souvannalath said that instead of being restricted, books with mature themes should be kept, and sectioned off to differentiate them from other books.

“In the general public, I do think that they should be kept just because there’s no need to block anyone’s knowledge if they’re curious about it,” Souvannalath said. “In high school, I kind of think it’s the same way. Maybe if you section it off in a different section, kind of like make sure that students, in particular, are aware that these topics are more mature topics to be discussed.”

Regarding high school students and the mature themes that they are already subjected to, English teacher Elaine Brevard said only certain books are necessary to deliver more serious messages to high school students that discuss mature themes.

“I think there’s some content that is not needed or/and not necessary in order to teach what we have to teach,” Brevard said. “There are so many books out there that it’s so easy to find a book that teaches what you need to be taught that does not have explicit content.”

Brevard said despite the topics of these books being unfit for schools, it is still important for students to educate themselves on these subjects before graduating high school.

“I think that kids, with the approval of their guidance and their parents, should be able to look at the information that is out in the world and make up their own minds about what they think they need to know, and what they think is appropriate,” Brevard said. “I think knowledge is power, and I think that you eventually have to open up the door and say, ‘okay, you can look at this.’”

The next school board meeting is scheduled for Monday, Nov. 14, and the continuous book-banning incidents could be on their list of concerns