For all the students that enjoy reading something that a parent may not approve of, whether that be a juicy romantic novel or an embarrassing advice magazine with tips for growing up, the school library is an easily accessible place for anyone PreK-12 to check out books of many genres without the permission of a parent, as the district approves all of these books before hitting the shelves. However, that safety blanket that shields each check out could be taken away.

The Nebraska Legislature recently introduced a bill that would allow parents to view what their children check out at the school library. That means there will be some sort of notification, whether that be an email, a school app, or anything else that will inform parents of what their student reads.

LB390 was introduced as a bill that would require the school board to adopt a policy that would give guardians access to school library information.  In the Nebraska Legislature website, on the Statement of Intent, it states that, “LB390 supports transparency by requiring school libraries to publish an online catalog of books in the district’s library and provides the opportunity for a parent of a student to be notified of the materials checked out by their child.”  Some students couldn’t care less about this bill.

“I don’t typically check out books in the library, so I don’t really have a problem with this bill,” junior Janet Nass said.

For others, they take this bill a little more seriously.

“I mean, I don’t really care, but at the same time, it is a little invasive,” senior Mya Hawkins said.

Regardless of how students feel about the bill, the Millard district already allows parents to view what their children check out.

In an interview with Dr. Angela Daigle, the Library Services Department Head, she said that the Millard district has multiple tools, including an app, that not only show what is available in the district-wide library catalog, but also the specific titles that are checked out by students.

If parents want to see what their student has checked out, they are able to download the Millard Public Schools app and access the library titles their child has chosen.

Daigle said that the Millard Public Schools app has been an option for parents for years, but it is just not as widely known to families now, because it’s more common that parents are using ParentVue from Synergy more frequently.

Both the print and online book collections are also already publicly viewable from the schools’ web sites, so no changes would need to be made for Millard to  meet the requirements of the bill should it pass.

*The bill passed on final reading April 10 by a vote of  34 yays-14 nays-1 excused not voting and is awaiting the governor’s signature.