Censorship at My School

Recently, our school received boxes of books from the district. They came in packages and arrived with organized blue bins. As students started exploring the books, we started to have problems with some of the content and language within the books. It only took a few weeks before parents started calling the principal with concerns. We were asked to pull some of the books from the bins without any discussion. Later a student found the "b" word in a Judy Blume book. Again without any discussion, we were asked to pull the books. I didn't feel that this was the best way to deal with the books. It actually just made the students more interested in reading them. I thought we should discuss it as a staff and maybe have a permission form that parents need to sign in order for the child to access that book. I didn't feel that it was dealt with in a manner where teachers could voice their opinion. To me, some of the best books out there have been banned or have inappropriate language. So the question is at what point do we pull some of the best books due to the content or language. Maybe I am just more liberal, but I feel that students deserve to read great literature even if it means children are exposed to some adult language and content.