Children's Books discussion
Banned Books: discussions, lists
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Discussion of censorship, equity, and other concerns.
Lots of follow-up on that! I read Homeland and I thought it was very nice. It's about longing for your homeland and sharing those memories with your family. Plus the father's stories take place before 1967. Funny how the author's grandfather was a respected member of the community and beloved by everyoneWatertown Library to host meeting regarding harassment over two featured children's book
Massachusetts Authors Against Book Bans
@massaabb.bsky.social
The Watertown Free Public Library (MA) has been receiving organized harassment for including 2 books on suggested summer reading lists.
Watertown Free Public Library has received >2000 emails from across the country, as well as some direct local harassment, claiming that 2 books on their suggested summer reading lists are antisemitic.
Support the library and defend the freedom to read JULY 31 at 7 pm at the library board meeting at the Watertown Middle School.
@authorsabb.bsky.socia
https://preview.redd.it/watertown-lib...
A Map for Falasteen: A Palestinian Child's Search for Home
Homeland: My Father Dreams of Palestine
Some letters to the editor from the would-be banner plus all the pushback
https://www.watertownmanews.com/2025/...
and the opposite end of the spectrum
https://www.watertownmanews.com/2025/...
and the author of Homeland: My Father Dreams of Palestine writes about the harassment she has received for her autobiographical picture book!
Massachusetts is working on that anti-book ban law!Two weeks ago members of Massachusetts Authors Against Book Bans delivered testimony at the State House in Boston in support of An Act Regarding Free Expression.
Massachusetts Authors Against Book Bans
@massaabb.bsky.social
https://malegislature.gov/Events/Hear...
And back to the regularly scheduled shenanigans in Florida.Hillsborough schools under state fire again over library book
Education Commissioner Anastasios Kamoutsas pointed a finger directly at Superintendent Van Ayres.
https://www.tampabay.com/news/educati...
Almost two months after a scathing letter and verbal questioning of district Superintendent Van Ayres at a state board meeting over books the state deemed inappropriate, Education Commissioner Anastasios Kamoutsas called out the superintendent in a post to X on Monday evening.
He posted a picture of the book “Trans Mission: My Quest to a Beard,” a memoir by transgender YouTuber Alex Bertie that is available in nine high schools in Hillsborough County, according to the media catalogue. The book is also available at one school in Pinellas County. The book was challenged in Clay County, but returned to shelves.
The district “continues to expose students to inappropriate content in their media centers, even after the State Board of Education addressed the issue,” Kamoutsas wrote. Tagging Ayres, he added: “I expect this to be remedied immediately or you can expect another invite to our next meeting.”
The post was shared by the newest Desantis appointee to the state Board of Education, Layla Collins, who ran against and lost to board member Nadia Combs for a spot on the Hillsborough County school board last fall.
In her post, Collins singled out both Combs and board chairperson Jessica Vaughn.
“The responsibility for this lays squarely on the Hillsborough County School Board’s Chair ... who refuses to follow laws,” she wrote. “She’s backed up by her counterparts like (Combs). The laws are clear. They are not suggestions. Follow the law!”
The superintendent acknowledged concern in his own post, saying the books were purchased before his time, and that he would “ensure that moving forward all books purchased at taxpayer expense are advancing academic achievement and student success.”
In an interview, Vaughn said it was unclear why she and Combs were singled out, and she was disappointed the only communication they received was via social media tags. Vaughn said the board did not vote on the book and no complaints had been raised about it, but she listened to the audiobook Tuesday morning. She said the book describes anatomy, but it was unclear what law the content violated. [The mere existence of a trans person?!]
“I can say myself and my fellow board members have reiterated time and time again that we’re committed to following the law,” she said. “I have repeatedly asked for a cooperative relationship with the Department of Education, as we all have, and said if there’s something that that we’re doing that violates something, be explicit about it. Be clear about it. I don’t understand why it constantly has to be this adversarial, attacking, divisive, accusatory approach to solving problems in education. We are focused on the important things that matter to our families, to our community.”
Vaughn said asking questions was not against the law, and the entire seven-person board was in favor of following the law.
Combs also wished for more clarity from the state.
“No one wants inappropriate books in schools,” she said. “If there’s a specific book or list, that just needs to be sent out.”
Long Island, New Yorkuh-huh... sure
Eastport-South Manor school district says no censorship, ban on 'obsolete' book list -
https://www.newsday.com/long-island/e...
Paywalled
IndianaAfter loss of state funding, Johnson County library launches campaign to keep free book program for kids
Imagine Library of Johnson County sends free books to children from birth to age five.
https://www.wthr.com/article/news/edu...
And back to the regularly scheduled shenanigans in FloridaTake 2
(This is our old friend, Duval County who started things off by removing the Essential Voices collection)
DCPS removing school books without official challenges from Duval parents
video:
https://www.actionnewsjax.com/news/lo...
text:
https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/d...
Duval County Public Schools is pulling some books from library shelves without formal challenges from parents, and literary freedom groups argue the “shadow review” process cuts parents out of the conversation.
According to the Florida Freedom to Read Project, 24 titles tracked by the group mysteriously disappeared from Duval County Public Schools back in June.
Action News Jax confirmed with the district via public records request that it had no copies of the books as of July 30th.
That’s despite the district having as many as 41 copies of some of the books as recently as May.
Meanwhile, for the past two years in a row, DCPS has reported zero book removals on the annual state report.
Stephana Ferrell with the Florida Freedom to Read Project noted DCPS isn’t alone in its efforts to quietly cull books.
“This is something that appears to be happening, and quietly, without parents being informed or being able to participate in the review process,” said Ferrell.
According to the district, the 24 books on the list we asked about are either, “not on our bookshelves or are under review.”
The district said once a book is placed under review, it is temporarily removed from circulation pending a determination on the book’s alignment with state curriculum laws.
According to the district, books can be flagged for review through a media center scan, because another district reported removing the title, or a book is formally challenged by a parent.
But Ferrell notes none of the 24 books were formally challenged in Duval.
What DCPS is doing is not inconsistent with the state law.
In fact, districts have been encouraged to cull their own collections based off of what other districts are doing.
But Ferrell argued it’s ironic that the book challenge movement that began based on parents’ rights is now seemingly cutting parents out of the equation altogether.
“So, it’s not necessarily about what local parents want anymore. It’s what the state has decided for everybody through threats and through pressure and intimidation,” said Ferrell.
We did ask the district to specify the exact reason behind the removal of each book on the Florida Freedom to Read Project’s list, whether it be a formal challenge, action taken by another district or a media center scan.
We’re still waiting to hear back.
PEN AmericaC is for Confusion: Why ban books about cats and dogs?
https://pen.org/why-ban-books-about-c...
Why PEN America is Doubling Down on Florida https://pen.org/doubling-down-on-flor...
Our latest report, The Blueprint State, a joint project with the Florida Freedom to Read Project, warns that the “parental rights” agenda has reshaped education in Florida and is now being exported nationwide. The state’s laws allow any parent, or in some cases, any resident, to file a complaint with their local school district about a book containing any so-called “sexual conduct,” triggering its immediate removal until the complaint is resolved. The Florida Department of Education must then publish a list of all removed titles—essentially creating an unofficial blacklist. Districts take note, and even books that haven’t been challenged locally begin disappearing from school shelves.
And what do Florida families actually want? Our report makes this clear: 100% of families in 19 school districts and at least 99% in 13 more chose to grant their children full access to their school libraries. But those choices are rendered meaningless by laws that allow a single objection to override the preferences of thousands.
Words can't describe how horrible Florida is to teachers. Ex-Brevard County teacher will not be hired back!
[fired for calling a trans student by their chosen name and not birth name without parental consent]
https://www.change.org/p/reinstate-ms...
Could George Orwell’s ‘1984’ be banned from Alberta’s school libraries?https://edmonton.citynews.ca/2025/08/...
Another from CanadaFrom Canada
Sask. author's anti-racism book is among 596 banned by U.S. Department of Defense for use in its schools
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskat...
stay up: racism, resistance, and reclaiming Black freedom is a book aimed at young adults to act as a primer on anti-racism theory.
It first hit the shelves in the fall of 2023, and uses Dill's experience growing up a Black kid on the Prairies to shed light on how white supremacy functions in North America and to help readers understand how racism impacts their lives.
"A couple of days ago, one of my editors, Khary at Annick Press, reached out to me and told me that he hated to be the bearer of bad news," Dill said.
He was informed students at 161 schools, run by the U.S. Department of Defense, would not have access to his book.
...
"If you were to look at the list of banned books, which is now publicly available, you'll see that a lot of the book titles revolve around things like racism, gender, things like, you know, trying to achieve equity within our society for different groups," Dill said.
"I have a feeling that those are the sorts of ideas that are a little bit more threatening to this administration that's in the U.S. right now."
Dill said a number of Saskatoon teachers have used his book as a tool in the classroom.
However, he has noticed further east, there tends to be a stricter "vetting process" when it comes to the books used for teaching — especially where the N-word is concerned — like in his book.
"Because it examines my experiences as a Black person and examines anti-Black racism in general, it does feature the use of the N-word, " Dill said, adding it is used in a critical way or it's documenting its use against Black people.
Many schools have now implemented policies that have completely banned the use of the N-word for study, he said.
"How do you authentically represent that time period and those atrocities without addressing the language that was used?"
These types of policies contribute to the erasure of Black experiences, he said.
"Yeah, some censorship that might be well-intentioned, but that has some pretty dire consequences in terms of reckoning with the truth and the reality of what has happened and what continues to happen to Black people here in North America."
More hysteria in North Carolina. The story is paywalled but I can guess what the argument is here. More manufactured hysteria over something the library doesn't actually carry, an excuse to ban LGBTQ+ stories and lives from existing in the public sphere."Davidson County School Board member Mur DeJonge is calling for several books to be removed from Davidson County Schools libraries that he says "can only be described as p---graphic."
At the school board's monthly meeting on Aug. 4, he read a statement announcing his intent to try to have several books removed from elementary, middle and high schools."
https://www.the-dispatch.com/davidson...
MichiganKent County judge denies request to toss school librarian’s lawsuit against Moms for Liberty member
https://michiganadvance.com/briefs/ke...
A West Michigan librarian’s case against a member of the far-right group Moms for Liberty will proceed following a Kent County judge’s decision to deny a request for summary disposition.
Christine Beachler, library media director for Lowell Area Schools in May filed a civil suit against Moms for Liberty associate Stefanie Boone, hitting back against what Beachler described as a “smear campaign” including name calling, harassment and a flood of false statements posted to Facebook, including allegations that Beachler is providing p----graphy to minors.
“It’s just really hard to talk about. That’s why I’ve actually been working from home a lot. … I mean being called a groomer, being called a p---phile, I was called a w--re, a smut peddler,” Beachler said in a previous interview with the Michigan Advance. “I’ve been an educator for 37 years and how can somebody call somebody that name that has invested their life in working with kids? It’s very hurtful and obviously untrue.”
...
While Boone and her attorney Matt DePerno filed a motion to have the case dismissed without a trial, Judge Christina Mims denied that request on Friday.
“We’re excited to move forward with discovery and show that the librarian is pushing p---n on kids and that she peddles smut,” Deperno told the Michigan Advance on Thursday.
...
Beachler’s attorney, Elizabeth Geary, said they were also happy with the judge’s ruling.
“We are pleased that the court saw through Defendants’ self-promoting attacks on libraries and librarians and rejected the motion to get out from under this case. We look forward to moving forward in discovery and demonstrating the harm that Defendants’ campaign against Christine has caused,” Geary said in an email.
Boone filed her own lawsuit against Beachler, the school district and several school employees in June 2024, alleging they had violated her parental rights. Beachler, the school district and its employees have filed a motion with the U.S. District Court Western District of Michigan’s Southern Division to have the matter dismissed. The Court has yet to rule on the motion.
Mod
Kudos to the Girl Guides for suspending trips to the USA (and hopefully Scouts Canada will soon consider the same). For with Donald Trump in charge and his Gestapo (ICE Agents) going crazy and being on a power trip, travelling to and in the USA is obviously increasingly unsafe safe (and frankly, the United States also does not deserve our tourist dollars until Trump and his cabal of Fascists and Stalinists are gone).
Mod
This is sick, and I hope that the victims will consider more than just being angry!!
Manybooks wrote: "https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/transge...This is sick, and I hope that the victims will consider more than just being angry!!"
The Trump Administration wants to make a statement. They don't care that eventually they will lose in court and cost the taxpayers millions of dollars. Trump sees that as Other People's Money and no skin off his orange nose.
BookRiot editor Kelly Jensen explains The Lie of “Local Control,” as Texas and Florida Signal What’s Next in Book Censorship: Book Censorship News, August 8, 2025
The actions Florida and Texas legislation is taking to target school libraries showcase what's to come nationwide. It's not "local control."
https://bookriot.com/the-lie-of-local...
Key points:
The new tactics being employed to censor books should serve to highlight what is to come in other states in the coming years. What we’ve already seen in terms of quiet censorship, the chilling effect, and the blatant lies about laws intending to return local control to public schools are only going to amplify. Florida and Texas officials are providing the roadmap.
Book Selection by Parental Committee in Texas
2025 Senate Bill 13 (SB 13) outlines the materials deemed “inappropriate” in public and public charter school libraries, designates where and how parents can become involved in local-level advisory committees (School Library Advisory Councils, or SLAC).
SLACs empower parents to make decisions about materials acquired for the library, materials removed from the library when such materials are challenged, and decide policy of those libraries. SLACs would be composed of at least five members, each appointed by the school board and a “majority” of whom are parents of students in the district. I.e. mostly members of far-right political action committees who have put "untold" amounts of money into Texas school board races to ensure that their agendas are passed at the district level. Now they can use those seats to further push far-right conservative agendas into the local school library via “parents.”
Librarians would still be allowed to propose materials for their collections, but librarians would need to take SLAC feedback into consideration before making such purchases.
SLACs are not required by Senate Bill 13, though. The bill makes clear that the local school board can continue to rely on their trained, professional library staff, so long as everything in the library meets the standards as outlined in the bill.
SLACs may be established by the local school board of trustees by board action, or by petition, in the case where a board has not already established a SLAC. 50 parents or 10% of parents, whichever number is smaller, must petition for a SLAC for it to be required in the district. Those petitioners are not automatically placed on the SLAC, either; the school board still chooses their committee members.
The bill’s language is intended to create a chilling effect and solicit compliance. Libraries already know the precarious position they’re in under the Texas legislature, and while library workers should be pushing back and educating their school boards about what SB 13 actually says, most aren’t. The state has created such a level of fear around libraries that library workers are simply staying quiet so as not to be made the next example of whatever the latest false accusation is.
SB 13 deprofessionalizes librarianship, while also being a clever means of creating more hoops through which library workers have to jump through to provide inclusive, diverse materials to their students.
Also, there's Steve Wandler, whose business BookmarkED/OnShelf aims to “help” school librarians navigate book bans. He and his company are poised to make a pretty penny from their software, which allows library workers in schools to “see” what books are being banned and whether or not they are in the collection.
The program “lets” library workers to keep track of the books that individual parents don’t want their students to access while providing parents a tool to find additional titles to add to those lists via “proprietary AI.” All of the tools provided by the software already exist in integrated library systems, but BookmarkED/OnShelf doesn’t appear to provide the security to ensure personal information of students are protected in the same way that legacy catalog systems do.
In summary: the state is controlling access to books. THIS is NOT democracy!
Con'tFlorida’s State-Pushed Book Bans at Public School Districts
Lawmakers have argued they could change the Miller test for defining obscenity on the grounds of Ginsberg v. New York, a 1968 Supreme Court case which ruled that some material may be harmful to children, even if it does not rise to the level of obscene.
Florida’s Education Commissioner and Attorney General contacted leadership at Hillsborough County Public Schools to bully them to remove books the state sees as obscene without formal review per school policy and state policy. Among those books was a title that the district had already had a challenge to and that went through the formal review process. It had been retained for certain grade levels.
Florida’s statute 1006.28 puts into place a series of requirements which school districts must follow when it comes to selecting and removing materials from the library. The goal here is to allow each school to operate locally, but that “local control” comes from adherence to a number of criteria.
Florida schools set their own policy, so long as it aligns with state laws. While Florida’s Department of Education requires that each school submit to them books removed from their libraries and why annually, those lists aren’t used to then demand removal of those books from additional schools.
The State Board of Education meeting the Superintendent of Hillsborough attended involved a series of continued threats toward the school. The Commissioner implied that the state law actually did kind of give the state authority in making decisions at the district level, and one member of the board said that all of the library workers in the district should simply be fired. Another board member said that Hillsborough shouldn’t bother reviewing the books on their shelves that were on the list of 600 books banned by other districts in the state; Hillsborough should simply remove them.
Hillsborough was threatened if they did not comply.
... The goal here wasn’t solely to target Hillsborough. It was to demand compliance and complicity in other school districts as well, and that was successful.
All of those actions were done despite the Statute permitting schools to make local-level decisions. All of those actions were taken to intimidate local officials into compliance with laws and authority that did not actually exist.
For the last four and a half years, book banners have shouted about curating collections in their own public schools and libraries being about “local control.” And yet, none of the laws being passed are actually about local control. They’re about the government doing precisely what the book banners insist they’re against: coparenting with the government.
To call it “coparenting” would be too generous. This is about the government doing all of the work of parenting, making it so parents never have to do the hard parts of actually parenting their children.
We have seen this playing out in Utah and South Carolina already, with state-sanctioned book bans. Utah bans books from all public schools if it has been banned in three public school districts; South Carolina bans books statewide if the Department of Education decides that if complaints of a single parent are enough to warrant that. If the government simply removes the books from shelves, no discussion of race, of sex, of gender, of human bodies, or anything outside of the narrow confines of far-right Christian ideology needs to be discussed. The “public” part of being part of the public is simply gone–the only exposure to the world comes from the narrow perspectives doled out with permission of the government.
As state government threatens local districts by demanding compliance via manipulatable mechanisms like SLACs and ever-changing interpretations of legal statutes, local control is seized, not permitted. The government takes local control away from the locals and puts it in their own pockets. They control what’s local.
By the government saying “local control” in one breath and acting as that local control in the next, they’re underscoring reality here. Local communities have said time and time again that they do not want book bans. That they do not want to waste time and taxpayer money on bigotry and hatred when there are real, actual issues related to education where that could be better spent. They want better support for educators, fully funded public schools, and school services that support the whole of their educational community (including things like robust IEPs, mental health services, disability services, and more–the very things the Department of Education under this administration wants to destroy).
The only way to retain control is to steal it and spread lies all the way down.
What Texas has set up with SB 13 is the opportunity for exploitation not only locally, but statewide.
Florida, with its gross overreach by the state in demanding book removals based on whatever legal loopholes they choose that day, shows exactly how this will happen.
“Local control” is about how the state can wrestle democracy away from the locals, not the other way around. It’s not all that different from how the Establishment Clause means one thing to most people but another thing all together to a small group hellbent on pushing their agenda onto others.
Erasure and removal of public goods are the end goal. By creating two systems–one established under the guise of “local control” and another by which such “local control” is really but an opportunity for the government to overrule–we see where and how public goods are undermined. These institutions lose their role as serving the whole public when they don’t bow to government officials, who use their power to threaten their livelihood.
Now with Texas entering the era of voucher schemes, it’s about to get a lot worse, a lot quicker, for all Texas communities. From here, the push will move to more and more states, opening up the door to even more destruction of public education and public access to knowledge, information, and recreation.
It also begs the question of which government is meant in rulings related to libraries and “government speech.”
https://bookriot.com/the-lie-of-local...
Kelly Jensen adds:The Florida Freedom to Read Project talks about the removal of local control this week, too, and highlights how the Florida Department of Education is now demanding book removals via Twitter.
https://www.fftrp.org/removal_orders_...
QNPoohBear wrote: "More from the Florida Freedom to Read ProjectBroward County Public Schools overturned three decisions by the Superintendent’s Review Committee to retain certain texts for HS students as a result ..."
Official news
Broward schools remove books from libraries, citing state order
https://www.sun-sentinel.com/2025/08/...
Broward school administrators have given schools a list of 55 books that must be removed, the latest move in a statewide effort to ban certain materials from school libraries.
The list includes titles that have been frequently challenged in Florida and around the country, including: “Forever…” by Judy Blume, “Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West” by Gregory Maguire, “This Book Is Gay,” by Juno Dawson, and “All Boys Aren’t Blue” by George M. Johnson.
The district said the removals are by order of the state Board of Education. Other school districts in the state are removing these same books.
Some state leaders say the books in question are p---graphic or have s--ually explicit passages that are inappropriate for minors. [Yes this is true in Wicked but the others are YA novels and Wicked is an adult novel!]
But critics see this as a way for Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration to ban more books and circumvent state law, which gives school districts the job of determining which books are acceptable for school libraries.
“DeSantis’ appointees are using their bureaucratic authority to override elected officials and voters to push these unpopular initiatives as if they are law,” said Stephana Ferrell, director of research and insight for the Florida Freedom to Read Project. “Right now, it seems no one with any power is willing to hold them accountable for these infringements.”
The order to remove books from Broward school libraries was detailed in a July 24 memo to principals from Fabian Cone, Broward’s academic officer. He cited a state Board of Education directive.
“The directive states that failure to comply may result in disciplinary action,” the memo states. “As such, Broward County Public Schools will implement a districtwide compliance plan to ensure all prohibited titles are identified, removed, and documented before the start of the 2025–2026 school year.”
...The order to remove books from Broward school libraries was detailed in a July 24 memo to principals from Fabian Cone, Broward’s academic officer. He cited a state Board of Education directive.
“The directive states that failure to comply may result in disciplinary action,” the memo states. “As such, Broward County Public Schools will implement a districtwide compliance plan to ensure all prohibited titles are identified, removed, and documented before the start of the 2025–2026 school year.”
Neither the district nor the state Department of Education were able to provide the South Florida Sun Sentinel with a specific written directive from the state asking Broward to remove these titles ...
Instead, officials from the state and the district referenced a June 4 meeting of the state Board of Education, when board members told the superintendent of the Hillsborough School District that these books are inappropriate for public school libraries. The list of 55 was originally brought up in the state Legislature when the House was considering a bill to make it easier to ban books in school libraries.
State law allows parents and members of the public to challenge books in their local school district. A committee reviews the request and determines whether the book, taken as a whole, is inappropriate. A Broward committee has mostly voted to keep challenged books in schools, although it recommended restricting some to high schools only.
Courts have generally ruled that material with some sexual content is not considered p---graphic unless, taken as a whole, it lacks literary or artistic value. The state House attempted this year to adopt a stricter definition in Florida, allowing books with sexually explicit content to be banned from schools, even if the materials have literary value.
During debate on the House bill, State Rep. Dana Trabulsy, R-Fort Pierce, said she had received excerpts of books and said she was shocked the material was available in school libraries in Hillsborough. ...
The bill passed largely on party lines in the House but stalled in the Senate and didn’t become law.
Still, the excerpts Trabulsy referenced drew the attention of both the state Attorney General James Uthmeier and the state Board of Education.
Uthmeier sent a letter to the Hillsborough School Board on May 15 identifying some of the books as “patently p---graphic in nature” and ordered their removal as well as a review of other possible inappropriate materials.
“I will monitor your actions to determine whether formal legal action by my office is warranted,” Uthmeier wrote. “Florida’s students and parents deserve better. Here, schools must focus on education, not indoctrination and certainly not rollicking forays into underage s--ual adventurism.”
The state Board of Education ordered Hillsborough Superintendent Van Ayres to appear at the June 4 meeting. During that meeting, board members blasted his district’s decision to include these books in school libraries.
“These are nasty, disgusting books that have no place in a school in Florida or even California,” Board of Education member Ryan Petty, who is now the board chair, said at the June 4 meeting. “They’ve no place being in the school. They serve no purpose.”
Board of Education members said that Hillsborough’s book selection and review process wasn’t working.
“Have you considered firing all your media specialists and starting from scratch with women and men who can read?” board member Grazie Pozo Christie asked Ayres. “These people that you trust to review these materials are abusing the children of your county.”
Ayres told the board he had the authority to remove books without sending them to a review committee and vowed to do so. Some districts have decided to do the same, including Orange, Osceola and Palm Beach counties.
“The School District of Palm Beach County is aware of the list of materials referenced in the June 4, 2025 State Board of Education meeting,” a district spokesman said. “Any of the specified materials found to be present in our school libraries have been removed.”
The Orange County School Board decided in June to remove the books, at the advice of their lawyer, John Palmerini, who said keeping any on district shelves could open the district up to further state scrutiny.
“While I disagree with their determination that these books are pornographic as the law defines it … I think it would be perilous for this board to allow these books to remain on the shelves,” Palmerini said at the Orange County meeting.
Some First Amendment advocates say this is not the way state law instructs districts to handle challenged books.
“It’s kind of the wild west now. We have these rules in place that the state is meant to follow for reviewing challenged books, but we seem to have hit a point where the Department of Education can just release a memo claiming any books are pornographic and must be removed from shelves,” said Sophia Noble Brown, program coordinator for PEN America Florida.
State Rep. Kelly Skidmore, D-Boca Raton, who also has opposed state efforts to ban books, said she’s angry about the state’s actions, including what she sees as a vilification of educators.
“The insinuation that teachers and librarians are purveyors of smut is something that I do not agree with,” she told the Sun Sentinel. “These are all educators. They’re professionals. We trust them in every other capacity, but suddenly now no one except the state can determine whether something is p---graphic or not. So, forget about the committees. Forget about the process that we have.”
The Sun Sentinel was not able to determine how many of the 55 books are in Broward schools. An online catalog requires users to search each title individually by school, and there are about 230 schools. The district is currently compiling the info, district spokeswoman Keyla Concepcion said.
“Schools were asked to report if any of the book titles were present in our media centers by Aug. 5,” Concepcion said. “We hope to sift through the responses by the end of the week.”
The Sun Sentinel conducted a spot check of some high school library catalogs and found a few of the titles listed. For example, Coconut Creek High had several books on the list, including “What Girls Are Made Of” by Elana Arnold, which was listed as “out for repair,” and “Tilt” by Ellen Hopkins, which was listed as available.
The library at Everglades High included “Last Night at the Telegraph Club” by Malinda Lo and “All Boys Aren’t Blue,” although both titles were listed as out for repairs.
An Orlando Sentinel public records request from several Central Florida districts found that few students had been checking out any of the 55 books on the list.
What happened to "it's just schools! You can get it at the public library"?South Carolina's Pickens County Public Library broke their own policies and moved 10 books from the teen area to the adult area
https://www.postandcourier.com/aikens...
MissouriFrancis Howell school district paid out a conservative consultant hired behind the district's back
https://www.stlpr.org/education/2025-...
Francis Howell School District paid a conservative consultant thousands of dollars in fees for services that were not approved by the Board of Education nor by the district, according to documents obtained by St. Louis Public Radio.
The consultant was contacted by board member Jane Puszkar, who served as treasurer in 2024 and was endorsed by the conservative Francis Howell Families Political Action Committee in 2022. Her term ends in 2026.
In April, former district Superintendent Kenneth Roumpos sent an email to Jordan Adams of J.C. Adams Consulting saying the district would pay Adams’ $3,000 invoice for work done in February.
Adams is a conservative consultant who offers services to review K-12 curriculum and materials for age-appropriate content.
The district paid Adams $3,000 on May 2, according to an accounts payable statement that was approved by the majority vote of the board during a May 15 meeting. Such payments are often rubber-stamped by school boards after review.
In his email, Roumpos makes clear that Puszkar hired Adams behind the backs of the district and the board.
Roumpos writes that the unauthorized work was initiated by Puszkar without “the support of the administration to engage in this work, nor did she have any votes from the majority of the Board of Education, aside from her own.”
The email continued, “based on lack of authorization from the administration or a vote of a majority of the board, this agreement should never have been executed.”
Roumpos then instructed Adams to deliver his work directly to him rather than Puszkar.
He adds that “no additional work with J.C. Adams Consulting LLC, is currently approved. Should FHSD decide to engage with you on any future projects, you will be contacted directly by a district administrator or by the Secretary of the Board of Education, following an affirmative vote by the majority of the FHSD Board of Education.”
On June 3, Adams sent his completed work to Roumpos.
The document titled, “New Resource Review, Francis Howell School District,” lists books available across various schools in the district during the 2024-25 academic year and suggests that they be reviewed “to ensure grade-level appropriateness, ideology-free content, and to provide parent notification as necessary.”
“The presence of a title on this list does not necessarily indicate that it should not be procured or made available to students,” the document reads.
Roumpos writes that the unauthorized work was initiated by Puszkar without “the support of the administration to engage in this work, nor did she have any votes from the majority of the Board of Education, aside from her own.”
The email continued, “based on lack of authorization from the administration or a vote of a majority of the board, this agreement should never have been executed.”
Roumpos then instructed Adams to deliver his work directly to him rather than Puszkar.
He adds that “no additional work with J.C. Adams Consulting LLC, is currently approved. Should FHSD decide to engage with you on any future projects, you will be contacted directly by a district administrator or by the Secretary of the Board of Education, following an affirmative vote by the majority of the FHSD Board of Education.”
On June 3, Adams sent his completed work to Roumpos.
The document titled, “New Resource Review, Francis Howell School District,” lists books available across various schools in the district during the 2024-25 academic year and suggests that they be reviewed “to ensure grade-level appropriateness, ideology-free content, and to provide parent notification as necessary.”
“The presence of a title on this list does not necessarily indicate that it should not be procured or made available to students,” the document reads.
Adams did not reply to a request for comment.
In a statement to STLPR, Puszkar maintained that there was no misuse of funds.
“There was no crime committed. There was no misuse of funds. There was an agreement by the Board to ascertain whether there are age inappropriate books/media in the Francis Howell School District libraries. We are currently working through the list of books provided to determine the amount of age inappropriate materials and will issue a comprehensive report when it is complete,” Puszkar said in a statement. “The many attacks on my integrity and accusations of a crime will be addressed legally. In the meantime, I look forward to making the school libraries safe and age appropriate for all Francis Howell students.”
Jamie Martin, president of the progressive PAC Francis Howell Forward, said she found the consultant’s relationship to conservative think tanks like the Heritage Foundation concerning.
“We're really interested in getting the culture wars to move on and get on with the business of education,” Martin said. “So to find or to see that a sort of political consultant really has been paid to review books in her district is concerning.”
...
Puszkar met Adams during an event held by the School Board Academy for Excellence in 2023, according to an email she sent to former board member Adam Bertrand.
SBAE is a national, conservative-leaning organization that helps train school board members across the country.
At the time, Adams did similar consulting work under a different organization’s name – Vermillion Education.
“Vermillion Education is an independent, nonpartisan, and non-religious K-12 education consultant helping public school board members strengthen the education offered in their districts,” the website states.
Adams, a graduate of the conservative Hillsdale College in Michigan, also led a presentation about how to support more conservative-leaning school board members during a Moms for Liberty event in 2023.
...
QNPoohBear wrote: "Florida bans Beanstack, a platform that offers summer reading challenges for kids and adults through libraries but doesn't link to any e-books or materials. This is because Beanstack offers a Pride..."St. Johns County School District reassures parents over learning platform
https://sjcitizen.com/st-johns-county...
The St. Johns County School District is assuring parents that it does not use Beanstack, an online reading platform flagged by Florida education officials for allegedly pushing political ideology and offering inappropriate content to students.
The clarification came in an email sent to parents this week, following a strongly worded directive issued by Acting Florida Education Commissioner Anastasios Kamoutsas.
In the memo, sent to administrators at all public and charter schools statewide, Kamoutsas wrote that Beanstack “provides access to material that is not age or developmentally appropriate for students.”
Kamoutsas accused the platform of undermining state policy and parental rights, stating, “Beanstack’s attempt to push an ideology, subvert parental rights, and ignore Florida policy is divisive and problematic.”
He warned administrators that they are now “on notice” and are responsible for adherence to state law.
Beanstack is commonly used in school districts and public libraries across the country to encourage reading through digital challenges and tracking tools. It often allows schools to curate reading lists and engage students in literacy programs.
But Florida education officials say certain content available through the platform violates state laws passed in recent years aimed at increasing transparency in instructional materials and strengthening parental rights over what children are exposed to in the classroom.
The letter did not offer any specific examples of objectionable material.
St. Johns County School District officials emphasized in their message to families that they do not currently use Beanstack in any form.
Florida warns schools of ‘divisive’ online platform used to catalog bookshttps://www.orlandosentinel.com/2025/...
An online reading platform used by school districts to comply with Florida book laws is now under fire by the state’s top education official who accused it, without providing specifics, of trying to “push an ideology” and “subvert parental rights.”
Education Commissioner Anastasios Kamoutsas sent a letter to districts on July 23, warning that the Beanstack platform “provides access to material that is not age or developmentally appropriate for students.”
Beanstack is used by more than 40 Florida school districts — including some of its largest, among them Orange County Public Schools and Broward County Public Schools — to catalog books in classroom libraries, log the time students spend reading and offer parents a way to see what titles are available in their children’s schools.
The company says no one can access materials through the platform, however. They can only read the titles of available books or take part in reading challenges. Still, Kamoutas’ letter, which he told superintendents to share with parents, prompted at least two school districts to suspend their Beanstack accounts and others to assure parents there was nothing inappropriate available through the platform.
Kamoutsas wrote that any district using Beanstack was “now on notice” and urged districts to review their use of the platform for violations of Florida law.
“Beanstack’s attempt to push an ideology, subvert parental rights in education and ignore Florida policy is divisive and problematic,” he said.
The Florida Department of Education did not respond to questions seeking specific examples of what Kamoutsas found objectionable.
Felix Brandon Lloyd, Beanstack’s CEO, wrote in an email that the company did its own investigation and determined that the incident it thinks prompted Florida’s letter — which he declined to provide information about — did not involve any Florida school districts’ Beanstack accounts.
“To our knowledge, no Florida public education institution provides access to materials not deemed by state laws to be age or developmentally appropriate for students through Beanstack,” he wrote.
Michael Ollendorff, a spokesperson for Orange County Public Schools, said Beanstack only shows book titles, author names and library book numbers. OCPS has used it since 2019 and increased its use in 2022 when a new state law required districts to review and catalog books in teachers’ classroom collections, not just those in school media centers.
In a subsequent message to school superintendents, Kamoutsas asked them to send his letter about Beanstack to all public school parents.
In Palm Beach County, parents got an email that read, “It is important to note that the School District of Palm Beach County does not use this platform, and we are sharing this letter at the direction of the Florida Department of Education.”
In Orange, the district shared the letter and later told staff that it will continue in the coming year to use Beanstack to log minutes for reading challenges and to catalog classroom libraries.
The Osceola County school district told parents in its message July 24 that it hadn’t violated any Florida law by using Beanstack, but also said it would suspend access to the program temporarily.
Broward schools did the same, Beanstack said in a social media post. The district’s webpages referencing Beanstack led to error messages on Friday.
Stephanie Vanos, an Orange County School Board member who has children in Orange’s public schools, said the commissioner’s letter was “aggressive” and “unnecessary,” adding that she had “real questions” about whether the state knew what Beanstack actually was.
“We would be happy to meet with any member of the (state) board of education and show them how we use Beanstack in Orange County, if that’s what they need,” Vanos said.
Vanos said the state’s letter adds to a “culture of fear” around books in Florida.
....
Library media specialists have had to navigate a confusing set of hurdles since Florida began passing these laws, said Kasey Meehan, the group’s Freedom to Read program director.
The state’s letter contains “chilling language” that adds to those hurdles but also makes an “absurd” charge against Beanstack, she said.
The state’s criticism of Beanstack comes as the education department awarded a four-year, $15.6 million contract to Trinity Education Group, a Maryland-based education technology firm, in 2024 to develop a state-sponsored system to catalog and object to library materials.
It’s unclear when the state’s school library book catalog could roll out to Florida school districts or how it would impact districts’ existing platforms, such as Beanstack.
MissouriNixa graduates reunite to organize summer events against book bans
After moving out of state for college, the 2024 graduates who founded Nixa Students Against Book Restrictions (SABR) reconnected to organize two summer “Day of Action” events
https://sgfcitizen.org/government/chr...
When Thomi Brown and Deliliah Neff were students at Nixa High School, they watched public controversy and backlash against certain young adult books boil over in their community.
The Christian County Library District saw a record number of requests to reconsider books in the children’s and young adults’ sections in 2023 as a dedicated group of residents began addressing the library board in meetings and speaking out against materials they found unsuitable for the shelves.
At the same time, the Nixa School Board voted to remove four books from the high school library, which members of the public had raised concerns over.
“I think that the school board that was making the decisions, and also the parents that were speaking for us, were not listening to us,” Brown said.
She and Neff, along with other friends, began sitting in on school board meetings and speaking to the board. These meetings were heated at times, and the students remember that the crowd heckled some of their friends.
“I felt super angry and I felt super devalued as a student, that these adults in the room who are supposed to protect the children are booing and heckling us,” Neff said. She explained that the experience was hurtful, but it also gave Neff and her friends “fuel to keep going and fighting for these books.”
The students ultimately started a group called Nixa Students Against Book Restrictions (SABR) to oppose efforts to remove and restrict young adult library materials.
Brown and Neff are now heading into their sophomore years of college and have both moved to different states, but they kept up with Nixa SABR and tried to continue their advocacy from afar. This summer, they reunited to host two “Day of Action” events in Springfield bookstores on June 28 and July 26.
California an anti-book ban state
Kelly Jensen reports: " 'He said it was also important the county restricted Fresno County Library displays, like the downtown location’s book shelf near the entrance that highlighted authors from the LGBTQ+ community.' Fresno, California’s, County Supervisor is micromanaging all of the celebrations the city will partake in, including down to saying LGBTQ+ book displays in the library are against policy now. Fresno County’s leadership has been obsessed with banning books and topics of books from the library for a long time, and because they were blocked from doing so due to the anti-book banning bill in the state, this is their new solution."
https://www.fresnobee.com/news/local/...
A queer author moved to Maryland to dodge discrimination. Book bans have followed. Saundra Mitchellhttps://archive.ph/GJjlo#selection-11...
The Supreme Court ruling in a Montgomery County case weighs on local authors
The year that Indiana banned “obscene” books from school libraries, Saundra Mitchell fled the state she had known her entire life.
The author, with books banned in 16 states, said she sought refuge in Maryland, thinking its Freedom to Read law would make life a little easier for her and her librarian wife.
But two years into their new life in Anne Arundel County — and six months into the Trump administration — Mitchell is learning her adopted blue state isn’t immune from the culture war against books in schools. One of the latest battles happened in Montgomery County and resulted in a U.S. Supreme Court ruling. Parents across the state, including in Harford County, continue to push for bans.
Many fear that the Supreme Court’s decision in June to allow parents to opt their kids out of lessons involving books with LGBTQIA+ characters will only lead to more challenges against books.
That puts authors like Mitchell in a complicated spot: She can either change the way she writes or prepare for a tougher sell of books on banned lists or those that school officials see as too controversial.
But the 51-year-old, an author and editor of 20 books, has been fighting back — in protests at the Supreme Court in Washington and in the pages of her stories.
“They’re trying to erase whole groups of people from the public eye, because if they can make us disappear, then they can subjugate us,” Mitchell said.
...
After being kicked out of the Army in the early 1990s for being queer, she started writing scripts for a small production company, the Dreaming Tree. Her dream then was to be a Hollywood writer, but she stayed in Indiana so her young daughter could be near both her parents.
Still, she stuck with writing, eventually specializing in young adult novels.
In 2023, Indiana lawmakers passed a bill that forbade books deemed “obscene” or “harmful to students” in school libraries. That same year, the state banned gender-affirming care for minors.
That was the year Mitchell moved. One of her adult daughters came along, as well as Mitchell’s wife of nearly 30 years, Jayne Walters, whom she met online.
Deciding to leave a place she’s known for 50 years wasn’t easy, but she had had enough of the state’s anti-LGBTQIA+ bills and didn’t want to risk being there during a second Donald Trump presidency.
She learned two states had laws to protect books and rights for transgender people: Maryland and Minnesota. She leaned south for a few reasons — Maryland is more diverse, and one of her favorite shows, “Homicide: Life on the Street,” took place there.
The drivers aren’t great, and neither is the cost of living, she said. But her decision was validated two weeks after the move. Walters, who moved a few weeks before Mitchell, had joined the board of Annapolis Pride. The news was in a local newspaper, with Walters’ picture attached.
A man approached Walters, who is transgender, outside a Pasadena grocery store one day.
“If a stranger is going to come up to talk to my wife, there’s a 50-50 chance in Indiana that’s going to be a very negative interaction,” Mitchell said.
As it turns out, the stranger recognized Walters from the newspaper and was welcoming her to the state.
Annapolis, where Mitchell and her family first moved, was too expensive, and within a year they moved to Glen Burnie. The rent is cheaper, but still more than three times their Indiana mortgage payment.
“People think, ‘Oh, you’re an author. You have so much money,’” Mitchell said. “I don’t have retirement savings because I have been dedicated to writing books about queer characters for the entire length of my career. I don’t get books that they give you tons of money for.”
Mitchell sold her first book, “Shadowed Summer,” in 2007. It’s the story of a girl who contacts the ghost of a boy who disappeared 25 years earlier. It’s later revealed (view spoiler)
“Even that little amount of queerness in my book, my editor tried to cut it all out,” Mitchell said.
People weren’t going to invite her to talk about the book, her editor warned. Scholastic Book Fair, Mitchell said, offered to buy 1,500 copies if she cut out any gay references. ..
Her editor accused her of being problematic for refusing to change anything, and Mitchell was later fired by her agent.
After that, she found the agent she still works with today, and he’s gay. In “Looking for Group,” which she wrote under the pen name Roy Harrison, a gay boy and trans girl go on a cross-country trip to find a legendary Spanish galleon believed buried in California’s Mojave Desert.
The story was special to Mitchell, but the chilling effect of the “Shadowed Summer” drama set in. Fearing her characters’ identities and sexualities would keep the book from selling, she “straightwashed” them — making them straight and cisgender— before handing in her manuscript. Feeling guilty, she confessed to her agent.
“Look, your job is to write the book that you mean,” she recalled her agent telling her. “My job is to sell it.”
After she returned the characters’ true identities, the book was later listed as one of Teen Vogue’s 10 Best Queer Books.
Mitchell said she was “full steam ahead” after that, unapologetically writing stories and characters her way. She has 18 books out now, which include anthologies she has edited, and two more on the way.
...
Former Republican Texas state Rep. Matt Krause compiled a list of 850 books that he said “might make students feel discomfort, guilt, anguish, or any other form of psychological distress because of their race or sex,” according to NPR. His list included books about race, puberty and sexuality. Most were written by people of color and LGBTQIA+ writers, reported The Texas Tribune.
Mitchell was one of them.
From then, she noticed other states adopting similar lists and banning books from schools.
After Mitchell moved to Maryland, she learned that Carroll County’s Moms for Liberty chapter had flagged her 2019 book, “All the Things We Do in the Dark,” during the far-right parent group’s campaign to remove “s--ually explicit” books from the Carroll’s school libraries.
The book is about a girl who survives rape and was inspired by Mitchell’s own experiences, she said. Parents labeled it as p--graphy. The book didn’t sell well, she said.
“People think, ‘Oh, it must be fun to get your book banned,’” Mitchell said. “It is not fun. It is humiliating and frustrating, and you feel powerless because there’s only so much that you can do when it happens.”
Editors could fight on their authors’ behalf, but that’s usually reserved for lucrative books, she said, and she’s no Stephen King.
But Mitchell does her own fighting back — whether it’s calling out biased book reviews on social media or joining Glen Burnie’s No Kings rally last month.
She climbed uphill in the heat with a cane to the Supreme Court during the hearings for the Montgomery County case that allowed parents to excuse their elementary kids from classes using storybooks with LGBTQIA+ characters.
The outcome is frustrating to Mitchell who said people often consider books “s--ual” when “a queer character exists on the page.”
“There’s a difference between writing about s-x and writing about queer people,” she said.
She said she’d understand if “Shadowed Summer” was a book parents kept away from their kids. But instead it was books like “Puppy Pride,” about a family whose dog gets loose during a Pride parade, that were restricted.
Authors fight back
And this is what happens when you cut IMLS! Rural library systems are most impacted. Pennsylvania
Butler library system places restrictions on popular Hoopla service
Director: Budget limitations the reason
https://www.butlereagle.com/20250810/...
The Butler County Federated Library System, which oversees all nine public libraries in Butler County, announced some cutbacks to the use of its popular Hoopla service, which grants library cardholders free access to a selection of digital media.
Starting in September, cardholders can now borrow up to five titles per month, a decrease from six originally allowed. In addition, some titles that would cost the library system more to lend out, such as newer releases, will be pulled from access unless the library specifically requests they be made available.
Florida as usualUnder state threats, Hillsborough pulls transgender YouTuber’s memoir
https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/u...
Trans Mission: My Quest to a Beard
mmend the removal of two additional books at the school board’s Sept. 9 meeting. ©Lily Speredelozzi
More
A memoir by a transgender YouTuber has been pulled from Hillsborough County shelves following a social media uproar from state officials.
In a post to X, Education Commissioner Anastasios Kamoutsas called Hillsborough County Schools Superintendent Van Ayres’ decision“wise.” He included a letter from Ayres saying Alex Bertie’s book, “Trans Mission: My Quest to a Beard,” had been removed, and that he would recommend removing two others at an upcoming board meeting.
Blankets
Identical
(Previously, the school had made the book available to students only with parental consent but the state Attorney General James Uthmeier insisted that wasn't good enough and they remove the "inappropriate" book immediately OR ELSE. )
Thanks to the threats from the state, Florida Public Schools Are Banning These 55+ Books Without Reviewhttps://bookriot.com/55-books-banned-...
South Carolina. No. Just don't. Not legal!!!!Not to mention stupid, arbitrary and hurtful
Proposal to move LGBTQ+ books to adult section stirs controversy in York County
https://www.wsoctv.com/news/local/pro...
A proposal to move children’s books with LGBTQ or s--ual themes to the adult section of the York County Library sparked heated discussions at a packed meeting on Tuesday.
The informal proposal, discussed by a subcommittee of the York County Library Board, aims to relocate books containing s--ual content, including transgender and LGBTQ themes, from the children’s section to the adult section.
Stephanie Griffith, a grassroots organizer, expressed strong opposition to the proposal, stating, “We don’t want to use resources to fight book censorship, and that’s what it is. People are gonna call it book banning if they move the books. It’s restricting access to people that need access.”
Parent Robert Rummage supported the idea, saying, “I do not want to ban books and book banning is wrong - but I do think - in this case - the library board is working with some wisdom to say let’s not ban them, but put them in an area where sexualized discussions are more appropriate.”
The proposal is similar to changes made by the Greenville County Library System, which resulted in a lawsuit from the ACLU.
...
No decisions were made at the meeting, and library leaders indicated that a decision might not be reached until the end of the year.
BETTER news from TexasPaywalled but
Spring ISD rejects parent library oversight tied to Texas book ban law
https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news...
In Rhode Island, the governor and some politicians held a ceremonial signing of the Freedom to Read Act at the library in Providence that turned down Kirk Cameron's event. https://www.wpri.com/news/politics/mc...
Gov. Dan McKee said the act is needed to protect varied thinking because censorship limits what we can learn about the world and each other.
“Public libraries are places where you can find yourself in other people’s words. The differing experiences and world views captured in books are as varied and interesting as every individual who is browsing the shelves,” McKee said. “In Rhode Island, we promote free expression. We don’t restrict it.”
MOST people including all but 3 of the General Assembly support it. Great news story
https://steveahlquist.substack.com/p/...
With the Freedom to Read Act, Rhode Island pushes back against ignorance
“Your freedom to express and encounter ideas is protected in Rhode Island. Rhode Island’s Freedom to Read Act is the strongest of any freedom to read law enacted to date."
Of course there are the ignorant morons who choose to believe there is indeed p____ in libraries and schools are Marxist indoctrination centers.
https://turnto10.com/news/local/rhode...
However... this doesn't stop Moms for Liberty and Kirk Cameron's Brave Books evil "See You at the Library" event today. Kirk Cameron, former child star/has-been actor claims he was denied the right to exercise his First Amendment rights at 50 libraries and he wrote to them claiming he was censored and some capitulated. To be clear, this is not what happened. He was told he could book the meeting room for a non-library sanctioned event because the program was either not a good fit for the neighborhood or if they allow one group, they have to allow them all. Do they want Antifa or the Neo Nazis to come to the library to hold an event? no. So no Kirk Cameron. To counteract the event, local Democrats searched for volunteers to come out to the library and help affirm everyone belongs. Other groups are holding inclusive storytimes. Unfortunately I had to hunt for this information and wasn't aware of it in advance.
Good news! After last week's hearing, which 100+ people attended, the picture book A Map for Falasteen: A Palestinian Child's Search for Home" by Maysa Odeh and illustrated by Aliaa Betawi remains on the Watertown, Mass. library's suggested summer reading listhttps://bsky.app/profile/massaabb.bsk...
FloridaAlways my goal to make it back': Satellite teacher who lost job over student name speaks out
https://www.floridatoday.com/story/ne...
Calhoun was the first Florida educator to lose her job as a result of a 2023 Florida Board of Education rule that mandated teachers must obtain parental permission via a signed form before using any deviation from a student's legal name, and no one, from parents to Brevard Public Schools' board to the state commissioner of education, could agree on if the punishment fit the crime.
A district human resources staff member recommended she receive only a reprimand, but Superintendent Mark Rendell opted not to renew her contract, with a spokesperson citing concerns that the Florida Department of Education might revoke her teaching credentials. One board member, John Thomas, repeatedly advocated for her to be retrained and reinstated, while the rest of the school board upheld Rendell's decision. The vast majority of community members who rallied and attended school board meetings from April up until now begged for Calhoun to be returned to the class, with many parents and students offering personal stories of how she had changed their lives for the better, while a small handful showed up with claims that she had used her position to influence the teen.
Ultimately, at a July 30 meeting, a Florida Department of Education committee upheld a settlement between Calhoun and the department, allowing her to return to teaching on a one-year probation that will start when she returns to the classroom.
And while the veteran educator was quick to jump at the opportunity to come back to her home district, waiting less than 24 hours to apply for a position at Satellite High, Rendell told media on Aug. 5 that she would not be welcome at Brevard Public Schools and reaffirmed that stance in an Aug. 13 statement to FLORIDA TODAY.
"Our district previously stated that we would consider her for employment once the state’s process concluded. We honored that commitment," Rendell told FLORIDA TODAY.
"Her application was reviewed in good faith and evaluated alongside other candidates. Ultimately, we selected highly qualified individuals who are not under disciplinary action and who reflect the standards we expect in our classrooms. All secondary English positions in Brevard Public Schools are now fully staffed. The suggestion that I changed my position or 'moved the goal post' is inaccurate. I followed through on my commitment to consider her candidacy and ultimately reaffirmed my original decision not to renew her contract."
‘State-driven censorship’: new wave of book bans hits Florida school districts | US book bans | The Guardianhttps://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2...
...
“Censorship advocates are playing a long game, and making Hillsborough county public schools bend the knee is a huge win for them,” said Rachel Doyle, who goes by “Reads with Rachel” on social media.
Doyle has two children in the Hillsborough school district system and is frustrated that they are being used as political pawns. She feels that her voice has been erased by far-right groups like Moms for Liberty and that parental rights groups do not have her kids’ best interests in mind.
“I do not want or need a special interest group or a ‘concerned citizen’ opting out for me,” Doyle said. “Once Florida becomes a place where this is the norm entirely, other states will follow.”
...
Rob Sanders, the author of several acclaimed children’s books like Ruby Rose and Peaceful Fights for Equal Rights, and a former Hillsborough county educator, has seen many challenges to his books in Florida and beyond.
“If we eliminate every book that tells a story that is different than the life experiences of an individual or a family, there will be no books left in the library,” Sanders said.
“As an author, the best thing I can do for children is to keep writing books that tell the truth and that celebrate the wonderful diversity in our world.”
Resources to Better Understand the Mahmoud v. Taylor SCOTUS Decision:https://bookriot.com/mahmoud-v-taylor...
Kelly Jensen of BookRiot reports the disturbing news: "Earlier this week, a slew of local newspapers shut down when the owner announced financial problems. The disappearance of local news has been one of the many factors which have facilitated the unprecedented growth in book bans and library attacks, as there are few outlets reporting on stories happening in their own communities. The closure of more papers will further impact the information made available."
Sumner County, Tennessee tried again to ban LGTBQ+ from libraries. Fortunately the motion failed -again! You would think they would have gotten the message the first time?https://www.wkrn.com/news/local-news/...
The Sumner County Library Board will discuss a controversial book collection policy once again, just over a month since it was voted down.
“It’s a little shocking that it’s back immediately,” Sumner County Democratic Party Chair Megan Lange said. “But we’re prepared; we’re ready, and we are not going to let it pass without another fight.”
Sumner County Library Board Chair Joanna Daniels is determined to revise the county’s library collections, removing any materials with s--ual or transgender content.
The proposed policy would also create new guidelines for book-signing events at libraries, change how residents appeal removed materials, and eliminate any adherence to the American Library Association.
“What this boils down (to) is control. Public libraries are a gateway to information and knowledge for everyone. Education is freedom,” one woman said during the library board’s last meeting on July 9.
“I would say that we are at a tipping point,” Lange said. “There are citizens who are lined up. There’s a list of at least five people who are ready, at this point, to put their names on a lawsuit.”
Lange is hopeful the board will continue to vote against the policy, at least until Daniels is no longer in charge.
“Her term ends in November, and I think this is something she wants to accomplish before her term ends,” Lange said.
Daniels, meanwhile, told News 2 the policy is based on research she conducted on other library board guidelines and what the state requires of them.
She insists that everything they’ve done, or will do, is legal and fits what the majority of their community wants.
“We’re not discriminating. Nothing that we have done — no policy we’ve created, no job qualification we’ve created — have gone against anything,” Daniels said. “Just because something isn’t in there that you want to read doesn’t make it unsafe. We also have Amazon. We have book stores; you can go down to the Nashville library.”
Daniels said she isn’t worried about a possible lawsuit, given they haven’t broken any laws.
Some residents disagree.
“If this is passed, it is a violation of the 14th Amendment,” Lange said. “The county may not have done anything ‘illegal’ yet, but they’re walking precariously close to the line, and when they cross that, we are ready to file a lawsuit and hold them accountable.”
The Sumner County Library Board will also discuss a persisting issue at two of their public libraries: open library director positions in both Hendersonville and Westmoreland.
The qualifications of the candidates and whether each person is being given a fair evaluation have become a lingering point of contention.
Daniels told News 2 that candidates she’s in favor of have not been spoken to or fairly evaluated by certain board members. Meanwhile, Lange said most of the candidates brought forward do not have library experience and lack the qualifications that should be required.
...
Sumner County Library Board proposal to remove transgender-themed books fails
https://fox17.com/news/local/sumner-c...
proposal to pull all transgender-related books from Sumner County libraries has failed after months of heated debate. The Library Board voted 4-3 against the policy change during a meeting Monday night, citing concerns about potential lawsuits and a lack of legal guidance.
Additionally, one person abstained from the vote.
...
Board member Larry Hinton, who served as chair of the library board for more than 10 years, pressed [Library Board Chair Joanna] Daniels on whether she had consulted the county attorney about the proposal. Daniels responded that she had shared the policy with the attorney but said he did not offer an opinion, adding that she didn’t believe his input was necessary.
“The argument that I should have got the yes or no from a law director is ridiculous, because we have the authority,” Daniels said.
Hinton disagreed, saying the county attorney’s role is to protect the county from legal risks.
“We have a county attorney who is educated in the law and getting paid by the taxpayer to deal with the laws for the county,” Hinton said. “It would be completely logical to say, ‘Here’s what’s being discussed.’”
Several board members echoed those concerns, saying they were uncomfortable voting on the measure without formal legal input.
“Well, once you put something out there in black and white that’s a product of Sumner County — then Sumner County is responsible for that,” Hinton said.
The measure ultimately failed in the 4-3 vote. Daniels maintained that the library board has full authority over the county’s libraries, including what materials are included or removed.
Ballotpedia put together a map of all the states with laws related to school library materials.https://news.ballotpedia.org/2025/08/...
Twenty-four states do not require local boards to develop specific school library book selection policies.
Ten states require school boards to develop a policy for removing books, including creating a way for the public to challenge school library books.
Eight states prohibit school boards from removing books because they represent specific ideologies or perspectives.
Six states prohibit books if they contain specific material, including s--ual content or anything deemed harmful to minors.
Five states require school boards to establish local boards to review challenges to library books.
Two states require school boards to allow parents to view a catalogue of books.
Iowa requires that schools provide parents with a list of materials available to students. Each school district must also create and publish a policy for handling requests to remove materials from school libraries and keep the identities of parents who request materials be removed confidential.
Texas authorizes school boards to establish a school library book advisory council to advise the board on acquiring, removing, or restricting school library materials. State law also prohibits books containing s--ually explicit, indecent, harmful, or profane material in school libraries.
Oregon prohibits removing library materials because they include a perspective, study, or story of any individual or group against whom discrimination is prohibited under state law.
Nebraska requires school districts to establish a process for notifying parents about books students check out from the school library.
If you've seen the documentary "Banned Together"https://www.bannedtogetherdoc.com/
you know DAYLO. They're a great group of kids in South Carolina advocating for diversity in youth literature.
Student advocate continues pushing against school book bans
https://charlestoncitypaper.com/2025/...
Bad news in Maricopa, Arizona. Illegal activity, too, I think. Voter registration is a matter of public record but who someone votes FOR is private.Far-right schools chief put MAGA ally on downtown Phoenix school board
Shelli Boggs asked applicants about their voter registration before tapping a right-wing operative for an empty board seat.
https://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/news/...
County school superintendent Shelli Boggs picked none of them. After Boggs began interviewing candidates in late May — and promising them a decision by June — she finally tapped a replacement on Monday. In a press release, Boggs announced she’d be installing Suanne Edmiston, a MAGA political operative and relative Arizona newcomer, until the next school board election in November 2026.
In her announcement, Boggs praised Edmiston’s “proven leadership, strong commitment to accountability and dedication to fiscal responsibility.” In an email to Phoenix New Times, her office called Edmiston, who is currently Arizona state director for the hyper-conservative State Freedom Caucus Network, the “most qualified candidate.”
Edmiston is also the only candidate who shares Boggs’ Trumpian views. Observers noticed that Boggs, who won election in 2024 on an arch-conservative platform, sat on the board opening for weeks until Edmiston applied on July 1, nearly 70 days after Bueno resigned. Several applicants for the vacancy told New Times that Boggs grilled them with politically-tinged questions about their views on diversity, equity and inclusion and their voter registration.
To them, it appeared as if Boggs was content to leave the spot unfilled until a far-right candidate miraculously popped up for the nonpartisan, unpaid board seat.
“She’s been notorious for doing this,” Gullick said of Boggs. “(Edmiston) is the only MAGA. And it seems like their whole point is to put in a MAGA person everywhere.”
By picking Edmiston, it doesn’t appear Boggs did anything she’s not allowed to do.
Under Arizona law, county school superintendents can appoint district governing board members when there is an opening. That appointee serves until the next governing board election and may run to keep the seat. With PESD’s school board elections happening every even year, Edmiston’s seat will be up for election in November 2026. If she doesn’t seek and win reelection, her term will end in January 2027.
Until then, the MAGA-aligned Edmiston will serve 5,200 students, spanning from kindergarten to 8th grade, in a particularly liberal and diverse district. ...
When considering an appointee, Boggs doesn’t need to consider any of that. In fact, as long as the individual lives in the district and isn’t a sex offender, she can appoint whomever she wants.
Boggs has taken this power and run with it. She won her election on an explicitly pro-Trump platform, railing against “wokeness” in schools and hammering other MAGA talking points like the need for parental choice and the dangers of “gender ideology.” Since taking office, she appears to be reserving school board appointments for fellow Trump loyalists.
“She’s definitely pushing to get her own people in there, that’s for sure,” said Schiller, who is also a former president of the Arizona School Boards Association. “If you look at everyone she’s put in recently, they’re all MAGA. She’s protecting that brand.”
Edmiston fits the bill. The western Pennsylvania native has a long background working in Washington, D.C., under prominent GOP lawmakers, including Pennsylvania Rep. Mike Kelly, Iowa Rep. Steve King and Texas Rep. Louie Gohmert. Her LinkedIn profile, which was last updated in early 2023, says she got her bachelor’s degree at George Washington University and her law degree from Regent University, the private Christian university that televangelist Pat Robertson founded in 1977.
She joined the State Freedom Caucus Network, which works to provide conservatives in state capitols nationwide with “resources they need to win,” as their Arizona state director more than two years ago, according to a February interview with the organization’s Substack. In that interview, Edmiston said she works with Freedom Caucus members in the Arizona Legislature daily to support them in their work to “oppose the corrupting forces of ‘consensus’ at any cost.”
Those members include at least eight state lawmakers, including state Sen. Jake Hoffman and state Reps. Alex Kolodin and Joseph Chaplik. Several Arizonans are also a part of the powerful House Freedom Caucus in Congress, including Rep. Andy Biggs, who previously chaired it, and Reps. Paul Gosar and Eli Crane.
....
PESD spokesperson Nicole Baker said the district did not provide candidate recommendations, which Boggs isn’t required to heed anyway. In an email to New Times, Boggs spokesperson Anna Oliver said the office doesn’t recruit individuals to apply for the vacant positions and interviews everyone who applies through a roundtable discussion. “We don’t have a formal set of questions for interviews,” Oliver wrote.
But the MAGA bent of her selections is hard to miss.
Boggs has handpicked at least seven school board members so far this year, per a count by the Arizona Agenda. She placed Jeremiah Cota, who used to work for Gosar and Biggs and was the political director for the Arizona Republican Party, on the Phoenix Union High School District’s governing board. Boggs also appointed Michael Todd to the Liberty School District — a position he previously held, though his record of “adopting a policy to prohibit boys from using girls’ bathrooms” likely gave him an edge, according to the Arizona Republic.
In March, Boggs tapped Kelli Anderson for the Queen Creek Unified School District because she “stands firmly against DEI-driven policies,” per a Boggs press release. The Queen Creek Independent found now-deleted Facebook posts of Anderson at a MAGA event, including one with Jacob Chansley, better known as the QAnon Shaman.
In a social media post on Monday, Cota said the quiet part out loud, praising Edmiston as a “MAGA school board member.”
“MAGA is winning,” he wrote, “and taking over our big city schools!”
Boggs wasn’t shy in her quest to find a MAGA appointee for PESD’s school board, as candidates learned during interviews with Boggs and her team. Three candidates for the position told New Times they were also asked “inappropriate” questions in their interviews.
Francisco Pedraza, whose child attends Emerson Elementary School in the district, said he was asked over two interviews about about banning DEI in education, upholding Trump’s executive orders around DEI and making sure the school district “doesn’t turn into some kind of agenda-pushing body about woke politics or woke ideology.”
“It was super politicized,” Pedraza said. “I’m here because I have a kid in the school district and I want the board to be transparent. I was really frustrated as a constituent that the board was making decisions about closing schools.”
(Pedraza and other parents have criticized the board for a lack of transparency, including about the decision to shutter two district schools and end its contract with ASU Prep. The board also failed to notify the community when it paid $200,000 to settle a former student’s sexual harassment lawsuit.)
Schiller applied for the board seat in hopes of addressing a “trainwreck” of a governing board that struggled to complete such basic tasks as updating its agenda. His pitch to Boggs was that as a school board veteran, he was plug-and-play. “I don’t need to learn anything,” he said. “I know the rules. I know the policies. I’ve been through all this.” As weeks went by and three follow-up emails went unanswered, he realized Boggs was looking for a true believer. Schiller, a registered Independent, didn’t fit the bill.
“I’m not right enough for her,” he said. “It’s actually sad because you’re missing decent people that can make a difference.”
Multiple district parents wrote letters to Boggs recommending Gullick. In her May 20 interview for the position, Gullick fielded questions about her voter registration, which she had switched to Independent in November after losing faith in the Democratic Party. When Boggs asked her about how she’d vote on the board, Gullick replied, “Well, I’m just going to vote for whatever is in the best interest of the children.” Gullick hadn’t heard anything from the county superintendent since her interview nine weeks ago — until Monday, when Boggs sent her a rejection email.
Asking about political affiliation may be unusual — Pinal County School Superintendent Jill Broussard told New Times she doesn’t ask about party affiliation or other political questions because “it is a nonpartisan position” — but it’s not off limits. Jim Barton, an employment and government relations lawyer at Phoenix-based practice Barton Mendez Soto, said that while Boggs’ questions were “disappointing” and “sorta gross,” they are “probably above board.”
“One would be hard pressed to say it’s out of bounds to ask those questions,” Barton said, though he added that “it just shows disregard for the position” that is supposed to be, “by its nature, nonpartisan.”
Oliver, Boggs’ spokesperson, confirmed that candidates were asked "about their political activity and/or involvement" during interviews, though she denied in an email Thursday that candidates were asked about their voter registration. She said the political activity questions concerned whether candidates intend to run to keep the seat when the appointed term ends.
“It is important to Superintendent Boggs that we remain consistent and keep governing boards healthy,” Oliver wrote.
Regarding questions about Trump’s executive orders, Oliver noted to New Times that PESD is a district that receives “substantial federal funding and Superintendent Boggs is concerned about risking funding by appointing someone who refuses to uphold federal laws.”
As it happens, Boggs will soon have another PESD school board seat to fill. On July 29, one week before Edmiston’s appointment, PESD governing board member Alicia Vink announced that she’d be resigning at the following meeting. Her husband’s work is taking her out of the state.
For Schiller, that spells more trouble.
“I’m really worried with that one lady quitting,” he said, “we’re going to get two far-right MAGAs.”
[They did this in Houston and turned the libraries into detention centers.]State takeover of Fort Worth ISD looms ahead of new school year, Senator suggests replacing the school board
State takeover still on the table as Fort Worth ISD shows signs of academic progress ahead of new school year.
https://www.wfaa.com/article/news/edu...
With the new school year just days away, families in Fort Worth ISD are bracing for more than just first-day jitters. The looming possibility of a state takeover continues to cast a shadow over one of Texas’ largest and lowest-performing school districts.
The Texas Education Agency (TEA) has not made a final decision, but TEA Commissioner Mike Morath confirmed in a Senate Education Committee Hearing on Wednesday that the idea of replacing the Fort Worth school board remains under consideration, and a resolution will come sometime this fall.
“I'll be going back and doing on-site visits as soon as school starts up,” Morath said during a legislative hearing. “I want to get a good basis of the facts on the ground.”
The potential intervention stems from years of underperformance, particularly at one now-shuttered Leadership Academy at Forest Oak’s 6th-grade campus. It received its fifth consecutive failing rating before being closed and merged with a nearby middle school in 2023. That rating alone qualified the district for potential state intervention.
Still, some parents say they’re seeing positive change under Superintendent Dr. Karen Molinar's leadership and the district's new instructional framework centered on literacy.
“I have been optimistic since I started to see the changes Dr. Molinar has made, and I intend to remain optimistic,” said Fort Worth ISD parent and PTA member Ken Kuhl.
...
“The proof is in the pudding,” Kuhl said. “When you see positive change and better student outcomes, that’s what you want to hold onto and maintain.”
Kuhl is one of many in the community who oppose a state takeover, fearing it could disrupt the district’s current momentum.
"Nobody has a crystal ball, but when you see positive change and better student outcomes, then that’s what you wanna hold onto and, of course, maintain," Kuhl said.
But others say more drastic measures may be necessary.
“I don’t know what the right decision is, but if I had to bet today, it’s replacing the board,” said State Sen. Phil King, R-Weatherford.
If the TEA proceeds, Fort Worth ISD could face a scenario similar to Houston ISD’s 2023 takeover, which resulted in the removal and replacement of its superintendent and school board.
Critics of the intervention model point to its mixed results.
“They don’t have a track record of making meaningful improvements,” said David DeMatthews, a professor of school policy and leadership at the University of Texas at Austin. “There’s no evidence that these takeovers work.”
...
For now, no decision has been made. A district spokesperson said leaders expect to meet again with the TEA in September.
“When things are going right and we’re moving in a good direction, disruption wouldn’t be what we need right now,” Kuhl said.
Also in TexasIt was a Nazi symbol' | Rockwall ISD investigating after antisemitic flags were hung outside high school
The students contacted the Heath Department of Public Safety, which quickly removed the flags, the message states.
https://www.wfaa.com/article/news/edu...
...
In a message to Rockwall-Heath High School families, Principal Todd Bradford said students observed the flags hanging from the east side of the high school. The flags were reported around 6:40 a.m. Saturday to the Heath Department of Public Safety.
The department quickly removed the "antisemitic materials" displayed on the high school, Heath DPS said in a press release.
Neither Rockwall ISD nor Heath DPS disclosed exactly what flags were displayed on the school.
"It was two massive flags that were hung over the roof right that had swastikas on them," said Rockwall-Heath alumna Stephanie Parnes, who said she saw a photo of it shared among students online. "It was a Nazi symbol."
"What happened was not a joke; it’s a threat," she said. Parnes, who is Jewish, said her younger brothers were scared to attend the school on Monday.
The Heath Department of Public Safety, district and campus administrators are investigating the criminal act, Bradford said in the message to parents.
"I stand with our community in firm opposition to any acts of hatred, including the hateful display of flags that were found at Rockwall-Heath High School yesterday morning," Heath Mayor Jeremiah McClure said. "Rest assured, these actions will not be tolerated, and those accountable will face the consequences of their behavior."
Jimmy McClintock, who co-founded a group called Ambassadors for Israel International in Rockwall, said he views this incident as a test of what the community will do next.
"Everybody is scared of the bully, so when something like this happens, it puts dread and fear into people’s hearts," he said. "It scares people, so they want to go inside, introvert. That’s the last thing we need to do."
Instead, he said he wants the community to stand up for what's right.
"This is good and evil if I can put it in [those] terms," he said. "This is right and wrong. That's what we want to teach our children."
...
Lafayette Parish Public Library board (Louisiana), a pastor was appointed instead of people with actual library experience.https://www.theadvocate.com/acadiana/...
Lafayette Parish Council appoints pastor to library board, continuing conservative trajectory
Six people applied to fill the soon-to-be vacated Lafayette Public Library Board seat, including a librarian at a Lafayette Catholic high school who has attended and spoken at library board meetings
Instead, the Parish Council on Tuesday voted to appoint a Broussard media consultant, a graduate in Christian ministry from a Baptist theological seminary who listed first among his various roles in the past 30 years as that of pastor.
Also on Tuesday the council reappointed Rena Bradley to the library board. She replaced James Thomas, the lone left-leaning library trustee who resigned because of work conflicts. Bradley addressed the council Tuesday, lobbying in favor of appointing that school librarian, Carrieanne Ledet, to the board.
The seat in question is being vacated by controversial former board president, Robert Judge, whose term expires in September. While eligible for reappointment, Judge declined to seek another term on the board.
The five-person Lafayette Parish Council since 2020 has appointed predominantly right-leaning Christian conservatives, often passing over seemingly more qualified applicants for the nonpaying seven-member board.
Three men on the Parish Council — John Guilbeau, Bryan Tabor and Kenneth Stansbury — voted Tuesday to appoint Christopher Holmes, CEO and founder of Bayou Creative of Broussard, to replace Judge.
Holmes' resume says he earned an associate degree in 2017 and a bachelor's degree in 2023 in Christian ministry from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary.
Ledet, who also applied, has degrees in English and secondary education. Since August of 2021 she has been a librarian at Teurlings Catholic High School in Lafayette, having taught at the school from 2008-2021. It was not the first time Ledet applied for and was rejected for appointment to the library board.
Judge, nominated by former council member Josh Carlson over six candidates that included educators, was appointed to the library board in February 2021.
Judge was controversial from the start, attempting to change the library's mission statement almost immediately. He later successfully removed the words diversity and access from the statement. Known for wearing a large crucifix outside his shirt during meetings and reciting prayers before and after the meetings, Judge led the charge to bring conservative values into the library system, with such moves as removing LGBTQ+ themed books and an LGBTQ documentary from the library.
David Pitre of Lafayette, a former faith-based school administrator, was selected in December 2021 from a list of eight people who wanted to serve on the library board. He was nominated by Carlson. Citing work conflicts, Pitre resigned in August 2023, before his term ended.
Shane Landers was appointed to the library board in December 2021, also resigning before his term was over. His social media page identified him as a member of Kingdom Warrier Christian group and showed a photo of him with Carlson, who nominated him.
In June 2022, Daniel Kelly was appointed. His resume said he was senior pastor of The Harvest Church in Lafayette. He signed a letter with other pastors opposing Drag Queen Story Time in 2018. He is currently board president. The church's website advertised a series by Kelly entitled "Culture Wars!" with weekly topics that include "Abortion, LGBT agenda" and "Hip Hop, Hollywood, Government."
Ten people applied for a vacant board seat in October 2022, including a school librarian and two former university professors. The Parish Council chose Erasto Padron Jr., who works in cyber security. He remains on the board but has missed several recent meetings.
Ella Arsement, who for years was a fixture at Lafayette Parish School Board meetings and a community and school volunteer, was appointed in May 2023. She has often backed Judge's proposals, including ending the library's affiliation with the American Library Association. Chairwoman of the committee looking at building a new Northeast Regional Library, she spoke to the council Tuesday about concerns for building the library on land owned by Holy Rosary.
Allan Moore of Broussard, who currently serves as vice president of the library board, replaced Pitre in November 2023. Moore is a former youth pastor who was nominated by Carlson. Before the council vote, Moore said he doesn't believe libraries should help push "the latest social agenda." The council passed over a former professor who volunteered on the Lafayette Public Library Foundation, raising money for the library.
In November, the council appointed Eric Baquet to the board, passing over 10 other candidates, including Ledet, the Teurlings High librarian who was again passed over on Tuesday in favor of Holmes. ...
Banned in Spencer, Iowa Schoolshttps://www.spencerdailyreporter.com/...
In 2023, the Iowa Legislature passed book bans, prompting Iowa schools to remove books depicting or describing s-x acts as defined by law. Senate File 496, a 2023 education law requiring libraries offer ”age-appropriate” literature, banning including s-x acts; and curriculum about sexual orientation and gender identity through sixth grade.
The initial list of books pulled from Spencer were based on a compilation lists of books that had been pulled from several entities.
“We knew that those books were the ones that we wanted to review, get input on and then decide which ones could be returned to the shelves and which ones were to be pulled,” explained Terry Hemann, superintendent of Spencer Schools.
A committee of teachers, community members, administrators and a board member met several times to work through the process. A large majority have since been returned to the libraries. The committee met three times to do the work of understanding the law, review the books and make recommendations for put books back in circulation or to remove from circulation. The work was concluded in January.
7 books pulled from elementary
9 from middle
35+ from high
___________________
The list looks very familiar.
Kelly Jensen reports: “Texans spent a staggering $112 million last year to manage culturally divisive conflicts in schools — money that should help support students and teachers.”https://www.statesman.com/opinion/col...
Mod
So if I travel to the USA with lots of clothing, US border guards (US border Gestapo pigs) will detain and handcuff me? And well, I tend to travel with lots of clothing, even if my trip is short.
Maybe it is time for Canada, the EU, for ALL countries to approach Americans crossing the border as potential enemies, to act the same as the USA is acting.
Children's Books
Books mentioned in this topic
Out of the Blue (other topics)The Princess in Black and the Prince in Pink (other topics)
My Rainbow (other topics)
Butt or Face? Volume 3: Super Gross Butts (other topics)
The Day the Books Disappeared (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Jodi Picoult (other topics)Sarah J. Maas (other topics)
Ellen Hopkins (other topics)
Jodi Picoult (other topics)
Scott Stuart (other topics)
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Boston suburbs...
Watertown library faces criticism over reading list book about a Palestinian child
https://www.wgbh.org/news/local/2025-...
The Watertown Free Public Library is at the center of a controversy around a summer reading list.
The book “A Map for Falasteen: A Palestinian Child’s Search for Home” by Maysa Odeh was included on the library’s list of recommendations for second graders. Some local Jewish residents say the book is inappropriate for young readers. Other residents argue that the list should remain as it is.
The debate has since garnered reaction from people across the country.
Rachael Sack, a Watertown parent, said during the July 31 Library Board of Trustees meeting that she believes “A Map for Falasteen: A Palestinian Child's Search for Home” should not be recommended to young readers who do not understand the history of the Palestinian territories and Israel. She said the book “incites fear-mongering” by framing Israel as the oppressor.
“I am not here to ask for a book to be banned. I am not here to ask that you remove Palestinian books, but I am here to question why you would choose a second-grade book that speaks of guns and tanks and freedoms being taken away,” Sack said during her public comments.
Debra Neiman, another Watertown parent and concerned member of the Jewish community, also spoke at the meeting.
“While I understand the value of diverse cultural perspectives, I believe this particular book crosses the line from cultural education into political messaging that is not appropriate for young children,” said Neiman.
Social media posts regarding the debate sparked further controversy and incited comments about antisemitism and the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.
Merrie Najimy, a Watertown resident and former president of the Massachusetts Teachers Association, said some of the response to “A Map for Falasteen” is fueled by anti-Palestinian sentiment.
“Educators and librarians have always been under attack by fascist movements, because they are amongst those on the front lines fighting racism, censorship, protecting democracy and speech,” Najimy said.
Kelly Liddingham, another parent, also cited the First Amendment in her comments.
“The library’s role is not to endorse specific viewpoints, but to provide access to the full spectrum of ideas — even and especially those that some may find uncomfortable,” she said. “This isn’t just a professional value, it’s a constitutional right.”
Sack wrote in a letter to the Watertown News that prior to the July 31 meeting, she and other concerned residents had asked library leaders to meet with them to discuss the book’s inclusion on the reading list, but their requests were ignored.
Parent and teacher Katie Abo told GBH News that she hasn’t read the book and doesn’t support book bans, but would like the library board to consider public opinions.
...
The library said it doesn’t remove books from reading lists, and stressed that none of the titles on the list are required reading.
“There is not any one person responsible for the selection of titles on the summer reading list,” the library board wrote in a statement, which was read aloud by chair Leanne Hammonds at the July 31 meeting. “The list is initially drafted by professional library staff and those suggestions are sent to the Watertown Public Schools for their review before finalizing and publishing the final list.”
The board said the library director accepted the request for reconsideration in “good faith as a courtesy, and treated it as feedback similar to public comment.”