Children's Books discussion
Banned Books: discussions, lists
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Discussion of censorship, equity, and other concerns.
And it works both ways. Two sides of the same coin.In the UK, there are calls to remove Of Mice and Men from the GCSE English literature course.
A Belfast student has called for Of Mice and Men to be removed from the GCSE English literature course.
The novel, by Nobel-Prize winning author John Steinbeck, was written in 1937 and portrays life in the 1930s.
Angel Mhande raised concerns about racial slurs used in the book, including the N-word.
"I just don't find Of Mice and Men appropriate for schools and how that impacts young black people, and young white people," she said.
Because of this, she thinks the Council for the Curriculum, Examinations and Assessment (CCEA) should replace it on the GCSE English literature course.
The novel is one of seven that schools in Northern Ireland and Wales can pick from for pupils taking GCSE English literature.
Although it is optional - and not on the syllabus in England - it is chosen by many schools.
"It's a very violent book to begin with but it's mostly just to do with racism and how that affects me and some other black students in my class," Angel told BBC News NI.
"It's just really uncomfortable sitting in a classroom where we have to listen to racist slurs and comments.
"I understand the history behind it and stuff but you can learn that in history about slavery."
The CCEA said: "The language given by Steinbeck to characters in the book reflects the discriminatory language and attitudes of this period, which we recognise as offensive today."
"This and other messages/themes from Of Mice and Men reminds the reader of the struggle for racial equality and the importance of equal opportunities, diversity, and inclusion in today's society."
But Angel said that reading the novel and listening to some of it being read in class had a negative impact on her.
"The impact that it's had is that it just makes you feel weak, really," Angel said.
"It doesn't sit right."
Angel's mother Apolonia Mbondiya agrees with her daughter that it is time for CCEA to replace Of Mice and Men.
"Angel loves English, she's very good at it and she didn't pick it for A-level," Apolonia said.
"She could have picked it, she's marked to get an A* in English but because of Of Mice and Men she chose not to pick it.
"We need to move on and to do things that are inclusive and protect the mental health of our young people, whether black or white."
Apolonia said she understood the argument that Of Mice and Men was of its time and should not be judged by the standards of today, but she still felt it was time to change the novel at GCSE.
"We have history, which is dealing with slavery, which is dealing with the suffragettes fighting for the rights of women," she said.
"We have quite a lot on racism and discrimination and everything that happens in the world but we are moving on to other ways of dealing with past history and not repeating the same thing over and over.
"I'm not sure what Of Mice and Men is actually teaching kids."
Professor of American literature at Queen's University Belfast Philip McGowan said teachers needed more detailed guidance on how to teach Of Mice and Men.
"We can't just eradicate books from the past and their contexts," he said.
"But if we are going to teach them in the 21st century we need to be alive to and aware of those contexts.
CCEA also said it welcomed the opportunity to review and refresh the literature offered to students and teachers.
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-...
Another book banning extremist gains power in Santa Rosa County Florida"Santa Rosa County Schools have managed to avoid a book challenge push, but Moms for Liberty, a conservative nonprofit that advocates for parent rights, may be about to change that.
Former Florida legislative candidate Mariya Calkins started the Santa Rosa County chapter of Moms for Liberty in March and is already making waves with the Santa Rosa County School Board. Calkins lost to Joel Rudman, capturing only 38% of the vote despite having been endorsed by U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz.
Calkins has been advocating that the district work prayer into school board meetings, and her team of volunteers presented a list of 65 books to the board during May’s school board meeting they want removed from school shelves due to what they say is offensive content.
Prior to Calkins’ group coming forward, Santa Rosa County’s book reconsideration process was a non-issue. In Santa Rosa County, parents have full choice on whether their child has unlimited, limited or no access to school libraries, including classroom libraries.
“To date, only one parent has decided to restrict library content their child has access to, and the district has received zero book reconsiderations as outlined in the district’s formal procedural process,” Santa Rosa County Schools Public Information Officer Tonya Shepherd wrote in an email statement on May 18.
As of Wednesday, an addition parent has requested limited library access for their child and three formal book challenges have been submitted.
She is hoping that bringing the books to the school board’s attention will be grounds for removal. However, it is not that simple. As of May 18, the group had not made any official book challenges using the district procedures, according to Shepherd. Nor does Calkins plan to.
“Quite honestly, it’s a little surprising that they were relaxed about those p____ic books because they’re giving us, Moms for Liberty volunteers, guidance on how to fill in those lengthy forms. But in our opinion, they have to be removing those books themselves in order to cooperate with the law,” Calkins said. “They have to be more proactive and less relaxed about this issue.”
The district has a firm process on how books are removed, starting at the individual school level.
“We are held to the standard of following policy and procedure, and it is a fair ask that they do the same by honoring the process in place,” Shepherd said of Moms for Liberty.
What happens when a book is challenged in Santa Rosa County?
The titles on the Moms’ list are self-selected reading, most of them middle school titles in the young adult section that already require parent permission to be accessed, according to Shepherd. They also are peer-reviewed.
However, any Santa Rosa County citizen is entitled to file a complaint with the school concerning a questionable book. Filling out the form doesn’t mean it will be immediately taken off the shelves until review procedures have been completed. That will change July 1 when HB 1069 goes into effect and all challenged books will need to be immediately removed.
But the first line of defense is not the Santa Rosa County School Board, it’s the school library media specialists.
”It’s the district’s hope that nearly all challenges can be addressed at the librarian or teacher level,” Shepherd said.
If the problem is not addressed, the challenger will speak with the school principal, then a school material review committee will decide.
If the process is completed and the challenger is still unsatisfied, they can file a formal complaint with the district.
However, parents always have complete control of their individual child’s library access level through the district’s website.
https://www.pnj.com/story/news/educat...
A Florida teacher explains in an essay in Newsweek how the parents don't read the books they ban.https://www.newsweek.com/ron-desantis...
In Nebraska, Papillion La Vista reviewing numerous challenges to school library booksThe Papillion La Vista school district is facing a string of complaints from residents about books that are in district libraries, something that hasn’t happened before this year.
The district recently completed its first review of a library book and have nine more on the docket, said Shureen Seery, assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction. A committee was formed to determine whether the book was appropriate for students.
Seery said all 10 of the book complaints have come from community members who don’t have children in the schools where the books are.
At a meeting earlier this week, Seery explained the district’s process for reviewing a book. The district forms a committee consisting of one teacher, one administrator, two parents, a school librarian and a director from the district’s central office. A new committee is created for each book that is reviewed.
Each committee member is provided with their own copy of the book and reads it before the group can discuss it. The group then uses a set of questions, along with other information, to determine if the book will be pulled from libraries or can stay on shelves.
“The first question is, in its entirety, does this book have value for the students of Papillion La Vista?” Seery said. “The second question is, does this book fit within our community? And then the third question is, is this book appropriate for the age level that has access to it?”
Seery said Monday that the committee came to the conclusion that “Sold” would stay, saying that it details facts of the real-world problem of sex trafficking and that the issue shouldn’t be ignored.
The Papillion La Vista school board has been dealing with concerns about books in the last few months following discussion at board meetings.
Seery said the next book to be reviewed will be “All Boys Aren’t Blue.” It’s currently on shelves at the high schools, but not in any other district building.
Superintendent Andy Rikli said Monday that people need to keep in mind that the parents on the review committees aren’t selected because of their ideologies or political parties.
“Are they biased? My answer is yes. All of us have biases,” he said. “I think the other thing we have to be very real about is the practicality of this process. If we start getting 10, 20, 40, 100 book (review requests), we’re going to overwhelm our ability to keep up with it.”
Annette Eyman, a district spokeswoman, said one book review can take up to 90 days.
Eyman said anyone has the ability to see any book offered at specific schools in Papillion La Vista by checking school websites. Parents also can use the district’s app to see each book their child checks out from the library. They also can ask their child’s library to not allow specific books to be checked out."
Sold
All Boys Aren't Blue
https://omaha.com/news/local/educatio...
Washington State follow-upCampaign to fight "explicit books" rallies community to support inclusive literature
A packed Wenatchee School Board conference room heard from nearly 30 speakers about the importance of inclusive literature at last night’s meeting. The speakers, who ranged from parents, to educators, to former students were prompted to speak after two people circulated a post on social media calling for parents to attend the meeting to fight against “explicit books” in district libraries. All public comments at the meeting were made in support of inclusive literature, specifically pertaining to LGBTQ+ themes, and the pair that began the campaign to fight against books decided not to speak at the meeting but were in attendance.
Anyone who is interested may look through an online catalog of district library collections. If someone wanted to express concern about a book, the process begins with an informal request to an individual school librarian or principal.
If the informal process does not resolve the issue, the librarian or principal will provide a form that may be submitted for a formal request for reconsideration. The next step would be a review by an Instructional Materials Committee who follows the process outlined in the district’s Procedure 2021P and submits a decision to the superintendent.
The Board of Directors then gives a review to determine if the IMC followed the proper process and applied the appropriate criteria. The committee’s decision would stand if the IMC followed the correct criteria and process, but if it wasdetermined they were not followed, the board of directors will determine the outcome of the challenge.
Challenged library materials remain in the library collection until the formal process is completed. As of yesterday, there have been no challenges to materials in WSD libraries.
Haglund said that the district does have policies and procedures on how materials are selected and if parents and community members have questions, they are welcome to engage in that process both formally and informally.
“We are committed to ensuring our spaces are safe for each student and they have what they need to succeed and thrive in our schools,” she said.
https://www.ncwlife.com/news/campaign...
"Maryland’s largest public school system was sued Wednesday by parents who want their children excused from instruction with books that have LGBTQ+ themes, saying the “forced inculcation” violates their rights to freely exercise their religion and direct their children’s religious upbringing.The books promote one-sided ideology and introduce issues concerning family life and sexuality that are age-inappropriate and are inconsistent with their religious beliefs and child-raising philosophies, plaintiffs Tamer Mahmoud and Enas Barakat, Jeff and Svitlana Roman, and Chris and Melissa Persak allege.
They sued Montgomery County School Superintendent Monifa B. McKnight, the Montgomery County Board of Education, and individual board members in the US District Court for the District of Maryland.
The school system said it can’t comment on pending litigation."
The books they object to?
Pride Puppy!
language: A word search in “Pride Puppy” encourages children to search for images including the “intersex [flag],” a “[drag] king,” “leather,” a “lip ring,” a “[drag] queen,” and “underwear,” the complaint alleges.
Uncle Bobby's Wedding
Books for first through fifth graders include “Uncle Bobby’s Wedding"—a story meant to validate same-sex marriage in the eyes of a small child, the complaint says.
The various books “promote political ideologies about family life and human sexuality that are inconsistent with sound science, common sense, and the well-being of children,” the complaint says.
The board initially confirmed that parents had the right to be notified about the books and request alternate instructional material for their children, the plaintiffs say. But it reversed that position in March, according to the complaint. The board announced that although parents still may remove their children from “family life and human sexuality” curriculum, they may not be excused from instruction with the inclusive materials, plaintiffs say.
This policy infringes on their First Amendment speech and religious rights and 14th Amendment right to equal protection under the law. It also violates their rights under the Maryland Constitution, the plaintiffs say.
They want an injunction blocking the board from requiring their children —and other students whose parents object—to read, listen to, or discuss the books. They also want the board to provide advance notice when the materials will be used."
https://news.bloomberglaw.com/litigat...
I personally think the school district has the right idea. If every parent opted their kid out of something they disagreed with, no kid would ever learn everything they need to know. "Religious" parents can OPT to send their kids to religious school. This old Catholic and Puritan colony is now a suburb of Washington, DC which is a pretty progressive district.
5-year-old children in Texas are being given Winnie the Pooh books that teach them how to survive a school shootinghttps://www.businessinsider.com/winni...
This is despicable! I doubt Disney authorized this, neither did the estates of A.A. Milne and E.H. Shepherd. Unfortunately Pooh is now in the public domain and anyone can use his likeness.
Kim Reynolds signs sweeping Iowa education law on book bans, LGBTQ teaching. What it does:I.e. don't say gay
The law will ban school books with descriptions or depictions of sex acts; prohibit instruction on gender identity or sexual orientation before seventh grade; require schools to notify parents if a student requests to use new pronouns; and enshrine the "constitutionally protected right" for parents to make decisions for their children.
Teachers and school librarians will need to sort through their books to remove any that include a visual depiction or description of a sex act. Iowa law specifically defines (view spoiler)
School and library organizations are warning that many books long available on school library shelves could be banned — far beyond the few, controversial titles that have made news in recent years .
No LGBTQ instruction in elementary schools. Teachers may not provide "any program, curriculum, test, survey, questionnaire, promotion or instruction" about gender identity or sexual orientation in kindergarten through sixth grade.
Parental notification for new pronouns. Schools will be required to ask for parental consent if a student requests to use new pronouns.
....
(The rest is new and totally crazy)
Fewer fine arts and language courses. High schools are required to offer fewer credits of fine arts and world language classes.
More exemptions from physical education. A school-sponsored activity that requires "at least as much physical activity per week" as the P.E. requirement can excuse a student from also taking P.E. class.
Lower professional requirements for school librarians. Schools may hire a public library professional for the teacher librarian position, and the person would not be required to hold a master's degree.
https://www.desmoinesregister.com/sto...
Good job Gov. Reynolds! You just destroyed education in one fell swoop. Having a non-professional "librarian" will make it HARDER to fill the library shelves with books kids want to and need to read. Librarians are trained professionals who know how to choose books based on reviews from professional, peer reviewed sources and NOT right-wing extremist websites and fake Amazon reviews.
In Ohio, "The Beavercreek school district is allowing parents to limit their students’ access to certain fiction books, and Bellbrook school officials are reviewing a biology textbook after complaints made by parents over mentions of gender, sexuality, and similar themes.
Beavercreek has limited the use of three fiction titles after Beavercreek resident Sarah Murray filed challenges to the books in the school library:
Juliet Takes a Breath
reportedly the book contains “p____phic” elements, “characterizes all whites as racist,” and promotes “the complete depravity of the liberal agenda.” The book also mentions Communism.
(I.e. it has LGBTQIAP+ content)
Identical
Impulse
The resident’s complaint says the books should be removed because they contain explicit descriptions of self-harm, drug use, and the ways in which the father abuses his daughters in the story.
Murray was notified of the books by Make Schools Safe Again, a Christian organization “focused on the educational issues that affect the Biblical worldview of children.” The organization collects lists of “educationally unsuitable” books for parents to challenge in school libraries.
Parents may block the books from being checked out of the school library by their child, Beavercreek Superintendent Paul Otten said.
Additionally, Bellbrook-Sugarcreek Schools are reviewing the textbook used for an Advanced Placement Biology class, after parents complained about the book’s handling of gender and sexuality.
Biological Sex, Gender Identity, and Sexual Orientation in Human Sexuality
The paragraphs provide basic definitions of gender, sexuality, and associated terms with each. The rest of the chapter is devoted to discussion of reproduction in mammals, including humans.
The paragraphs should rather be presented in a psychology or sociology textbook “with “alternate viewpoints being presented and an emphasis on the topic being theory,” wrote Bellbrook resident Brittany Hirschfeld, adding that the topic was controversial, and that curriculum “should not attempt to indoctrinate students on controversial issues.”
Craig Reinhart, chair of the Science Department at Bellbrook High School, told the school board during their May 11 meeting that the disputed content is “never discussed, never part of course objectives, never assessed, and is not mentioned in the AP standards.”
Reinhart pointed out the positive elements of the textbook during that meeting, adding that Bellbrook’s high-achieving Advanced Placement students need the best curriculum in order to provide them with proper challenge. Reinhart said that the cause for concern may be “a result of semantics rather than actual content found in the textbook.”
Based on feedback from a public review session held on March 14, school administration decided to “further review our options for the AP Biology book,” Superintendent Doug Cozad said.
The current book is called “Campbell’s Biology in Focus.” Two books, both Campbell editions, were initially considered for the AP course, Cozad said.
“We are digging into it to check on other possibilities and see if we can move forward with something in the very near future,” Cozad said via email. “In the end, it could even be one of these books.”
https://www.daytondailynews.com/local...
Watch for broohaha and bans in Maple Grove, Minnesota Book about gender transition available to first graders in Minnesota school district
Call Me Max
A review of ISD 279's library catalog conducted by CITC did not show "Call Me Max" in any of the district's libraries, so CITC reached out to the district to confirm the book's availability. A spokesperson told CITC that the book is "included in kindergarten classrooms as an option during independent reading time."
"All our district's kindergarten teachers reviewed and selected books that they felt best represented their students," ISD 279 spokesperson Kay Villella told CITC. "These books then went into each kindergarten classroom across the district."
Villella told CITC that "Call Me Max" is not used for instructional purposes, and it is one of approximately 225 books hand-selected by ISD 279 kindergarten teachers.
https://komonews.com/news/nation-worl...
Book challenges are mounting at schools and public libraries in Massachusetts and many Boston.com readers are troubled to see the national trend reflected here in the Bay State.In 2022, there were 45 challenges on more than 30 books in Massachusetts, according to The American Library Association. Most of these books centered on LGBT issues and BIPOC or other minority groups. For years, book challenges in the Bay State were so rare that the Massachusetts School Library Association relied on national data rather than collecting its own. Since the organization started collecting data from member libraries in the fall of 2022, there have been 22 challenges.
Boston ALA and MSLA note that many member libraries don’t report their challenges, so the scope of the problem is likely larger than we realize.
One of the groups leading the charge of challenging books in Massachusetts libraries is Massachusetts Informed Parents, which has put together a “Parental Advisory Book List” and urges parents to have books removed from their local community libraries.
Included in that list are books dealing with race, gender, and the LGBT community such as “Gender Queer: A Memoir,” “The Handmaid’s Tale,” “What Was Stonewall?,” “The Bluest Eye,” and more.
read Boston.com readers' responses
https://www.boston.com/community/read...
In New Jersey, The Hamilton Township School Board meeting on Wednesday deteriorated into a raucous debate about book banning after a request that a publication about the LGBTQIA+ community be removed from district libraries.This Book Is Gay
Flamer
The Bluest Eye
Beyond Magenta: Transgender and Nonbinary Teens Speak Out
All Boys Aren't Blue
Gender Queer: A Memoir
https://www.nj.com/news/2023/05/tempe...
In Newtown, CT where they KNOW books don't harm children, they're still debating books - along party lines of course."Three of the 48 public participants who went on the record at a May 16 Board of Education meeting supported removing the books Flamer and Blankets from the high school’s library shelves.
The meeting was held in the high school cafetorium as Chair Deborra Zukowski anticipated public attendance in excess of the capacity of the Municipal Center’s Council Chambers.
While it was originally hoped to be the final meeting during which resolution would come regarding whether to keep or remove the books in question from circulation, Part 1 of the report in The Newtown Bee made note that just six members of the school board attended.
Board member Don Ramsey was unable to attend. It has since been learned he was attending to his wife, who was very ill. She has since passed away.
As previously reported, all but one of the related motions or amendments offered during the May 16 session tied 3-3 along party lines.
__________
The students' comments are especially telling:
"About one out of every four participants who spoke identified themselves as a student, and each advocated against the prohibition of the books.
“If you think you can protect kids from dirty words, you haven’t been on a school bus in a while,” said Kenneth Miller, a sixth grader.
Skylar Lewis, who is 18, said if she is old enough to join the Army, she should be old enough to read the books. Regarding the books’ content, Skylar said it is a part of life; teens are aware of sex and many have sex.
Catherine Lye, another NHS student, said these books need to be read, even though they contain “challenging topics.” She said students in certain situations need to know others have made it out, and added that many students feel less safe because of proposed measures and asked the board to show queer students they care.
NHS student Joseph Crosby called into question how well board members know the student body.
The board’s lack of knowledge of affairs of the high school and middle school, particularly the use of the libraries, was the focus of comments from multiple students during the second public participation after board discussion and failed votes.
“You will not find students looking through books,” said Crosby, who said students are all on their phones in the library. “I’ve literally never seen someone look at books.”
Regarding explicit content thought by Zukowski to be filtered by Wi-Fi, NHS student Elle Glausman said, “I turn off my Wi-Fi, I can access these in three seconds, and I can show you right now.”
Several students mentioned accessing explicit materials was not something people do in school, or would search for in school libraries.
______
....
Most community members in favor of the books called for the board to listen to the special review committee.
“It is irresponsible to say ‘we have heard your expert opinion, but my neighbor told me otherwise,” said Nerlande Foote, later adding “there is a focused, sustained minority committed to book-banning that challenges the legitimacy of the board.”
Following Foote, six individuals filled their two minutes participation slot listing the specific education, experience, and awards of each person on the special review committee, advocating for the validity of their unanimous recommendation.
Each of these testimonies led to a statement about the committee member in focus, who “has the training and expertise in a way this board of education does not,” and “A vote against the special review committee is a vote against the experts; it’s a vote against educators.”
“Your job is to affirm the decision that [the committee experts] have made absent any showing of abuse or incorrect behavior, and you have done none of that,” Nicole Maddox said.
Michelle Embree Ku, another former school board chair, read a letter from Mike Curato, the author and illustrator of Flamer, which appeared in last week’s edition of The Bee. In his note, he directly addressed the students of NHS.
“Don’t let anyone silence you, let it out,” he wrote, and listed creative methods students could use to express themselves. “Censorship is fought with expression. That is your First Amendment right no matter your age, or your station.”
Curato implored students to “lead with facts and compassion” while looking for opportunities to help those in their community who are marginalized.
“Flamer is my truth and my joy,” Curato wrote, as related by Ku. “It may make some people uncomfortable, but their comfort is nothing compared to your safety and happiness. Remember, they can ban my book, but no one has the right to ban you.”
Bruce Degen, illustrator of The Magic School Bus series, was in attendance and approached the board to provide his own statement.
Degen said he once met a teenage girl who was homeschooled, and wasn’t allowed to read his books, citing “demonism” involved in the magical transformation of the bus. He said she and her family are entitled to their belief system.
“[But] if that belief system would be the belief system that would rule this school, what would it mean?” queried Degen.
After first suggesting it at a previous meeting, Danielle Lozer again approached the board with her recommendation of compromise — an app allowing parents to research books, and provide schools with a list of material they don’t want their children to read.
“If this were implemented, we could avoid having to go through this grueling process again and again and again for every single book that a parent disagrees with,” said Lozer.
Newtown Library Media Specialist Sarah Beier told the board members while she appreciates an idea about a list put forward, it is her job to make lists for the library.
Beier referenced liability in her position if she were to provide a student with a book by mistake, and said the administrative side of the idea hadn’t been discussed. She also feared there will be new books under question every week.
“Any motion for compromise where a parent would be in charge of what their children read while they’re at school completely diminishes a child’s right to their own education,” said Morgan Albano. Albano added that her father would not have signed off for her to read books on gay rights, which would have “hindered her a lot as a person.”
Murphy also spoke in the second session, and identified herself as a child psychologist in town. She said an “opt-in” procedure for the books in the library would endanger kids who could out themselves (as LGBTQ) if they say they want the book.
Coverage on this story will continue in The Newtown Bee following a special Board of Education meeting on Thursday, June 1 at 7 pm in the Newtown High School auditorium.
http://www.newtownbee.com/05262023/bo...
Central Bucks, Penn. has released information regarding their book banning process. "While the report shows checked boxes indicating the books contained specific forms of sexual content prohibited under a district policy passed last year, they offer no insight into the discussions of the committees that decided to ban Gender Queer and This Book is Gay.
“They’re not very transparent,” said Deborah Caldwell-Stone, director of the American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom, who reviewed the reports at The Inquirer’s request.
The district decided to keep three other books, Beyond Magenta, Lawn Boy, and Me and Earl and the Dying Girl.
The policy, passed last July, said no materials in district libraries shall contain specific types of “sexualized content,” including “visual or visually implied depictions of sexual acts or simulations of such acts” and “explicit written descriptions of sexual acts.” (In elementary school libraries, “visual depictions of nudity or implied nudity” and “implied written descriptions of sexual acts” are also prohibited, while in middle school, visual depictions of nudity are prohibited except for “materials with diagrams about anatomy for science or content relating to classical works of art.”)
The reports say the books were evaluated by committees of administrators and educators who read the books in their entirety, and also considered the district’s library policy and administrative regulation implementing it.
The committees included the district’s library coordinator, one or two administrators, and two or three educators. The reports do not name the members.
Each report includes a section for describing the book’s literary merit, quoting professional reviews and awards. No commentary from committee members is included.
The next section includes a series of boxes to check regarding categories of sexual content prohibited by the district.
Based on the committee’s reconsideration “as outlined in this report,” it voted to remove Gender Queer. The report included a checked box indicating all members “contributed input,” and all voted.
“The decision is unanimous,” the report said. The same was true with the other four book decisions.
The reports don’t reveal how the committees tasked with evaluating the books in question considered the value to students, Caldwell-Stone said.
A district spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment on how literary merit factored into the reviews.
Aimee Emerson, president of the Pennsylvania School Library Association and a librarian in McKean County, noted that the Central Bucks committees included a librarian, which she called vital. But she said the reports provide “no context as to the particular discussions and decisions” made by the committees.
Central Bucks has been accused by the American Civil Liberties Union of creating a hostile environment for LGBTQ students — an allegation that an internal investigation commissioned by the district concluded had no merit.
Central Bucks has not revealed the names of the people who filed the challenges. After The Inquirer and others appealed to Pennsylvania’s Office of Open Records seeking the names, lawyer J. Chadwick Schnee petitioned to intervene on behalf of two people who had submitted challenges.
Schnee — who has represented people opposed to mask mandates and, more recently, a man accused of taking a gun to a Central Bucks board meeting — said his clients’ book challenges had triggered “noncriminal investigations” in the district, exempting the records from public disclosure. The open records office agreed.
The Central Bucks challengers drew heavily from Booklooks, a website affiliated with the conservative Moms for Liberty group that details “objectionable” material in books."
https://www.inquirer.com/news/central...
Central Bucks, Penn. has released information regarding their book banning process. "While the report shows checked boxes indicating the books contained specific forms of sexual content prohibited under a district policy passed last year, they offer no insight into the discussions of the committees that decided to ban Gender Queer and This Book is Gay.
“They’re not very transparent,” said Deborah Caldwell-Stone, director of the American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom, who reviewed the reports at The Inquirer’s request.
The district decided to keep three other books, Beyond Magenta, Lawn Boy, and Me and Earl and the Dying Girl.
The policy, passed last July, said no materials in district libraries shall contain specific types of “sexualized content,” including “visual or visually implied depictions of sexual acts or simulations of such acts” and “explicit written descriptions of sexual acts.” (In elementary school libraries, “visual depictions of nudity or implied nudity” and “implied written descriptions of sexual acts” are also prohibited, while in middle school, visual depictions of nudity are prohibited except for “materials with diagrams about anatomy for science or content relating to classical works of art.”)
The reports say the books were evaluated by committees of administrators and educators who read the books in their entirety, and also considered the district’s library policy and administrative regulation implementing it.
The committees included the district’s library coordinator, one or two administrators, and two or three educators. The reports do not name the members.
Each report includes a section for describing the book’s literary merit, quoting professional reviews and awards. No commentary from committee members is included.
The next section includes a series of boxes to check regarding categories of sexual content prohibited by the district.
Based on the committee’s reconsideration “as outlined in this report,” it voted to remove Gender Queer. The report included a checked box indicating all members “contributed input,” and all voted.
“The decision is unanimous,” the report said. The same was true with the other four book decisions.
The reports don’t reveal how the committees tasked with evaluating the books in question considered the value to students, Caldwell-Stone said.
A district spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment on how literary merit factored into the reviews.
Aimee Emerson, president of the Pennsylvania School Library Association and a librarian in McKean County, noted that the Central Bucks committees included a librarian, which she called vital. But she said the reports provide “no context as to the particular discussions and decisions” made by the committees.
Central Bucks has been accused by the American Civil Liberties Union of creating a hostile environment for LGBTQ students — an allegation that an internal investigation commissioned by the district concluded had no merit.
Central Bucks has not revealed the names of the people who filed the challenges. After The Inquirer and others appealed to Pennsylvania’s Office of Open Records seeking the names, lawyer J. Chadwick Schnee petitioned to intervene on behalf of two people who had submitted challenges.
Schnee — who has represented people opposed to mask mandates and, more recently, a man accused of taking a gun to a Central Bucks board meeting — said his clients’ book challenges had triggered “noncriminal investigations” in the district, exempting the records from public disclosure. The open records office agreed.
The Central Bucks challengers drew heavily from Booklooks, a website affiliated with the conservative Moms for Liberty group that details “objectionable” material in books."
https://www.inquirer.com/news/central...
More caving in from TargetABC-Deconstructing Gender
"recalled" due to anti-LGBTQ+ backlash!Sara Broussard, mom of twin 4-year-old girls, flipped through the book in store to see if it was age appropriate for her children. The book seemed a good opportunity to continue her effort to keep her twins from accepting gender-based stereotypes. She was unable to check out the book.
"Kayla Castaneda, a crisis communications specialist for the retail giant, flatly refused to tell The Daily Beast if the children’s book—still available online—was one of the items it pulled from stores. “We have nothing to share at this time,” she wrote in an email.
After her TikTok video, Broussard also found herself on the receiving end of vitriol, just for trying to buy the book.
“A lot of conservative Christians were saying things like, ’You must not be a mom’… ‘I hope you’re not a teacher’...‘It’s terrible that you would want to buy this book for your kids,’” Broussard told The Daily Beast.
She was finally able to get a copy through ashandchess.com, a website run by the two authors, Ashley Molesso and Charles Needham, who describe themselves as a queer and trans couple. Broussard made a second TikTok video in which she read the book aloud in answer to those who judged it solely by its title.
“Just to show that what you think is in this book is not what’s in this book,” she said. “It really is just teaching that there are boys who can be nurturing and a girl can be tough and brave and we don’t have to fit within these gender roles that have been laid out for us.”
“It didn’t even start necessarily a broader conversation yet because they’re only 4,” she added. “They liked looking at the illustrations.” Broussard added that she has always sought to expose them to strong female characters .
“And so I think for them it was just another book,” she said.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/target-...
More from CTBanning books: In CT, titles for teens are being challenged
While there haven't been any official bans yet, books for teens that explore LGBTQIA+ and BIPOC stories are being challenged across the state.
"Hearst Connecticut Media previously reported in April that the Connecticut Library Association has 35 active challenges against school and library books, which has doubled since 2022. This month, Douglas Lord, president of the Connecticut Library Association said that the association is aware of an estimated 40 challenges.
He also noted that most challenged books focus on BIPOC and/or LGBTQIA+ subjects, and that most of the challenged titles are geared toward teens.
“Because of Connecticut’s parochial culture, there is not one particular clearinghouse or resource that handles challenges; each little library or school media center is on its own,” Lord said in an email. “The Connecticut Library Association offers support as does the American Library Association.”
He noted that individual titles weren’t the only things that had been challenged at libraries across Connecticut. The Connecticut Library Association also reported that displays highlighting banned books and Pride were challenged as well as a Drag Story Time program.
While efforts to ban books have increased, a bill has also been introduced to create sanctuary cities for books. In January, the Ferguson Library in Stamford announced that it was designated as a “book sanctuary.”
According to the library’s statement, a book sanctuary provides opportunities to expand access to banned and challenged books as well as provide support and protection for the freedom to read. The book sanctuary designation affirms the library’s commitment to collecting and protecting endangered books, making them accessible to the public, hosting book talks, events, and conversations about diverse characters and stories, and educating others on the history of book banning and burning.
“This has always been part of the library’s mission, but in this era of rising book censorship and attacks on freedom of speech, this work takes on new, vital importance,” Ferguson Library CEO Alice Knapp said in the statement. “We are proud to stand with the City of Stamford to protect intellectual freedom and the right to read.”
"The right to read is a powerful and fundamental part of an individual's growth and development," Stamford Mayor Caroline Simmons said in the statement. "I am proud that this designation reaffirms that the City of Stamford, in partnership with the Ferguson Library, will remain a place that values and recognizes the importance of diversity and inclusion - especially in thought and ideas."
https://www.ctinsider.com/entertainme...
Good news, surprisingly, from the Adirondack towns in New York!In the Tri-Lakes, residents can read whatever they’d like.
Local librarians and public school administrators are reporting no formal requests for any books to be removed from Tri-Lakes region libraries.
“We have had no book ban attempts,” Saranac Lake Central School District Superintendent Diane Fox wrote in an email to the Enterprise.
Lake Placid Central School District Superintendent Timothy Seymour said he’s “not addressed any concerns” about books to date, but LPCSD also has a policy in place in case there’s ever a request to remove a book from circulation
In the Tupper Lake Central School District, some residents have asked whether the school has some specific titles, but there haven’t been any formal requests to remove books, according to Tupper Lake Central School District Superintendent Russ Bartlett.
Keene Central School District Superintendent Dan Mayberry said that not only has the school not received any requests for books to be removed from the school library, he has no interest in having that happen in Keene.
“I personally do not have any interest in censorship of book access,” he said.
Maggie Sheldon, KCS’ middle-high school librarian since 1990, said that as far as she knows, there’s never been a challenged book at the district. She said the district does have policies on file in case there ever was a challenge.
Representatives of public libraries around the Tri-Lakes, including the Saranac Lake Free Library, the Tupper Lake Goff-Nelson Memorial Library, the Keene Valley Public Library and the Wilmington E.M. Cooper Memorial Library, said they haven’t fielded a book ban request, either — not in 2022 or in any years prior.
Though local libraries haven’t taken in any formal complaints, they’ve heard some criticism related to a book’s content or cover. Some books at the SLFL with LGBTQIA-plus content, titles and covers have come up missing, said 20-year Saranac Lake library clerk Peggy Orman, like the nonfiction book “David Bowie Made Me Gay: 100 Years of LGBT Music” by Darryl W. Bullock.
SLFL Director Jake Widrick noted a negative comment on the library’s weekly “book face Friday” social media post on Jan. 13, which featured a photo of two people posing behind “Tell Me How You Really Feel” by Aminah Mae Safi, an LGBTQIA-plus young adult book whose cover pictures two women sharing a romantic gaze. One person commented, “Great — our public library is grooming our daughters. Stop with the woke ideology already!”
But these efforts to criticize and limit the exposure of certain reading material at the library haven’t gotten very far. The negative social media comment was met with a slew of replies, like one that read, “I hate to break it to you, but gay people have existed since the dawn of time,” and a formal complaint was never filed. And when a book like “David Bowie Made Me Gay” goes “missing,” the library simply buys it again and recirculates it.
“That’s just more support for the author,” Widrick said.
https://www.adirondackdailyenterprise...
The Los Angeles Times has written up parts of their conversation with LeVar Burton!https://www.latimes.com/california/st...
Amanda Gorman defend her poem and the mom who challenges it attempts a half-baked apology wherein she claims she only read parts of the book and does not have ties to right-wing white supremacist groups. She merely attended rallies where they were present! Semantics lady, semantics. She also claims she reposted an anti-Semitic hoax because all she saw was the word "communism" and didn't read the rest! again lady, reading is key. Reading comprehension is also key. If you block kids from reading books they become brainless zombies who repost fake news without even reading it let alone trying to verify the information! _____
"Salinas told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, JTA, she complained about Gorman's poem and the books because they did not support the curriculum. Gorman, 25, was the first person named the National Youth Poet Laureate.
“I’m not an expert,” she said. “I’m not a reader. I’m not a book person. I’m a mom involved in my children’s education.”
Gorman rejected the school's defense that her poem was restricted not banned, and that it remained available for middle-school children.
"For those claiming my book wasn’t banned, just 'aged-up,' 'The Hill We Climb' is an inaugural poem for the world," Gorman posted on Twitter. "Relocating it to older age group library shelves by its nature bars younger and equally deserving generations from accessing said moment in history."
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/n...
In Dallas, the school district that sent home books with Winnie the Pooh character that discuss what to do during a school shooting has given a half-hearted apology. They do not apologize for the content just sending the books home without warning or context!!!!!!https://www.wfaa.com/article/news/loc...
Mod
So books about Winnie the Pooh telling children about how to stay safe during school shootings are fine and being sent home with children but books that feature nudity, sexuality, coarse language and discuss racism are not fine. And no, I do not actually think that a book about school shootings and staying safe during a school shooting is problematic, but that I have to wonder why books on school shootings are acceptable and books on sexuality, racism etc. supposedly are not.
And really, there would not be so much danger from active shooters at school and elsewhere if Texas and other similar states would have reasonable gun laws!!!!
Manybooks wrote: "So books about Winnie the Pooh telling children about how to stay safe during school shootings are fine and being sent home with children but books that feature nudity, sexuality, coarse language and discuss racism are not fine. ..."Violence in books is also not OK, don't forget that, unless it is propaganda from a company in Texas that trains teachers and apparently now students in what to do in case of a school shooting.
Buried in this news story about Douglas County, Nevada (named for Stephen Douglas, the pro-slavery Democrat challenger to Abraham Lincoln), is the news that this county wants to ban transgenderism and discussion of "divisive" topics like racism, in spite of the county having a history of being pro-slavery an perpetuating violence against Blacks and the indigenous people of the area.Apparently these proposed laws are technically illegal but there are loopholes.
"Per NRS 651.070, it’s illegal in Nevada for providers of public accommodations, like school districts, to discriminate or segregate on the basis of gender identity or expression. Just in case that isn’t clear enough, AB423, if passed as amended, will explicitly prohibit school boards from putting policies in place that do so. Since the authority and responsibility of school boards, per our state constitution, derives from the Legislature, the school board cannot enact a policy which violates existing state statute.
This isn’t a “state’s rights” issue — the State of Nevada, legally speaking, has all of the rights, including the right to dissolve the Douglas County School District or, through a careful last-minute amendment of AB175, replace its elected school board with a wholly appointed one."
"The proposed policy prohibits a set of doctrines from being taught or implied by educational staff, including the doctrine that individuals are either members of the oppressor class or oppressed class because of their race. The goal of this policy is to ensure the school district “will focus on the facts surrounding” historical and current events and “not on the indoctrination or infusion of opinions, political platforms, beliefs, etc.”
The writer of the article queries:
"How, precisely, should a teacher discuss Douglas County’s namesake without discussing the differences of opinions, political platforms and beliefs he had with Abraham Lincoln — especially in relation to the expansion of slavery?"
"How, precisely, should a teacher discuss slavery, Juneteenth and the subsequent imposition of Jim Crow — including the development of sundown towns like Douglas County — without discussing oppressors and the oppressed?"
"How, precisely, should a teacher discuss the controversy surrounding the siren in Minden and why some residents want it to be turned off without discussing the responsibility present residents might or might not have to address the actions committed by past residents of the county?"
"How, precisely, should a teacher explain the historical existence of the nearby Stewart Indian School or the Dresslerville Colony without discussing the adverse treatment received by Native Americans after white settlement as a result of their race?"
https://thenevadaindependent.com/arti...
Ohio may pass a new law regarding how social studies is taught that includes more diversity and inclusion.House Bill 103 would create a nine-member task force to develop statewide academic standards in social studies for kindergarten through senior year of high school. Local districts would then develop a curriculum based on the standards set by that group.
House Bill 171 would change the model curriculum that students learn to include age-appropriate instruction in the experiences and journeys of many people in Ohio, including African American, Asian American and Pacific Islanders, Arab, African and North African, Appalachian, Jewish, Latin American and Native American communities.
https://www.daytondailynews.com/local...
The much-beleaguered Saline County, Arkansas library (where right-wing extremists and anti-censorship advocates have dueling billboards about books), faces more scrutiny from the right-wing would-be book banners."The Saline County Library board delayed a vote earlier in the month that would grant the county judge power to relocate or remove "controversial" books from youth sections in the Benton and Bryant locations.
The board's meeting was the first since the quorum court approved a resolution in April recommending the library system "relocate materials that are not subject matter or age appropriate for children, due to their sexual content or imagery, to an area that is not accessible to children."
Director Patty Hector has voiced that the library is already in compliance with Act 372, which will go into effect on Aug. 1, changing the way libraries handle challenges to content that members consider "obscene" and making librarians liable for disseminating such materials.
Hector mentioned that she hadn't received any material reconsideration forms until the past week before the board meeting.
County Judge Matt Brumley argued that anyone should be able to go into the library and ask a staff member to reconsider a book without having to fill out a form.
But the two locations hold thousands of books, Hector said, and there's no way her staff could possibly know and read them all.
"The county has no control over books in the library, the county can't compel a library to do something," Hector said. "A book has to be declared by the courts that it's obscene and then if you don't take it off shelves, that's when it's a felony. There's a lot of chances to meet to avoid a charge on a librarian."
Bailey Morgan, an organizer for the Saline County Library Alliance, speculates that defunding efforts are brewing for the library.
"The GOP social media presence is confusing, and the judge said it's about moving them from downstairs to upstairs but Saline County Republican Women said it's about removing them entirely, but then other folks are saying it's about removing tax dollars to the library," he said. "Every time a member of the [Saline County Republican Women] or GOP are asked about defunding they say no, but at the same time they're doing this, and it's a little like the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing type of thing."
Those who regularly visit the library have let Hector and staff know that they are on their side, Hector said.
"We've gotten support from our patrons. Every day someone says that they support us and they appreciate that we're not trying to censor anything," she said.
The next library board meeting will be on July 10 at the Bob Herzfeld Memorial Library.
https://www.nwaonline.com/news/2023/m...
More good news:Crawford County, Arkansas parents suing library system for moving LGBTQ+ books to adult section
Some Crawford Co. parents are suing the library system for "unlawful censorship of materials in the county libraries", stating it goes against the First Amendment.
According to the lawsuit, the books were placed in the "social section", a subsection of the adult section.
"There were over 240 books removed," said mom Rebecca Virden, who also filed the lawsuit. She says what the library system is doing is wrong.
"It's not the librarian's job to say what's appropriate for my child. It's not the Quorum Court's job to predetermine that all these topics were not appropriate for my child, that is my right as a parent," said Virden.
"Some of these books are, they obviously have, you know, two moms or two dads," Rowlett said. "Some of these books have children with disabilities. Some of them are just about activism." Rowlett says out of all this, she is hoping "books go back where they should be" and says she would like to see members of the library board be replaced.
https://www.5newsonline.com/article/n...
Food for thought and something Shannon Hale and other authors have been saying for AGES that there's no such thing as "girl" books and "boy books." Laurie Halse Anderson also advocates for teens to read her books so they learn about consent and boys learn to treat girls with more respect.Joanne Harris, advocates for boys to read more girl books :
"books about girls.’ Photograph: Suzan Moore/PA
Hay festival
Boys ‘mustn’t be afraid of female-led books’, says author Joanne Harris
Teaching must change to prevent violence against women, she said at Hay festival, also speaking on narratives of menopause
Lucy Knight
Mon 29 May 2023 14.40 EDT
Boys should be encouraged to read books about girls, said author Joanne Harris, because “a boy who is afraid to read a book with a girl protagonist will grow up into a man who feels that it’s inappropriate for him to listen to a woman’s voice”.
The author of Chocolat told an audience at the Hay festival in Wales that if violence against women was to be prevented, it “needs to be addressed really early, long before an actual crime happens”.
Harris, who taught in an all-boys school for 15 years, said “the way we educate our children” must change if we wanted to see fewer crimes against women. She said: “We have to stop girls being apologetic when they have done nothing wrong. We have to stop boys being entitled when they’re actually not entitled to have more than anybody else. We’ve got to stop teaching them differently as teachers, that will help a lot.
“Also we’ve got to stop giving them the message that it’s wrong for a boy to read books about girls. Because even schools are giving them this message. And this is where the problem happens, where women’s voices are perceived as less.”
https://www.theguardian.com/books/202...
The debate over books is tearing Newtown, CT apart. Really, they should know better. There are 20 children who should have been in high school but were tragically killed. What would they say about the divisions in the school and the community? Let kids read books and worry about what else is out that there can hurt them._________________
Flamer (LGBTQ)
Blankets (religion, relationships and sex abuse)
The local library media specialists at Newtown High found no obvious problem with the books, both of which have been widely acclaimed, and neither did a special committee made up of the principal, the media specialist, two teachers and an assistant superintendent, who unanimously voted to keep both on the shelves. Melillo, the superintendent, also saw no reason to remove the works and endorsed the findings of the committee.
When the issue reached the Board of Education, however, it proved more divisive, splitting roughly along party lines. Democratic members have mostly defended the graphic novels and argued students be allowed to make their own choices. Republican members, who hold a four-to-three majority on the board, have described the books as obscene and explicit, suggesting students below a certain age should need parental consent to read them.
Many of the parents and elected officials who want to remove the books insist they don't have the problem with the LGBTQ themes in "Flamer," only its sexual content. But those who defend the book see a nationwide wave of challenges to stories with LGBTQ characters and wonder what banning the graphic novel and others like it would signal to queer students.
"It's a terrible message," said Tim Stan, a Newtown parent who identifies as bisexual and says he wishes he'd been able to read "Flamer" as a child in the 1980s. "Attempts to ban this kind of literature is really like an attempt to further marginalize the LGBT community and kind of erase our existence.
Melillo notes that the argument is more theoretical than practical. "Flamer," which was published three years ago, has never been checked out of Newtown High's library, while "Blankets" was checked out only once, in 2015.
As the superintendent sees it, those trying to pull the graphic novels are enforcing a double standard, opposing books that offend them personally, while leaving a range of other works that might bother people of different identities or political persuasions. He says parents are welcome to choose what their kids do and don't read but shouldn't impose those preferences on other families.
"You can't have it both ways," Melillo said. "When it fits into your values, you can't say everyone else has to conform, but when it's against your values you can't then say, 'Take it off the shelf.'"
Far from resolving the issue — which is expected to come in front of the board again as soon as next week — the vote seems to have increased tension in town. On Facebook, the Newtown Republican Town Committee accused book banning opponents of "extreme name-calling" as well as "middle fingers being used toward elected volunteers, hollering, chanting" and in one case throwing something at a board member.
Dan Grossman, a Newtown parent who has argued fiercely against restricting the books, describes the fight as "a matter of life and death."
"What the Board of Ed is in essence doing is saying they value for certain people to not be uncomfortable over the literal lives of marginalized community members," Grossman said. "Because we know that the suicide rate is high [for LGBTQ children], and we know that's because of a lack of empathy and understanding and caring."
Beatrice, a Newtown High sophomore who asked to have her last name withheld, said she's frustrated that students haven't had a louder voice in the debate over what books they can read. The attempt to restrict access to "Flamer" and "Blankets," she says, suggest the adults are out of touch with today's teenage experience.
"It says that they're not very well-informed on what goes on in the schools," Beatrice said. "These are topics that we have to talk about because these are things that go on in high school kids' lives, and to not talk about it just because it's a touchy subject is not a great choice."
In Newtown, the Board of Education is expected to meet again this week to vote on the books again, this time with all seven members present.
Zukowski, the board chair, said in an email that since the most recent meeting board members met with the district's library media specialists, who "provided a lot of clarity." Still, she wouldn't say whether their perspectives had changed her stance that the two challenged books should be restricted.
"My focus and that of my colleagues is not removal of books but rather a compromise that addresses the core concerns of most of our community members," she said. "The meeting with the library media specialists helped provide information related to possible compromises."
Many of those who oppose restricting the books worry that if the current challenges are successful, more will follow. Smith, who has one child at Newtown High and another who graduated several years ago, said he's already heard rumors about which books parents will flag next.
"What I worry about is that there's a slope to it," Smith said. "If these two challenges come through it makes it easier to challenge more next time."
https://www.ctinsider.com/news/educat...
Updates:
2 school board members have resigned
Two Republican members of the Newtown Board of Education resigned Wednesday morning amid a book-banning debate, Board Chair Deborra Zukowski confirmed to the Courant.
Members Janet Kuzma and Jennifer Larkin left in the midst of a controversy over the proposed banning, or restriction, of two coming-of-age novels in the high school library.
The board, with those two spots vacant, now seats three Democrats and two Republicans.
At the board’s May 16 meeting, Larkin and Kuzma, alongside Zukowski, voted no on a motion to provide unrestricted student access to “Flamer” by Mike Curato and “Blankets” by Craig Thompson. The board’s three Democrats voted in favor of unrestricted access.
With that vote a 3-3 deadlock — Republican Donald Ramsey was absent — the vote was rescheduled to a special meeting on Thursday evening.
Democratic Town Committee Chair Alex Villamil said the meeting and vote will go on as scheduled, with the five remaining members.
In Newtown, the controversy over the books reached a fever pitch on Tuesday, when Newtown Allies for Change, which opposes the banning of “Flamer” and “Blankets,” posted on its Facebook page a list of the people who asked that the books be banned.
Nicole Maddox and Kate McGrady, executive committee members of NAFC, said in a phone interview on Wednesday that the list was acquired through a Freedom of Information Act request to the school board.
“It’s a transparency post,” Maddox said. “People have the right to understand who it is behind all of this.”
The nine names the group posted on Facebook as calling for the banning of “Flamer” are Melissa Gomez, Matt Sullivan, Joseph Martins, Amy Sullivan, Michelle Doyle, Jennifer Nicoletti, Carey Schierloh, Kersti Ferguson and William DeRosa.
Lisa Kessler is listed as the one person who objected to “Blankets.
The school board special meeting will be held Thursday at 7 p.m. at Newtown High School Auditorium, 12 Berkshire Road in Sandy Hook. It is the only item on the agenda. The meeting also can be seen on live stream at youtube.com/watch?v=6NYlsWA6a1Y
https://www.courant.com/2023/05/31/tw...
residents rally to protest book banning
“This is the Constitution State, this is Connecticut. This can’t happen here,” said Dan Grossman, who lives in Newtown and has three children in the school system. “When the worst regimes that we have ever seen go to ban things, they don’t start with guns or weapons. They start with books, and they start with knowledge,” he said.
There are four Republicans and three Democrats on the Newtown Board of Education. Three of the Republicans are on record from the last board meeting, saying students under a certain age should need permission from parents to read the books. The fourth Republican missed the last meeting but is expected to vote Thursday.
Some of the members who voiced concerns about the books stressed their concerns were not with LGBTQ+ themes, but with the sexual content in the books.
“Even if these books in any way had some sort of harm to cause people, the consequences of removing them are far greater than the consequences of keeping them,” said Ali Powers, who is graduating from Newtown High School this year. She also spoke at Tuesday night’s rally and said she’s most worried about the precedent a book restriction would set.
“It feels like de-evolving, honestly. It feels like we’re going to get to age 50 and become apes again. It’s like we’re moving backwards,” she said.
News 8 spoke briefly with the chair of the Newtown Board of Education, Deborra Zukowski, who is one of the four Republicans on the board. She said all board members have been advised by the district’s legal department not to speak publicly about the issue until after the vote.
The Newtown Board of Education will meet Thursday, at 7:00 p.m. at Newtown High School.
Sad news for Missouri readers under 18. Limitations start today for children’s access to certain books under Missouri’s new library rule. It's stupid. Libraries don't do the first two and the last they already do on an individual level. Who decides what is inappropriate? Which parents? _______________________
This new rule will require libraries to change certain policies in order to receive state funding.
The new policy stops libraries from displaying or giving books to children which are deemed inappropriate. Instead, the rule will allow parents to decide what is and isn't age-appropriate for their children.
It will also require libraries to develop and publish policies on certain topics including how librarians purchase and select children's materials. That written policy by the Secretary of State will also highlight what is appropriate for different age groups.
Additional library changes:
Ban on purchasing materials including (view spoiler)
Prohibits display of inappropriate materials in children's sections of the library
A written policy that allows parents to challenge whether materials or displays are age appropriate
Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft says this rule is a simple way for parents to be more involved with raising their children.
https://abc17news.com/news/2023/05/30...
In Brevard County, Florida, they're seeing some light in terms of the ridiculousness of allowing annonymous challenges."Brevard school board revisits book review policy: Should anonymous complaints be accepted?
Allowing anonymous submissions has caused unintentional consequences, said board member Katye Campbell.
The move comes after a list of nearly 300 challenged books was submitted anonymously to the district earlier this month. Board members said that was an unintentional consequence of the revised policy and called the list revenge.
“We know it was out of spite and revenge,” said board member Gene Trent, adding that he suspected the anonymous person who submitted the list of 296 books was someone who complained that media specialists did not have a vote with the new book review policy.
The new policy also allows people to anonymously submit books for review — something board member Katye Campbell said was put in place because people didn’t want to write their addresses down. However, at Tuesday’s meeting, Campbell offered the idea of revising that aspect of the policy, saying it was having unintentional consequences.
“This is ridiculous and it’s wasting time for, to me, what seems spiteful,” she said.
The specific books on the list made her question the sincerity of the request, she said, with the list containing multiple translations of the Bible, books about the Bible and unrelated titles including “Johann Gutenberg and the Printing Press” and the joke book “All-Time Awesome Collection of Good Clean Jokes for Kids.”
“It was clear that the person didn’t even really, in my opinion, vet their own list,” she said.
Her suggestion was to revisit the policy to stop the “logjam” caused by anonymous requests.
“If we have any movement on the board to go back into rulemaking on this, we don’t stop the process — we keep going with the committee as it is, but (we) redo the policy in the meantime,” she said, adding that they will likely have to look at it anyway due to changes to state law.
Trent agreed, though he had concerns about not keeping people anonymous, saying he would support keeping that aspect of the policy.
“People’s careers, their families, have been threatened,” he said.
He added that he believed the anonymous list was sent by those who opposed the new policy, specifically the change that removed media specialists from voting, and said that media specialists will have to review these books during the informal review process before they go through the formal review process.
“Just my suspicion, it’s the same people that got up here for months talking about how we don’t have respect for media specialists, putting them off the (formal review) committee,” he said. “They are not going to win on this.”
Board Chair Matt Susin said the long list would go through the informal review process as laid out by the policy, but agreed with Campbell and Trent's sentiments.
"I do think it's pretty ridiculous that they made that request," he said. "They're making a big argument over this process and everything like that, and then they just go throw all that down."
https://www.floridatoday.com/story/ne...
Sadly Ludlow (MA) High School in the Pioneer Valley is into book banning and lying about what it is."The debate about books in Ludlow school libraries has brewed for at least the past four years, according to Soares, and a School Committee member recently submitted a proposed policy that would allow members of the school board to vote on whether a book is allowed or not.
Such titles as “,Smoke “People Kill People,” “,Burned” also by Hopkins, and Looking for Alaska were stacked in front of School Committee member Joao Dias, who introduced the controversial book removal policy, at the most recent meeting. Dias said he got the idea of the book removal policy from Central Buck School District in Pennsylvania, which approved the policy last summer and is now the subject of a federal complaint with the U.S. Department of Justice.
But don’t call the proposed policy in Ludlow a book ban, Dias said.
“This policy is not a book ban by any definition. If anyone claims it is, they are lying,”
The policy proposal drew a large group of parents and teachers at the May 23 committee meeting, with opponents and supporters clashing over the impact the policy would have on books available — particularly those about LGBTQ subjects.
As currently proposed, the policy would give the superintendent or an appointed designee the responsibility of creating a list of recommended books. This list would be posted on the school district’s website for 30 days to allow parents and other community members a chance to comment. Finally, the superintendent would submit a final list to the School Committee which may accept or reject the list as a whole or in parts.
Read the policy:
https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/60/ae/8...
Dias, along with Ludlow School Committee member Ronald Saloio, pushed for the book removal policy at the May 23 meeting, while other members seemed unenthusiastic about the idea.
Committee member Jeffrey Stratton compared the policy to “micromanaging” librarians employed by the district whose job it is to curate the books in the school’s libraries. Member Sarah Bowler said the district’s librarians have the expertise to determine what books should be available to students.
“We don’t possess the educational background that a librarian does to make the educational decision to properly choose what is appropriate for our students in a library environment,” Bowler said. “Nor do probably the majority of the town.”
She added, “Those decisions should be left up to our librarians, our teachers, those people who have the knowledge, the developmental backgrounds of what is appropriate for our students.”
“The current policy leaves a lot of the decision-making to a librarian, if that librarian makes the wrong policy decision on a book, and it’s the decision that you don’t like, you’ll probably sue her or him,” Dias said. “They’re actually exposed to legal liability today. It’s just a matter of time before it actually happens.”
Residents in support of the book removal policy in Ludlow say the proposed policy is about removing books containing descriptions of sex or drug use and other “obscene” material.
“This has nothing to do with LGBTQ, get this all through your heads,” said Soares. “It has to do with p____hic books in our school and drugs, rape, obscenity books. That’s what we’re trying to eliminate here.”
Yet the first Ludlow resident to speak in favor of the book removal policy used two anti-homosexual books to make her case.
Deborah Martell said she wants parents and voters to protect children from “sexual exposure, lude and lascivious behavior, sexual misconduct and vulgar actions.” Martell held up a book called “The Health Hazards of Homosexuality” and another called “Why I Don’t Call Myself Gay,” which she described as “about a homosexual man who changed his lifestyle through the grace of God.”
(FYI: The governor of Mass. is a gay woman!)
Teachers and a middle school librarian spoke out during the May 23 meeting against the book removal policy.
“I submit that rather than engaging in unconstitutional book banning, any citizen concerned about what children might be exposed to in literature, instead, advocate for the passage of the proposed Children’s Online Privacy Protection rule ... and additional, tighter regulations for the internet, including social media platforms, as well as video sites as Tik Tok and YouTube to restrict online audiences for adult material,” D’Amoure said.
A vote on the policy is expected at the June 13 meeting.
https://www.masslive.com/news/2023/05...
Sadly Ludlow (MA) High School in the Pioneer Valley is into book banning and lying about what it is."The debate about books in Ludlow school libraries has brewed for at least the past four years, according to Soares, and a School Committee member recently submitted a proposed policy that would allow members of the school board to vote on whether a book is allowed or not.
Such titles as “,Smoke “People Kill People,” “,Burned” also by Hopkins, and Looking for Alaska were stacked in front of School Committee member Joao Dias, who introduced the controversial book removal policy, at the most recent meeting. Dias said he got the idea of the book removal policy from Central Buck School District in Pennsylvania, which approved the policy last summer and is now the subject of a federal complaint with the U.S. Department of Justice.
But don’t call the proposed policy in Ludlow a book ban, Dias said.
“This policy is not a book ban by any definition. If anyone claims it is, they are lying,”
The policy proposal drew a large group of parents and teachers at the May 23 committee meeting, with opponents and supporters clashing over the impact the policy would have on books available — particularly those about LGBTQ subjects.
As currently proposed, the policy would give the superintendent or an appointed designee the responsibility of creating a list of recommended books. This list would be posted on the school district’s website for 30 days to allow parents and other community members a chance to comment. Finally, the superintendent would submit a final list to the School Committee which may accept or reject the list as a whole or in parts.
Read the policy:
https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/60/ae/8...
Dias, along with Ludlow School Committee member Ronald Saloio, pushed for the book removal policy at the May 23 meeting, while other members seemed unenthusiastic about the idea.
Committee member Jeffrey Stratton compared the policy to “micromanaging” librarians employed by the district whose job it is to curate the books in the school’s libraries. Member Sarah Bowler said the district’s librarians have the expertise to determine what books should be available to students.
“We don’t possess the educational background that a librarian does to make the educational decision to properly choose what is appropriate for our students in a library environment,” Bowler said. “Nor do probably the majority of the town.”
She added, “Those decisions should be left up to our librarians, our teachers, those people who have the knowledge, the developmental backgrounds of what is appropriate for our students.”
“The current policy leaves a lot of the decision-making to a librarian, if that librarian makes the wrong policy decision on a book, and it’s the decision that you don’t like, you’ll probably sue her or him,” Dias said. “They’re actually exposed to legal liability today. It’s just a matter of time before it actually happens.”
Residents in support of the book removal policy in Ludlow say the proposed policy is about removing books containing descriptions of sex or drug use and other “obscene” material.
“This has nothing to do with LGBTQ, get this all through your heads,” said Soares. “It has to do with p____hic books in our school and drugs, rape, obscenity books. That’s what we’re trying to eliminate here.”
Yet the first Ludlow resident to speak in favor of the book removal policy used two anti-homosexual books to make her case.
Deborah Martell said she wants parents and voters to protect children from “sexual exposure, lude and lascivious behavior, sexual misconduct and vulgar actions.” Martell held up a book called “The Health Hazards of Homosexuality” and another called “Why I Don’t Call Myself Gay,” which she described as “about a homosexual man who changed his lifestyle through the grace of God.”
(FYI: The governor of Mass. is a gay woman!)
Teachers and a middle school librarian spoke out during the May 23 meeting against the book removal policy.
“I submit that rather than engaging in unconstitutional book banning, any citizen concerned about what children might be exposed to in literature, instead, advocate for the passage of the proposed Children’s Online Privacy Protection rule ... and additional, tighter regulations for the internet, including social media platforms, as well as video sites as Tik Tok and YouTube to restrict online audiences for adult material,” D’Amoure said.
A vote on the policy is expected at the June 13 meeting.
https://www.masslive.com/news/2023/05...
In Crawford County, Georgiaa Library transitions children's books into separate adult book sectionParents filed a lawsuit after the books were moved.
According to our content partners at 40/29 News, the reshelved books have LGBTQ+ characters, stories about a child with disabilities, witchcraft, and a guide to world religions.
"The problem is that it's in the adult section," said Samantha Rowlett, one of the parents behind the suit. "So now children have to go to the adult section to find books that used to be in the children's section."
We just want the books to go back to where they're going to go," Rowlett said. "And we care about having a welcoming, safe space for our community in the public library because it is for everybody."
The lawsuit requests that the books be moved back to where they were in the children's section.
https://katv.com/news/local/crawford-...
https://infogram.com/books-moved-from...
Librarians sue Arkansas state over law banning them from giving ‘obscene’ books to childrenhe American Library Association and the Authors Guild are among a group of organisations bringing a lawsuit against the state of Arkansas over a law which makes it a crime for librarians to give children books with “obscene” content.
The lawsuit involves 17 plaintiffs, including the Central Arkansas Library System (CALS), the Association of American Publishers and the American Booksellers Association.
The groups are aiming to challenge Senate bill 81, which exposes librarians who provide “obscene materials” to children to criminal liability. The law, part of Act 372 of 2023, is due go to come into force on 1 August.
It says that anyone will be allowed to “challenge the appropriateness” of a book, but it does not define exactly what is meant by “obscene” or “appropriateness”. Under the law, a group of people chosen by head librarians would review material that had been challenged, and vote in a public meeting about whether it should be kept on public display or moved to an area of the library inaccessible to those under 18.
CALS executive director Nate Coulter said this part of the law would be “totally impractical to enforce”, reported the Arkansas Advocate.
The board of CALS voted this month to file the lawsuit challenging parts of Act 372 of 2023. John Adams, a lawyer from Fuqua Campbell, the law firm representing CALS, said that librarians needed clarity on the law to ensure they could do their jobs without risking arrest.
American Library Association president Lessa Kanani’opua Pelayo-Lozada told Publishers Weekly that the lawsuit was “to vindicate Arkansas residents’ freedom to read”.
“The government has no place in deciding what books people can borrow or buy,” she added.
The lawsuit is expected to be filed in the coming days.
https://www.theguardian.com/books/202...
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I am glad that the despicable and vile MONSTROSITY comparing the Pride flag to the Nazi flag has been publicly named and shown, and I sure hope that Natalie Benoit faces major and longlatinglg uncomfortable repercussions and consequences. But also, if Natalie Benoit has children, it needs to be officially investigated by child protective services in the Niagara region whether Benoit is teaching this kind of bigoted hatred and this kind of attitude to her children, because for me, ANY parents equating the Nazi flag to the Pride flag and teaching this to their offspring should really be losing custody and with no exception.
Manybooks wrote: "https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamilt...I am glad that the despicable and vile MONSTROSITY comparing the Pride flag to the Nazi flag has b..."
Wow! that's just... wow! I don't even know who anyone could even make that equation, especially since Nazis killed queer people! That false "grooming" study really, really needs to be publicly discredited and GO AWAY.
My mom heard that even in our very, very liberal neighborhood (almost all the neighbors in my subdivision and nearby have "Here we believe" yard signs https://www.signsofjustice.com/produc...)
there are angry, angry censors who keep yelling and threatening and coming to the library. They had to lock the downstairs community room and hire a security guard who sits in the entrance. This is the library that turned down Kirk Cameron's story time/anti-CRT and LGBTQ+ discussion). I was shocked and disappointed. This state was founded in 1636 specifically for separation of church and state. No Puritan control of the government.
There is a large Orthodox neighborhood near the library and some Orthodox communities are very conservative and side with the censors. They send their kids to Jewish schools. All I have to say to them is "Don't use the library as a child care center and expect the librarians to watch your kid all afternoon."
Over and over again I keep reading that the majority of parents do not support book banning, and yet the fighting continues.In Florida, a teacher was suspended for showing kids a Disney movie with a gay character. (Shame on the kid who tattled on her). There's lots of news about her. She claims she didn't know "don't say gay" applied to her 5th grade classroom. (Technically it didn't at the time).
Anyway, they're just getting around to doing something about the issue.
Removing a book from school libraries, classroom indoctrination, and the future of its superintendent were the main points of contention in a Hernando County School Board meeting Tuesday night that lasted over eight hours.
More than 600 community members, students, and teachers filled the campus theatre after passing through increased security.
A failed motion to cut the length of public comments from three minutes to 1½ minutes per person resulted in a meeting lasting over eight hours.
Before the second public comment period, the board voted unanimously to remove the book “the sun and her flowers by Rupi Kaur from school libraries.
Vice chair Susan Duval said the content of the poetry in the book is "appropriate, objective, and could have value" — but that's not what drew the complaints.
During discussion of agenda items, Rodriguez, who was backed by the conservative group Moms for Liberty during last year's election, said it's the "adults propagating the racism." She also accused teachers of "repackaging (Critical Race Theory)" and "just renaming it."
"We do not want to have equity and inclusion in our schools," Rodriguez said. "We want to keep our schools traditional, the way that they were, we don't want any of the woke or the indoctrination."
"Please keep in mind, it's not about the content. It was only about the images (in the book)," Duval added. "The content the (reviewing) committee felt was appropriate."
Board member Shannon Rodriguez, who's currently under fire for her role in the Disney movie dispute, said it's the parent's choice for what children get to see.
"It shouldn't be content, and it shouldn't be material that is not age-appropriate," Rodriguez said. "We're not going to stop until all these books are removed and our schools are safe for our children to go to the libraries again."
Earlier this month, the board made national headlines when Rodriguez reported a fifth grade teacher, Jenna Barbee, to the Florida Department of Education for showing the Disney movie “Strange World” to her class.
The animated movie, which focuses on a family of explorers and their relationship to the environment, also contains a character who has a crush on another boy.
Ms. Barbee spoke out: "Right now as a collective, I will tell you we are failing, the system is broken, the Earth is wailing. Let the students read and learn, let the teachers teach. Everyone deserves to be represented, and that's what we need to preach," Barbee said.
Rodriguez found out about the showing because her daughter was in Barbee's class.
The school district earlier said that parents had signed permission slips allowing their children to see PG-rated movies like "Strange World" in class, but found Barbee had failed to get administrative approval on all movies like she was supposed to.
While a state Department of Education investigation into the matter has apparently been closed, the findings were not disclosed at Tuesday's meeting.
A petition on Change.org called "Remove Shannon Rodriguez: Hernando County School Board Member" has garnered almost 27,000 signatures as of Wednesday afternoon.
A counter-petition was made in response called "SAVE parental rights and PROTECT children's welfare" to keep Rodriguez in her position. As of Wednesday afternoon, it has over 260 signatures.
Community member Susan Campanero said she had nothing against the LGBTQ+ community, but that those conversations should be happening at home, not at school.
"How you parent is your business. You want to treat, you want to teach them about transgender, that's fine, they can learn at home," Campanero said. "If you want these books that they're complaining about getting taken out of the schools, buy them yourself on Amazon, but leave my children to learn how they need to learn."
Another community member, Robert Riordan, said Hernando schools should be teaching religion and made a comment that caused many in the audience to loudly object.
Warning: hateful words in spoiler tag
(view spoiler)
A teacher from the district, Lisa Masserio, spoke about the exodus of co-workers, referring to the 49 "instructional separations" listed on the agenda.
"Sadly, this agenda also has 33 resignations educators leaving our district, possibly leaving teaching entirely after what they've experienced this year," Masserio said. "The number of resignations has doubled from this time a year ago."
"There have been politically motivated attacks from the state level, from certain elements and within our community, and from local politicians affecting morale, making educators question whether this is the right place for them," Masserio added. "Losing dozens of teachers has detrimental effects on our students."
Many speakers stood in support of Stratton, with a number wearing bright green shirts reading "#Stratton Stays. "
After the public comments ended around 1 a.m., it was the board members' turn to speak again. Johnson and Rodriguez called for a vote of "no confidence" against Stratton. A similar motion had been tabled at a meeting earlier this month.
A petition created by Moms For Liberty calling for Stratton to resign has almost 1,800 signatures, and three area Republican lawmakers entered the discussion Tuesday echoing concerns found in that petition.
Sen. Blaise Ingoglia, Rep. Jeff Holcomb, and Rep. John Temple released a joint statement demanding Stratton step down.
“We can no longer sit back and allow the Hernando County school system to make national news for its poor decisions, lack of transparency and accountability, and its contempt for parental rights," the statement said. "It is clear to us that change is needed, and it is needed now."
After another contentious discussion by the board, they voted 3 to 2 against the vote of “no confidence” against Stratton, with Guadagnino being joined by Duval and Linda Prescott — the three longest serving members of the board. Rodriguez and Johnson were in the minority.
Accusations and acrimony continued between board members and Stratton after the vote as they issued their final comments. After Guadagnino called for an end to the meeting at about 2:30 a.m., Rodriguez could be heard still voicing her concerns as the audio feed was cut off to the livestream.
https://wusfnews.wusf.usf.edu/educati...
More on that drama"Mom slams Florida school board over 'smut' in libraries: 'Sick of the twisting of words'
BROOKSVILLE, Fla. (CITC) — A Florida mom is criticizing a local school board for what she feels has been a lackluster response to sexually explicit books available to students.
...
The vote seemingly left library materials on the minds of some, including local mom Dawn Allen.
"I am sick of the twisting of words and the straight-up lies," Allen told the board during its second public comment period. "Why is it controversial to not want smut in our school libraries?"
HSD currently allows parents to submit "reconsideration" requests when they deem a library book inappropriate, and the respective school then forms a committee to review the material. To Allen, the district's current practices are creating obstacles for families.
"No, it should not be an opt-in, opt-out," Allen said. "You know, most parents are busy and don't respond to those things in full."
It is not immediately clear if Allen was referencing any specific books Tuesday. However, she told the board that any arguments that children will discover explicit materials regardless of whether they are available in school libraries is "one of the weakest out there."
"Should the school also be handing out beer and cigarettes because many kids will locate them somehow anyway?" Allen asked. "This isn't restricting books like 'To Kill A Mockingbird.' This is legitimate written depictions of p___y and heavy drugs. I've read them myself."
Florida law requires all public school library books to be vetted by district employees with valid media certifications to ensure the contents are age-appropriate. While many have applauded the approach by saying it prioritizes transparency, critics have accused the state of targeting certain topics, such as sexuality and race.
A related training video provided to media specialists by the Florida Department of Education advises educators not to select a book if they "would not be comfortable reading the material in a public setting."
"I don't care if it's my kid or someone else's," Allen told the HSD school board Tuesday. "If you wouldn't hand it out or read it to children in public, it shouldn't be in public school libraries."
Karen Jordan, the public information officer for HSD, told Crisis in the Classroom (CITC) that "there is no debate" on Allen's comments."
https://weartv.com/news/local/mom-sla...
From Tulsa, OklahomaAnyone in Tulsa or nearby go to this? This festival sounds amazing!
The Switchyard Festival runs through Sunday at Cain’s Ballroom, the Hyatt Regency Hotel and the Greenwood Cultural Center, with Art Spiegelman and Maia Kobabe among its keynote speakers.
A cartoonist, author and comics advocate, Spiegelman is the author of “Maus,” a Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic novel about the Holocaust that depicts Jews as anthropomorphized mice and Nazis as cats. The book was banned by a Tennessee school board in 2022 on the grounds that it contained nudity and profanity.
Scheduled to speak Wednesday at 7 p.m., Kobabe is the author of “Gender Queer,” a memoir in graphic novel form.
Book ban panel makes case for inclusion: 'Largest form of censorship right now'
Representatives from Tulsa’s local bookstores and community organizations are speaking out about the need for inclusive spaces, including on bookshelves.
As part of a Wednesday afternoon panel at the University of Tulsa’s Switchyard Festival, Fulton Street Books & Coffee owner Onikah Asamoa-Caesar, Jeff Martin with Booksmart Tulsa, and Michelle Simmons, a volunteer librarian at Oklahomans for Equality’s Dennis R. Neill Equality Center, laid out their concerns about an increase in book banning attempts both nationally and at the local level.
“It is very much a straw man argument,” Simmons said. “It sounds really good to combat pornography in schools without really understanding the reasoning behind sex education or those sorts of things.”
“When we talk about book bans, they are a direct backlash to the progress we thought we had made in this country,” Asamoa-Caesar said. “Book bans are the largest form of censorship right now, and, by far, the voices they are censoring are Black, brown and queer. I believe that some of the folks in politics are using this as a way to silence, further marginalize and erode the progress that this country has made in recent years.”
As part of his introductory remarks, panel moderator and University of Tulsa English professor Sean Latham noted that more people and organizations were invited to participate in the session but declined, with several citing concerns that they would face financial retribution.
“Even the implicit bans are creating a culture of fear,” Latham said.
https://tulsaworld.com/news/local/edu...
More from FloridaSchools across the state of Florida are now required to publish an annual list of library books and instructional materials that have been objected to online.
During a meeting on May 24, the Florida State Board of Education approved 6A-7.0714. The rule provides school districts with reporting instructions for materials that were subject to an objection by a parent or resident of the school district.
“A lot of these books that have been removed by districts have been for p____hic or graphic material. It doesn't belong in schools, but it is done at a local level," said Education Commissioner Manny Diaz.
The new rule is part of a law passed in 2022, called K-12 Education. The law gives parents more power over what their kids have access to when it comes to books and other instructional materials.
“There are books that are not right or not at the level for you know kindergarten first graders second graders that may be appropriate for sixth and seventh graders," said Diaz.
The new rule also requires school districts across the state to report why a book or instructional material was objected to and why the district chose to remove, restrict, or keep the item on shelves.
Parents CBS12 News spoke with say there needs to be more transparency.
“When you restrict access to not just books, but any type of things that could be useful like for our kids or the future, you're restricting their minds," said parent, Monica Block.
“It is just important that parents are involved in the education with the teachers at school and the directors and all that. So I think our opinion is very important," said parent, Karen Howard.
All districts will be required to report this information by June 30 of each year. From there, the Department of Education will publish the objections statewide by August 30 of each year.
https://weartv.com/news/local/florida...
Case study: Why are schools in Maine keeping Gender Queer: A Memoir on the shelves in spite of challenges? What makes a difference?https://bookriot.com/gender-queer-in-...
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I am glad that the despicable and vile MONSTROSITY comparing the Pride flag to t..."
And of course, as soon as anyone speaks out against censoring by Orthodox individuals, it is automatically seen by many as being against Jews and not against censorship. But honestly, anyone who is of Jewish background and agrees with book banning, is very strangely and weirdly supporting what the Nazis were doing.
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What Banned Books Can Teach Us: Building an LGBTQ Picture Book Library for Pride Jess deCourcy Hinds on Finding Stories For Her Queer Family
Jess is"a former school librarian who currently teaches children’s literature to MLS students at the Graduate School for Library and Information Studies at Queens College in New York City. When [they] teach future librarians about what makes a good picture book, [they] always say that the narration must contain an authentic child’s viewpoint, and the story should not be didactic. Newman’s book takes us through a preschool child’s routine, bursting with fingerpaint and everyday epiphanies. Gender is in fact a very subtle feature of the story."
https://lithub.com/what-banned-books-...
Being You: A First Conversation About Gender
Pride Puppy!
Heather Has Two Mommies
From the Stars in the Sky to the Fish in the Sea
Worm Loves Worm
The Boy & The Bindi
My Rainbow
A lot of interesting news.The Bible is banned in these Utah elementary and middle schools now for ‘vulgarity or violence’
Davis School District’s book review committee made the determination, though it’s already being appealed by another parent.
https://www.sltrib.com/news/education...
Good news Librarians sue Arkansas state over law banning them from giving ‘obscene’ books to children
The groups are aiming to challenge Senate bill 81, which exposes librarians who provide “obscene materials” to children to criminal liability. The law, part of Act 372 of 2023, is due go to come into force on 1 August.
It says that anyone will be allowed to “challenge the appropriateness” of a book, but it does not define exactly what is meant by “obscene” or “appropriateness”. Under the law, a group of people chosen by head librarians would review material that had been challenged, and vote in a public meeting about whether it should be kept on public display or moved to an area of the library inaccessible to those under 18.
CALS executive director Nate Coulter said this part of the law would be “totally impractical to enforce”, reported the Arkansas Advocate.
The board of CALS voted this month to file the lawsuit challenging parts of Act 372 of 2023. John Adams, a lawyer from Fuqua Campbell, the law firm representing CALS, said that librarians needed clarity on the law to ensure they could do their jobs without risking arrest.
American Library Association president Lessa Kanani’opua Pelayo-Lozada told Publishers Weekly that the lawsuit was “to vindicate Arkansas residents’ freedom to read”.
“The government has no place in deciding what books people can borrow or buy,” she added.
https://www.theguardian.com/books/202...
The BEST news I've read all week because it affects the kids I used to work with who don't have books at home and only one big city library. The bookmobile is finally returning this summer and I noticed two new Little Free Library boxes outside the elementary school. One was in English and one in Spanish. Good news in liberal governors in Mass., Rhode Island (wow! the governor has not impressed me so far but he's two for two this spring!), New York, New Mexico, Maryland, Illinois, Delaware, New Jersey (um OK) and U.S. Virgin Islands
Mass. Gov. Healey signs onto letter asking textbook publishes to ‘hold the line’ for Democracy
2023 at 3:08 p.m. | UPDATED: June 1, 2023 at 7:07 p.m.
Textbook companies need to “hold the line for our Democracy” and not cave to governors calling for “censorship” of school educational materials, a letter signed by ten governors, including Gov. Maura Healey, said.
The governors said they wrote the open letter — dated May 25 — out of concern that textbook publishers may be tempted to “water down critical information to appeal to the lowest common denominator.” It comes as a debate over what should or should not be included in textbooks for students and libraries plays out across the country.
“Our country’s future is at stake. You hold enormous influence in shaping how our great nation’s history is told, and the consequences of your actions will reverberate for generations to come,” the letter reads. “Honestly grappling with our legacy has long been a cornerstone of American patriotism. If we are to continue striving for a more perfect union, then we must carry out our duty of ensuring future generations understand our full history as well as the contributions of all its people.”
The open letter signed by Healey and other governors said it is an “important priority” of their administrations to ensure that any education materials “censored to appeal to political pressure” do not negatively impact goals and values in their states.
“As such, please know that we will be working closely with all of our school districts to ensure they are fully informed of which texts include comprehensive and accurate educational information – and which have been inappropriately censored – when they consider procurement of instructional materials for the nearly nine million students our states serve,” the letter said.
https://www.bostonherald.com/2023/06/...
The Rhode Island Sec. of State is pushing for mandatory civics classes too. Now, if they can override Common Core, I will be a very happy citizen!
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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Banned Books Exhibit at Texas Libraries Provide Access to Important Literature
Last year, the city, in collaboration with the YWCA Paso del Norte Region, installed a banned books section at city library branches. “Books have been challenged and banned throughout history, and we are seeing a reemergence today,” the YWCA announced then. “Silencing and limiting of stories, histories, and points of view of anyone are direct attacks on the people who write and are represented in those books.”
El Paso city Rep. Alexsandra Annello was elemental in championing the effort to bring access to banned books to area residents.
“A lot of teachers in the area were expressing their concern,” she said. “We really wanted to do it in solidarity with our school board partners … and say that the state can’t come in and tell us what not to have in our library. They’re being banned because they’re culturally informative.”
A city of El Paso resolution, created and passed unanimously by council in February 2022, declares that every public library in the city would have a banned books section, highlight the books year-round and form a partnership to accept the books from the YWCA.
The partnership between the two entities, Annello said, served as a message to the public that it wasn’t just a city initiative but a collaboration with community partners that is continuing and can be expanded.
“I was even expecting some of my fellow council members to fight against us, but we had overwhelming support,” she said, adding that the YWCA’s own inclusion and diversity committee donated the books. “The day after we passed this, people were showing up to the library (asking) to rent books.”
The consequences for rebelling against the status quo can come in the form of state budget cuts for public libraries.
“The state of Texas can’t come into our facilities and tell us what we can and cannot have,” Annello said. “They’re saying they’re going to cut funding if we have these books. We’ve stood strong, and if it’s about finding other funding to keep our libraries going instead of silencing our community and silencing the stories, that’s something that we will do.”
The stories of minorities in the city are essential, according to Annello, who said El Paso will fight for racial and LGBTQ+ tales to continue to be available for those that want representation in the shelves of their libraries and the halls of powers.
“(Those stories) shaped this country and will continue to shape this country and are extremely important stories not only for the people of El Paso but across the country,” she said. Bills like these, Annello said, are used to silence these stories and voices.
“It is important for communities like El Paso and across Texas to stand up against them.”
https://news.yahoo.com/banned-books-e...