Children's Books discussion
Banned Books: discussions, lists
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Discussion of censorship, equity, and other concerns.
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Scary situation, and in a building where I had a lot of classes and also taught a lot of classes while doing my PhD. Glad the attacker has been named, and in my opinion, since buddy is a former University of Waterloo international student, aside from criminal charges, deportation and shaming, he should also have ALL his UW degrees immediately revoked.
But also, I am glad the attacker had a knife and not a gun, as a gun attack could have left massive carnage.
Thanks for the news from Canada, Gundula! I tried to get a follow-up to the school committee from Mass. but someone doesn't wish to engage in a conversation about it right now. Maybe tomorrow. I do have to say I found them very respectful at any rate. More so than most of the other meetings I've read about. They also declared which town they were from, ensuring they weren't sent from Florida to throw a wringer into the process.
More from Texas.The Mansfield ISD waters down book removal policy, but opponents are still wary
keranews.org/education/2023-06-29/man...
"LGBTQ-themed or authored books, and terms like gender fluidity were gone from the district’s upgraded policy. The change from the earlier version first presented last month surprised many, including school librarian Jennifer Reich, who was upset by the board’s first book-ban version.
...
Jennifer Swegler, a teacher who has spent half of 14-year career at Mansfield ISD. For the last two years, while teaching at MISD’s Lake Ridge High School, Swegler had been the Gay Straight Alliance sponsor. When she addressed trustees, she told them she was quitting, blaming the board’s harsh book policy first unveiled during an unscheduled meeting on May 16.
In explaining why, Swegler told KERA she felt she “could not in good conscience continue to work for a district that supported these book bans.” She said she also no longer believes trustees took the interests of all the students to heart.
Swegler told the trustees “the board heard from many outraged students, parents, teachers and librarians. I still haven’t heard a good reason why we are replacing our policy that was created and approved by six of the present board members just last summer.”
Some newly elected Mansfield board members won their elections with funding from Patriot Mobile, the Christian cell phone company that has backed candidates in other North Texas districts, including Keller (where Swegler graduated), Carroll and Grapevine-Colleyville ISDs. Those districts recently imposed tough book bans and other conservative policies, with more intended.
Swegler said she remains wary about the book policy Mansfield’s school board approved this week. The revised version calls on a 13-member committee — including 7 residents appointed by board members — to read and evaluate a book questioned by anyone in Mansfield. Under the old policy, no one aside from district staff reviewed questioned materials.
“It doesn’t state who is going to be put on committees,” Swegler said. “It doesn’t state how long board members have to challenge a book that is put up for purchase. It doesn’t say why there will be seven members board-appointed and only six from a campus. It doesn’t seem balanced or equal or fair, and I don’t think that’s right for all students, let alone LGBTQ students.”
The board adopted its second version of the book policy without any debate or discussion.:
keranews.org/education/2023-06-29/man...
Philadelphia Mayor Kenney and Office of LGBT Affairs Issue Statements on Moms for Liberty Summit in Philadelphiahttps://www.phila.gov/2023-06-29-mayo...
The Georgia teacher who read a book about gender identity to her class is likely going to be fired. My Shadow Is Purple
She was previously warned about Stacey’s Extraordinary Words because some parents claimed it was "too political!" Um freely elected representative of the people? Seriously?
Jeff Hubbard, president of the Cobb County Association of Educators – a teachers advocacy group representing Rinderle – told CNN that the divisive concepts law focuses on race and political teachings, but that “My Shadow is Purple” doesn’t focus on either.
“There’s nothing in that story that talks about race or political teachings,” Hubbard said, adding that legislation such as this has made teachers question what they can teach in class.
Goodmark noted that the lesson about “My Shadow is Purple” included “various types of concepts of acceptance and diversity, both between gender identity and racial diversity and all the other ways that we want our kids in the fifth grade to be able to interact with each another.”
Goodmark said Rinderle’s personnel file has “no negatives in it.”
“She has a sterling record. Her evaluations are strong. She’s a tenure educator who has not, to my knowledge, ever received a negative evaluation,” Goodmark said.
https://www.cnn.com/2023/06/30/us/geo...
Some good news for a changeIn spite of backlash, Whitley County Indiana residents held an event Friday to support Peabody Public Library’s Pride Displays.
Starting at noon, the “Proud Peabody Patrons for Pride” event planned to check out every book on the library’s Pride displays to support LGBTQ+ residents.
https://www.wane.com/top-stories/libr...
'Stop banning books': Protesters rally at Brevard County Florida Public Schools' district officeThe rally, organized by Awake Brevard Action Alliance, was set to gather ahead of the district's second book review committee meeting. But citing concerns about members of the public making “threatening” and “insulting” comments and social media posts, the school board canceled the meeting slated for Friday morning.
“Why are we doing this?” board member Gene Trent said at Tuesday’s board meeting, moments before the committee meeting was postponed. “Because we care, and we care about the people that are involved.”
But with the school board poised to make changes to the book review policy, like moving the public comment section to board meetings rather than keeping them in the committee meetings, community members wanted to get their voices heard. So they gathered at 8 a.m. Friday, undeterred by the cancelation.
"This rally is to let the BPS school board know that the public is here, we are concerned and we will not be silent," said parent Kelly Kervin, one of the organizers.
Amy Roub, wife of book committee member Paul Roub, has been vocal on social media about being against removing books from school libraries. Roub often posts to her Facebook and TikTok about the school board or Brevard’s chapter of Moms for Liberty, a conservative parents’ rights group. With the book committee reconvening this June after several months of being on pause, her posts have touched on her frustration with texts being removed from schools.
The Brevard chapter of Citizens Defending Freedom, a conservative group that describes itself as empowering "citizens to defend their freedom and liberty" and put "local government back into the hands of the people," had also planned to rally prior to the book committee meeting and to speak during the public comments portion of the meeting. The group called off the protest but encouraged members to email their comments to school board members.
In an initial email encouraging members to join their rally, Ruth Kaufhold, director of the Brevard chapter, laid out suggestions for what people could say during the meeting.
(I don't do social media but follow her if you do)
"You can say something as simple as, 'Please follow the statutes and remove this book out of our Brevard County school libraries,' or, 'This material is not appropriate in a school setting with unaccompanied minors,' and then sit down to enforce our physical presence as support of our task to remove p___ic and inappropriate materials from Brevard County school libraries," Kaufhold wrote.
During a June 6 work session, board members discussed the possible changes they'd like to add to the policy, which was approved only a little over two months ago, at an April 11 meeting. These changes include moving public comment to school board meetings and having the book committee make a recommendation to the school board about the fate of a contested book. The school board would then make the final decision about whether or not the book could stay on shelves.
Michelle Beavers, Trent’s appointee to the book committee, said she likes the idea of the school board taking recommendations from the book committee.
"If the committee makes a bad choice and keeps a title that might be in violation, the people that will be held accountable should have the opportunity to have the final say," she said.
"In other words, how can you hold the school board accountable if the decision was never theirs to make? It does not make sense to not allow them to be on record of how they stand because they can be sued if they don’t follow the law and protect our kids."
Paul Roub, Jennifer Jenkin's appointee and the only Democrat on the committee, said he already felt his vote was "pretty ceremonial" and moving the decision to board members likely won't change much. But he's concerned board members won't actually read the books prior to voting.
"The law that they claim to care about says that (the decision) need to be based on the entire book," he said. "There is not a molecule in my body that believes >b>Gene Trent is going to read these books."
https://www.floridatoday.com/story/ne...
Parents clash at school board meeting over LGBTQ+ books in Elk Grove, California school librarieshttps://www.cbsnews.com/sacramento/ne...
message 1310:
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Cheryl, Host of Miscellaneous and Newbery Clubs
(last edited Jul 02, 2023 08:26AM)
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Cheryl wrote: "My rural OK consortium lists 198 copies of the ebook for My Shadow is Purple. I just checked it out, and it does work well as an ebook, and I gave it a four star review. (The city library also owns..."The book was fine before but now it's "divisive" but no one told her that. Kudos to all the teachers who educate their students and not just teach to pass standardized tests.
I couldn't get the scoop on the school committee meeting yet. Nothing has come up in the news and we drove right through there too.
I spotted a CHURCH Little Free Library on Cape Cod and that's the way to do it. Put all your approved books in a library outside the church and people can take them at will and not have to bother with the public library or school library. Maybe those who are curious about "the other side" of the issue will read them too.
Not much news because of the holiday but Moms for Liberty met in Philly with Donald Trump, Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley! They've now gained a heck of a lot more power and support. I refused to click the links so you'll have to look for it but it was in the Philly papers online and other sources.
Add Louisiana to the list of states with new lawns banning explicit books for minors without clear guidelines. Librarians not happy for multiple reasons citing increased discrimination and huge amounts of tax dollars."Gov. John Bel Edwards on Thursday signed into law Senate Bill 7, now Act 436, by state Sen. Heather Cloud, R-Turkey Creek.
Cloud’s bill was based on sample legislation circulated by Attorney General Jeff Landry, a Republican candidate for governor, as part of his “Protecting Innocence Report.”
Lunsford on Friday lauded Cloud's legislation, saying it is a strong bill despite some amendments to the original version and it "resolves some ambiguity surrounding age appropriate materials in the public library.
"This new statewide library policy protects children from accidentally stumbling across sensitive materials while simultaneously reassuring parents that our libraries are prioritizing the protection of their children's innocence," he said.
Some library boards have already adopted policies imposing restrictions required under the new law. The Lafayette Parish Library Board of Control adopted many of Landry’s recommendations in February.
Library boards that do not have such policies must adopt them by Jan. 1 and implement them by June 1, 2024, or face the potential loss of local and state funding.
The new law states that library policies must include a requirement that “community standards for the population served by the library be considered when acquiring library material that would be accessible to a minor.”
All libraries also must offer a card system in which a minor’s parent or guardian decides whether the minor may check out sexually explicit materials as determined by the library board of control.
Libraries will be required by law to adopt a policy and procedure whereby patrons can ask that the board of control determine whether materials the patron finds objectionable should be pulled or reshelved.
https://www.theadvocate.com/acadiana/...
Good newsMaia Kobabe speaks on finding joy despite attacks by the right
Sonoma County author Maia Kobabe, whose “Gender Queer” has topped the nation’s most banned books list for two years, discusses why the graphic memoir has resonated within the LGBTQ community and without.
https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/a...
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I wish I was talented enough to hack Moms for Liberty and change their posts into something sporting Nazi flags (and I would love to do the same for Trump, Abbot and especially DeSantis).
Sad story becomes positive.Back in September, Hey Y’all Detroit’s bookmobile filled with $1,200 worth of new children’s books and 50 backpacks full of school supplies [for underprivileged youth in Detroit] were stolen. Days later the SUV was found stripped and the books had pages ripped out.
“I really wanted to give up,” said Charmane Neal, executive director of Hey Y’all Detroit.
Three years ago, Neal started the organization to bring resources to families in need. The SUV was a way to deliver groceries and their pop-up library at community events. It was a gift from Neal’s parents and they had it for two weeks before it was stolen from in front of her home.
“I wanted to give up this year honestly and I’m sorry to be crying but I’m just really thankful that people cared enough to donate books to us,” Neal said.
She said the organization is still recovering from the situation and at the end of June she had to give away the last of their books.
Schoolcraft College students in a children’s literature class with a service-learning component felt compelled to get involved.
“A lot of us put out different notes in our social media like Facebook. And some people even used like the Nextdoor app,” another student Taylor Tomlinson said.
Now, weeks later they’ve done more than just get involved. Around eight students collected more than 1,000 books in three weeks.
Hey Y’all Detroit is still raising money for a new vehicle with better anti-theft technology.
https://www.clickondetroit.com/news/l...
*from their website
Our literacy program offers a free monthly pop up kids book fair throughout the inner city communities of Detroit where children are able to select books from our library. In addition to our monthly kids book fair we also have a book club that supplies children with a free book and stem project bag monthly. Through zoom we will lead an interactive discussion on the book of the month, while doing a creative activity together.
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Reports are trickling in from the Moms for Liberty summit and I refuse to be click bait but reportedly one of the speakers urged that it's time to read Hitler, Stalin, Mao! Not sure of the context, but I'm guessing they think the current federal government is the one with the dictatorship problem.The only other stories I have today are
New Jersey town (Roxbury) proposes book banning rules, some parents say doesn't go far enough
https://www.nj.com/news/2023/07/nj-to...
And in Florida, schools are removing classics William Shakespeare A Midsummer Night's Dream, John Milton and Toni Morrison. The Scarlet Letter
According to a teacher keeping track of books that have been temporarily pulled for review by the Orange County government, titles by Shakespeare have been restricted to 10th-12th grades
The Fault in Our Stars
Into the Wild ?
Catch-22
put on the restricted list because of s-e-x-u-a-l material
The list goes on and on!
over 150 titles are already on the reject list for the coming school year and some are sitting in purgatory for review (this is still censorship, for what it is worth). The titles are being age-restricted tightly, too. "The classic novels A Room With a View and Madame Bovary and the epic poem “Paradise Lost” — published in England more than 350 years ago — have been at least temporarily rejected by Orange County Public Schools for sexual content that educators fear runs afoul of a new Florida law. Novels that in past years were frequently taught in OCPS high school classes, such as The Color Purple, Catch-22, Brave New World, and The Kite Runner have been put on the rejected lists, too, as have novels by Toni Morrison and Ayn Rand and popular, turned-into-movies books like Into the Wild, and The Fault in Our Stars [...] Four plays by William Shakespeare, including “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” are currently listed as approved for grades 10 through 12 only, as are Truman Capote’s “In Cold Blood” and Tennessee Williams’ “A Streetcar Named Desire,” the lists show."
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/wo...
https://www.orlandosentinel.com/2023/...
Here we go again... Douglas County, CO
More LGBTQ book removals demanded in Douglas County, but most residents at meeting resist
Board of trustees plan to rule on book challenges in August
Bob Pasicznyuk, executive library director of Douglas County Libraries, referring to the demand of removing books from the children’s section, spoke at the beginning of the meeting and reiterated that young adult nonfiction books have always been shelved in the adult section “just as a matter of custom. We’ve done it at each of our locations.”
Even still, residents continued to demand multiple books — including “Let’s Talk About It” by Erika Moen and Matthew Nolan, “This Book is Gay” by Juno Dawson, and “Gender Queer” by Maia Kobabe — be removed from public sight.
The discussion has involved a back-and-forth over whether such removal is akin to book-banning.
[The elitists continue to be tone deaf and insist people can just buy the books they want. ]
The appeal process has four steps: submitting an appeal form on a book explaining what is concerning, why, and what solution a resident may see; Pasicznyuk then reviews these concerns and the books, and determines if it warrants any action; if a resident is not satisfied with Pasicznyuk’s explanation and actions, it can be pushed further to the DCL board to decide; board members similarly review the book and make a final decision.
According to Douglas County libraries public records, five appeals total were submitted against books in 2022. This year so far, four appeals were submitted prior to the April board meeting — three by the same person — with eight submitted shortly after the meeting, by two people. No further appeals have been submitted, and only four of those appeals have involved a request for the board review it.
All four of those appeals were from Aaron Wood, the founder of conservative Christian men’s activist group Freedom Fathers and former Colorado Republican Party chair candidate. The board will decide on those appeals in its August meeting.
In Pasicznyuk’s response to Wood’s appeals, he highlights that removal based on wholesale topics is not legal, and neither is removal based on sexual orientation. Judging each on its own merits, a conversation about library section might have been possible, but “they were already where he would have them,” he said.
A warning didn’t make sense to him, he told Colorado Newsline, because “everybody seems to know what they are, so not sure what the warning would accomplish.” Removal can’t be justified either, he said, because so many people are reading them: “If there’s demand in the community for them, who am I to say that they can’t read it?”
He also mentioned that the library has a book attacking “the transgender craze,” “Irreversible Damage,” by Abigail Shrier, as an example of the library not “keeping a particular moral framework.”
..............
Resident Cathy Lees asked the Board, “Does anyone have the right to say what is the value to an entire community? What are the lasting consequences when you let someone dictate value to a community?”
“It’s very important to push back on this false p____hy narrative. The library does not buy or provide p____ to minors,” Jessica Fredrickson, a librarian since 2019 in the Denver metro area and recent co-creator of anti-censorship group Douglas County Freadom Defenders, told Colorado Newsline. “Here in Douglas County, the Freedom Fathers are driving the smear campaign, falsely accusing library staff of indoctrinating children and exposing them to p____. We are determined not to let this loud minority speak and decide for the majority in our community who support our local library and the freedom to read.”
Throughout the meeting residents, such as Jay Grigglin, continued to say that their effort is not a case of “us versus the LGBT group. This isn’t meant to be any sort of, you know, attack.” He then went on to say that people from “this generation have had it so easy, that they’ve developed shades of narcissism bent on forcing their individuality onto others,” and “this movement has overstepped, it has shifted from seeking equality or tolerance into the dangerous territory of forced speech that is accompanied by social penalties if you don’t participate.”
“If it’s not an attack on a community,” said Garret Spradlin, “how awful that during pride month, a group of people have taken to the county to ban the pride event, to go to the school district and no longer allow preferred names, and go to the library and try to ban books — all in the same month.”
https://coloradonewsline.com/2023/06/...
Books the censors want out of sight:
Let's Talk About It: The Teen's Guide to Sex, Relationships, and Being a Human
This Book Is Gay
Gender Queer: A Memoir
Books appealed
The Hips on the Drag Queen Go Swish, Swish, Swish
All Boys Aren't Blue
Jack of Hearts
This Book Is Gay
Dayton Memorial Library (WA) may close soon for several reasons, including the fact some citizens are mad about the books available in the library. Community members of all views have voiced their opinions about the library’s books, policies and offerings consistently at monthly board meetings since the board decided to keep a series of books in 2022. The books included themes of gender identity, sexual identity and anti-racism.
Janice Huey said Monday that she doesn’t want the books, which she said she views as offensive, removed from the library. She does want them to be moved into a specific section, away from the youth sections of the library.
“It doesn't have to be out of the library. It could just be moved so that kids who are browsing don't stumble across it,” she said.
Sharon King agreed the books should be moved.
“That’s all we ask, and this blew up because no one wanted to talk about it,” she said. “I’m just so sorry we couldn’t get this worked out.”
The library board has since appointed Ellen Brigham to serve as interim library director and that the Auditor’s Office determined the petition to dissolve the library did not receive enough signatures to advance it to the ballot.
https://12ft.io/proxy?q=https%3A%2F%2...
Good news"When a man interrupted performer and author Lindz Amer’s Rainbow Storytime on June 14 at the Wilmette Public Library [IL], attendees drowned out his disapproval with joyful song, according to Amer and library officials."
https://www.therecordnorthshore.org/2...
Back to the bad news.10 of 14 books being challenged in Santa Rosa County Schools (FL) have been removed in the first round of reviews for the 65 books that their Moms for Liberty chapter have complained about.
The full list of books challenged
https://ssrnews.com/moms-for-liberty-...
Klein Independent School District (TX) is considering banning The Bluest Eye. A small but angry contingent of speakers took over public comment at the June 12 meeting of the Board of Trustees of Klein ISD (outside of Houston). Their complaint: a teacher assigned Toni Morrison’s oft-challenged novel The Bluest Eye in a dual-credit (high school + college) course offered in conjunction with Lone Star College.
All of the speakers claimed to be related to a 16-year-old student in the class. A speaker who said she’s the student’s mother started the "fireworks."
After her, speakers claiming to be the student’s aunt, father, grandfather and grandmother took the podium. They continued with the out-of-context excerpts, they called the book “trash” and “destructive” and called for “immediate action to protect our community’s children and teenagers.” They asked the board to reconsider the district’s affiliation with Lone Star College. The scene culminated with the grandmother tearfully telling the board, “You’ve caused destruction in the lives of children” and demanding, “Please change your signage up there to say, ‘Enters with a promise, exits with pr0n!’”
The book is not part of a required course and, according to the district’s Chief Academic Officer, parents sign waivers acknowledging that the class’s texts include mature content. Further, students can request alternative assignments for any text. Finally, before students read The Bluest Eye in the course, the instructor previewed the book’s difficult passages and gave students the option of not reading them.
Going after AP and dual-credit courses seems to be the book-banners’ next objective.
It’s unclear whether the complaints were accompanied by formal challenges to The Bluest Eye. Discussion of the book was not on the agenda, so no action was taken at the meeting. Nonetheless, it will be important to see what happens with this issue moving forward. The district’s next scheduled meeting is Monday, July 10.
https://franklinstrong.substack.com/p...
With excellent “Fact & Context” sheet for The Bluest Eye
An interesting look at book bans and the legal obligations schools have to their students (via a law firm)."Can Even a Short K-12 Library Book Ban Lead to a Civil Rights Violation? OCR Says Yes"
https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/can...
Hernando County Schools (FL) removed a book on gender identity from one of the elementary schools.Is He a Girl?
Mary Mazzuco claims “Marvin Redpost: Is He a Girl?” is yet another attempt to impose a “woke” agenda on children and get them to question their gender.
Mazzuco and her supporters were smiling at the end of the June 27 School Board meeting because Chairman Gus Guadagnino had joined board members Shannon Rodriguez and Mark Johnson in voting to overturn the recommendation of the book panel that recommended keeping the book on the shelf at Pine Grove Elementary School with no restrictions.
“Comments that were highlighted by the complainant were felt to be taken out of context and took away from the moral of the story which was to show empathy and understanding,” the respondents wrote. “Some committee members were very disheartened that the book is even being considered for challenge.”
One committee member read the book to their children, the response added. One recommendation by the panel was that the 2015 reprint of the book be bought because it has pictures that are more cartoonlike and geared for children.
“I just thought it was a stupid book. I’m sure there’s a lot of people that enjoyed it, and do enjoy it, but I just don’t see the reason,” Guadagnino said. “I’d rather see students reading something, history, math. I know people say they found humor in it. I didn’t.”
With this win, Mazzuco said she is thinking of joining the book committee and start reading “all these books.”
“I don’t care to read sexual exploitation books,” she said. “I don’t want them in the schools.”
https://www.suncoastnews.com/news/att...
Via Book Riot"What happens when a public library shares its space with a school library and now school libraries are obligated to remove books that do not comply with "sexually explicit books" laws? This story features our own Tirzah Price and is worth reading (IA). The short answer is the public library isn't removing the books."
https://www.ktiv.com/2023/07/03/publi...
The incoming board president of Samuels Public Library (VA) is now pushing back against the book banners claiming that the library is NOT filled with p___ for kids.https://www.nvdaily.com/nvdaily/samue...
A a parent in West Shore, Pennsylvania, complained about two LGBTQ+ books in Cedar Cliff High School. An extensive search for books reveals they were never there at all.Paywalled
www.yorkdispatch.com%2Fstory%2Fnews%2...
Also in PA,
A Cocalico School Board member (PA) is upset about what she believes to be "pornographic" books in the school libraries. She's not even creative. The books are Blankets and The Handmaid's Tale: The Graphic NovelDiscussion of the books will happen in August.
https://lancasteronline.com/news/regi...
The good news in this post is:
Lower Cape May Regional Schools in New Jersey will not be banning Gender Queer: A Memoir
and
"Montgomery County Public Schools [MD] issued a statement Thursday reaffirming its 'commitment to cultivating an inclusive and welcoming learning environment' by not allowing parents to opt their children out of LGBTQ+ storybooks
https://moco360.media/2023/06/30/no-o...
More bad newsA teacher in Portales, New Mexico, was removed from her job for teaching The Hate U Give a 9th grade honors class. A couple of students claimed the teacher was anti-white and made them uncomfortable.
https://www.koat.com/article/portales...#
Wow! Adults behaving like children in Beaufort, SC"....Tuesday night a parent and community member threw four bags of chicken feed on the stage in front of where board members were seated. 'Chicken. Too afraid,' David Cook said after walking up to the lectern carrying a black backpack, contents unknown until he reached in and flung the still-sealed bags. 'Matter of fact, your behavior gives chicken a bad name.' During the public comment section of the meeting, Cook said wanted to display his 'opinion of (the board and the superintendent’s) lack of action' as the district gradually returns the majority of the 97 books taken off shelves for review in October to libraries."
https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/sto...
so far, so good on I Am Billie Jean King"The Leon County School Board (FL) recommends keeping the Billie Jean King children's biography in the school library. The final decision over this one will come in the next couple of weeks."
https://tallahasseereports.com/2023/0...
Bad news:
"A member of the ImagineIF Libraries Board of Trustees has indicated her desire to remove provisions in the library’s “Fair Treatment” policy that expressly resist censorship.
At the Board’s June 22 meeting, Trustee Carmen Cuthbertson led a discussion on creating a comprehensive policy manual that would include renaming and revising the policies. Cuthbertson told the board she took particular issue with a section of the policy that states: “Libraries should cooperate with all persons and groups concerned with resisting abridgment of free expression and free access to ideas.”
“I think telling us that we need to go out there and get into the fray on some free speech activities of other groups is not at all within the scope of our mission,” Cuthbertson said during the meeting.
She previously tried to ban Gender Queer: A Memoir
Policy discussions among the ImagineIF trustees have skewed in a more conservative direction in recent years as a succession of new additions to the five-member board shifted the majority. Previous workshops to rewrite policies have led to the board renouncing the library’s relationship with the American Library Association (ALA) and resulted in clashes over the definition of censorship.
Board chair Doug Adams has also advocated for substantially altering the Fair Treatment policy, which was mostly recently revised in 2022 when references to the ALA were removed.
Adams responded that removing or rewriting a policy would need to be done by the policy committee, with recommendations brought back to the board for consideration.
During the previous discussions to amend the Fair Treatment policy, Adams indicated he wanted to remove sections I and II, a revision that would allow the board to act without risks of violating their own policies. He has also recommended removing wording around censorship from board policies, which would give the board latitude to remove controversial books.
Two days after the trustee meeting, the Flathead County Republicans sent out an email encouraging members to attend the ImagineIF policy committee meeting on July 5, with “special attention” to the fair treatment policy, of which they quoted the introduction with a call to share thoughts and concerns.
The local Republican organization has previously been outspoken about the makeup of the library board, including sending out a “call to action” last year to support Cuthbertson’s appointment to the historically nonpartisan board."
https://flatheadbeacon.com/2023/07/01...
Pushback continues after Chapin High (South Carolina) teacher accused of teaching CRTBetween the World and Me
On June 26, almost half a dozen residents pushed back against the continued employment of Chapin High School English literature teacher Mary Wood, who is facing allegations that she taught critical race theory.
Wood’s lesson featuring the Ta-Nehisi Coates memoir “Between the World and Me” elicited concerns from some members of the public, including some who are calling for her removal. Speakers criticized this book as well as two videos the teacher showed.
The school district has since shut down the lesson in question.
“We now know that there have been teachings in a school here in this district of systemic racism. There have been assignments given on systemic racism.” Stephanie Berquist, a local resident, said during the meeting. “These topics are very uncomfortable and inappropriate.”
“This is not only inappropriate and divisive. This is illegal according to our South Carolina proviso.” she added.
According to reporting done by The State newspaper’s Bristow Marchant, Wood planned for the book to be used during the course’s argument essay unit, but a couple students complained about the material, saying it made them ashamed to be caucasian and violated a state budget proviso passed in 2021.
State Rep. RJ May (R-Lexington), the chair of the hardline conservative legislative group the S.C. Freedom Caucus, was among the speakers at the meeting, as was new Lexington County GOP Chair Pamela Godwin and state Rep. Joe White (R-Newberry).
The caucus has been active in pursuing instances it sees as showing the teaching of critical race theory, having recently settled a suit with Lexington County School District 1 over allegations that its curricula included such ideas.
May posited to the Chronicle that the proviso doesn't remove the discussion of history and race, but removes Marxist ideas that undermine America’s founding documents.
“Anybody who comes to this discussion, saying that conservatives are attempting to erase history is flat out wrong,” he said. “In fact, I think we should teach history more than we do. I think we've lost a pursuit of knowledge of the past. We've lost the burning desire to find out more about the Constitution and the ideals that this nation was founded upon.”
According to The State, Wood has been defending her teachings, saying that it followed the standards for advanced placement classes, Wood also said that the proviso was vague.
“Theoretically, a Black parent could complain that the history of the Confederacy makes their child uncomfortable,” Wood is quoted by The State. “Would that eliminate instruction of the Civil War? A gay student could argue that only reading about heteronormative relationships in literature makes them feel uncomfortable. Would that inspire the removal of ‘Romeo and Juliet’ from the classroom? The proviso is a slippery slope.”
May told the Chronicle that this quote was Wood doing her best to deflect attention that she has brought upon herself and the District.
He told the Chronicle that the parents are taking the lead in the district and that the Caucus’ current role is lending support and to ensure that its students receive an education free from political indoctrination and focus on reading, writing and arithmetic.
“No one wants to send their child to a public school where the first and last thing they're being taught is that they somehow cannot succeed because of the color of their skin,” May said. “Or that they are responsible for problems just because of the color of their skin, that they somehow have inherent bias just because of the immutable characteristics in which they have. That is not an American ideal. It is not a South Carolinian ideal.”
https://www.lexingtonchronicle.com/st...
Slightly good news among the badLebanon , Oregon not likely to ban, or restrict books, despite pleas to City Council
"church child care volunteer stood in front of Lebanon City Council and told elected officials she wanted books removed from the shelves at the public library.
Hannah Ahn complained mostly about books depicting the experiences of people who are queer. She brought in a basket of books to show elected leaders.
The director of the infants’ ministry at Valley Life Church in Lebanon said she was concerned with books illustrated with s-e-x acts and nude bodies.
“These should not be for children,” Ahn said during the May meeting. “These should not be offered to children. Your community does not want it.”
But in June, more people showed up at City Council, this time to defend books as necessary — as texts available to destigmatize human anatomy and instruct children who may never receive formal sex education.
Librarians across the mid-Willamette Valley unequivocally say that to remove a book that doesn’t violate strict standards in public collections is censorship.
“We’re a smaller library with a smaller budget,” Lebanon Library Director Kendra Antila said in an interview. “Obviously we want to buy the best thing for our collection.”
https://12ft.io/proxy?q=https%3A%2F%2...
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Honestly, ANYONE who even remotely thinks that a pregnant eleven year old rape victim should be forced to give birth to her rapist's child is an utterly vile and putrid MONSTER.
And yet, these same politicians will ban books, bud cockle rapists and think that they are somehow worthy if they plant their putrid seeds.
And the victim blaming of the rape victim by police officers and other MEN is disgusting.
Well here's some good old-fashioned government censorship news, apparently it's NOT overreach when the state government bans an entire app for a segment of the population? I'm not even sure how you enforce this because kids are on social media and online ALL the time in spite of the child online protection policy act. This is despicable and will cause those apps to cease to be, publishers won't publish a wide range of e-books and EVERYONE will lose out. I rely on those apps myself when I can't get to the library or when only digital copies are available. Also, I often put the Kids filter on so I can weed out anything I'm not interested in reading at the moment. It's as simple as that folks!
The story:
Hoopla, OverDrive/Libby now banned for anyone under 18 in Mississippi!
Despite the age of consent in Mississippi being 16, no one under the age of 18 will have access to digital materials made available through public and school libraries without explicit parental/guardian permission.
.Even if granted parental permission, minors may not have materials available to them, if vendors do not ensure every item within their offerings meets the new, wide-reaching definition of “obscenity” per the state.
The definitions of what does not meet the standards above refer back to a different Mississippi code, Section 97-5-27. It defines “sexually oriented” materials as:
(view spoiler)homosexuality, lesbianism(view spoiler)
Distribution of such materials can lead to fines beginning at $500. Moreover, failure to comply with the requirements would put libraries and schools in the position to withhold payment to the vendors.
By definition, any vendor is out of compliance by simply having materials available in their system which depict sexual reproduction or queerness in any capacity. Images from educational books would be in violation of the law.
Platforms like Hoopla and Overdrive are not set up to create systems which change access based on age or varying laws by municipality. Library staff are also unable to preview and rate every item available within such platforms, leading to a position to shut down access all together.
First Regional Public Library has banned access to anyone under 18.
Vicksburg Public Library is still working on figuring out how the law will impact their patrons’ access to digital materials. For now, they’ve developed a new system of library card distribution. Those who once had library cards given without parental permission at age 16 or 17 now will need to come back to the library with a parent for legal guardian for a card. All of those accounts will be placed on hold until the permissions are secured, locking access to materials. No one may request a card prior to turning 18 without consent.
This move by the state ensures that those with the least privileges–those in unstable homes, those without regular internet access, and those without active parents or guardians in their lives–have even fewer opportunities to utilize public goods and services. It in turn protects the library, which is not in the position to determine the suitability of every book in the library per the law’s definition of inappropriate.
https://bookriot.com/hoopla-overdrive...
The right-wing politicians are now weighing in on the side of censorship. (Censorship is when materials are made unavailable by the government.)Oklahoma State Superintendent Ryan Walters discusses indoctrination, Tulsa Race Massacre at county GOP meeting
"State Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters spoke about his view on indoctrination and education curriculum to an angry crowd at the Norman Public Library Central during a meeting hosted by the Cleveland County Republican Party Thursday evening.
Upon arriving at the library, Walters was met with protesters outside the entrance and across the street in Andrews Park. He was booed as he entered the event space, while a few other members clapped at his arrival.
For over an hour, Walters accepted questions from the audience, which included teachers and parents. One educator asked Walters what he was doing to help teachers, adding Walters is putting teachers in a position where they have two choices: follow the law or teach what they feel their students need.
Walters was asked about history curriculums and his firm stance against critical race theory, specifically how teaching the Tulsa Race Massacre does not fall under that definition.
“I would never tell a kid that because of your race, because of the color of your skin, or your gender or anything like that, you are less of a person or are inherently racist,” Walters said. “That doesn’t mean you don’t judge the actions of individuals ... But to say it was inherent in that because of their skin is where I say that is critical race theory. You're saying that race defines a person.”
Walters’ comments were placed in a national spotlight on Friday, with the satirical media outlet The Onion writing a parody article claiming Oklahoma schools were to teach students the Tulsa Race Massacre was a “crime of passion.”
MSNBC aired a segment Friday on The Beat with Ari Melber about Walters’ comments. Melber detailed the events of the massacre, which happened in the Greenwood District of Tulsa — often referred to as “Black Wall Street” — in 1921.
Melber said Walters’ comments were an attempt to rewrite history, aiming to control the present and the future.
Melber discussed Walters’ description of teachers’ unions as “terrorist organizations” from a May state House of Representatives meeting during the segment.
Following the national backlash, Walters spoke to several Oklahoma news outlets. In an interview with Fox 25, Walters defended his comments on the Tulsa Race Massacre, saying the media had taken his response out of context, but did condemn the massacre.
Walters said he is pursuing 10 times the investments in reading and math than the state currently has. He said he promises to give students all the resources necessary to succeed in STEM fields more so than ever before.
Ryan Walters said the state is launching the most comprehensive reading plan this fall to help students with English so they can prosper in Oklahoma.
When asked what his solution is to alleged indoctrination in schools, Walters said more academically-rich content will improve students' reading comprehension and "get indoctrination out".
He said the reason Oklahoma is 49th in education is because the state has empowered indoctrination and not education.
"What we continue to see is a teacher's union that wants to indoctrinate your children," Walters said.
The meeting began with a prayer, moment of silence and the pledge. The motion was met with an outrage by attendees in opposition to Walters.
https://www.oudaily.com/news/state-su...
And another good librarian doing their job gets fired for ...doing their job!In Kansas, Former Sterling library director claims board fired her to censor decisions on books, displays
) - The central Kansas town of Sterling is without a library director after the woman who served that role said she was fired because the library board is trying to censor her decisions on what books are displayed and allowed.
Wednesday night, Sterling’s Carnegie Library Director Kari Wheeler was fired, as was her assistant, Brandy Lancaster. The reason the board gave is that the group lost confidence in Wheeler and Lancaster’s ability to do their jobs. But the recently-fired director and assistant believe there’s more to the board’s decision to take such swift action.
Wheeler said a front display case at the library addressed diversity, featuring people from different backgrounds and skin colors. The display also included recognition for Autism Cares, she explained.
“But I was told to take it down because it has a rainbow infinity flag,” Wheeler said. “June is National Gay Pride Month and I was told that this was not appropriate t post. “And I said, ‘it’s not about any of that.’ I said, ‘it’s about autism,’ and so I didn’t see the problem with posting it.”
Rice County Democrats Chair Katelyn Mattson addressed the issue saying, “It’s incredibly alarming that we have an appointed board, a group of people in power, who are censoring books is essentially what’s happening here, banning literature, books that don’t necessarily align with their own personal belief system.”
12 News reached out to three library board members. The board president, Jeremy Stenmeitz didn’t discuss the matter involving personnel and didn’t comment on the display featuring the rainbow infinity flag.
Vice President Michelle Miller also didn’t offer an explanation for the firings but did explain her reasoning for not wanting the display in the library.
“Well, being that it was June, I believe the focus was to promote an LGTBQ agenda,” she said.
When questioned about her objection, even if the display did include LGTBQ, Miller said “It seems to be a divisive thing for communities.”
“And we as a library board didn’t want to partake in such a divisive thing,” she said.
https://www.kwch.com/2023/07/07/forme...
Yes we've come to the point where a simple RAINBOW is divisive even when a rainbow is just a rainbow.
https://ew.com/music/miley-cyrus-doll....
Unsurprisingly and very unfortunately Judge sides with Florida in challenge to rules about books in schoolsThe union and two other advocacy groups sued the state in March, saying the way it interpreted a new law about school library books went further than the law intended, leading to censorship and book bans.
The union and advocacy groups took issue with the state's expansive application of the law, which addresses materials contained in a "school library media center." The Florida Department of Education, they argued, improperly interpreted that to include collections in classrooms, not just those in campus libraries. The Florida Education Association said it had led to teachers covering up classroom bookshelves or emptying them out.
After the groups challenged the state education agency, the Florida Legislature adjusted state law to clarify what is considered a library media center, saying it means “any collection of books, ebooks, periodicals, or videos maintained and accessible on the site of a school, including in classrooms.” Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the bill into law last month.
In his opinion, Florida Administrative Law Judge Darren Schwartz noted that state education department officials said “it would be illogical not to include classroom libraries within the definition of ‘library media center’ because it would be illogical to adopt a rule about safeguarding children from having access to inappropriate materials in one central location, yet have those inappropriate materials available to students in a classroom next door.”
The Florida Education Association said it remains committed to making sure kids have access to age- and content-appropriate books and will continue to defend teachers’ freedom to exercise professional judgment about literature available to their students.
“This ruling flies in the face of their education,” FEA President Andrew Spar said in response to Schwartz’s decision, adding that many books have been removed from classrooms, libraries and schools over the past year because of politics.
“These are books that benefit our students and that kids want to read,” he said. “Florida’s constitutional requirement that every child get a free, high-quality public education is diminished by rules that increase educators’ workload while denying students access to a diverse collection of books.”
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/e...
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I knew Madame Bovary would be banned. 18th and 19th-century French literature was deemed obscene by the English but they read it anyway. I also assume Les Miserables is banned as well and Tartuffe and basically everyone we read in Honors French class! Everything we read in Junior High Honors English classes is probably banned too. We read a lot of Steinbeck (now cancelled here and there for outdated language and attitudes, banned for s-e-x-u-a-l content.; The Odyssey (violence, s-e-x, Ancient Greek gods); Huckleberry Finn (the n-word, racism, slavery), etc. etc. I'm waiting for Inherit the Wind: The Powerful Courtroom Drama in which Two Men Wage the Legal War of the Century to get banned in Tennessee again! It's still controversial even after 100 years. (Teaching evolution). We did that one as a play for English and Civics class. It was fun. We actually LEARNED civics, history, literature, critical thinking, all kinds of good stuff in JUNIOR high (7th-9th grades). High school was a waste of time. We did read/watch Romeo and Juliet, we read Brave New World, Farenheit 451 (that may have been Junior High summer reading), Farewell to Manzanar: A True Story of Japanese American Experience During and After the World War II Internment (summer reading between Jr and Sr high I think), East of Eden, 11th grade was a waste. All textbook. 12th grade we read exceprts from The Iliad, Inferno and read Wuthering Heights. Waiting for those all to be banned. There's loads of explicit content in the classics. Everyone was already buzzing about Clarence Thomas and Anita Hill, and Bill Clinton's womanizing so we weren't any more ignorant than today's students are. By the time we watched Romeo & Juliet in class, it was a little late to be blocking out the morning after the wedding scene. There's way worse in the majority of contemporary film and TV. Dumbing down classes and denying students the opportunity to obtain college credit for high school classes is just setting the kids up for failure.
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What bothers me most it that these freaking so called parents are even in some states getting the right to interfere with regarding what their ADULT CHILDREN are reading at the college and university level (if the institutions are state funded).
A bit of news today, minus Kirk Cameron's ridiculous belief he's going to sue the ALA. The libraries told him to rent the meeting rooms through the proper channels and then he could hold his anti-LGBTQ+ story time and anti-CRT discussion. He didn't and that should be the end of that but he believes he's being discriminated against, which isn't true. Other news...
The Huntington Beach Public Library has denied five requests in as many years to have books in its collection removed, according to library records, with the majority of materials concerning LGBTQ themes.
One 2020 request involving now Councilmember Gracey Van Der Mark asking to remove “Gender Queer,” a graphic memoir that deals with gender identity and sexuality, ended with library officials choosing to move the book to the adult section, but refusing to outright remove it.
“As with any book that deals with a difficult subject, there is the potential for extreme and strong reactions to what is included in a book,” now-retired Library Director Stephanie Beverage wrote in a letter sent to Van Der Mark, who had yet to be elected to the council. “That does not mean the book is without merit or needs to be removed from the collection.”
Other books patrons requested to be evaluated for removal included “This Day in June,” a picture book about a family attending a Pride parade; “Anne Frank: Her life in Words and Pictures;” “Open: An Uncensored Memoir of Love, Liberation, and Non-monogamy;” and “The Hips on the Drag Queen go Swish, Swish, Swish.”
Last month, Van Der Mark lead the majority of the Huntington Beach City Council in asking city staffers to find new ways to make it harder for children to access explicit books in the city’s five library branches.
During her presentation at that June 20 meeting, Van Der Mark said she had filed a complaint for “Gender Queer” to be removed. “It was a battle. I did go through the process currently in place right now — not without being treated pretty disrespectfully by the former librarian.”
Once a material evaluation form is filled out, library staff meet to review the title in question. They look at book reviews, awards, the target audience and the demographics of the community. Once a decision is made, a letter is sent to the filer and the library director said she would try to talk to them about the process that occurred.
Beverage recalled her phone conversation with Van Der Mark discussing the library’s decision to not remove “Gender Queer” as “respectful and calm.”
“I did explain the book in question had merit,” Beverage said. “It would be difficult, but that would be something for her to determine with her child.”
Van Der Mark said after filing the request, she didn’t hear back for a while and began calling Beverage for a response. On the phone with Beverage, Van Der Mark said she “got a lot of lecture about why what I was doing is wrong.”
That experience, Van Der Mark said, is part of what pushed her to write her proposal looking for options of what the council could do. Van Der Mark was elected in the November.
City staff won’t come back with recommendations for Van Der Mark’s proposal until later in the year. A council study session is supposed to be held when ready. Van Der Mark said she didn’t have an update to provide on what they were considering.
Current Library Services Manager Jessica Framson has denied two requests for books to be removed so far this year, according to the library records obtained.
https://www.ocregister.com/2023/07/07...
Good news from Ireland where people refuse to stand for harassment in the workplace.Hundreds of protesters gathered in Cork, Ireland, to march in support of Cork City Library staff after they suffered abuse and intimidation by far-right groups over LGBTQ+ books.
On Friday 7 June, around 400 people turned up to show solidarity with library workers, who have faced harassment from far-right protesters who object to the library stocking LGBTQ+ reading material.
Friday’s demonstration was part-organised by Irish trade union Fórsa to show support for Cork library staff and demand increased workplace protections. The march saw hundreds walk from Cork City Library to City Hall, holding union banners and rainbow flags.
While an anti-LGBTQ+ counter-protest did take place nearby, it was attended by fewer than 20 people.
Richy Carrothers, Fórsa’s head of local authorities, said his union’s members need greater protection from hateful protesters and explained that the demonstration was about both workers’ rights and LGBTQ+ solidarity.
We have asked local authorities to undertake an immediate health and safety risk assessment of public libraries, and the threat posed by such protesters at libraries.
“Harassment must not be tolerated, and Cork City Council must act to discharge their responsibilities as an employer under health and safety legislation.”
Carrothers went on to say that the tactics used by those harassing library staff are “straight out of the American far-right playbook” when speaking to Morning Ireland.
Speaking to Morning Ireland, Carrothers also highlighted that the tactics used by these far-right protesters are “straight out of the American far-right playbook as far as we’re concerned.
"What is most disturbing is almost the indifference of some in the local government management system… Because they haven’t acted in any way that would stop this,” Carrothers continued.
“So, the failure of the management to act means that we have had to step up to the plate in order to protect workers … It’s also an equality protest in terms of solidarity with the LGBTQ+ community.”
In March, Cork library staff confirmed that they will keep queer books on the shelves despite the intimidation they have faced.
https://www.thepinknews.com/2023/07/0...
NevadaAmid outrage over LGBTQ+ content, Washoe officials say libraries should ‘offend everyone
At the Washoe County Commission meeting on June 27, members of the public complained to commissioners that certain books telling LGBTQ+ stories “should not be in libraries,” while others described those books as “rot” and that “the constant exposure to this garbage is destroying young minds.”
A week earlier, a vote over an appointment to the normally low-key library board became another flashpoint, with several public commenters calling for an investigation after commissioners selected Al Rogers, a retired Realtor, over right-wing activist Paul White, who has advocated against the library holding its popular drag queen story hour.
in Debi Stears’ nine years as the library collections manager for the Washoe County Library System, only two items have been formally challenged by citizens: one children’s book expressing anti-trans sentiments and one CD produced by the Church of Scientology, both of which remain on the library’s shelves.
At-times heated complaints over LGBTQ+ content have also spilled into meetings of the library’s board of trustees — a four-member board appointed by the county commission that governs operations of the library system, which includes 12 branches and a workforce of about 130 people.
The only role that the library board plays in deciding content is hearing appeals over citizen-filed content challenges, which has never happened in Washoe County Library Board of Trustees Chair Amy Ghileri’s four years on the board.
... Tension is especially high in Washoe County, where a network of conservative activists (many linked to or influenced by far-right donor Robert Beadles) have come to dominate public comment portions of county meetings.
With the vast majority of recently challenged titles nationwide by or about people of color and the LGBTQ+ community, Emily Hobson, who chairs the Department of Gender, Race and Identity (GRI) at the University of Nevada, Reno, says advocacy against LGBTQ+ content in libraries doesn’t sound like parents and grandparents expressing concerns about the safety of their children.
Instead, she said it is “the result of people who are out there spreading harmful and false messages with a goal of rolling back protections and seizing greater control of civil liberties.”
According to Bethany Drysdale, media and communications director for Washoe County, there is a plan in the works to provide the community and county commissioners more context on library policies.
"Currently the discussion is to have the Library Collections Development Manager provide a presentation to the Board of County Commissioners related to the collection, process to determine what books are purchased, etc," Drysdale wrote in an email.
A date for the presentation has not been set.
According to Stears, who makes decisions on book purchases for the library system, understanding the library’s content selection process is the first step to filing a formal challenge to a book.
About 85 percent of the library’s purchases are books that national wholesalers expect to be high selling and that national book reviews, such as Publishers Weekly, have evaluated for craft, quality and relevance. For public libraries in particular, reviewers and book sellers often include recommendations for the appropriate age group audience of each book, Stears told The Nevada Independent.
According to Bethany Drysdale, media and communications director for Washoe County, there is a plan in the works to provide the community and county commissioners more context on library policies.
"Currently the discussion is to have the Library Collections Development Manager provide a presentation to the Board of County Commissioners related to the collection, process to determine what books are purchased, etc," Drysdale wrote in an email.
A date for the presentation has not been set.
According to Stears, who makes decisions on book purchases for the library system, understanding the library’s content selection process is the first step to filing a formal challenge to a book.
About 85 percent of the library’s purchases are books that national wholesalers expect to be high selling and that national book reviews, such as Publishers Weekly, have evaluated for craft, quality and relevance. For public libraries in particular, reviewers and book sellers often include recommendations for the appropriate age group audience of each book, Stears told The Nevada Independent.
According to Bethany Drysdale, media and communications director for Washoe County, there is a plan in the works to provide the community and county commissioners more context on library policies.
"Currently the discussion is to have the Library Collections Development Manager provide a presentation to the Board of County Commissioners related to the collection, process to determine what books are purchased, etc," Drysdale wrote in an email.
A date for the presentation has not been set.
According to Stears, who makes decisions on book purchases for the library system, understanding the library’s content selection process is the first step to filing a formal challenge to a book.
About 85 percent of the library’s purchases are books that national wholesalers expect to be high selling and that national book reviews, such as Publishers Weekly, have evaluated for craft, quality and relevance. For public libraries in particular, reviewers and book sellers often include recommendations for the appropriate age group audience of each book, Stears told The Nevada Independent.
Because of that, 85 percent of the collection looks similar to the collections of public libraries across the country. The remaining 15 percent is tailored toward the specific needs and interests of the Washoe County community.
Any community members, including library staff, have the right to request that the library reconsider an item in the collection by sending a written form to Stears. From there, she would research relevant reviews, the demand for the book in Washoe County and beyond, as well as with American Library Association standards, and submit her findings to Library Director Jeff Scott.
When filling out a form to challenge a library book, citizens are asked to provide an example of a book that could replace the perspective in the one they are challenging and whether they have read the book in its entirety.
Scott would then finalize a decision on the item’s status and report that and Stears’ findings to the patron who filed the request.
Scott would then finalize a decision on the item’s status and report that and Stears’ findings to the patron who filed the request.
If that patron was unsatisfied with the decision, they could submit a written request to the chair of the board of trustees. The board would then hear an appeal and have the final say.
“Much of what you see in this kind of public comment is cherry picking particular passages,” Stears said. “Part of our collection development policy is we look at the work as a whole.”
Two key policies would govern any decision to remove purchased content from a library.
First, the Library Bill of Rights adopted by the board states that books will not be removed on a partisan or doctrinal basis.
For example, in the case of books that parents may check out to read with their child about puberty and sexual development, the library has books that are written from a Christian perspective and other books that are inclusive of LGBTQ+ identities.
Stears said she would advocate for keeping both types of books on the shelves.
The library collection is also curated with the aim of keeping a record of how thinking and social values have evolved over time. (Dr. Seuss)
A second policy that would come into play on any decision to remove material is stated in the library’s own content development policy: “Parents and legal guardians have the responsibility for monitoring their children’s use of library materials.”
The library follows the recommendations of publishers and reviewers to categorize each book for its proper audience. Beyond that, if a parent wishes for their child to avoid certain content, it is their responsibility to vet the books.
Both Stears and Ghileri stressed that a library’s job is not to judge the moral value of the content, but ensure that the entire spectrum of opinion and identity is represented.
“Libraries should have something that offends everyone,” said Ghileri.
https://thenevadaindependent.com/arti...
STERLING, Kan. (KWCH) - Supporters of an ousted library director and her assistant in Sterling are speaking out with firings they feel are wrongful. There’s a petition circulating to save their jobs.Wednesday night, Sterling’s Carnegie Library Director Kari Wheeler was fired, as was her assistant, Brandy Lancaster. The reason the library board gave is that the group lost confidence in Wheeler and Lancaster’s ability to do their jobs. But the recently-fired director and assistant believe there’s more to the board’s decision to take such swift action.
One issue Wheeler addressed concerned a display toward the front of the library that addressed diversity and recognized Autism Cares. Wheeler said she was told to take the display down because it feature a rainbow infinity flag. “They said those could not be displayed because they had an LGBTQ agenda to them.”
Wheeler and and Lancaster, believe their dismissal also had to do with a book the board didn’t see fit to include in their library. The book, titled, “Flight of the Puffin,” Flight of the Puffin is about kindness and acceptance. It includes LGBTQ references. Wheeler pointed out that this year, the book is on the William Allen White Children’s Book Award List for middle schoolers.
A petition that started Friday collected more than 120 signatures in a few hours The hope is for enough supporters to sign the petition to get Wheeler and Lancaster their jobs back, as well as to start a conversation in the community.
https://www.kwch.com/2023/07/08/sterl...
California Assembly bill 1078https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/fa...
The bill would prohibit the governing board of a school district or a county board of education from prohibiting the use of an existing textbook, other instructional material, or curriculum that contains inclusive and diverse perspectives.
Introduced and authored by Assemblymember Corey Jackson of Riverside, the measure does not prohibit book banning. However, it would impose a fine if books are banned because they contain "inclusive and diverse perspectives."
The bill, AB 1078, was created to directly target local school board control of curriculum and books that will be allowed in schools. The measure was heard in the Senate Education Committee and passed 5-2 on Wednesday.
https://www.foxnews.com/media/propose...
The fight continues in Temecula, CAThree Southern California school board members backed by a far-right pastor narrowly won election last fall in campaigns fueled by pandemic rage.
Then they banned critical race theory and rejected social studies materials that included LGBTQ rights hero Harvey Milk.
Now, they’re fighting for their political lives.
After just six months in office, those officials face a recall effort on top of a civil rights investigation launched by the state’s Democratic-led education department. Students have held protests, and irate parents and teachers are swarming the board’s meetings, feeling that their town — the fast-growing, politically diverse suburb of Temecula in Riverside County — has become consumed by partisan warfare.
....
On the day they were sworn in, the new board members passed a resolution condemning critical race theory. That landed them on “Fox and Friends” even though the subject wasn’t being taught in Temecula schools. Then they hired an outside consultant to run workshops warning educators about the perils of CRT, a lens used by academics to challenge institutional racism that is viewed by many on the right as simply shorthand for any teaching about race that they don’t like.
But until last month, when a curriculum fight over the late gay-rights leader Harvey Milk got the governor’s attention, many residents hadn’t noticed.
The board rejected a social studies curriculum that featured a half-page biography of Milk, with Komrosky repeating a disputed allegation against the slain San Francisco supervisor.
State Superintendent Tony Thurmond said people attending the California Democratic Party convention in Los Angeles the following week asked him to get involved. They included delegate Julie Geary, who said she also raised the issue with Attorney General Rob Bonta.
Thurmond, Bonta and Gov. Gavin Newsom already had a joint letter in the works cautioning school districts against banning books and restricting teaching materials for political reasons. But the Democrats, dismayed by the comment about Milk, began to single out Temecula. Bonta’s office pressed the district for justification of its decision. And Thurmond traveled back to Southern California to meet with Komrosky and Gonzalez, who had made the same allegation against California’s first openly gay elected official.
“If there was a single factor that was the final push for me to go to Temecula, it was seeing the statement made calling Harvey Milk a p____e,” Thurmond said in an interview. The state Department of Education is now investigating a civil rights complaint against the district.
Less than a week later, the board fired the district’s popular superintendent, Jodi McClay, following the lead of new conservative school board majorities in Florida, South Carolina and nearby Orange County.
McClay’s supporters packed the high school auditorium and pleaded with the board to keep her on. When that failed, they drowned out a small group of the board’s supporters with a barrage of boos, continuing for hours.
[Although school board elections are supposed to be non-partisan in California, the article shows Republican PACs contributing money towards the campaigns of their preferred candidates and taking advantage of low voter turnout.]
https://www.politico.com/news/2023/07...
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Hundreds of protesters gathered in Cork, Ireland, to march in support of Cork City Library staff after they suf..."
Good for Ireland and I am glad that unlike in much of the USA, far right extremist groups in Ireland are getting the anger they deserve.
Good news:Stopped by the library today and they had a display featuring
At the Mountain's Base
The Arabic Quilt: An Immigrant Story
plus
All of Us, Elbert in the Air, The Big Bath House, Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Black Boy
This was in the community picture books section
The rest of the news from other parts of the country is not good.
Moms for Liberty have too much power and the book banners are moving privately without proper protocol to ban books in the Tallahassee area of Florida.
"Leon County Schools Superintendent Rocky Hanna announced on Monday that five books would be removed from high school libraries.
"I reviewed them personally and they have been removed," he said at a Monday afternoon meeting. "Of these 468,000-plus books that we have in our current catalog, if we come across those we deem are in violation of state statute, we will remove them immediately... These are black-and-white, cut-and-dry, need-to-be removed."
It comes days after the Leon County chapter of Moms for Liberty sent an email to Hanna and the school board, saying the five books violated state law and subject district personnel to potential "felony prosecution" and litigation.
And the group said there are other "inappropriate" book it believes should be removed as well, recommending the school district be "proactive" and remove "land mines" of p____phy."
The five books mentioned in the email weren't part of a formal process.
In raising concerns about the books, Moms for Liberty cited the new laws and others, such as a statute criminalizing distributing "harmful materials," including p____c content, on school property.
"A full review of library materials should be undertaken to ensure that children are not exposed to harmful content in Leon County Schools," wrote Priscilla West, chair of Moms For Liberty – Leon County, in last week's email to the school board.
West volunteered herself and "other involved Leon County parents" to participate in a "materials review committee."
"Most challenges will be reactive in nature, i.e., they will be initiated by parents after their child has been exposed to the material in question," wrote West, who along with the organization didn't respond to media requests. "We recommend a more proactive stance, removing the 'land mines' of pornography from the paths of children and reducing the risk of litigation against the district."
In a string of Facebook posts on Monday, West's chapter criticized multiple other books not named in the email but found in various county high schools. The organization linked to passages including graphic descriptions of s-e-x and violence. West's email also linked to such passages for the five books pulled off the shelves.
Those books:
"Doomed
Dead End
Lucky
Push
Me and Earl and the Dying Girl
Some of these books have been banned from other school libraries.
In an interview after the meeting, Hanna said the five pulled books had been donated to the school district and not been checked out for years.
Hanna said he made the decision to pull them in consultation with his staff, the district media specialist and legal counsel.
"If you find and come across a book you feel is in direct violation of Florida law, meets that threshold, then we will take a look at it immediately and won't have to go through the challenge process," he said. "If I disagree, however, with your interpretation... then I will ask you to fill out a formal challenge form, and we'll go through the process."
That process varies district by district. In Leon County, a parent complaint first heads to a school principal. If unresolved, the complaint goes up the chain of command to the superintendent. The superintendent will then meet with the parent. If they cannot agree on an outcome, it goes to an appointed third-party officer, who holds a hearing and gives a recommendation to school board members to vote on.
When asked about the Moms for Liberty Facebooks posts targeting additional books, Hanna called it "disingenuous" and "very disappointing."
"They come on Tuesday nights and want to partner and work together; that's not how you partner and work together," Hanna said. "Partnering and working together is sending me an email, the board members, [saying], 'Hey, guys, just wanted to give you a heads up. We've came across these books. You might want to look at them and see what you think or give us your opinions,' instead of going on social media without even having the courtesy to work through us, work through the process."
House Bill 1069 took effect on July 1. The Moms for Liberty chapter sent its email days later. The law requires school districts to remove within five days any book challenged for including pornography or sexual conduct until the complaint is resolved.
It also allows parents who disagree with a school board's decision on a book challenge to a request a special magistrate from the state to review the decision, on the school district's dime.
While still under development by the state, Ferrell, from the Florida Freedom to Read Project, a nonprofit that opposes censorship in public schools, said the special magistrate decision "really changes the game" moving forward, encouraging groups to put pressure on school districts without actually filing challenges — and encouraging districts to cave to the pressure to avoid the challenge costs.
https://www.tallahassee.com/story/new...
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This should be mandatory for EVERY teacher in both the USA and in Canada (and also mandatory for every student and for every classroom). But it will likely never happen in states like Florida, sigh.