Children's Books discussion
Banned Books: discussions, lists
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Discussion of censorship, equity, and other concerns.
Natrona County School District No. 1 (WY) NCSD's new opt-in system will require approval from parents to access controversial books
Meeting after meeting, a subset of parents has told NCSD trustees that the school district should remove disputed books and install more stringent library policies to guard against “pornographic” reading and learning materials, which often take the form of LGBTQ-related books.
NCSD trustees have largely rejected their demands, declining to remove books from area high schools and pointing to more pressing issues for the district to address. However, NCSD is listening to some of their requests ahead of the 2023-2024 school year.
In July, Superintendent Mike Jennings and his cabinet approved a new library permission system that will allow parents to both opt-in and opt-out of books, the former an option those contesting library books have long called for.
Tanya Southerland, a spokesperson for NCSD, said in an email that Jennings and the district created the new system after the school board updated its policy around controversial issues last November. While voting on two controversial LGBTQ books, trustees decided to give parents a new “opt-in” option for some books.
A working group that included district administrators, school principals and library staff developed the new system, aligning it with the trustees’ updated policy, Southerland said. Its purpose is to “define a school’s responsibility for the selection, retention, and maintenance of learning materials housed in the school library,” according to the district’s operating procedures.
nder opt-in, parents must authorize their students to access books that the district has determined have sexually explicit images or that the district’s book reconsideration committee deems inappropriate and designates as opt-in only.
Since November school librarians have been reviewing books to see if they fall under NCSD’s definition for “sexually explicit” content, transferring the titles that do to the opt-in list, Southerland said. NCSD’s school board and reconsideration committee have also made some books opt-in only.
NCSD’s opt-in lists and permissions are specific to each grade band, such as middle school or high school. Parents can fill out a form through the district’s online parent portal allowing their student to access some or all of the books. They must fill out a form for each student, according to a district news release. If they don’t, their child won’t be allowed to access them.
None of the books on NCSD’s opt-in lists are required reading, according to the district.
In the case of opt-out, parents can select specific books or authors that they don’t want their children to check out. Parents must fill out a form through the district’s online parent portal where they can list up to 20 books or authors, though they can add more by contacting their student’s school librarian. They also must spell the exact title and author of each book correctly to meet the requirements of the district’s opt-out alert system, or their permission will be voided.
“NCSD Library staff are dedicated to making every effort to work with each individual parent to support the success of the implementation of all ‘opt-out’ requests,” the district’s procedure reads.
If a parent chooses to opt-out of any books, their child will also lose access to the district’s eBook and audiobook system since neither allow the flexibility for individual students. In both the opt-in and opt-out cases, parents can update their decisions at any time.
NCSD’s new library permission system reflects a significant change. Until now, parents could only block their own children from accessing certain titles.
While NCSD’s reconsideration committee and trustees have so far rebuffed attempts to ban books, the school board’s decision to update its controversial issue policies in November 2022 marked a significant step for the protesting parents. In addition to requiring an opt-in system, trustees also approved stricter requirements for purchasing controversial library materials and required school libraries to maintain a list showing the books in circulation.
Since November, schools have been barred from purchasing “material with sexually explicit images” as defined by district policies.
https://trib.com/news/local/education...
Worcester County, MDSusan Ostrowski, of Berlin, said she was concerned about three books on school shelves that depicted pornographic content such as sex, incest and rape.
The books included “All Boys Aren’t Blue,” by George M. Johnson, “The Kite Runner,” by Khaled Hosseini, and “A Court of Thorns and Roses,” by Sarah J. Maas.
“Children are the future of this country,” Ostrowski said. “We must keep them in the common sense, normal world, not the abnormal sexual occurrences.”
Ostrowski said she submitted a request to review these three books but was denied since she didn’t have a child in Worcester County schools.
Kate McCloskey, of Ocean Pines, said she had also submitted a review for a book, but was informed the book review committee had unanimously decided to keep the book in schools.
“I was shocked that the committee had unanimously agreed to keep this book,” McCloskey said. “It made me wonder who was on the committee and how I could get on it.”
McCloskey said she found a Maryland law that prohibits displaying sexual obscene items, including books, to minors.
She said she has identified 49 books in school libraries that contain what she believed was sexually obscene material.
https://www.oceancitytoday.com/news/w...
South CarolinaHardline conservatives suggest board to screen Columbia-area schools class materials
Some hardline Lexington County Republicans are suggesting the creation of a commission in the Lexington-Richland Five school district to study classroom materials.
The proposal, presented to the district’s board Aug. 21 by state Reps. Jay Kilmartin, R-Columbia, and Joe White, R-Prosperity, whose constituencies both include parts of the district, would have a 20-member commission evaluate schools for “race-based instruction” and “vulgar materials,” and make policy recommendations to the district school board, the S.C. Department of Education and the Statehouse.
Commission members would include school board trustees, Lexington state legislators, district, local and state government representatives and a group of parents chosen by the county’s legislative delegation, according to a handout on the proposal.
″(A commission) will take the burden off the superintendent and school board, keeping it from becoming a punching bag for parents,” Kilmartin told the board. “It’s curating age-appropriate content, not book-banning.”
https://www.postandcourier.com/columb...
Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp (IN) continues to hear complaints about books in the schools, books removed from the schools, etc. etc.The board also received two written statements. One was a petition with 500 digital signatures that called for the school board to implement standards for “appropriate” library books at the elementary, middle and high school levels. The other was a letter from 14 BCSC librarians and library assistants, who feel that calls by some to create a subcommittee on library materials “undermines our professionalism and shows a sincere lack of trust in our abilities to perform our jobs.”
Eric Grow — who ran for the school board’s District 4 seat in 2022 but lost to Dale Nowlin — has repeatedly expressed concerns about inappropriate materials in school libraries during the time for public comment at school board meetings and has been vocal about the subject on social media, creating a spreadsheet of books that he considers potentially “problematic” and which BCSC school libraries, if any, contain copies of these titles.
Grow recently shared a petition on social media, asking individuals to provide a digital signature if they agree with the following statement: “I ask that the BCSC Board implement standards on profanity and vulgarity that is appropriate for each schools’ audiences (Elementary, Middle School, and High School). These standards should not discriminate against any group of people, however will hold the bar of decorum for what our children read and its appropriateness within common society.”
Board member Logan Schulz shared the petition with the board, stating that he had received it electronically prior to the board meeting and that the document included the first 500 signatures received a week prior to the board meeting. He added that by signing, individuals are affirming that they have a relation to the school corporation as either a student, parent, resident, taxpayer or combination thereof.
Some members of the public have also called for the creation of a committee to address the topic of library materials, with Schulz voicing his support for the idea at the board’s Aug. 7 meeting.
In addition to the petition, the school board also received a letter from 14 BCSC librarians and library assistants, who said that the climate of recent board meetings has caused feelings of “frustration, hurt, and angst for simply performing the tasks for which we were hired.”
The letter includes a description of some of the factors that go into choosing library resources, such as age appropriateness, “levels of engagement,” literary value, district and state standards, student requests and relevancy to students.
The letter also argued that, for such a committee to be truly representative, it would need to be made up of a diverse group of people from all races, genders, sexual preferences, demographics, employment and personal histories. Working with that many people would make it difficult to reach a consensus on what is appropriate, library staff wrote.
https://www.therepublic.com/2023/08/2...
The Amarillo Independent School District (TX) is withdrawing from the consortium which allowed students access to a wide array of books from surrounding public libraries.The HLC is a group of 87 libraries around the Panhandle who provide other clients with books and electronic information, making it a borrowing system.
“It’s one of the very few multi-type library consortiums in the whole United States; we have public libraries, academic libraries, school libraries and special libraries,” said Director of Library Services for APL Amanda Barrera.
Amarillo ISD decided last September to stop utilizing the service and released this statement:
“Because of increasing state requirements to report and track library books, AISD’s Electronic catalogue system through the Harrington Library Consortium is no longer able to service the needs of the district. The school board approved the purchase of a new library software and cataloguing system that was vetted by a committee of AISD librarians. The new system provides several advantages that the district didn’t previously have including web-based login, easier access to individual library inventories, separation from the City of Amarillo fine and cataloguing procedures, patron history tracking, as well as control of the district’s own data.”
“Right now HLC library patrons have access to about 9,000 e-book and audio book titles through cloud library. Once we join Texas cloud link on Sept. 7, we will have access to over 250,000,” said Barrera.
Students of Amarillo ISD are still able to use the HLC.
“In the past they were able to just use their school library card in the public libraries, so what will change with AISD’s withdrawal from HLC is that their parent or guardian will have to come into the public library with them and get them an APL card,” said Barrera.
https://www.newschannel10.com/2023/08...
"Alamance County’s [NC] commissioners have bumped an incumbent member of the county’s library committee to make room for a new appointee who rose to prominence about a year ago when she publicly criticized an LGBTQ-themed book display at the flagship branch of the county’s library system.During a regularly-scheduled meeting on Monday, the board of commissioners unanimously tapped Cheryl Sanford to fill one of the county’s three allotted positions on this multi-jurisdictional advisory board. Sanford was formally elevated to the library committee along with returning members Paula Hendricks and Jessica Simmons – to the exclusion of a third incumbent, Shannon Witherow, who had also been among the nine applicants for the three available posts.
Sanford’s candidacy for the library committee was championed by Steve Carter, the vice chairman of Alamance County’s commissioners, who formally recommended her to the rest of the county’s governing board during Monday’s proceedings. Carter also endorsed the reappointments of Hendricks and Simmons – with no mention of Witherow’s bid to remain on the board – before he and his fellow commissioners voted 5-to-0 to install all three of his nominees.
Sanford was one of several parents who gained the library system some unwanted publicity last year when spoke out against a book display that the staff at May Memorial Library had set up to highlight titles about sexual orientation and gender identity.
Sanford and fellow Burlington resident Tara Ariel later spoke to The Alamance News about their concerns with this LGBTQ display, which centered on its prominent placement en route to the children’s reading area at May Memorial. Sanford told the newspaper that she was suspicious these volumes were intended to catch the eye of unwitting youngsters.
“It’s in the Young Adult Section but is clearly visible going into the Children’s Section,” Sanford told the newspaper in June of 2022. “Going into the Children’s Section, [you can see] signs that say ‘Read with Pride’…My alarm was just that it was there, and I said ‘good grief, why is it there?’”
The county’s library committee doesn’t appear to have addressed these complaints directly since they appeared in The Alamance News in June of 2022. (The committee has met three times since the article’s publication, although it has yet to post the minutes for the third meeting in May of this year). But the committee’s members did have a broader discussion about the library system’s complaint policy when its members convened for the first time after the controversy on November 8.
According to the minutes from that meeting, Susana Goldman, the library system’s director, presented some proposed policy changes that would allow the library system to address public complaints about book displays and other things that patrons encounter on their way to the checkout desk.
“While we do have a material selection policy that involves a process [for] how people can challenge a physical book in the library, the wording of it is limited to materials,” the meeting minutes go on to explain. “Since there have been concerns about displays, programs, artwork, presenters, etc. in the library, the policy needs to be changed to include those items.”
Shortly after The Alamance News reported on her objections to the aforementioned book display, Sanford submitted her application to serve on the county’s library committee.
In her application, which is dated July 8, 2022, Sanford describes herself as an eight-year resident of Alamance County who currently lives in west Burlington. She lists a BA in Middle Grades Education as one of her qualifications for the committee appointment, along with her “20-plus years” as “homeschool literature teacher” and her role as the parent of a ‘‘former teen library volunteer.”
Sanford also describes herself as an “active member of Christian Bible Fellowship,” a board member for Hope Haven of South Africa, and a “lead teacher” for AWANA – a Christian nonprofit that operates a global youth ministry. In explaining her interest in the library committee, Sanford espouses a desire to “share my experience as a library patron” and to “help develop policies and practices that are in the best interests of the children of Alamance County.”
“Cheryl Sanford was just a friend from the community who’s a homeschooler and has been involved in some activities with us,” he explained in this message on Wednesday afternoon.
“[She] has been involved in the [Alamance County] Republican Women and expressed an interest in serving on the board.”
https://alamancenews.com/commissioner...
A group of 10 women volunteers perused the children’s section of the Midland County Public Library's Centennial branch [TX] on Wednesday morning, taking note of titles they deemed inappropriate for youths.A development in the continued discussion between Midland County government and Midland County Public Library regarding content in local libraries, the volunteers on Wednesday presented the titles to library staff, and they will be moved from children or young adult sections to adult sections of the library. The books will not be taken out of the library.
A few of the volunteers identified depictions or plot points that they deemed offensive from the books they had selected. Most of them dealt with the inclusion of homosexual relationships, sexual acts or gender ideology topics.
The volunteers said they do not wish to ban books, but they do not want to see tax dollars going toward content of this manner for their children. Everyone involved made clear that the books will remain in the library.
A few of the titles selected by the volunteers were “Flamer” by Mike Curato, “The ABCs of Equality” by Chana Ginelle Ewing. The volunteer who noted “The ABCs of Equality” pointed out the fact that the example word for the letters “L” and “G” were “LGBTQIA+” and “Gender.”
Precinct 4 Commissioner Dianne Anderson, who had initially called attention to this in February, was at the library as well, speaking with the library director and personnel from the Library Foundation.
Wednesday's book roundup happened because of Commissioners' Court action on Aug. 14. County Judge Terry Johnson and Anderson voted that library books in children's sections of the library deemed "obscene" were to be moved to adult sections of the library. Precinct 1 Commissioner Scott Ramsey opposed the motion. Precinct 3 Commissioner Luis Sanchez abstained from voting, as did Precinct 2 Commissioner Jeff Somers.
https://www.mrt.com/news/article/volu...
The crisis actors in Brandon, Manitoba are at it againBrandon school trustee wants committee to screen books
BSD Trustee Breanna Sieklicki spoke at Monday’s meeting, and claimed that she believes that BSD has now “lost trust” among some parents and guardians because she said there are books in school libraries with content she claimed contain “sexually explicit acts, vulgar language, and harmful behaviours.”
“The precedent that we should be making is that we hear the concerns of parents and grandparents and we take your concerns seriously,” Sieklicki said. “We cannot dismiss these concerns, because some believe they are only the thoughts of a vocal minority.”
Sieklicki put forward two motions at the meeting, with one requesting that a committee be formed to review books and materials in school libraries and classrooms, and remove books that contain “adult content.”
A similar motion to form a book committee was rejected by BSD back in May, and on Monday no trustees seconded Sieklicki’s motion.
Sieklicki’s second motion on Monday asked that parents now be informed about all activities involving their kids, and about what kids are learning, seeing, and hearing at school.
We must create a transparent parent policy within our division that will allow parents and guardians to be informed of all activities involving their children,” Sieklicki said.
“This will include classroom curriculum, third-party presentations, and personal student information. This will allow parents to have an option to opt-out if they deem something as inappropriate for their child.”
That motion also received zero support from fellow BSD trustees, and will also not move forward.
Hackenschmidt also said during the Aug. 8 meeting that she was concerned about the “LGBTQ ideology,” being taught in schools, while claiming some books on shelves in the division’s schools could lead to "grooming" and "p___ilia."
After Sieklicki’s motions received zero support on Monday, BSD chairperson Linda Ross said there are no plans to revisit the issue, because she said it has been decided.
“These matters have been dealt with by the board,” Ross said. “And unless I see some interest in the board on revisiting these matters, than we have made that decision clearly I believe.”
Concerns about books available to children have also been causing controversy and turmoil in Winnipeg recently, as the Winnipeg-based Louis Riel School Division (LRSD) recently sent letters to 35 people who they say caused a “disturbance” at a June 20 LRSD meeting where book banning was discussed, informing them that they are now permanently banned from all LRSD property, including all division schools and administrative buildings
The division has a responsibility to protect students, staff and families from the aggressive and threatening remarks and behaviours that the community experienced at the meeting.” states the letter, which was shared publicly online by Winkler resident Karl Krebs, who is now banned from all LRSD property.
https://ca.news.yahoo.com/vocal-minor...
Good news:Judge halts drag show restrictions from taking effect in Texas
https://abcnews.go.com/US/judge-halts...
Bad news
At least 20 books are being removed from libraries in a Florida school district as the result of parents reading out loud objectionable passages from the books they deemed sexually explicit and inappropriate for children at a school board meeting.
Fighting a nearly two-year battle with the Indian River County School District Board to remove 156 books from district schools, a local chapter of Moms For Liberty strategically took advantage of a new Florida law at Monday’s meeting. House Bill 1069 states that a school district must remove books immediately if the readings are shut down, objected to, or introduced with a censor warning by School Board members.
Jennifer Pippin, president of the local chapter of Moms For Liberty told the Washington Times that 30 people at the meeting read from 30 different books. All the readings were stopped by Chairwoman Peggy Jones at various lengths of time. Some were given content warnings at the request of Mrs. Jones.
Mrs. Pippin said that although talking to school principals was suggested by some, including Mrs. Jones, as an alternative to reading from the books at a school board meeting, it was important to use the tactic that Moms For Liberty speakers at the meeting used.
“We felt as an organization that since the school board voted to put all of these books back on the shelves [February 2022], we wanted to bring [the objectional book removal proposal] back to the school board and keep the principals out of it … the school board had already voted [in the previous two years] and we didn’t feel that was fair to the principals. We didn’t want to put the principals in the predicament where they would be going against the school board. We wanted to hold the school board accountable,” Mrs. Pippin.
Author and pastor John Amanchukwu, who has partnered with Turning Point USA Faith to make himself available to speak at school board meetings against left-leaning policies in schools throughout the country, spoke at the end of the public session, but was shortly removed by sheriffs.
He began reading passages from the book, “Thirteen Reasons Why,” by Jay Asher that was originally challenged by Moms For Liberty in 2021. Mrs. Jones immediately told him to stop and then as he continued to read, called for the sheriff on duty at the board meeting to remove him. Mr. Amanchukwu left without resisting, but as he was escorted out of the room he made it a point to say that he was a “black pastor being kicked out for reading the filth that’s in these schools.”
Mr. Amanchukwu told the Washington Times that some parents and even school board leaders don’t know the totality of what’s in their libraries.
“Reading from the book allows them to hear content that they have allowed in the libraries,” he said. “That allows them to understand that we’re not just out there chasing the wind. There are clear situations that are taking place where this content is in the libraries and made accessible to elementary students, middle school students and high school students that’s not clean content.”
“I don’t think that any child should have access to p___raphic material in a library, in particular this book [‘Thirteen Reasons Why’] which talks about [sexually explicit term]. I can’t think of the educational benefit that a middle school student is going to gain by learning about being [sexually explicit]. I just don’t know how this is going to help us compete in a global market or global economy. I don’t know how it would help a student get into an Ivy League school,” he said. “I just don’t see the educational benefit for a student to have this kind of book or curriculum other than for the specific purpose of indoctrination and the sexualizing of children at a young age.”
Mr. Amanchukwu said he feels called to continue talking at school board meetings and hopes a renewal takes place in education nationwide.
“We’ve moved away from virtues and values in the public school system, to now gender theory, queer theory, intersectionality, critical race theory and just a disdain for our country,” he said. “As a result of removing God from education, education has become godless. There’s been this desire to separate children from normative beliefs, and in particular, Christian beliefs. My hope is that we can get back to the virtues and values that should be promoted in public. Hopefully, the work that I’m doing will help bring about spiritual renewal and unite Americans instead of having a divided America. Also, bringing about repentance. The core for revival to come is that their first and foremost must be repentance.”
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/...
Back in AlabamaOzark library board member text evokes burning LGBTQ books
The text provided an explosive moment Wednesday during a special called meeting of the Ozark Dale County Public Library Board
Early on the morning of March 21, Ozark Mayor Mark Blankenship sent a text to Ozark Dale County Public Library director Karen Speck and library board member Monica Carroll asking “What do I need to do to have these 61 books removed from our library?” Attached was a screenshot the mayor had received from a constituent, showing a book in the library and complaint that the book had an LGBTQ sticker on the spine.
“I’ll bring a match,” Carroll replied, along with two laughing emojis, before adding that she would ask Speck what the procedure was.
Fittingly, that exchange provided an explosive moment Wednesday during a special called meeting of the Ozark Dale County Public Library Board to discuss a plan of action in response to the mayor’s informal request.
Many of the library supporters brought books with them to the meeting to identify themselves as supporters, with Fahrenheit 451 being a particularly popular choice. In Fahrenheit 451, books are burned under the authority of a totalitarian government.
The first action of the board ultimately was to lawyer up, as the board has not previously had an attorney on retainer. The board voted unanimously to spend $3,500 to retain attorney Sara Elizabeth Matthews-Hile.
The majority of the nearly four-hour meeting was spent hearing public comments from both sides of the debate, after Blankenship threatened on Facebook to bring about the defunding of the library if the board refuses to move the LGBT books.
Michael Cairns, vice chair of the library board, criticized Blankenship for not challenging books through the proper channels.
“This all started with two unofficial requests that began all the way back in March this year to remove books from the library that contained a certain sticker,” Cairns said. “Now we cannot arbitrarily remove items from the library without proper review … There is a proper procedure to follow to have those books moved; not a threat, not a text message, not a Facebook post.”
Cairns also noted that the books challenged by Blankenship are not even about the content within the book, but the LGBT label on the spine.
“No one took the time to read them, no one looked over the content, no one even so much as opened the cover before they started making complaints,” Cairns said. “This started over a sticker.”
If Blankenship did not know a person that “agrees with this trash being in our children’s section of the library” when he sent that text message, he certainly heard from them Wednesday, as well as many people who agreed with him that the books should be moved or removed.
“Foremost, I’m a mommy,” said Ozark native and resident Julia Carroll. “I’m a nanny, I’m a godmother, I’m an avid reader, I’m a voter in this town, I am in love with Alabama, the place where I was raised—and I’m gay. And I knew I was gay in the second grade, years before I knew what sex was. To inherently sexualize a queer relationship, that’s on you guys. These books don’t even have sex in them directly—it’s about love …
“I was a senior at Headland High School when I finally came out. And my friends called me the ‘f-word,’ the ‘w-word,’ I had things thrown at me out of windows, my church turned it’s back on me, the church that I went to from a single-digit age. I had to leave this state to find safety, to find a place where I could exist and grow. And then I had a little baby and I brought her back here because this is a great place to raise a child, and I refuse to let her see the same things that I saw …
“I’m going to give voice to people that I know that didn’t quite make it to where I made it. Marginalizing any group, especially the youth of a group, is pure violence. A book could be the difference between life and death. I am not being exaggerative—we’ve already had one person share their experience with suicidal ideation; I tried to kill myself twice and I survived. And you know what? Not everyone does.”
Carroll told the story of a fellow high school student who committed suicide, and said the students were not allowed even to have a moment of silence in his honor.
“Stop saying you want to protect children,” Carroll said. “Guess who’s our children? Queer youth. Gay kids exist, I was gay when I was in second grade. Thank you to all the gay youth here today: you’re badass, do not kill yourself over these losers.”
“This is not about you, but our community library,” Hill said. He said his preference is to remove the books entirely, and compared them to a “hot stove” that could leave community children “burned.” Short of removing the books, he suggested they be placed in a monitored section.
“My preference would be to show love to all and remove the books; however that may not be practical,” Hill said. “I did not remove the stove from our home to keep (my children) from being burned. We simply kept an eye on them.”
Alden Rocha, an adult library volunteer, identified herself as a “highly conservative Christian speaking against the book ban.”
“This is a direct attack on civil rights and our freedom,” Rocha said. “People in the LGBTQ community are taxpayers too, and they should have access to the books that they and their kids request … As a person who read all these series growing up, I can tell you that what someone reads does not make them who they are. I’m still straight, I’m certainly not worshipping fake gods, or attempting to cast a spell. Even after learning the world’s history, I have yet to start an international war.”
With a baby on her hip, Ozark resident Hillary Miles said defunding libraries and censoring books go against American values.... There are plenty of books in the library I might not let my children read for numerous reasons— that is my job as their parent to monitor their reading, not yours. I have never called for any books to be banned. Hitler, Mussolini, Lenin, Stalin, General Mao—these people banned books. Is that how you choose to represent yourselves?”
Miles also challenged the library board to create a new policy requiring a person to have a library card in order to file a reconsideration of materials form. County Commissioner Adam Enfinger filed what Cairns said were the first two such forms in history. Although the names were redacted on the forms, Enfinger himself announced that he had filed the forms. And an unreacted question on the form asks whether the filer is a registered borrower at the library, to which Enfinger responded “No.”
A man who identified himself as Storming'” Norman Horton said the other side is hypocrites due to criticism of Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn over inclusion of the N-word. He also compared books to guns and said children have no rights.
“I’ve got a second amendment right to carry a gun,” Horton said. “I do not have a right to put my gun, that’s loaded, in front of a child and expect them to handle it the way that I would. Let me remind you that children have no rights. Their rights are under the direction and custody of their parents, not the public library.”
Gene Lynn, a Black man, talked about his concerns of discrimination against people who don’t have the same thoughts, and recounted having difficulty finding books representing himself as a child in the library.
Bobbi McLaughlin held up the Ozark Dale library card she said she picked up when she moved to Ozark in 1971, and told the audience that the idea of defunding a library “sickens me.”
“On the second day of living here, I drove to the library and got my card and this is it,” McLaughlin said, holding the card up proudly. “I thought I had won the lottery. It cost me $5 and that was it … If you are so concerned about what books we have in the library, you’d better turn your TV off … I’d also like to say, if I read a book about a detective, it does not make me one. To think that we’re reading a book about LBGTQ people, that will not make someone a part of that esteemed community. That theory shows complete ignorance.”
Sharon Sidebottom thanked the library for making residents aware about the procedure to review and challenge books that they believe need to be moved to another area, and said she plans to be more involved in the library.
“Quite frankly, some of the books that we have in smaller and smaller ages, if they were to be put in an animated movie, they would be rated R or X,” Sidebottom said. “… I don’t want our children indoctrinated in certain subjects before they have the developmental ability to process what they are seeing. So we do need to put a guard around our children. God gave all of us the freedom of choice, but he never gives us more than what our age group can handle— it’s the enemy that wants to abuse us, and cause us to have things infiltrated into us at too early of an age that can taint us and be an event that a lie can attach to and be the truth for us for many years of our lives until we can be illuminated to what we truly are.”
Theresa Philby said that tools such as parental controls help parents have a voice in what their kids are exposed to on TVs and the internet, but have no such protection at the library.
“We’re here because parents are concerned about what their kids are being exposed to,” Philby said. “Parents should be able to have some kind of say, some kind of control, in protecting the innocence from things that they’re not ready for, that they don’t know how to process … Nobody’s being told not to take these books home.”
By APR’s count, there were 18 people that spoke generally against Blankenship’s blanket call to move the LGBTQ books out of the section, while 12 people spoke generally in favor of moving the books out of the section. It is important to note that some people who opposed moving the books in the manner Blankenship requested, they expressed support for allowing library review procedures to be used to determine if individual books should be moved.
That’s not including 130 people who submitted online comments ahead of the meeting, of which only a few were able to be read aloud during the meeting due to time constraints. However, the library shared after the meeting that those comments will be made publicly available and will be sent to board members.
https://www.alreporter.com/2023/08/31...
He's suing because his private text was shared publicly.
The Philadelphia Inquirer has a chilling story showcasing how the book banning issue is really a political power play. If they actually cared about kids, they wouldn't be reading these passages out loud let alone MAILING it to people's homes. "A PAC vilifying Central Bucks Dems is warning voters about s__ually explicit images by mailing out explicit images
Stop Bucks Extremism says it sent the mailers to 17,000 households along with an early vote application and prepaid return envelope.
I won't quote from the article but I'm naming these evil people
Bob Salera, the PAC’s founder
A Republican political consultant based in Alexandria, Va., Salera previously has worked on Pennsylvania state races, including former Delaware County Councilman Dave White’s gubernatorial campaign last year.
In an interview Thursday, Salera said he founded the PAC after “conversations with some concerned parents in the Central Bucks School District.” Asked whether those parents included Paul Martino, a venture capitalist and GOP donor who spent more than $500,000 on Pennsylvania school board races in 2021, Salera declined to give any names.
Martino — whose wife, Aarati Martino, is among the Republicans running for school board, and whose Bucks Families for Leadership PAC is directly supporting the Republican candidates — declined to comment Thursday on whether he was involved with the Stop Bucks Extremism PAC.
Democrats say they never sought to make Gender Queer or This Book Is Gay available to young children. “It’s a pack of lies,” Smith said. “I’ve never said anything like that.” Before their removal, Smith said she believed Gender Queer was available only at Central Bucks South High School, while This Book Is Gay was at Tamanend Middle School.
Asked to explain how Democrats wanted to make the books available to 5-year-olds, Salera said that Central Bucks’ online library catalog, Destiny Discover, “allowed access to these explicit books.... Prior to last year, the original Destiny Discover program allowed across-school access to kids as young as kindergarten.” He didn’t answer a follow-up question on whether “access” meant children could view the content online, as opposed to reserving a book from a library building.
The school district did not respond to a request for comment.
https://www.inquirer.com/education/ce...
The good news is, the mailer could very well have the opposite effect from what they intended!
They're not content to censor libraries and brick and mortar bookstores, now they're coming for school book fairs. (Remember, they started by claiming they didn't want to "ban" books and said books were available on Amazon and in stores, etc. for the parents to buy their kids!)Little Miami, Ohio
Heartstopper Series Volume 1-3 which niece #1 LOVED and everyone else does too according to Netflix.
"Some concerned parents want a special committee to screen books sold at book fairs after a book they call offensive and inappropriate was for sale at their book fair.
Silas Shelton, who is the father of a middle school student in the Little Miami School District.
David Wallace is also a concerned parent who does not think the book is appropriate for kid.
He wrote a letter to Little Miami School Board members asking them to cease all scheduled Scholastic Book Fairs in the district until an independent team can determine that the books made available to students are age-appropriate and in accordance with Little Miami values and policies.
“We’re talking, this is for 11 and 14-year-olds, and certainly, the language that is used in this book would not be allowed at school,” Wallace said.
Representatives of the school district sent FOX19 NOW a statement in response to Wallace’s letter.
As always, when we have a parent concern about a book, we have a system in place to review it.
That process is underway after the book in question was brought up at a board meeting.
The book is not on our school library shelves, required reading for our students, or part of our curriculum.
It was part of a middle school Scholastic Book Fair that took place from Aug. 14-24.
In light of the concern brought forward, we are reviewing our processes regarding book fairs and vendors.
Little Miami School District.
Greater Cincinnati Human Rights representatives are advocating that books like Heartstopper continue to be available for students to purchase at book fairs.
All students, no matter their background, sexual orientation, or gender identity deserve to feel safe and welcomed in schools, libraries, and bookshops alike.
Banning books because they contain LGBTQ+ content is a shameful attempt to silence LGBTQ+ stories.
The dangerous practice of banning books is not new and has always been used by those who want to stunt progress, sow fear and division, and hide important truths.
The Human Rights Campaign will always fight to ensure students have access to books that broaden their perspectives, help them learn and grow, and allow them to see themselves in literature and society
Greater Cincinnati Human Rights Campaign.
https://www.fox19.com/2023/09/02/grap...
A peek at Florida’s new training for school librarians on deciding which books to pullSchool leaders say librarians are ‘under attack’ as they navigate decisions on how to stock media centers.
On the heels of legislation that went into effect July 1, Florida's Department of Education released a 50-minute online training video required for media specialists to help them decide which books to pull and which to keep on the shelves. But the guidance is vague at some turns and subjective at others — leading to more confusion for media specialists trying to do their jobs.
In one example, the DOE tells media specialists to pull any book that they wouldn't be comfortable reading excerpts from at a public meeting, according to a review by The Palm Beach Post. In another slide, media specialists are urged to "err on the side of caution" and only choose instructional materials that are "non-inflammatory" and free from "bias, racist or sexist information." The training doesn't give any examples.
"There's a lot of ambiguity in the language," school board member Alexandria Ayala said at an Aug. 2 workshop on book challenges. "How are we wrapping our arms around the training of the folks who are responsible for this so they're not on the hook for misstepping?"
State law doesn't say media specialists are liable for challenges to library books.
...
Florida media specialists are required to take annual online training produced by the Florida Department of Education. In the past, the training was about 20 minutes long, but the 2023 version of the training lasts nearly an hour, according to The Post's review.
In the training, a narrator tells media specialists that "parental rights are very important in Florida" and, when reviewing books, to "avoid unsolicited theories that may lead to student indoctrination." The training does not provide examples of unsolicited theories or define indoctrination.
The narrator also tells media specialists to pull any book that is "harmful to minors," which Florida law defines as content that depicts (view spoiler)
"I'm really concerned about the training," school board member Marcia Andrews said at the August board meeting on library books. "We have to put everyone on notice that we're all under the microscope now. It's a train that's moving quickly."
Andrews said library book selection has "always been serious," but that she feels media specialists are "under attack now."
The training also encourages media specialists to consider whether books have been challenged in other school districts when choosing materials for their own libraries.
Starting this year, state law requires every school district in Florida to submit to the Department of Education a list of materials that were challenged, the contents of those objections and a list of materials that were removed from libraries.
https://www.palmbeachpost.com/story/n...
Mod
Maybe Bob Salera is mailing explicit images of himself. But seriously, it these "people" were in fact truly against explicit images they would not be resorting to this kind of behaviour. And like you, hope it backfires.
Manybooks wrote: "Maybe Bob Salera is mailing explicit images of himself. But seriously, it these "people" were in fact truly against explicit images they would not be resorting to this kind of behaviour. And like you, hope it backfiresHe's targeting Gender Queer: A Memoir and This Book Is Gay, both books meant for older teens in high school, not 5 year olds! The adults continually use books as a weapon in their political war. This HAS to stop. Don't use your kids, don't use their books. Use your voice, your vote to stand up for issues you believe in in a positive way. This sneaky tactic to me says they know they're wrong and they know they're in the minority.
My nieces, 13 and 14, know Gender Queer is for young adults. The older girl was allowed to read it and thought while it did have grownup stuff but it might be helpful for some people.
In spite of the holiday weekend, teachers are hard at work. Today's news is mostly commentary on the situation. As reported earlier, the Samuels Library in Virginia is indeed set to close on 1 October after far-right community members claimed LGBTQ+ books were p__graphic
Samuels Library in Front Royal’s Warren county is set to close on 1 October as public funding has been withheld by the Warren county board of supervisors since July, cutting off crucial financial support.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2...
Yes they'd rather shut down the entire library and have NO books than a few they disagree with!
And in Wyoming, Library board considers putting definitions of s-e-x acts into collection development policyPaywalled right now but this is not legal.
https://www.gillettenewsrecord.com/ne...
Teachers feeling threatened and stressed in HoustonAs she prepared for the start of a new school year in Houston ISD, a fifth-grade reading teacher stripped much of the colorful personality from her classroom, including motivational posters, student art projects, several bins of books and a social-emotional learning nook with comfy furniture.
She wiped away tears and, earlier this week, started teaching at a school under the New Education System, a wholesale reform model introduced by Superintendent Mike Miles, who was appointed in June by the Texas Education Agency to run the largest school system in Texas.
While parents and students may have noticed few of the changes, educators from a wide swath of schools in HISD say they feel micromanaged and stressed in their first week under new district leaders, who are reportedly enforcing strict guidelines and conducting frequent classroom observations that have sparked frustration, fear and low morale among teachers at both NES and non-NES schools.
“I feel like they are not allowing me to do what’s in the best interest of the children,” said the reading teacher. “Every day I go to work, I’m crying. Every day I leave from work, I’m crying.”
The superintendent, meanwhile, said he has been pleased with what he has seen while collecting a “baseline” at NES schools in the first week.
“I was very impressed with their progress, even in one day, but also their preparation for the beginning of the school year,” Miles said. “Teachers were teaching well, they were following the instructional model, and it was pretty good. It shows that the schools and the teachers have been preparing hard for the first day, second day of school.”
The district is laying the groundwork for a pay-for-performance evaluation system geared toward measuring the quality of a teacher’s instruction, although a Harris County judge has temporarily blocked HISD from implementing the system.
This year, all principals will be evaluated under a new system that requires them to give instructional feedback and spend significant time coaching teachers in classrooms. Principals will be graded in part based on the quality of instruction at their school. Meanwhile, teachers will also be measured with a new evaluation system this year, although those who do not work in the schools targeted for reform may ask for a waiver.
District leaders trained teachers in recent weeks on the evaluation system and new classroom expectations. For example, one slideshow presented during teacher training listed some “common practices that we want to generally avoid,” including stream of consciousness writing, rooms with dim lighting and worksheets that are not purposeful. The training materials also discouraged teachers from showing entire films, letting kids “earn” free time and allowing “poor readers” to read aloud during class.
The slideshow instructed teachers to post a “lesson objective” on the board before the start of each class, avoid wasting time on transitions between activities, teach “bell to bell,” teach grade-level content to “every student every day” and use a timer to guide pacing of the lesson. Teachers should use a “multiple response strategy,” an activity that engages and checks the understanding of all students, every four minutes, according to a sample spot observation form.
On the first day, teachers said they were expected to skip introductions and get-to-know-you games, instead jumping right away into instructional material.
...
Some of the rules seem to have been taken to an extreme. One teacher said she asked for an accommodation to use lamps instead of florescent lights in her classroom due to a serious medical condition. District officials denied her request and suggested another option: Wear sunglasses.
The teacher has already started getting headaches from the bright lights.
“I have all my lights on,” she said. “I’m trying to get through the day.”
District staff have been observing classrooms almost every day this week, she said. The teacher said she was nervous to sit down while taking attendance or interrupt a lesson to tell a funny story during class.
“We all feel afraid to step out of line,” she said.
...
The new expectations and frequent classroom observations from district administrators this week has created a sense of frustration and anxiety on campus, according to the teacher, who said he was ready to quit even though he feels “called” to the profession.
“There’s no grace, there’s no empathy, there’s no treating people as people,” he said. “We are not encouraged to move forward — we’re pushed off the cliff and told to fly. And if you don’t fly, you fail.”
Many of the teachers at his top-rated campus have decades of experience, he said.
https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news...
Pretty chilling stuff designed to make kids bored and stressed out.
North CarolinaNew Hanover County School Board votes to temporarily ban Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You from curriculum
he New Hanover County Board of Education held a special meeting on Friday, September 1, to discuss banning the book Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi.
The board voted Friday 4-3 to temporarily ban the book from the high school curriculum but retain it in high school libraries until the board can update its policy to allow a “balanced” book to be added to the AP course.
Josie Barnhart, Melissa Mason, Pat Bradford and Pete Wildeboer voted in favor of the decision. Stephanie Kraybill, Hugh McManus and Stephanie Walker voted against the decision.
“Very disappointed with the decision that was made. I was not in favor of any restriction any removal any way you want to say it. To me, it’s a ban, it’s a removal for students, so I was very unhappy,” said Walker.
The discussions around removing the book began after a parent, Katie Gates, filed a complaint about the book’s use in an AP course. After staff decided not to remove the book, Gates appealed the decision to the board of education.
“ I don’t consider it a win for me. I think I’m not doing this for Katie Gates. I’m doing this for the students. I’m doing this for the community. I’m doing it because I want our students to grow up having pride in the country that we live in and that we experience in America and to be grateful for it. And to know that we’re always moving towards a more perfect union,” said Gates.
During the meeting Gates argued that the book is educationally unsuitable and does not help prepare students for the AP exam. She said the book does not align with the school boards quality control checklist.
Gates also said the book is based off of bias and manipulation arguing that the book is not historically accurate.
“A balanced perspective is a great way for us to move forward. This country was founded on healthy discourse and debate. We can look back at primary sources from the beginning, I think we’ve lost that. And I think this is may be the big first step towards what does it look like, and how we can come to a solution. I want it out of the classrooms in New Hanover County and into the libraries that’s fine.”
The board previously discussed the book on July 11 and heard from several parents and educators against banning the book. However some board members felt there should be a hearing where both sides of the argument could provide input since a few parents raised concerns about the merits of the novel. The board voted 4-3 to hold a hearing. An extended call to the audience was also held for the book on Aug. 1.
https://www.wect.com/2023/09/01/new-h...
In South Carolina, another set of libraries renounces the ALA over the ALA's stance against book banning!The South Carolina Department of Education said it is ending a 50-year partnership with the S.C. Association of School Librarians (SCASL) over concerns about materials in school libraries.
On Aug. 25, state Superintendent Ellen Weaver sent a letter to the SCASL president saying the department is formally ending its relationship with the organization effective immediately.
Weaver’s letter cites concerns about rhetoric from the association that she deems political and “hyperbolic” surrounding concerns about banning books in school libraries.
Weaver said SCASL also addressed the issue of censorship in a recent letter to school board members, which reportedly quoted a New York school district employee saying, “districts and boards should probably place more consideration on the emotional wellbeing of students rather than on attempts to pacify parents.”
Weaver, the GOP nominee for state superintendent who ran on a platform that included keeping “political indoctrination” out of classrooms, says challenging library materials that are potentially age or developmentally inappropriate should not be considered censorship.
“Parents are entirely justified in seeking to ensure educational materials presented to their children are age-appropriate and aligned with the overall purpose of South Carolina’s instructional program and standards,” Weaver wrote. “When SCASL labels those efforts as bans, censorship, or a violation of educators’ intellectual freedom, the result is a more hostile environment which does not serve the needs of students.”
In a response sent on Thursday, the SCASL board requested a face-to-face meeting with Weaver to discuss the issue and improve communication with the department. Their letter says decades of town hall meetings, read-ins at the State House, assistance for school librarians and regional workshops are the result of their partnership.
“Together, we improve the education lives of students and their families through our shared commitment to excellence,” the board wrote.
https://www.foxcarolina.com/2023/09/0...
WisconsinAmid record demand to ban books nationwide, Wisconsin libraries see efforts to remove certain works
Libraries in northern and central Wisconsin face challenges to books covering LGBTQ+ issues
Earlier this month, a group of anonymous residents in the northern Wisconsin town of Iron River wrote a letter to the community about books they claim promote certain ideas about gender or include p___graphic content. The letter states a few community members approached the library board in July, seeking to hide the books from public view or remove them altogether.
The letter says the library carries 75 titles related to "transgenderism" and 475 LGBTQ+ titles. The library’s staff and board clarified the 475 titles are located among 30 libraries in northern Wisconsin.
My Shadow is Pink
The Hips on the Drag Queen Go Swish, Swish, Swish
and
Let's Talk About It: The Teen's Guide to Sex, Relationships, and Being a Human
At its Aug. 15 meeting, the library board voted 7-1 to keep the book. However, they decided to move it from the young adult to adult section. The publisher recommends the book for ages 14 and older.
In April, the Marathon County Public Library received a request to reconsider "Let’s Talk About It" from a community member. The resident didn’t seek the book’s removal but instead requested a rating system for books. In July, the Marathon County Library Board voted to retain the book and forgo a rating system.
Last week, the Wausau Daily Herald reported that Marathon County Corporation Counsel Michael Puerner said a rating system could set the stage for constitutional challenges that would place the library at risk of litigation.
Louise Robbins, a censorship expert and emeritus professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said book banning has been seen at alarming proportions nationwide.
Robbins said the requests are coming from people who are sharing lists on social media, adding many often haven’t read the books.
"They have to do with unpleasant history, things that people don't want to read about — such as the Holocaust or slavery or taking over the Native people’s lands — that make people 'uncomfortable,'" Robbins said. "Or they have to do with people of color or nonbinary people or immigrants. Or they have something about gender and sexual identity."
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Amid record demand to ban books nationwide, Wisconsin libraries see efforts to remove certain works
Libraries in northern and central Wisconsin face challenges to books covering LGBTQ+ issues
By Danielle Kaeding
Published: Friday, September 1, 2023, 6:45am
Updated: Friday, September 1, 2023, 10:55am
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Some Wisconsin libraries are receiving requests to remove or add ratings to books that some community members say are inappropriate or promote certain gender ideology.
The requests come as the nation has seen a broader book-banning movement that resulted in a record number of demands to censor library books last year, according to the American Library Association.
Earlier this month, a group of anonymous residents in the northern Wisconsin town of Iron River wrote a letter to the community about books they claim promote certain ideas about gender or include pornographic content. The letter states a few community members approached the library board in July, seeking to hide the books from public view or remove them altogether.
"Please know that many small communities, cities and even entire states have successfully restricted the ability of their public libraries to promote and allow distribution of materials on gender idealogy (sic) and any pornographic resources in their communities," the letter states. "Iron River can do the same."
The letter says the library carries 75 titles related to "transgenderism" and 475 LGBTQ+ titles. The library’s staff and board clarified the 475 titles are located among 30 libraries in northern Wisconsin. Some of the books targeted in the letter include "My Shadow is Pink," "The Hips on the Drag Queen Go Swish, Swish, Swish," and "Let’s Talk About It: The Teen’s Guide to Sex, Relationships, and Being a Human."
Jacqueline Pooler, director of the Iron River Public Library, said a resident submitted a request to remove the book "Let’s Talk About It" by Erika Moen and Matthew Nolan. The library has had the book on its shelves since 2021. At its Aug. 15 meeting, the library board voted 7-1 to keep the book. However, they decided to move it from the young adult to adult section. The publisher recommends the book for ages 14 and older.
Pooler said the book is a graphic novel that contains drawings that cover gender, sexuality and other topics for people of all sexual orientations.
"What that means is a lot of (drawings) and some of the (drawings) are very specific about how to do certain sexual acts," Pooler said.
Even so, she said the book also provides a broader overview of the complexity of relationships and sex education.
The Iron River Public Library is not the only one to receive a challenge to that particular book. In April, the Marathon County Public Library received a request to reconsider "Let’s Talk About It" from a community member. The resident didn’t seek the book’s removal but instead requested a rating system for books. In July, the Marathon County Library Board voted to retain the book and forgo a rating system.
Last week, the Wausau Daily Herald reported that Marathon County Corporation Counsel Michael Puerner said a rating system could set the stage for constitutional challenges that would place the library at risk of litigation.
Banned books are visible at the Central Library, a branch of the Brooklyn Public Library system.
Banned books are visible at the Central Library, a branch of the Brooklyn Public Library system, in New York City on Thursday, July 7, 2022. The books are banned in several public schools and libraries in the U.S., but young people can read digital versions from anywhere through the library. Ted Shaffrey/AP Photo
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Louise Robbins, a censorship expert and emeritus professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said book banning has been seen at alarming proportions nationwide. She highlighted data from the American Library Association that documented a record 1,269 demands to censor books and resources last year. That’s the highest number of attempted bans since the association began tracking data on censorship more than two decades ago.
Robbins said the requests are coming from people who are sharing lists on social media, adding many often haven’t read the books.
"They have to do with unpleasant history, things that people don't want to read about — such as the Holocaust or slavery or taking over the Native people’s lands — that make people 'uncomfortable,'" Robbins said. "Or they have to do with people of color or nonbinary people or immigrants. Or they have something about gender and sexual identity."
Robbins said the changing format of books has coincided with more intense challenges, as graphic novels become more popular. She noted people can become more easily offended by content that’s communicated through pictures as opposed to the written word. She added politics and extreme polarization also seem to play a role in the censorship requests.
In Wisconsin, a Republican-backed bill would target "obscene" materials in school libraries. A companion proposal would also bar school districts from using library aid to buy items considered obscene. The state obscenity law states that it includes various types of sexual conduct that are "patently offensive" under contemporary community standards. Waukesha Republican State Rep. Scott Allen, the bill’s author, has said the legislation isn’t an attempt to ban books or materials on LGBTQ+ issues.
In Iron River, the anonymous group of residents said in their letter that a meeting will be held on Wednesday, Sept. 6, at 7 p.m. at the community center where people can share views on actions to end "proliferation of these materials." They’re considering petitions to remove books and seek board resignations. They’re also examining whether to set up a parental advisory board, halt budget increases for the library, enact a "Town Decency Act," and inform donors of the library’s policies.
https://www.wpr.org/banned-books-nati...
Even in California the community backlash against certain books is intenseCoronado Library officials revised library policies recently after protests over LGBTQ+ children’s books, yet some residents are still calling for further limits on their availability.
The outcry began when the library put out a children’s book display in honor of Pride month and grew louder with the reading of a children’s book about a Pride parade at a library story hour.
The demands worry some in Coronado, including Carl Luna, a local political science professor who is also president of Friends of the Coronado Library.
“We’ve had a confusion in public dialogue in the United States over the last 10, 15 years, where people make the mistake of thinking that, ‘If you prohibit me from trying to limit other people’s rights, you’re limiting my rights,’” Luna told the San Diego Union-Tribune.
In Coronado, officials responded by revising some of the library’s practices. But they declined some protesters’ requests to move the books out of the children’s section entirely, leading some to say the city had not gone far enough.
The controversy began early in June but came to a head after a pre-school storytime event featuring “The Rainbow Parade,” The American Library Association 2023 Rainbow Book is cataloged by the Library of Congress as age-appropriate for 2- to 5-year-olds.
In the weeks that followed the storytime incident, city leaders received dozens of emails about the library’s selection, most from people objecting to it. Among them were two parents who asked that the book be moved to the adult section of the library.
“Children’s wellbeing and protecting their innocence is and should be the top priority,” said Monica Olivares, whose nanny took her 2-year-old to the storytime.
Some protesters apparently went as far as to check out the books from the LGBTQ+ storytime display as a demonstration.
Coronado officials confirmed that the library was informed of the protest via email but declined to provide a list of the books checked out, citing patron privacy policies. Any books checked out were not yet overdue.
In response, the city manager, Tina Friend, met with residents and worked with library director Shaun Briley to revise its policies to share more details on what books would be read at storytimes.
Now, scheduled topics for the preschool and toddler storytime programs are posted a month in advance on the library’s website, rather than three days ahead of time, and the books they have selected are displayed at the front desk at least 15 minutes before the event’s start for parents to review.
The updates were relayed at a jam-packed Coronado City Council meeting this summer, where more than two dozen residents debated whether the book should’ve been read.
Many protesters argued the book’s content — particularly illustrations that appeared to show leather outfits and a person’s bare backside — was inappropriate for children.
Some also took issue with the library’s Pride display, which they said neglected other June holidays like Juneteenth or Father’s Day.
“There is a better way to represent the LGBT community without simultaneously marginalizing others,” parent Jessica Tompane wrote in a widely-circulated letter dated June 23.
Last month, the Coronado Library Board of Trustees also received a full house at its meeting. That time, however, all but one of the dozens of attendees who spoke opposed any restriction of LGBTQ+ books, which they say teach kids that its OK to be “different.”
Many supporters argued that while parents can choose what books to let their children read or what programs to let them participate in, moving the books altogether would be antithetical to the library‘s purpose as a public resource.
“Requiring censorship or removal or restricting access to children’s books of any kind due to any one group’s belief system is as un-American as it gets,” said resident Laura Wilkinson Stinton. “Let’s trust parents to make the right decisions for their children.”
That is largely what Coronado library officials plan to do.
During the July council meeting, Friend confirmed that books deemed appropriate for children 12 and younger will remain in the library’s children’s section.
https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/...
Rolling Stone reports For Teachers, A New Year — And New Book Bans — Means More Work
As conservative-led states target school books and curriculum, teachers say they’re being put in an impossible situation
https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/...
Mod
As she prepared for the start of a new school year in Houston ISD, a fifth-grade reading teacher stripped much of the colorful personality from ..."
So do Texas bureaucrats think that lamps cause children to become deviants? And just wait, if that teacher did end up donning sunglasses she would likely be facing disciplinary action for wearing some kind of a disguise.
Lamps and low light must cause kids to be drowsy and nod off? I don't know. I've never seen a classroom that didn't have fluorescent overhead lights and kids falling asleep anyway. The Houston ISD plan sounds terrible and teachers unions need to step up and advocate for themselves and their students.
More chilling news today in spite of the holidayAnother American Librarian Fired For Refusing To Remove Gender Queer: A Memoir
Campbell County Public Library director Terri Lesley in Wyoming has been fired after 27 years after she refused to remove Gender Queer.
The Cowboy State Daily interviewed Sage Bear, Campbell County Public Library Board member who told them "It wasn't a decision I wanted to make. I didn't want to go in there and 'clean house.' We really tried to work with the director and it just came down to this. I'm sad that it did" but declined to say why the board let Terri Lesley go, stating that Wyoming is "an at-will state and she's an at-will employee."
Earlier in June, the board implemented a new curation policy to weed the children's section for "stuff that's sexually explicit," said Bear. But Lesley states that "There are no books in our collection that violate the policy. And I think the board sees that differently than I do. There's nothing in our collection that was obscene" and that it put her in danger of violating the First Amendment by weeding out books that may not be obscene by the legal definition. Gender Queer was one of the targeted books.
https://bleedingcool.com/comics/anoth...
Very shocking but not surprising. These people believe any sort of hateful rhetoric surrounding their beliefs.Clean Up Alabama quotes Hitler in July email
An Indiana chapter of Moms for Liberty came under fire nationally for using the same quote in a June newsletter.
https://www.alreporter.com/2023/09/04...
Also from the same hate group, Clean Up Alabama planning “surprise” during key Autauga, Prattville government meetingsAccording to APR’s source, leaders have not shared their plans for Sept. 5 even with their supporters, to preserve the “surprise element.”
t the city and council have drafted a contract for services with the library that would require the library to make changes to meet some of the group’s demands, and would also take away the library’s autonomy.
That contract for services is on the agenda for Tuesday evening, with the council considering whether to authorize Mayor Bill Gillespie to sign the contract for services with the library board. It is presumed that the commission will be doing the same, with the library board’s final meeting of the fiscal year to follow on Thursday.
While officials have been referring to the contract for services as a compromise between the library and Clean Up Alabama, representatives of the library and library board have said that the contract as they have seen it is unacceptable and that board members will not sign it; instead, it is very likely they may resign en masse.
Meanwhile, officials are still trying to find ways to resolve what they see as an issue, after they have been under constant pressure from the Clean Up group of citizens on this issue for months. Gillespie said there’s “no silver bullet,” but hopes there is at least a “silver lining.”
https://www.alreporter.com/2023/09/04...
re: the so-called compromise
Mayor Bill Gillespie, three members of the Prattville city council and Prattville citizens, Angie Hayden and Chuk Shirley, sat around a table looking at a contract for services for the Autauga-Prattville Public Library (APPL).
The library has never had such a contract before in the nearly 50 years since its current iteration was established by charter. But after months of public criticism by members of Clean Up Prattville, represented here by Chuk Shirley, it appears that council members and commissioners have been working behind the scenes to reach a “compromise.”
It’s a term that Angie Hayden, representing “Read Freely Prattville” in support of the library’s actions, said was thrown around often during the meeting.
APPL director Andrew Foster said the only “compromise” to be found in the drafted contract is the compromise of the library’s autonomy.
“With the way that the library and the library board is set up, it is meant to be an autonomous entity separate from the city and county; that way we are not going to be influenced by politics or otherwise, but for the library to be the best library we can make it,” Foster said. “This contract was forcing a lot of autonomy out of our hands … It’s a document written by non-librarians about how to run a library. It completely invalidated the years of education I have and others on my staff have to do our jobs and serve our community to the best of our ability.”
With the contract tied to funding, Foster said asking the library board to sign the contract amounts to an ultimatum.
“It absolutely feels like one,” Foster said. “It’s either a bluff to get the library to cave, or their statement of ‘Our way or the highway.’ I truly hope it’s not the second, with how many people in our community that would affect negatively. At this point, I’ve been asked and I’ve been pushed to compromise, in several ways, my professional principles. While I’m willing to be lenient, and while I’ve worked toward solutions such as the ‘new adult’ section and cooperation with the book ordering moratorium at the request of the city and county— I don’t plan to compromise myself for what is being demanded, which is to create gates against access to make it more difficult for our patrons to find what they want because a small subset feels it should be inaccessible.”
The library board and library staff were not invited to the meeting Friday night, but Gillespie said he did offer for Lambert to review the updated draft.
Hayden said the draft contained language that would set the minimum age of the young adult fiction section, with a blank where the age would be. Hayden said the group was informed that a further updated version of the draft, which was not before them, had replaced that blank with the age of 18, meaning the young adult section would be designated for adults 18 and up.
“Where would the teenagers be expected to go to find their materials in the library,” Hayden said she asked the officials. “There seemed to be some actual confusion about that once I started asking specific questions about how this would be carried out by the library. There was some proposal of splitting the section. Nobody had thought that through and there was no representative of the library to help guide that discussion.”
Hayden said she assumed coming in that the line would be set at 16-plus, referencing Gillespie’s comments at the last board meeting that he thought children of that age are trusted to drive cars and therefore ought to be trusted with a book. Hayden described her role as “fighting for her life” to urge the officials to bring the minimum age down to 16, despite feeling that making the young adult section 16-plus is not a tenable solution.
Poteat said if the contract requires the minimum age of the section to be 18-plus, “that’s no longer the young adult section.”
“That’s the same as the adult section; that defeats the purpose,” Poteat said. “We’ve been very careful to follow the guidelines of what a library should be. We’ve been diligently working the process for reconsideration of books; we’re not going to blanket take all of these books and dump them in this new section.”
Hayden’s description is a bit different than what Foster and Poteat received, who both said that the original draft broke the library into four sections: 0-12, 13-15, 16-18 and adult.
Foster explained that the age categories were accompanied by a litany of what is considered inappropriate for each category. The 0-12 category was obviously strictest, and restricted everything from cursing to nudity: “A very cookie-cutter list of what might be considered dirty.”
On 13-15, Foster said two or three of those inappropriate content flags were removed. And 16-18, he said, had no such tags
Foster pointed out one catch-all that had been added on the lists of objectionable content that he said there seemed to be a lot of emphasis on in the meeting: “A very vague statement about prevailing community standards.” The language is very similar to the “Miller test” for obscenity that references “contemporary community standards” in one of three prongs for judges to decide whether a work, taken as a whole, should be classified as obscenity and thus exempt from First Amendment protections.
“That begs the same question that has been asked in all of this situation: Who draws that line?” Foster said. “Is that drawn by the board? Drawn by the staff? Drawn by the Prattville City Council or the county commission? Clean Up or Read Freely? Who draws that line?”
"That such an initially undesirable contract managed to get worse is pretty astounding,” Foster said. “The fact they want to take a section that is written for and meant for the development of 12- to 18-year-olds and essentially bar them from that section— I truly don’t know how they’re justifying that if that’s what the contract is.”
In the long lists of what content would be considered objectionable, neither version of the draft referenced sexual orientation or “gender ideology.” These two themes are what kicked off the entire culture war over the library in Prattville.
Hayden credited officials for stopping short of that rallying cry from the individuals involved in Clean Up Prattville.
“(Gillespie said) someone had called him to complain about that, and (Gillespie) told them that he is not going to be singling out the LGBTQ community as that is a sure way to have a lawsuit,” Hayden said.
...
Another proposal apparently in the newer draft is the requirement for some content to have an age-verification process of some kind for checking out of certain materials.
Hayden said it was again unclear what plan there would be to implement such a policy, but said the gist is that books with certain content would require the patron to be 18 or older.
“I’m not really sure if the council has worked through how it would be implemented,” Hayden said. “I’m not sure if IDs would be checked or which books would gain that label. There’s a lot that has not been thought through adequately.”
Foster said his version of the draft did not include that language.
Not only does the contract for services tie the already proposed level funding of the library to the stipulations of the contract, Foster said his version included a clause that would allow the city and county to end funding at will and demand money back at a prorated rate. He said his understanding is that the clause remains in the current version of the contract.
Under the at-will funding stipulation, Foster said library staff would have to second-guess every program, every interaction with a patron for fear the library would be shut down.
While the council and commission appear to have set out to draft a contract to bring a compromise in the months-long debate over how age-appropriate content is decided, Foster, Poteat and Lambert all agreed the most likely result of the contract as they’ve seen and heard it is the defunding of the library.
“I truly don’t think—if the contract retains quite a few things that were in that original contract— I do not think the library board can in good conscience sign it,” Foster said. “It’s kind of an insult to the library board in a way that this document even is needed, and to me as well. (The library board is) an entity established solely for the purpose and responsibility, with the director’s assistance, of overseeing the library. This contract is the city and county saying that they can’t be trusted to do so, so this needs political oversight.
“I think if it’s forced on the board, there is a very good chance we may no longer have a board by the end of the month,” Foster said. “If the city and county want to run the library, they can run it.”
If the city council authorizes Gillespie to sign the contract on Tuesday, it will likely be before the board at its Thursday, Sept. 7 meeting. That is the only scheduled meeting before the fiscal year ends on Sept. 31. If the council does not authorize the contract on Tuesday, it will take at least two weeks before the next opportunity to do so, after the library board has already met.
If the library board refuses to sign the contract Thursday and no other actions are taken by either side, the money will run out at the end of the month.
“I’m fairly sure the doors will close on Oct. 1,” Foster said. “The library accounts may go a little bit over. At the end of the year of budgeting, we try to put forward enough to cover a few weeks of salary. But that may or may not be the case. The lights would have to be on, bills and other services—plumbing janitorial—would still have to be paid if we were open.”
Foster noted ironically that if the library does indeed shut down, it will close at the beginning of Banned Book Week, which highlights the long history of book challenges and censorship.
If the city and county thought this contract of services would show a good faith effort to the members of Clean Up Prattville that they were trying to address sexual content in the library, it doesn’t appear to have been taken that way. the group continues to blast officials by claiming that they are sexualizing children.
...
https://www.alreporter.com/2023/09/03...
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Clean Up Alabama quotes Hitler in July email
An Indiana chapter of Moms for Liberty c..."
You know, in Germany these Moms for Liberty people and their goose stepping clones would be facing charges for publicly quoting Hitler and it is high time for the USA to federally adopt this even if individual states and governors might chafe.
If they were charged with a crime for quoting Hitler, they'd use that as further proof the government (i.e. liberal left) is infringing on their personal liberties and that's what they're talking about. "Their First Amendment right are being threatened!" (Even though they're the ones threatening others' first amendment rights.) They simply won't/can't see reason. They're too caught up in their own web of lies spread by the internet and certain wannabe dictators.
97 out of 20,500 library users challenged books at the Samuels Library in Front Royal, Virginia. Now the library faces closure over the demands of a vocal minority. Literary Activism has the stats and what we can do to help.https://literaryactivism.substack.com...
https://www.savesamuels.org/
In a community near me, some book banners are running for school board. Attleboro, Mass.
Tara Finn, James Poore and Michael Wagner — want books with sensitive content separated from others in school libraries. Parents would have to give schools permission to let their children view the books.
The three Attleboro candidates do not consider this policy proposal a book ban. As Finn said, she is only asking the schools “to keep inappropriate material out of the hands of” young children.
We have no problem with parents keeping what they believe is “inappropriate material” away from their children. They absolutely have the right to “opt-out,” to choose to restrict content to their children.
https://www.thesunchronicle.com/opini...
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Attleboro, Mass.
Tara Finn, James Poore and Michael Wagner — want books with sensitive content separated from others in sc..."
American children obviously need to find ways to openly rebel against their politicians, their parents, their school boards, their librarians etc. with regard to books.
New Iowa laws hurt public schoolsNote: This is what they want! They want to defund public schools, take the money to funnel into their right-wing Christian extremist schools and home school programs and use that as an excuse to keep down marginalized populations and continue discrimination.
_______________________________
Iowa schools are reckoning with a sweeping new education law that bans most sexually explicit school books and instruction on gender and sexuality.
But not every school in Iowa is required to comply with the entirety of Senate File 496, the 17-page education law that took effect over the summer. Some sections of the law apply only to public schools, while others also cover accredited private schools.
Public schools, for instance, can't teach about gender identity and sexual orientation in kindergarten through sixth grade. Private schools are exempt.
Public schools also must post online a complete list of all the books in their libraries and publish a process for parents to challenge a book. Private schools are exempt. (Public schools that don't already have an electronic catalog can request a waiver until the 2025-2026 school year.)
Senate File 496 took effect as Iowa launched its "education savings account" program, which allows families to apply for state funds to pay private school tuition.
The law redefines "age-appropriate" to specify that schools may not provide materials that include a description or visual depiction of a sex act. The law makes exceptions for religious texts, such as the Bible, and for human growth and development classes.
All public and nonpublic schools must remove books with sex acts from their classrooms and libraries.
Things get a little trickier when it comes to charter schools, which may be established as part of a public school district or under the state board of education.
Lawmakers added the "age-appropriate" definition was to Iowa Code chapter 256.11, which sets educational standards for schools. Iowa charter schools established after June 2021 must comply with 256.11, and therefore must remove books with sex acts.
However, Iowa has two charter schools established before June 2021: a high school in the Storm Lake Community School District and a high school in the West Central Community School District. They are not required to follow 256.11. New charter schools may also request a waiver from the state board of education to be exempt from the code section.
If a school book is challenged, public schools and charter schools may not include students on the committee to review that book. The law does not set limits on who may review a challenged book within a private school.
The new law forbids public and charter schools in Iowa from providing instruction relating to gender identity or sexual orientation in kindergarten through sixth grade.
Private schools may still discuss LGBTQ identities in elementary school — if they wish.
Public school districts must publish their procedure for allowing parents to request the removal of educational materials, including books. The district must also post its procedure for parents to request that certain material be withheld from their children.
If a parent asks for the removal of certain material, their name will be kept confidential, even in public records requests.
Private schools are exempt.
https://www.desmoinesregister.com/sto...
Bad news in Alabama. The governor is weighing in on the side of the book banners in the name of protecting the children. Again, people, trust the librarians! It's literally their job to know how to choose books for their community! Also, the library is not a child care center so don't let your brats run around loose willy nilly tearing books of the shelf. I'm betting Nancy Pack gets fired for doing her job.
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In a Sept. 1 letter to Nancy Pack, director of the Alabama Public Library Service, Gov. Kay Ivey said she had grown increasingly concerned about “the environment our Alabama libraries are providing to families and children.”
“I am deeply grateful for the work Alabama libraries do, day in and day out, to engage our children and promote a lifelong love of learning – including by providing information that may be unavailable elsewhere in a community,” Ivey wrote. “At the same time, however, I respect parents who want their young children and teens to be able to freely explore a library without fear of what those children will find there.”
Ivey, in her letter, claimed the following books displayed in local libraries were inappropriate for their labeled age range and should be moved to a different section:
Foley Public Library: Who Are You?: The Kid's Guide to Gender Identity (picture book for young kids)
Prattville Public Library: “The Pronoun Book” and If You’re a Kid Like Gavin: The True Story of a Young Trans Activist (both picture books)
Ozark Dale County Library: “The Mirror Season and “Only Mostly Devastated (both YA)
LGBTQ-affirming board books and children’s books in Foley and Prattville libraries, she said, were not appropriate for toddlers and children under eight. She also claimed some young adult novels in the Ozark Dale County Library featured “graphic sex scenes.”
Ivey then issued a detailed list of questions about parental supervision, screening processes and library governance to determine whether “reform” was needed. She asked Nancy Pack, director of the Alabama Public Library Service to provide an answer before the APLS board meets next Wednesday, Sept. 13.
Pack issued a statement Tuesday afternoon thanking the governor for her “thoughtful and considerate concern.”
She said the state’s public libraries will “always value parental involvement,” and that many libraries already require parental supervision when a child checks out items.
“Public libraries should be spaces where parents can feel confident that their children can explore and learn,” she wrote. “Despite the challenges posed by limited funding, most public libraries in our state do an excellent job of meeting the information needs of their communities.”
“Rather than supporting Alabama families, out-of-state library groups like the American Library Association appear to be making the situation worse,” Ivey wrote, accusing the group of violating a law that permits parents to access their children’s library records.
At the most recent APLS board meeting in August, two speakers, who the Alabama Political Reporter identified as Hannah Rees and Will Sanchez of Clean Up Prattville, accused the ALA of “smuggling progressive politics” into local library programming, training and procedures.
At the urging of John Wahl, an APLS board member who also chairs the state’s GOP chapter, the board voted to ask the attorney general for his opinion on regulating local libraries – and potentially splitting from the national association. The Alabama GOP proposed a resolution calling for the service to disaffiliate with the ALA at its summer meeting.
The ALA said while libraries are expected to respect their users’ right to privacy, the national association “does not tell libraries to disobey the law.”
“Certainly we respect the Alabama law that provides parents with the ability to look at their child’s library records,” she said. “But on the other hand, law enforcement should not be able to go in and demand a child’s library records or a teenager’s library records, and that’s what that speaks to.”
The majority of challenges, about 90%, aren’t coming from individual parents; rather, they’re mostly coming from advocacy groups “with long lists of books that they disapprove of for moral or political reasons.”
https://www.al.com/educationlab/2023/...
https://www.scribd.com/document/66934...
Surprisingly good news from Missouri. It won't stop the challenges but social emotional learning will lead to the books the censors like to hate being used in schools.________________________
Missouri school board set to adopt social-emotional learning standards
“I can see people are going to say (we’re) telling our students how they should think about things, and this is not what this is at all,” said Charlie Shields, president of the Missouri Board of Education, at an August board meeting. “It’s creating a set of norms of what civility looks like.”
Public comments on the proposed standards are open through Sept. 15 and will be shared at the state board’s meeting next month. If the board approves the standards, implementation will follow in the 2024-2025 school year.
The social-emotional learning standards are defined through three categories: “me,” including personal healthy behaviors and self-esteem; “we,” teamwork, collaboration and cooperation; and “others,” empathy, compassion and fairness.
State board members said the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education must be careful with the rollout of the new standards, so they don’t become “weaponized.”
“We’re not advocating that everyone has to change their values to all meet the same values, we’re advocating for basic human dignity,” said Kimberly Bailey, board member from Raymore and a marriage and family therapist, at the meeting. “We’ve got to capture that in our definitions, or this will die on the vine.”
The debate over social-emotional learning is already heated in St. Charles County, where a group of conservative parents launched “Operation Opt-Out” to exclude their children from curriculum and programs that are “not directly related to academic instruction and that are designed to affect my child’s behavioral, emotional, or attitudinal characteristics.”
School administrators in Wentzville said they have received an uptick in opt-out forms, but they are not considered valid requests for student accommodations. The district is working on its own comprehensive opt-out process for parents, according to a spokeswoman.
The St. Charles County Parents Association “received an overwhelming response from parents in other Missouri counties requesting opt-out forms specific to their children’s school district,” according to Kristen Haftarczyk, president of the group.
The opt-out forms cite programming from the Utah consulting company Leader in Me, which the Wentzville school board approved earlier this year for use throughout the district.
The parents’ group considers Leader in Me to be a form of psychological testing with discussions “that are invasive and personal about mental health/feelings,” Haftarczyk said. Other concerns involve the company’s proprietary materials that parents can’t view but are woven through nearly every subject, including math and science.
“When the district implements a district-wide initiative involving a non-mandated, non-academic, controversial and experimental program that goes against many families’ beliefs causing them to create their own opt-out, it then causes children to be excluded from mandated academic instruction,” she said.
https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/e...
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https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/britis...
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After reading this story, I do have to admit that I am not all that keen on reading books on Nigeria for the Miscellaneous Club this month.
It's official and not bad news! Prattville City Council (Alababa) votes against library contract due to book controversyThe Prattville City Council voted not to authorize Mayor Bill Gillespie’s ability to sign a contract of services with the Autauga-Prattville Library during Tuesday night’s city council meeting.
The library will continue to receive funding without the condition of addressing the contested material.
In March, the books in the children’s section were reviewed for reconsideration under the library board of trustees’ “Reconsideration of Materials Request.”
The board said in a statement released in May that its decision supports the American Library Association’s Bill of Rights, which states, “Materials should not be proscribed or removed because of partisan or doctrinal disapproval. Libraries should challenge censorship in the fulfillment of their responsibility to provide information and enlightenment.”
Gillespie said during the council meeting that the board will meet on Sept. 7 and he expects there will be a decision on how they plan to address the ongoing controversy.
https://www.wsfa.com/2023/09/06/pratt...
South Carolina- Berkeley Co. Schools denies existence of banned book listBERKELEY COUNTY, S.C. (WCSC) - Groups of people across the United States are pushing to ban books from library shelves and classrooms and some people in Berkeley County School District are worried some books might be next.
Leslie Bracken of Berkeley County started a petition in favor of Berkeley County School District releasing a list of books up for question. The petition has over 600 signatures, so far.
“They don’t want their kids to be stifled and set into strict parameters of what can be read,” Bracken said. “They want their kids to be able to read whatever they want to read.”
Paul Bowers, the communications director for the American Civil Liberties Union of South Carolina, filed a Freedom of Information Act request to the district asking for the forms of all instructional materials up for question in schools.
He says the union is already seeing a pattern in other districts.
“We’re going to see similar books being challenged,” Bowers said. “Especially if they’re by LGBTQ authors or if they deal with issues of systemic racism. We want to see if that’s the case again here.”
Minutes after the interview, Bowers received part of his FOIA request back with a list of 93 books that are listed for “objections center on graphic sexual content and profanity.”
When asking the district about this list, district spokesperson Katie Tanner sent this response:
I am unsure who shared information alleging the existence of a list of banned books, but that list does not exist. BCSD policy KNBA outlines the process for a parent/legal guardian (hereafter referred to as parent) to request the reconsideration of instructional materials. This policy is not new and is not unique to Berkeley County. Per the policy, parents/guardians are not required to make a formal request, and instead retain the right to ask that particular instructional materials not be made available to his/her child.
The misinformation concerning ‘a list of banned books’ seems to be centered primarily on requests from speakers during citizen comment at Board meetings requesting a list of books that parent(s)/legal guardian(s) have recently requested to be reviewed in accordance with the policy. No reviews have been conducted yet, and no books have been removed as a result of this process at this time."
Both Bracken and Bowers were asked if they feel like Berkeley County School District is being transparent.
“Not as far as this is concerned, no,” Bracken said.
Bowers says he has not seen any obstruction on their part, so far.
“I think they’re doing their best,” Bowers said. “...We’re hoping to get a fuller picture and to participate in the process as we get these books restored to classrooms if they’re ever taken out.”
Bowers recommends for those who are passionate about protecting the right to read to join Freedom to Read South Carolina for ways to fight for change.
https://www.live5news.com/2023/09/06/...
However, in Beaufort, SC school chief Ellen Weaver ends ties with librarians’ group over ‘book ban’ stanceSouth Carolina’s superintendent of education has ended the state’s relationship with the group representing its school librarians, citing concerns the group had created a “hostile environment” using “politicized rhetoric” to oppose efforts to remove books from school shelves. Superintendent Ellen Weaver wrote to the S.C. Association of School Librarians on Aug. 25 to inform the professional organization that “the South Carolina Department of Education will formally discontinue any partnerships with SCASL as an organization, effective immediately. “ The association had previously worked with the department to speak on behalf of the state’s school librarians, and collaborated on a number of initiatives, including developing standards and resources for libraries and hosting workshops and town hall-style meetings for the association’s members. The association detailed the 50-year partnership in a reply sent to Weaver on Aug. 31. Weaver said the organization had shown a “lack of discernment” on the issue by hosting an advocacy toolkit on its website from the American Library Association, testifying about library “censorship” before the teacher recruitment and retention task force, and sending letters to school board members across the state.
That letter “extensively quoted politicized rhetoric from a New York school district employee who states that, ‘districts and boards should probably place more consideration on the emotional well-being of students rather than on attempts to pacify parents,’” Weaver wrote to the association. The letter “actively erodes the trust and partnership we must build between parents and educators,” Weaver wrote. “In South Carolina, student well-being and parental satisfaction are not opposing interests.” While Weaver said the state “deeply values” the work of those working in school libraries, the education department in the future will reach out directly to more than 1,000 school librarians about professional development and other efforts. “Parents are entirely justified in seeking to ensure educational materials presented to their children are age-appropriate and aligned with the overall purpose of South Carolina’s instructional program and standards,” she said. “When SCASL labels those efforts as bans, censorship, or a violation of educators’ intellectual freedom, the result is a more hostile environment which does not serve the needs of students.”
Read more at: https://www.thestate.com/news/local/e...
The school district that fired the teacher for reading My Shadow is Purple, is censoring books again.Cobb school district removes books, citing lack of interest
The Scarlet Letter
Lassiter High School removed “The Scarlet Letter,” an American classic involving adultery, among hundreds culled during a renovation last school year though it says copies remain available.
It was removed last school year after the district adopted new policies that implement state laws that streamline the process for removing school library books, constrain classroom conversations about race and emphasize parental rights. The rules indicate “parents have the right to direct the upbringing and the moral or religious training of their children.”
Cobb pointed to a lack of student interest in this particular work.
https://www.ajc.com/education/cobb-sc...
Mmm hmm.
Clovis City Council votes to do nothing with letter about graphic books in librariesA Pride display leads to controversy in Clovis as community members voice concerns about children's access to LGBTQ+ books in county libraries while supporters say they're being silenced.
The controversy was fueled by a letter which was addressed by Clovis' City Manager to the Fresno County Board of Supervisors about community concerns.
It was a three-hour-long meeting, with dozens of people speaking out on both sides of the issue.
By the end, the Clovis city council voted not to do anything with the letter - but individual council members could still send their own letters about the books.
Clovis City Council members unanimously voted to do nothing with this proposed letter to the Fresno County Board of Supervisors.
It addresses concerns from Clovis residents about graphic sexual content in books that were displayed in the pride section during the month of June at the Clovis branch of the Fresno County Library.
"The issue itself is not about banning books again. We were looking at anything that is of graphic, sexual content, illustrations of things like that," said Clovis Councilmember Diane Pearce.
"I think making a stand, to protect children -- and again, I don't care whether they are gay or straight children, I care that its age-appropriate," Eric Rollins, in favor of the letter.
Clovis Mayor Lynne Ashbeck says while they were able to hear people's stories - she believes this item caused more uproar in the community.
"I think we have caused incredible harm on all sides of the issue," said Clovis Mayor Lynne Ashbeck.
Many people who spoke tonight also discussed another way people can voice their opinions about books in the library through the county library complaint database.
https://abc30.com/clovis-city-council...
This comes after Councilmember Diane Pearce posted this Facebook post saying quote, "might want to wait until June is over to take your kids to the Clovis public library."
Many Clovis and Fresno residents with "ban hate not books signs and 'freedom' signs voiced their concern with the letter - saying it will cause harm to the LGBTQIA+ community and it should be up to parents to make that decision as to what their child should read.
https://abc30.com/clovis-city-council...
Good news in NJ for a change.Hoboken Council Approves 'Book Sanctuary City' After Comments
The Hoboken council approved a resolution in support of the public library and against banning books, after considerable comment.
The resolution was approved by the Library Board of Trustees last month, and sponsored at the council level by Council President Emily Jabbour and Councilman Phil Cohen.
At the meeting, Hoboken Library Director Jennie Pu said the resolution was meant to show solidarity with libraries across the country, amid an increase in book banning.
Several members of the public spoke about the resolution.
3rd Ward Council candidate Ed Reep said he supported the resolution but thought there should be several amendments. He noted that the resolution was said to be about all books, but that there were "common sense standards" that had to apply. He noted that Amazon had removed a book, after the Oklahoma City bombing, that they believed promoted violence. He also said there should be a clarification about whether the resolution was meant to be about public libraries or school libraries.
Councilman Joe Quintero said that society has "operated under this idea that typically it's a white cisgender, straight, that's the norm. We're a much more complicated species than that. ...We're coming to realize that that's ok. We need to stand up and say to everyone out loud that that's ok because those who are different feel the courage to stand up." He said that the reality "scares the heck out of a lot of people."
https://patch.com/new-jersey/hoboken/...
Not so good news today. Unsurprisingly Florida Gov. shows a LACK of ethics appointing a M4L to police people's behavior
"Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis appoints Moms for Liberty co-founder to state Commission on Ethics
Tina Descovich was named to the nine-member, Tallahassee-based commission, which investigates alleged breaches of public trust by elected and appointed officials, as well as state employees.
Along with Descovich, DeSantis also appointed South Florida attorney Luis Fuste to the commission. Both will need to be approved by the Florida Senate.
https://news.yahoo.com/florida-gov-ro...
LAFAYETTE, La. (KLFY) — Although the Lafayette Parish Council meeting did not have Robert Judge’s position on the agenda, it did not stop community members from expressing their concerns.Lynette Mejía, of Louisiana Citizens Against Censorship, was one of the many speakers how spoke out against Judge at the meeting.
“You may think that by stepping down, Mr. Judge has solved his problem for you, but we all know here that his tenure as president was slated to end in October anyway. As a sitting board member, Mr. Judge has more than enough power to continue to do the kind of damage he has attempted for the past two in a half years,” said Mejía.
Mejía says over five hundred community members signed a petition calling for the removal of Judge.
“People who used this library system, people who are sick and tired of their library being systematically destroyed by a man who clearly has no love for either libraries or Lafayette.”
Mejia was among the 16 speakers who signed up to address the parish council. Many addressed how, under the direction of Judge, the building of the Northeast side library was stopped and caused chaos.
Although many of the speakers were against Judge, there were two people who defended him. Kerry Jamal Williams, candidate for District 5, was one of them.
“The library man has done nothing. I have been to every library meeting, and he has done nothing wrong. Nothing wrong,” said Williams.
The concerns the council discussed with Judge about the building of a new library on the northeast side and moving forward with purchasing land is scheduled for a meeting next Monday with the library board of control.
https://www.klfy.com/local/lafayette-...
Scary stuff going on in Alabama. Funny how free speech and harassment only works one way."Tense Ozark library meeting spills into parking lot between undercover cop, LGBTQ speaker
The cop said he witnessed harassment by the woman; she says he didn’t immediately identify himself, stoking fear."
https://www.alreporter.com/2023/09/05...
Follow-up in Prattville. Sounds like more people support the library than the Fascists.
"Dozens of people gathered Tuesday at the Autauga-Prattville Public Library to demand the local library maintain its independence amid an attack on the organization’s collection of books.
The approximately 100 people in attendance later stopped at meetings of the Autauga County Commission and the Prattville City Council, urging officials to vote down a service contract that could have stripped the library of its autonomy and potentially its funding.
Prattville City Council members voted against the contract in a 4-3 vote Monday evening.
Members also spoke at the county commission meeting to ensure that commissioners are aware of where they stood on the issue. Funding for the library is tied to the city and county budgets, which commissioners will vote on in October. There was no vote taken at Monday’s commission meeting.
Had the service contract been approved, it would have increased the age designation of the young adult section to people 18 years old or older, essentially discouraging teenagers from having access to the materials in that section.
It would have also codified terms that were defined as sexually explicit material, prohibiting anyone younger than 18 years old from checking out the materials. Classic books from “The Kite Runner” to “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” could have fallen under that definition and prevented children in high school from accessing the materials, according to Hayden.
Council members would also have had the right to pull library funding at any time, for whatever reason, which had never been considered before. In the past, the funding had simply gone through, according to Hayden.
https://www.al.com/news/2023/09/dozen...
Very, VERY scary people in Alabama in spite of the above good news.______________
Inside Clean Up Alabama’s plan to jail librarians for giving LGBTQ+ books to kids
If Clean Up Alabama were to meet its goals, librarians would face up to a year in jail for having LGBTQ books on the shelf for minors
Yesterday's meeting discussed:
But the meeting also included three state legislative goals, which go much further than simply severing any ties with the ALA or asking librarians to move books to an adult section.
Here’s what the Clean Up Prattville plans to do:
1. “Amend the Anti-Obscenity Law that exempts public libraries from criminal punishment when it comes to the distribution of material harmful to minors.”
2. “Possibly add the libraries onto current law passed pertaining to woke ideologies in schools; and increase from 5th grade to 12th grade like Florida was able to do”
In a last-minute amendment by Sen Shay Shelnutt, R-Trussville, the bill suddenly became much more, barring instructors from leading “classroom discussion or classroom instruction regarding sexual orientation or gender identity in a manner that is not age appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students in accordance with state standards.”
In the last session, Rep. Mack Butler, R-Gadsden, filed a bill to expand that to the eighth grade.
While Clean-Up Alabama suggests extending that to public libraries, it is not clear what that language would be and whether it would apply to the content of books or instructional programs held at the library.
3. “Considering HB401 that never made it out of committee and assure the language in it matches the harmful materials we have found in the libraries and that it includes public libraries.”
HB401 drew a lot of attention last session as it would have prohibited drag performances in public spaces where minors may be present—and some argued the language was so vague it could have applied to any transgender person in a public space.
The bill led to a massive pushback from the LGBTQ community with a march of hundreds on the state capitol.
Stadthagen has vowed to bring the bill back in the next session, and in the same conversation, praised Clean Up Prattville’s fight against LGBTQ books in the library.
Without an understanding of how that law was written, one might be confused exactly what Clean Up Alabama’s plan is to co-opt libraries into the law.
The way HB401 was written, it added drag performances into the definition of “sexual conduct,” which itself is a term included in the definition of “harmful to minors.”
When Clean up Alabama says they want to ensure the language “matches the harmful materials we have found in the libraries,” it seems apparent that they mean adding LGBTQ+ content to the definition of “sexual conduct,” thereby changing the meaning of the definition of “harmful to minors” to include LGBTQ+ content.
If Clean Up Alabama were to succeed in these goals, the combination could result in librarians facing up to a year in jail and a fine of up to $10,000 just for having a book like “The Pronoun Book” on the shelf.
At least four state representatives have been supportive of Clean Up Alabama publicly in some manner: Rep. Susan Dubose, R-Hoover, has begun beating the drum for the group’s goal to keep the ALA from influencing Alabama libraries in any way. Fellow first-term state representatives Rick Rehm, R-Dothan, and Bill Lamb, R-Tuscaloosa, joined Dubose in support of the group as it listed its grievances at last month’s meeting of the APLS.
Stadthagen, as aforementioned, has given his stamp of approval to the efforts of the group.
Ernie Yarbrough, R-Trinity, worked in the last session with DJ Parten, a member of Clean Up Alabama, who wrote the failed legislation that would have allowed abortive women to be charged with homicide.
Gov. Kay Ivey
https://www.alreporter.com/2023/09/07...
Children's Books
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Klamath County Library has a new program intended to replace the canceled Social Justice Book Club.
Library Director Nathalie Johnston said the new program, named Real Reads, will offer similar topics of discussion as did the former book club.
However, In an effort to compromise with county commissioners, Real Reads will be moderated by the group themselves rather than a library staff member. Commissioners have expressed concern about taxpayer-funded staff being involved in political discussions in the role of moderators.
Johnston said Real Reads is set to begin Thursday, Sept. 7, and will be held every first Thursday of the month except for in December.
“For most fiction book clubs, we offer a list of titles (Best-sellers, Star reviewed titles, etc.). Participants vote on the titles they want to read or offer other choices,” Johnston said.
Titles read by the members of the Real Reads book club will be selected by library staff instead of being selected from a list by participants, the director said.
“Selection criteria for this group include nonfiction, positive professional reviews, compelling and timely topic, meets goals of the group, written in a way that will stimulate conversation [and] discussion, in print and easily obtainable,” Johnston said. “Participants are always welcome to make suggestions and we will adapt the titles choices to their suggestions.”
Library drafting new policy
Klamath County Library is in the process of drafting a novel library programming policy with the help of Oregon Library Association’s Intellectual Freedom Committee (IFC).
Previously, the library did not have a programming policy in place, making the issue of the library’s recently cancelled social justice book club difficult to navigate.
Emily O’Neal, who serves as chair of the IFC, met with Commissioner Kelley Minty and Johnston earlier this week.
“To re-cap, prior to our meeting yesterday, the solution was an informal directive and undocumented plan to move forward with programs, such as the previously named “Social Justice Book Club” but with a new title and with volunteers facilitating those conversations,” O’Neal said.
The new plan, she said, is to compose an official program policy with guidance from the IFC.
The board of commissioners received one complaint and one inquiry about the Social Justice Book Club’s title to be discussed that month: “No More Police: A Case for Abolition
Johnston said she received a voicemail from one of the county commissioners, instructing her to shut down the book club.
Johnston was not comfortable specifying which commissioner, though Commissioners Dave Henslee and Kelley Minty both said they were not aware that the director had been instructed to cancel the program.
The public records request included two emails which question the book club’s discussion topic.
The first was sent to Henslee at 3:18 p.m., April 19, by Klamath Falls Chief of Police Rob Dentinger. The message said, “I am not sure how I feel about this. Your thoughts?”
The second email was from the board’s Administrative Manager Sandra Cox, who relayed a message from a county resident to Henslee at 3:45 p.m., also on April 19.
“Gabe Mainwaring called and would like to speak to you regarding [the social justice book club] event at the Library … He would like an explanation for why this is being allowed.”
Less than one hour after submitting his complaint to the commissioner, Mainwaring wrote a public Facebook post, which said:
“Thank you to everyone whom called in. Our commissioners listened!! This group is no longer tax funded. This is amazing!!!!!! Please post everywhere. Call the county commissioners, let’s end this before these idiots get their teeth sunk into our community.”
Mainwaring’s message was discovered by another resident who read the remarks as part of public comment during an emergency Library Advisory Board meeting held May 9. The meeting was held to discuss the issue of the cancelled library program and potential effects of this decision.
One week prior, commissioners met with the library director, the Assistant Library Director Charla Oppenlander and county legal counsel on May 3.
“Our vision is to enable people to come together, to discuss a book, for example,” Johnston said at the meeting. “That book may be political, but they are just going to discuss a book together.”
Henslee replied, “It doesn’t feel right to me. You can limit a debate, but yet you can have a book club that talks about very political, very touchy subjects, when it’s funded by taxpayers. … You can’t have it both ways.”
Current library policies do not allow outside organizations or groups to reserve and utilize space at the library branches. There is also a limit in place on political debates.
For the time being, the library requires all programming, controversial, political or otherwise, be organized, hosted and overseen by the county library as a means to protect the county from potential legal recourse should an unaffiliated program come under scrutiny.
But during the May 3 meeting, commissioners Henslee and Derrick DeGroot said it is not the place of a taxpayer-funded county employee to have anything to do with politically controversial programs to ensure Klamath County is not perceived to be sponsoring a political agenda.
“We take money from taxpayers that have all different types of backgrounds and religions and cultures, and then we try to create an environment that is politically neutral,” Henslee said. “My phone was ringing off the hook about this because people are upset because they don’t support this, and their taxpayer dollars are supporting this.”
Current and former members of the Klamath County Library Advisory Board have expressed grave concern over the commissioners’ decision, as no KCLAB input was sought prior to cancelling the book club.
As of July, however, the 11-person board was reduced to five members, as six of those serving had reached their two-term limits.
Despite the term limits, a lack of interested applicants in recent decades resulted in many members serving additional terms, some for as long as 25 years.
Minty said the county is in the process of drafting a resolution that will help propagate additional public interest in serving on this and other county advisory boards and committees.
https://www.heraldandnews.com/news/bo...