Children's Books discussion
Banned Books: discussions, lists
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Discussion of censorship, equity, and other concerns.
From SlateBanning books about LGBTQ+ issues doesn’t stop kids from learning about them—because that’s not where they’re learning about them in the first place.
BY LAURA MILLER
https://slate.com/culture/2023/12/boo...
Anxieties about how and when children learn about sex are understandable, and shared by many politically progressive parents. But a lot of social conservatives seem to believe that if their kids simply never find out about homosexuality or transgenderism, they’re guaranteed to grow up to be cisgendered heterosexuals. First of all, any number of queer people who grew up in small towns in the 1970s will be happy to assure you this isn’t true. But secondly, these days, banning books about LGBTQ+ issues wouldn’t succeed in shielding kids from this forbidden knowledge—because that’s not how kids are discovering it in the first place.
....
Conservative book bans recall the old joke about the drunk who loses his car keys in the park but searches for them under a streetlight because that’s where the light is. Conservative parents can’t keep their kids from being exposed to “bad” information or ideas on the internet, but they can badger school boards into withdrawing books containing those ideas. The most this can do for them is to suggest to LGBTQ+ kids that the other adult authority figures in their lives share the bigotry of their parents—a cruel form of comfort, and one those kids learn almost immediately from their peers isn’t actually true.
As for the conservative advocacy groups behind the book ban movement, they can’t lose. That’s because their goal isn’t to protect kids but to bring about the (highly profitable) privatization of American education. To that end, they aim to discredit public schools as a tool of liberal “indoctrination” and to encourage the harassment of public servants, driving them out of their jobs so that they can be replaced by compliant conservatives. This they can accomplish even if all their book bans (which the majority of American oppose) are overturned. As disturbing as book bans are, they’re just one step in a larger agenda. If that agenda succeeds, the same people campaigning to keep Gender Queer out of their library will someday wonder why it is they don’t have a library at all.
My cousin's boss Diane Kresh This Arlington librarian is pushing back against book bans
https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-...
As the year comes to a close, the fight drags on.The good news is
Groups ramp up efforts in the fight to stop book bans
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/n...
“Book banning… seems to be not going away,’’ Julie Womack, organizing director for Red, Wine & Blue, said as she kicked off the hourlong training in mid-December. “It continues to spread so it’s very likely to be something that will happen in your school district.”
The session was one of several hosted by Red, Wine & Blue, a grassroots group mobilizing suburban women, many of them liberal-leaning, as part of its campaign to push back against the rise of book bans. Across the country, national and local groups have launched projects to counter efforts to ban or restrict books, many written by authors of color or focused on issues like racism, gender identity and sexuality.
These parents, civil rights activists and teacher advocates started bookmobiles offering banned books, created toolkits to equip activists, hosted online book clubs and sponsored banned book giveaways. Supporters of such efforts said they help protect people, particularly young readers, from harmful teachings and that parents should have more say in what their children are taught. Opponents argue the bans are part of a culture war that demands action.
“Banned books are just the tip of the iceberg,’’ said Deborah Menkart, executive director of Teaching for Change, an advocacy group. “What's being banned or what's being censored is much wider than that.”
Womack and others offered tips – bring people to school board meetings, share personal stories along with statistics and call out the names of banned books, including ones about civil rights icons like Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King, Jr.
“We just have to be ready and organized to fight back,’’ she told listeners Thursday.
The organization also hosts other online events, including salons where speakers – sometimes authors - talk about book bans. On the first Wednesday of each month, it hosts an online book club to discuss a banned book. The December selection was “1619 Project: Born on the Water” by Nikole Hannah-Jones and Renée Watson.
The group started its “Book Ban Busters’’ campaign in February 2022 when members raised concerns about the increasing number of book bans.
“That was our way to help people fight back against these very extremist attacks,’’ Womack told USA TODAY.
Some national groups also teamed up to battle the bans.
The National Urban League is part of a coalition encouraging local activists and parents to fight book bans.
the American Library Association last year launched United Against Book Bans, a free online toolkit to help people fight bans in their communities. It provides best practices and alerts if a book ban is proposed in a community.
“We need to activate and empower community members…the voters, the taxpayers who live in the community, who use the library, whose rights are being impaired by book censorship,’’ said Deborah Caldwell-Stone, director of ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom.
It’s important, she said, that they “go to (school) board meetings and add another voice to the conversation.”
Earlier this year, historians and others at the Association for the Study of African American Life and History conference in Jacksonville, Florida, read excerpts of banned books at a park.
Since the spring of 2021, Teaching for Change has used social media for its #TeachTruth campaign to share a list of recommended banned books that focus on social justice and civic engagement.
It made postcards, posters and buttons urging people to “Teach Banned Books” and created a traveling art installation in partnership with the African American Policy Forum that features banned books glued to bookshelves.
Nearly two dozen Black authors, all women, gathered in November in Jackson, Mississippi, to speak at the 50th annual Phillis Wheatley Poetry Festival. Some of the authors had penned books that are banned.
The conference, hosted by the Margaret Walker Center at Jackson State University, featured a panel on banned books that included Angie Thomas, author of the banned book, “The Hate U Give.’’ More than 400 people attended the panel.
In April, the Transformative Justice Coalition gave away banned books in a neighborhood in Houston where George Floyd was raised. The coalition also teamed with other organizations to give away books in other states banning books, including Florida, Illinois, Ohio, Virginia and Wisconsin. That's in addition to its efforts to promote civic engagement, like voting.
“It’s an act of resistance. You cannot stop us. It’s a historical connection because our people were banned from reading,’’ said Barbara Arnwine, president and founder of the national racial justice organization.
Finally! The name of the officer who searched the Massachusetts school for Gender Queer is released. Now the horrible person who took the photos needs to be named. Also, the teacher has a "foreign" sounding name and I'm betting that plays into it too.Story:
https://www.berkshireeagle.com/news/s...
or
https://theberkshireedge.com/great-ba...
Bodycam footage shows a police officer in an eighth grade classroom asking to see a copy of the book “Gender Queer,” and informing the teacher and school principal that though he doesn’t want to, he could go through every room in the school to find it.
The visual footage — obtained by The Eagle from the American Civil Liberties Union — of the Dec. 8 visit to W.E.B. Du Bois Regional Middle School by a plainclothes police officer is largely obscured due to the officer’s clothes covering the camera's lens.
But the audio from the 8 minute, 11 second video shows how Great Barrington Police Investigator Joseph O’Brien attempted to secure and review the book, in response to an anonymous complainant that it contains images "they felt [were] inappropriate."
According to a police report, those images had been provided in person by the complainant — the only person who is not identified in the report — who apparently took pictures of the book "located on a desk in the teacher's classroom in the last two weeks." The photos, shown in the report, appear to have been taken from inside a school classroom. The hand of the person holding the book are in the pictures.
The video shows the classroom teacher, standing next to Principal Miles Wheat, telling O’Brien that the book was not in the room and might have been borrowed by another teacher. O’Brien then asks which other teacher might have it. He then suggests the book be turned over to Wheat upon its return.
“When it does return, I think it needs to be turned over to [Wheat] and we’ll go from there at that point,” O’Brien says, according to the footage. “Like I said, it’s not the general material itself, it’s the images that are in it that constitutes material that you can’t disseminate to children.”
"I would make it a point yourself, as a teacher, to go through the books that are there to make sure there’s no other images that would be deemed stuff like that,” O’Brien says. “We could sit here and search every room and ask every teacher. I’d rather not go that route and, you know, disrupt everything over one book.”
According to the police report, on Dec. 8, the citizen who complained said they "observed a book on a table within the teacher's classroom that depicted illustrations of s----al content." The complainant reported to police overhearing the teacher telling students to "not tell their parents."
n the footage, O’Brien explains to Wheat and the teacher that certain images in the book — not its overall content — are the reason for the visit.
“It’s not the general idea of what the book’s about. It's you can't present that kind of material to people under 18,” he says.
O’Brien asks if there are books with similar content on the shelves, to which the teacher says he’s welcome to flip through them if he cares to do so.
O‘Brien also asks if “Gender Queer” is kept in a general circulation area where anyone could see it, or if it’s kept in an area where a student would have to request it.
“I do keep the material separate on purpose,” the teacher says.
O’Brien also asks if the teacher knows of anyone who might have the book. “It doesn’t mean they’re in any kind of trouble,” he says.
According to the report, on Dec. 13, Storti spoke with Assistant District Attorney Andrew Giarolo, who said the department might have to plan for a search warrant.
A day later on Dec. 14, Dillion advised Storti that he’d received a media inquiry, and that the incident was becoming public knowledge on social media. Later that day, District Attorney Timothy Shugrue indicated that his office would not be pursuing the investigation “as they determined a crime was not committed and that the school district will manage the situation.”
The school district has said it will hold several meetings to discuss the situation, including a School Committee meeting scheduled for 6 p.m., Thursday, Jan. 11.
The Censors Came For Comics In 2023https://www.forbes.com/sites/robsalko...
The scary part:
Books that portray authoritarian governments in a negative light seem especially triggering to censors in 2020s America.
There have been no reported cases of parents or community groups seeking to ban comics for glorifying gun violence, although a parents’ group in Osceola County, Florida has sought to remove the manga series Assassination Classroom (Viz Media), where students plot to kill their alien teacher, from the shelves over general objections to violence, sexual content, and fostering disrespect for authority.
The good news isPartial Victory in Iowa Book Ban Lawsuit: Book Censorship News, December 29, 2023
State attorneys for Iowa clarify that the new laws do not ban LBGTQ+ books in school libraries
Lawyers representing Penguin Random House in one of the suits said that the attorneys representing Iowa reported that the law was being misused to ban LGBTQ+ content. Even though the state ban on LGBTQ+ instruction would still apply to grades six and lower, this does not mean books with LGBTQ+ content cannot be made available in school libraries. Only books that depict "s-x acts" as defined by state statute were subject to removal from school libraries.
In other words, those are not books with or about LGBTQ+ characters.
https://literaryactivism.substack.com...
From AlabamaOpinion | Alarming trend: A few spearhead majority of book bans, impacting free speech
The nature of these challenges is also revealing. Nearly half targeted titles with LGBTQ themes, while books about race and racism constituted the second most challenged category.
https://www.alreporter.com/2023/12/25...
Big Walnut Local Schools (OH) banned Pride flags and any displays of materials not directly related to the current unit of study in classroomshttps://spectrumnews1.com/oh/columbus...
This week the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio sent a letter to the school board requesting the policy be repealed, calling it unconstitutional. The group said it will consider legal action if the policy remains in place.
Alice Nicks, the board member who proposed the initial policy change, said it was necessary after parents approached her saying their students felt uncomfortable in a classroom where a rainbow Pride flag was present.
Included in the policy is a limit on classroom displays to those tying to the current unit of study and restrictions on the size and location of advertisements for student organizations.
The nearly four-hour meeting included public comment from about 40 students, teachers and members of the community on both sides of the issue.
Noah Heath, Big Walnut High School teacher, said he had a Pride flag in his room as a faculty sponsor of the school’s Pride Society.
“I’ve heard comments along the lines, ‘We shouldn’t need symbols to let students know they’re safe,’ and I wish that were true,” Heath said during the meeting. “When we put up the flyers for Pride Society meetings, a student-led and run organization, before the end of the day, over half of them were torn down. Vandalized. Found in urinals. Across the building.”
But Board President Doug Crowl said this additional policy was needed to have greater control.
“If we don’t have a resolution to regulate the flags, then we’ll have a thousand flags in the classroom,” he said.
Before the board’s vote, Big Walnut Local Schools Superintendent Ryan McLane told the voting members the overall recommendation from the district’s legal counsel was not to adopt the policy.
Jasper Franco, a junior at Big Walnut High School, helped start the Pride Society on campus this year. He shared his concerns with the board before the vote, saying removing the flags from school removes a sense of safety.
“When I hear these adults talk about me and my community like this, it’s kind of heartbreaking,” he said.
Jasper gathered with some other Pride Society members after the last day of finals to celebrate the end of the semester.
He said he wanted to create the club to give all kids a safe space, whether they’re transgender like him or just looking for acceptance.
“I spend a lot of time around people who don’t know how to respect me or are almost afraid to say anything to me,” Jasper said.
He started the Pride Society with the help of Grace Dorsten.
“Even if you don’t agree, no one wants to be hated on and no one deserves to be hated on,” she said.
The sophomore said she’s personally experienced bullying from trying to promote the club.
“Especially when other students do things like tear down the posters or take them into the bathrooms, it kind of sends the message, this is something that students will try to fight against,” Jasper added.
The group of students all watched as members of the Big Walnut Local Schools board voted to ban something they call a symbol of safety: rainbow Pride flags.
“It represents something that doesn’t align with their beliefs,” Grace said. “Or something that’s intolerable to people.”
Taylor Thompson, a senior, said it was an intense scene.
“There was a lot of really aggressive people on both ends,” she said. “Just people mad or people upset about the outcome. Or some people very proud of the outcome. There was just, like, a lot of heavy emotion.”
She said the atmosphere in the school changed practically overnight after the board’s move to regulate what can be displayed on school property.
“It’s making our school look more like a dystopia and it’s awful,” Taylor said. “I feel like I’m part of a book right now.”
“It’s sending a message to us that we are controversial,” Jasper said. “And we shouldn’t have to feel like that.”
As hard as it is to take, Jasper said, getting angry gets him nowhere.
“They just don’t know how to understand,” he said. “Because they’ve never given themself the chance to. Because they’re afraid that if they think too much about it, they’ll realize that they have been in the wrong.”
But with each setback, the students said they’re more determined to keep being a voice for those too afraid to speak.
Alabama, as usual -Amidst book challenges, Gadsden Public Library could lose minor funding source
The Etowah County GOP’s Amy Minton is driving challenges and opposing library funding over “inappropriate materials” in books for minors.
my Dozier Minton, secretary of the Etowah County GOP, wrote the resolution that the Republican group unanimously backed in November opposing “inappropriate materials” in books for minors, including “gender ideology.”
Minton is also the driving force behind book challenges at the Gadsden Public Library, challenging 30 books already with around 40 more to come.
And on Nov. 30, State Rep. Mack Butler, R-Gadsden, appointed Minton to the Etowah County Library Committee that distributes some additional funding to public and school libraries within the state.
Minton is just one of four members on that committee, but she told APR Friday that she does not intend to fund libraries that use taxpayer funds to support the American Library Association, or have such “inappropriate” books on their shelves.
If a majority of the committee were to agree with Minton’s line of thinking, the Gadsden library’s funding would be cut as the situation currently stands—although the library is not an institutional member of the ALA, director Craig Scott currently has his individual ALA dues covered in the library budget.
The library also still has books that Minton, at least, would find inappropriate as the library works toward updating its reconsideration of materials policy to handle the influx of challenges.
“I will say this—every librarian I have known in my life has been wonderful,” Minton said. “And 85 percent of what our libraries do just make me cry. The Gadsden Public Library has the Rainbow Cafe which helps kids with disabilities get to work and attend college. It’s a warming center for the homeless. This is why I’m saying this is not a personal thing at all.”
Although Minton and the Etowah County GOP have declared issues with sexual content in books in sections for minors, Minton also didn’t shy away from opposing gender ideology in such books.
“These books only confuse kids,” Minton said. “Some kids want to be a pirate, but do we let them poke out their eye or cut off their leg? I don’t think children are ready to be exposed to that type of content.”
According to Minton, she has challenged 30 books!
Scott said he is working to fill out his library board so they can take up the business of creating the new committee to review these books. The committee will include a teacher, a parent, a professional, a librarian from outside the Gadsden library and a librarian from within the Garden library but from a separate department.
The challenger could still appeal the committee’s decision up to the library board.
Scott said these challenges are the first he’s had since he came to the library in 2007, as is the case with many libraries dealing with such challenges across the state. But he said the library is always making decisions on content and takes protecting kids seriously.
s,” Scott said. “We’ve been making decisions where some think we haven’t been making decisions. We have been a safe haven for kids and we protect kids every day; I get a little frustrated when it comes to accusations of libraries not protecting children.”
In addition to serving as director of the Gadsden Public Library, Scott is also the president-elect of the American Library Association.
Partial good news in Louisiana-yet not... https://lailluminator.com/briefs/nort...
"The leader of a far-right organization in St. Tammany has withdrawn the more than 150 book challenges her organization has submitted to the parish’s library review board. The complaints, primarily submitted by Connie Phillips and other conservative activists from her organization, the St. Tammany Parish Library Accountability Project, target books deemed inappropriate for children. Most of the titles touch on LGBTQ+ themes. ‘We are confident that our new Parish Council, Governor, and state lawmakers will make the necessary changes to protect children from sexually explicit material in the children’s section,’ Phillips wrote in an email to St. Tammany Parish Library Director Kelly LaRocca."
Phillips had submitted 160 challenges. The bulk of each complaint was copy and pasted, referencing portions of state law on providing obscene materials to minors. Legal experts have said the cited passage does not apply to libraries. Another 60 challenges were submitted by other activists. The library board has made decisions on 17 of the books and in each case has rejected the challenge.
“Your administration has failed to acknowledge that the library shelves s----ly explicit material in the children’s section. The Board affirms each decision that you make,” Phillips wrote to a LaRocca. “It is clearly a flawed and biased process.”
In an email to members of the parish Library Board of Control, LaRocca said she intends to write to those who submitted the other 39 challenges to see if they wish to proceed with their complaints.
Phillips’ withdrawal of her complaints constitutes a major reduction of the board’s workload. The library board has worked through a small fraction of the over 220 challenges it has received since November 2022. At its current pace, it would take the board longer than three years to finish evaluating each title, LaRocca told the Illuminator in an interview earlier this year.
Phillips is a staunch ally of Gov.-elect Jeff Landry, who takes office Jan. 8. She and other conservative activists appeared alongside Landry at a press conference announcing proposed legislation to restrict what materials minors can check out from libraries. The bill was signed into law by Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards but has failed to live up to the expectations of some far-right activists.
Another ally of Phillips, David Cougle, was elected to the St. Tammany Parish Council. Cougle has pushed for the council to get more involved in the library system. In 2022, he advocated for the council to create a citizens’ group with the power to decide what events, books and displays were in the library.
In the upcoming regular legislative session, which begins March 11, legislators are permitted to file an unlimited number of bills. Many new legislators are even more conservative than their predecessors and could look to file such bills to galvanize their conservative base.
Phillips believes the new governor, legislature and parish council will be more sympathetic to her cause.
In Nevada- Washoe library board meeting results in hourslong public comment. Again.https://thenevadaindependent.com/arti...
The Washoe County library director's evaluation led to failed motions for his termination and public comment that persisted for hours.
The lengthy public comment pushed the first action item for the 5 p.m. meeting — Washoe County Library System Director Jeff Scott’s evaluation — to past 11 p.m., which raised concerns from trustees whether to consider the matter at all.
“I would like to have a robust dialogue among my colleagues about the accomplishments of Mr. Scott, as well as what constructive feedback we might be able to provide ... I am not prepared to do that at 11 o'clock,” Trustee Ann Silver said.
She is the CEO at Reno Sparks Chamber of Commerce and one of the newest members to the board who, along with Vice Chair Gianna Jacks, was appointed by the Washoe County Commission in September.
Silver referenced the inexperience of the board — the longest-serving trustee is Chair Frank Perez, who has been on the board since 2021 — as well as the importance of the item, the lack of an evaluation last year and the public input as reasons for wanting to postpone.
After a motion made to table the evaluation discussion failed, Jacks made a motion to ask Scott to voluntarily resign, which also failed. She then asked for a motion to remove Scott as director, which Chair Perez rejected.
The board eventually decided to acknowledge the existence of the data on Scott’s performance presented by Assistant County Manager David Solaro, discuss the year’s budget and table the other items before adjourning the meeting at around midnight.
During public comment, some people expressed gratitude to Scott and the library system for materials that depict LGBTQ+ experiences and for holding Drag Queen Story Hour — a children’s program that includes a drag queen reading books.
Others condemned the library system for holding the event, one person called it “a gateway to introduce the queer culture” to children. The same person said the culture is filled with “perverse, sexualized behavior and drug use” and is inappropriate for children.
Previously, the books this group has protested include Lawn Boy by Gary Paulsen, a children’s book that was confused with the same title of a book by Jonathan Evison that explores sexuality and was never intended for children.
Critics also mentioned All Boys Aren’t Blue, a series of essays by journalist and LGBTQ+ activist George M. Johnson about his childhood and adolescence growing up as a queer Black person. A few passages in the book describe gay s---al experiences and an instance of (view spoiler)
Despite the public commenters complaining that the book is available to children, the Washoe County Library website lists All Boys Aren’t Blue as adult non-fiction. However, it is also on a reading list recommended for 12-18 year olds.
Another book mentioned was Crank, a story about a young girl’s methamphetamine addiction that includes s---lly explicit content as well as one scene where (view spoiler) It is listed as Young Adult Fiction by the Washoe County Library system.
Though some public commenters argued books that explored topics such as sexuality and abuse were not suitable for children, Maxwell Golden thanked the library for having such titles. She remembered reading The House of the Scorpion, whose protagonist, Matt, is severely abused because he is a clone.
“That book taught me that I was experiencing child abuse,” Golden said. “Without that book, without access to books with these difficult materials, like child abuse, I would never have learned that my parents were abusing me.”
Golden wasn’t the only one in support of the library at the meeting after Our Center — an LGBTQ+ community center in Reno — sent out a call for people to show up in support of the district.
Stacey Spain, the executive director of Our Center, told The Nevada Independent that she believes Drag Queen Story Hour is inclusive and literacy-based.
“When grownups show up for programs like this, which are inclusive in our libraries, we are showing our LGBTQ teens that we support them as well,” Spain said.
Public libraries vs. quorum courts: an ongoing local conflict throughout Arkansashttps://arkansasadvocate.com/2023/12/...
Librarians say they have felt harassed and threatened by local officials and members of the public, leading to turnover in library management and board membership
[What the what? Salary compensation should be based on experience AND education so yes a librarian with a Masters' Degree should get paid as much as anyone else with a Masters' degree and more than a person with a Bachelor's degree. Library school isn't as easy as it sounds!
https://arkansasadvocate.com/2023/12/...
Dana Scott hasn’t received a pay raise since the start of 2021.
Scott, a librarian with 17 years of experience, has run the Marion County Library in North Arkansas for nearly seven years, and the library board of trustees has approved a merit pay raise for her every year. For the third year in a row, however, the all-Republican Marion County Quorum Court has amended the library budget to deny Scott a raise. She currently makes $41,552 per year.
Library staff and trustees have raised concerns that the quorum court is improperly infringing on the trustees’ authority to oversee the library’s finances, staff and operations. Quorum court members have said they are acting within their authority under Arkansas law.
Librarian Suzy McVay asked the quorum court at its Dec. 12 meeting to “do the right thing” and accept the raise that the library board proposed for Scott, especially since other county employees have received raises or will receive them next year.
“I believe that she is being discriminated against and that this is an abuse of the separation of powers doctrine,” McVay said.
At past meetings, they have made statements about the way Scott runs the library, which she, McVay and library board members have said are false.
Marion County officials have not publicly expressed disapproval of any of the library’s materials.
However, the Craighead County Jonesboro Public Library saw voters cut its funding in half last year after protests over an LGBTQ+ book display and a transgender author’s visit to the library in 2021.
“It started with people calling the [county] judge’s office mad about what was happening at the library and thinking that the judge had more control than he does over the library,” said Tonya Ryals, the Craighead County library’s former assistant director. Ryals left in December 2021, partly due to harassment she said she and other librarians faced.
McVay and library board president Curt Bryant both told the quorum court on Dec. 12 that the money for Scott’s proposed raise would come from state funds, not county funds.
“I really feel like [court members] are turning their back on us because they would like to have full control over our funding and everything else,” Bryant told the Arkansas Advocate.
Justice of the Peace John Reed said the dispute over Scott’s pay should be resolved by an appellate court rather than in local government meetings. He said county employees’ compensation should be based on skills and longevity, but not necessarily on education.
Scott has a master’s degree in library science, which Arkansas library directors are required to have in order for the library to receive state funds.
“If we add education [as a reason for a raise], then anybody in the county who works hard and gets a master’s degree is qualified for the same salary,” Reed said. “We have to be very, very careful about the standards we set.”
He said the library board “has legitimate concerns,” but the quorum court also “has a legitimate sense of jurisdiction” based on the authority given to county governments in Arkansas Constitutional Amendment 55.
Brumley cited the same amendment in June when he expressed support for the measure that later gave him power over the Saline County Library.
A quorum court member criticized Scott for working from home at their November budget meeting. Scott replied that she does not work from home because the quorum court requested but never approved a proposed policy that would have allowed her to do so. Scott lives in Branson, Missouri and drives nearly three hours round-trip every weekday to work at the Yellville library.
Another quorum court member told Scott it was not “fair to the community” that the library is not open on Saturdays; Scott said the library used to receive so few patrons on Saturdays that it was not worth being open those days.
Scott declined to be interviewed by the Arkansas Advocate, but she expressed her frustration with the quorum court at the November library board meeting. Library funding comes not only from the state but also from a dedicated county tax millage, and county elected officials do not have access to this money, she said.
“Even if they get rid of me and they get rid of [the library board], they still can’t touch that money because it was voted on to be for the library,” Scott said. “I don’t know what their endgame is, and I don’t understand it, and it would be great if any of these people would call us… If they have problems with me, why aren’t they bringing these problems up?”
e in Marion County, multiple witnesses said a member of the quorum court approached and berated someone who was reading to children at a holiday event in Yellville, unrelated to the library, earlier this month. The community member in question was unable to leave the situation due to a physical disability.
Linda Ramos, president of Friends of the Marion County Library, said she will file a complaint against the quorum court member with the Arkansas Ethics Commission.
Marion County’s library board has seen three new members in the past two years, and some of them are not library patrons and do not have library cards, board member Peggy Pentkowski said.
During the Dec. 12 quorum court meeting, VanCuren left the room while McVay, Bryant and others spoke in support of Scott and the library.
Pentkowski said she recently tried to discuss the library with another quorum court member one-on-one, but the official refused to talk about anything related to money.
“I was so upset and depressed about the whole meeting that I just about came in and told Dana, ‘I think I’m done with the board,’ but I’m not going to do that, because [the quorum court] would love that,” Pentkowski said.
Mod
Officer O'Brien should be forced to publicly apologise for his role, for going into the school etc. and if that does not happen voluntarily, he should to be suspended without pay or at least with a huge pay cut until he does (but yeah, I doubt this will happen and that O'Brien will likely and cowardly hide behind the "I was just doing my job and following orders" excuse). But at least the officer has now been identified and can no longer hide under a cloak of anonymity.
And indeed, the "person" (the vile little piece of you know what) who made the complaint and took the pictures should also be publicly identified.
The police say they were required to investigate because a police report was file. Blah blah. As others have pointed out, they could have gotten the book FIRST and read it before causing all that trouble and drama. It just makes the police look bad. Follow-up to the partial victory in Iowa
Judge Stephen Locher wrote that the law is overly broad and “imposed a puritanical ‘pall of orthodoxy’ over school libraries.”
U.S. District Judge Stephen Locher granted a preliminary injunction on Friday, writing that portions of the law are overly broad and “unlikely to satisfy the First Amendment under any standard of scrutiny.”
Signed earlier this year by Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds, the legislation forbids teachers from discussing sexual orientation or gender with students through 6th grade, and bans school libraries from offering books that depict s-x acts, unless those books are religious texts like the Christian Bible. It also requires school staff to inform parents if students ask to use different names or pronouns.
Opponents of Senate File 496 filed two lawsuits last month, arguing on separate grounds that the law is unconstitutional.
Locher, however, wrote that the law essentially deems all books (except religious texts) that depict s-x as having no educational or literary value.
“The underlying message is that there is no redeeming value to any such book even if it is a work of history, self-help guide, award-winning novel, or other piece of serious literature,” he wrote. “In effect, the Legislature has imposed a puritanical ‘pall of orthodoxy’ over school libraries.”
Locher added that the defendants have not presented evidence that books depicting s-x acts have caused such “significant problems” in schools to justify the government’s order for their wholesale removal.
Moreover, because the language banning education about gender identity and sexual orientation is neutral and makes no distinction between cis and trans identities or gay and straight relationships, the law would effectively forbid instruction that recognizes any gender or any relationship between two people, gay or straight, Locher wrote.
“The statute is therefore content-neutral but so wildly overbroad that every school district and elementary school teacher in the State has likely been violating it since the day the school year started,” the judge wrote. Teachers would be barred from identifying historical figures or literary characters by their gender or from referring to anyone by male or female pronouns, he added, “as any such discussion would, again, amount to promotion or instruction that relates to the person’s gender identity.”
https://www.msnbc.com/top-stories/lat...
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Blah, blah, blah indeed, and the police basically just trying to spin a tale to their advantage because they know "officer" O'Brien screwed up royally.
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So sex acts in religious text like the Bible are fine? Let's face it, especially the Old Testament has lots of rape and the like and all of it is excused.
Manybooks wrote: "So sex acts in religious text like the Bible are fine? Let's face it, especially the Old Testament has lots of rape and the like and all of it is excused.That's what the anti-book banners are saying so they challenge the Bible. While I don't think the Bible belongs in public schools, there are various editions including children's Bibles that don't have all that included so are allowed to stay on the shelves.
The judge in Iowa struck down the book banning law because it was too broad. It would have banned the Bible. (As well as literally any text at all that mentions someone by gender pronouns).
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That's what the anti-bo..."
So any book using pronouns would get banned? Wow, the morons who created this law should be named (full name and more) and they should also legally be allowed to be publicly shamed and denigrated over and over again and by anyone.
Manybooks wrote: "So any book using pronouns would get banned? Wow, the morons who created this law should be named (full name and more) and they should be allowed to be publicly shamed."They have been. The same laws exist elsewhere but the Iowa judge was brave and struck it down.
You can start with Gov. Kim Reynolds and go back and look at the news stories for the bill sponsors and co-sponsors. Add in Moms for Liberty, etc. etc.
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They hav..."
Kim Reynolds should be removed from office.
Kim Reynolds has the support of Moms for Liberty which is funded by dark money. Naturally she's not amused her hateful law was overturned."There should be no question that books containing s---ally explicit content — as clearly defined in Iowa law — do not belong in a school library for children. The fact that we’re even arguing these issues is ridiculous."
Attorney General Bird is also disapointed.
“I am deeply disappointed in the district court’s decision today. Sexually explicit books do not belong in our elementary-school libraries or classrooms. Not only is it common sense, it’s the law. As Attorney General, I will keep on fighting to protect families, enforce the law, and keep inappropriate books out of the hands of children in school.”
https://governor.iowa.gov/press-relea...
Read the judge's decision. Go First Amendment rights!
/https://www.isea.org/sites/isea/files...
Analysis and commentary from Bleeding Heartland blog
https://www.bleedingheartland.com/202...
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"There should be no question that books containing s---a..."
Well, it Missy Kim and company would actually restrict their book banning to truly sexually explicit books ...
And why is sexuality worse than violence?
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https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-br...
Manybooks wrote: "Sorry, Mohammad Bakhash, being homophobic (and you are homophobic no matter what you may say to the contrary) do not make you a good but an extremely bad Canadian. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/..."
Same same in Minnesota and Maryland. Muslim parents crying First Amendment rights... but only for THEIR children. LGBTQ+ children's safety and happiness doesn't count. Public schools are for everyone and that means getting along and respecting others. Period. End of story. LGBTQIA+ students have the right to feel safe and comfortable in school. They would do better to protest concerts in schools where they sing primarily Christmas songs. Who cares what pronouns/names kids use in school? They're kids just trying to figure out who they are and their place in the world and claim something for themselves. Parents who force their kids to fit a one size mold should have their rights taken away.
The eighth grade teacher who was surprised by a police search of her classroom for a controversial book is taking a temporary leave of absence.https://www.berkshireeagle.com/breaki...
Read all the news about the incident at https://www.berkshiresagainstbookbann...
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https://www.c..."
And it is not Islamophobia to be against this either. If these bigots are so adamant they should put their children into private religious schools and one that they should have to pay for themselves as well. Public schools should be secular, for everyone and have no space for extremist religious types.
And I always do wonder how many of the most vehement homophobes (and from all religions) are actually in the closet about their own sexuality and therefore so paranoid.
From NPR: What changed after a California school district banned teaching critical race theory?Answer: Increased racism, racist "jokes", use of the "n" word
More than a year after a Southern California school district banned the teaching of critical race theory, some Temecula Valley Unified students say it's resulted in more racism.
https://www.npr.org/2024/01/01/122238...
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Answer: Increased racism, racist "jokes", use of the "n" word
More than a year after a Southern Cal..."
No kidding ...
Manybooks wrote: "QNPoohBear wrote: "Manybooks wrote: "Sorry, Mohammad Bakhash, being homophobic (and you are homophobic no matter what you may say to the contrary) do not make you a good but an extremely bad Canadi..."Yes public schools = check your religion at the door or send your kids to religious schools. There is one near me for Muslim kids. There are several Catholic schools in the region, public charter schools and regular public schools. My great-grandfather, an educational psychologist and professor, argued there was no one size fits all education policy and parents SHOULD be in charge of their child's education but they have a CHOICE of where to send their kids to school if they don't like the public school curriculum. Wanting indoctrination into your one way of thinking was called fascism back during WWII. Calling it "parental rights" doesn't change the agenda, only hides it.
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Yes, let's call so called parental rights what is it Fascism (Nazism) and also though extreme collectivist Stalinism.
Manybooks wrote: "QNPoohBear wrote: "From NPR: What changed after a California school district banned teaching critical race theory?Answer: Increased racism, racist "jokes", use of the "n" word
More than a year after a Southern Cal..."
No kidding ...
"
Yeah pretty much everyone told them that was going to happen, including your childhood self when your school refused to teach the Holocaust. Hello what happens? Lack of understanding and empathy leading to bullying. Let's hope they come to their senses soon. Parents need to start with NOT banning
Antiracist Baby
Our Skin: A First Conversation About Race
Not My Idea: A Book About Whiteness
How to Be a (Young) Antiracist
Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Boy
etc. etc.
Good news! $4K grant aims to expand Drag Story Hour at rural libraries in Vermont.
Now, thanks to cash from the Vermont Community Fund, the duo plans to bring Drag Story Hour to more communities that may not have the resources to cover the cost. But it is in some rural towns where they say they face the most backlash.
“It’s traditionally an adult entertainment,” said Leon Rideout, a parent and veteran in Lancaster, New Hampshire. He was one of the voices that inspired Lancaster’s library board to cancel Drag Story Hour earlier this year. “They were using their adult entertainment stage names for the event. Most people felt it wasn’t age appropriate.”
Rideout is not alone in his concerns. Drag Story Hours have led to fierce opposition nationwide and Marsh says the cancellation of their event near Glens Falls caused the library to temporarily close for over two months. “Anyone who actually shows up here would know that what this is -- It’s pure care for the community, pure silliness character, and a ton of glitter,” Reniss said.
The pair say that like actors, they adapt to their audiences. “If we’re around children and children around us, we’re going to speak a little bit differently than we might be if we’re just hanging out with our friends at night or out at a restaurant or at a bar,” Marsh said.
https://www.wcax.com/2024/01/02/4k-gr...
Not so good news for the queens in Alaska
Soldotna Pride postpones drag story hour at library after online backlash
https://alaskapublic.org/2024/01/03/s...
The storytime event was part of Soldotna Pride’s winter celebration, called Happy New Queer, scheduled for Saturday. Other events include a drag trivia night at The Goods in Soldotna, and karaoke at The Bow Bar in Kenai.
“The reason that we’re hosting this event is to create a joyous, loving and wholesome situation and safe place for queer kids, which is something that I didn’t have growing up and that a lot of people in this community don’t have,” said Joe Spady, an organizer of Soldotna Pride and one of the scheduled storytellers for the event.
He said conversations on social media got more violent and led organizers to postpone.
Much of the online discussion focused on one particular drag performer whose name included a sexual innuendo, listed at the bottom of the promotional poster with other drag queens. Spady said that performer was never going to be a part of the story hour, and was set to participate in the adult-oriented event also advertised on the poster. That performer has since pulled out of the event entirely because of online threats.
Spady blamed poor poster design for the confusion, but said he’s found online discussions to be hypocritical, and reminiscent of the backlash to a Pride in the Park drag performance in 2022 that involved a viral video of a dancer.
“The people who were most offended spread it the most, made sure that everyone saw those images that they found so offensive,” he said. “They’ve spread it as wide as possible, in the same way that people who found her name offensive have been spreading it more than anyone.”
In a statement shared last Friday, Soldotna City Manager Janette Bower clarified that the city and library were not hosting or sponsoring the story hour event, and that Soldotna Pride had simply rented a community room. Although the organization’s flier clarified this, Bower said a cropped version had been circulated online.
She said the library frequently rents its rooms to community organization.
Spady said a new date hasn’t been set, but Soldotna Pride is planning to find a safe and inoffensive way to host the story hour event.
Also not good in New York state
How a Drag Queen Event That Never Happened Forced a Library to Shut Down
In April, Drag Queen Story Hour was announced at the Rockwell Falls Public Library. Protests erupted, and by September, the library was forced to close. It still is.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/04/ny...
Data Overwhelmingly Supports Libraries and Library Workers: Book Censorship News, January 5, 2024The data supports the work of libraries and library workers far more than it doesn't. That, plus this week's book censorship news.
https://literaryactivism.substack.com...
New bill in Tenn. would allow parents to sue if they disagree with a school board’s decision on a book. Apparently the Bible matters more than freedom.https://www.wkrn.com/news/tennessee-n...
Ingrid Holmes, a Mt. Juliet resident in favor of book removal.
“If it does go forward, it’s going to drastically affect the LEAs; lawyers aren’t cheap, and to have to defend these lawsuits, even if there’s no merit to it, you have to answer the mail,” State Rep. Sam McKenzie (D-Knoxville) said.
McKenzie said the controversies surrounding education in our state could also lead to fewer people becoming teachers.
“We are in desperate need of great teachers, and this does not prevail itself to be like, ‘Hey, I want to be a teacher; I could get sued by 12 of my kids in class because their mom’s a part of the organization, or their dad’s a part of organizations,'” McKenzie said. “It just makes no sense.”
The Republican sponsor of the bill, State Rep. Gino Bulso (R-Brentwood), was not available for comment on Wednesday, Jan. 3. However, one of his colleagues, State Sen. Mark Pody (R-Lebanon), said the bill is an opportunity to enforce policies and maintain educational standards.
“This is something where we are trying to hold the line right here to some of the values that we have that are biblical values that are constitutionally sound,” Pody said. “Parents are going to be in charge, not public schools.”
https://www.wkrn.com/news/tennessee-n...
The Escambia Florida School District lawsuit hearings begin next week, and the state attorney general will be allowed to testify, claiming that the book bans are allowed because the decision to remove the books was "government speech" and not in violation of the First Amendment.https://www.pnj.com/story/news/educat...
A federal judge this week said Attorney General Ashley Moody’s office can argue in support of the Escambia County School Board during a Jan. 10 hearing in a battle about removing or restricting school library books.
Moody’s office asked U.S. District Judge T. Kent Wetherell to allow it to participate in the hearing, which will focus on a request by the Escambia school board to dismiss the lawsuit filed by seven parents of schoolchildren, five authors, the publishing company Penguin Random House and the free-speech group PEN America.
The plaintiffs contend that school board decisions to remove or restrict access to library books violated First Amendment and constitutional equal-protection rights. In seeking to take part in the hearing, Moody’s office said it would argue that the school board’s “decision to remove certain books from Escambia County’s public-school libraries is government speech not subject to First Amendment scrutiny.”
In seeking to take part in the hearing, Moody’s office said it would argue that the school board’s “decision to remove certain books from Escambia County’s public-school libraries is government speech not subject to First Amendment scrutiny.”
To try to bolster that argument, it will use an Oct. 27 ruling by a panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in a case stemming from the Miami Beach city manager ordering the removal of a piece of artwork from a city-organized event. The appeals court rejected arguments that the removal violated First Amendment rights, saying governments “are not obliged to display any particular artwork in the art exhibitions that they fund, organize, and promote.”
In a document filed Wednesday in the Escambia County case, Moody’s office cited the Miami Beach ruling. It said the request to dismiss the Escambia County lawsuit “likewise argues that governmental choices in another compilation of otherwise private speech − the shelves of a public-school library − are government speech.
A book snitch hotline in Alabama is ... unsuccessful in doing what it was set up to do. Gee you think? Fascism much?https://www.alreporter.com/2023/12/29...
After some fervor from both sides seeming to make the Alabama Public Library Service “blacklist” public, Director Nancy Pack told APR Thursday that only one title has been successfully submitted.
That book is “Tilly” by Christian fiction author Frank Peretti, which tells a story of a woman visited in her dreams by her aborted child Tilly.
The book is in the adult section.
The rest of the challenges have been farcical, Pack said, with fictitious addresses such as “Censorship, Alabama,” or fake titles such as “Burn them all.”
And some have been invalidated because they are from out-of-state: Pack said one challenger from Maryland submitted the Bible 31 times.
Others say they haven’t read the book, invalidating the complaint.
The submission form has been available since Dec. 14 but apparently hasn’t gotten any real interest yet.
Former state senator Bryan Taylor, running as a Republican for chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court, has said he is pursuing a lawsuit pro bono to force a decision that the list is public record.
In a statement Tuesday, Taylor said the APLS gone on record that it will “guard the list from the public.”
Alabama author Tim Lockette also published an open letter to document his request for the list under the Alabama Open Records Act.
Pack called Lockette Thursday to relay the one title on the list.
ALGOP Chairman John Wahl, who serves on the APLS executive board, recommended the creation of the list as a response to challenges by Clean Up Alabama, Moms for Liberty and other residents.
The agency isn’t making judgment calls on the content of the books—if the book exists and it is submitted by an Alabama citizen who has read the book, it will be added to the list.
Pack said she doesn’t know of any librarians that have shown much interest in the list, and said the better course of action to raise concerns about books is through complainant’s local libraries.
Laws on book challenges, ‘indoctrination’ create culture of fear in Arkansas school librarieshttps://arkansasadvocate.com/2024/01/...
Some school librarians have become “very strict about how books are chosen,” trying to preemptively avoid accusations or legal trouble, one librarian said
The Arkansas LEARNS Act, a wide-ranging education overhaul championed by Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders.
“I think the unspoken intention [of the law and its supporters] was more about fear, miscommunication and self-censorship, and I think they’ve achieved that, and it’s only going to get worse in schools,” Brittani Brooks, Pulaski Heights Middle School librarian.
Act 372 would create criminal liability for librarians who distribute content that some consider “obscene” or “harmful to minors” — two terms that the law does not define — and put the availability of challenged books in the hands of elected officials.
In July, a federal judge blocked the portions of Act 372 pertaining to criminal liability and city or county elected officials’ authority over books in response to a lawsuit from 18 plaintiffs.
But the section of the law giving school boards the power to handle appeals for challenged school library books wasn’t enjoined and went into effect Aug. 1.
Additionally, the LEARNS Act prohibits “indoctrination” of children in schools but does not define the term. Those who oppose “indoctrination” in libraries and classrooms often cite LGBTQ+ topics and systemic racism as the information they do not want children to have.
As a result, some school libraries and districts have become “very strict about how books are chosen and how books are ordered,” trying to preemptively avoid accusations or legal trouble, Brooks said.
In districts where the debate over library content is especially charged, some librarians have found themselves wondering whether they can trust their colleagues after the idea that librarians are harming children has permeated their professional environments.
Hendrix College Library Director Britt Murphy works closely with K-12 librarians throughout the state and said she is aware of the self-censorship and fear affecting their jobs.
“Even when there aren’t laws to restrict our First Amendment rights, or even when we’re questioning them and they might be thrown out, unfortunately [public sentiment] has already done its dirty work because of the fear factor among librarians,” Murphy said. “It’s a real shame.”
‘Interference’
Act 372 requires school principals to select “a committee of licensed personnel,” which can include the principal, to be the first to review library materials challenged on the basis of “appropriateness.”
If the committee chooses to keep the book available to children, challengers can appeal the decision to the school board, which will then decide whether the book should remain in place or be relocated somewhere that minors cannot access.
Brooks reminded the House Judiciary Committee that school libraries must have content reconsideration policies in order to be accredited by the state Department of Education.
She also said school librarians across Arkansas were removing books from shelves “behind closed doors,” since other states have also passed policies limiting what topics can be shared or discussed in schools.
Brittani Brooks isn’t worried she might lose her job, unlike many of her peers.
The Pulaski Heights Middle School librarian works in the Little Rock School District, which hasn’t seen the backlash that other areas of the state have against books depicting a diverse set of human experiences, so she publicly opposed a law that would change how libraries handle materials some consider inappropriate.
Other school librarians don’t have the same sense of security. The Arkansas Advocate reached out to several in different parts of the state and received few responses. Those that did respond declined to speak publicly due to fear of retaliation.
School librarians’ anxieties come from recent state laws governing the availability of books and the sharing of ideas in schools: Act 372 of 2023, the bill Brooks spoke against twice, and the Arkansas LEARNS Act, a wide-ranging education overhaul championed by Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders.
“I think the unspoken intention [of the law and its supporters] was more about fear, miscommunication and self-censorship, and I think they’ve achieved that, and it’s only going to get worse in schools,” Brooks said.
Act 372 would create criminal liability for librarians who distribute content that some consider “obscene” or “harmful to minors” — two terms that the law does not define — and put the availability of challenged books in the hands of elected officials.
In July, a federal judge blocked the portions of Act 372 pertaining to criminal liability and city or county elected officials’ authority over books in response to a lawsuit from 18 plaintiffs.
But the section of the law giving school boards the power to handle appeals for challenged school library books wasn’t enjoined and went into effect Aug. 1.
One thing I always tell people is, ‘We know we don’t indoctrinate kids. We don’t.'... I’m not going to go around proving that I don’t. They would have to prove that I do.
– Brittani Brooks, Pulaski Heights Middle School librarian
Additionally, the LEARNS Act prohibits “indoctrination” of children in schools but does not define the term. Those who oppose “indoctrination” in libraries and classrooms often cite LGBTQ+ topics and systemic racism as the information they do not want children to have.
As a result, some school libraries and districts have become “very strict about how books are chosen and how books are ordered,” trying to preemptively avoid accusations or legal trouble, Brooks said.
In districts where the debate over library content is especially charged, some librarians have found themselves wondering whether they can trust their colleagues after the idea that librarians are harming children has permeated their professional environments.
Hendrix College Library Director Britt Murphy works closely with K-12 librarians throughout the state and said she is aware of the self-censorship and fear affecting their jobs.
“Even when there aren’t laws to restrict our First Amendment rights, or even when we’re questioning them and they might be thrown out, unfortunately [public sentiment] has already done its dirty work because of the fear factor among librarians,” Murphy said. “It’s a real shame.”
‘Interference’
Act 372 requires school principals to select “a committee of licensed personnel,” which can include the principal, to be the first to review library materials challenged on the basis of “appropriateness.”
If the committee chooses to keep the book available to children, challengers can appeal the decision to the school board, which will then decide whether the book should remain in place or be relocated somewhere that minors cannot access.
House Judiciary witnesses 3.7.23
From left: Middle school librarian Brittani Brooks and transgender activists Rumba Yambú and Jessica Disney listen to testimony against the bill that became Act 372 of 2023 before the House Judiciary Committee on March 7, 2023. All three spoke against the bill. (Tess Vrbin/Arkansas Advocate)
All school and public libraries already had procedures in place to handle book challenges before Act 372 was introduced this year. Brooks reminded the House Judiciary Committee that school libraries must have content reconsideration policies in order to be accredited by the state Department of Education.
She also said school librarians across Arkansas were removing books from shelves “behind closed doors,” since other states have also passed policies limiting what topics can be shared or discussed in schools.
Florida is one of those states. Books challenged or removed from shelves in Florida have frequently been by or about racial minorities, including civil rights activist Rosa Parks. The state also passed a law, known as “don’t say gay,” prohibiting the discussion of sexual orientation in K-12 classrooms.
Arkansans who spoke against Act 372 while it was moving through the Legislature expressed concerns that influxes of book challenges under the new law would create an undue burden on school and public librarians.
This adds to librarians’ anxieties about Act 372, since they already had “a really effective policy procedure” for book challenges, Murphy said. She called the new policy “overkill” and “interference with what librarians do,” especially since librarians are “rule-followers with strong feelings about the First Amendment.”
“I don’t think there was a lot of understanding or thought put into the practicalities of how imposing this new procedure on librarians would take place,” Murphy said.
Former Fayetteville High School Librarian Cassandra Barnett, who now works for ADE, supervised the Act 372 training. Barnett and two other school librarians wrote a letter to the Fayetteville school board in 2005, defending their jobs and their libraries against public accusations of misconduct by having books on the shelves that depicted sexual content and LGBTQ+ people.
Librarians said they needed the state’s input on the law to put their minds at ease, due to the since-blocked criminal liability portion of Act 372.
Barnett told librarians they would have to relocate books to where minors cannot reach them if school boards say so. This would mean only school faculty, staff and 18-year-old high school seniors would have access to relocated books.
The lawsuit against Act 372 will go to trial in October 2024, but the unchallenged sections of the law are likely to remain up to interpretation regardless of whether U.S. District Judge Timothy Brooks declares the challenged sections unconstitutional.
The judge wrote in his 49-page ruling that the “lack of clarity seems to have been by design” in the blocked portion of Act 372 giving city or county elected officials the power to relocate library books.
“By keeping the pivotal terms vague, local governing bodies have greater flexibility to assess a given challenge however they please rather than how the Constitution dictates,” he wrote.
At the start of the 2023 school year, the Pulaski County Special School District cut students’ access to the Central Arkansas Library System’s online educational materials program, citing the lack of a “filter” in the database and seeking “more clarity as to what’s acceptable and what’s not” under Act 372, district spokeswoman Jessica Duff said.
PCSSD will reinstate access to the program this month with the condition of parental permission, the district announced in December.
Regarding the books available at PCSSD libraries, Duff said the district and its librarians “do not have any concerns” about job security and “continue to stock their libraries with content that best suits the needs of their students.”
Brooks, the Pulaski Heights Middle School librarian, said she is confident that none of the books in her library run afoul of the undefined terms in Act 372 and the LEARNS Act.
“One thing I always tell people is, ‘We know we don’t indoctrinate kids. We don’t,’” she said. “…I’m not going to go around proving that I don’t. They would have to prove that I do.”
How conservatives have rammed right-wing propaganda from PragerU into public schools.https://www.nbcnews.com/news/educatio...
PragerU is known for its right-wing web videos. In recent months, education officials in four states have helped get a line of cartoon videos and education materials, called PragerU Kids, into public schools.
Marissa Streit, chief executive of PragerU (conspiracy theorist)
Oklahoma Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters
New Hampshire Education Commissioner Frank Edelblu
Montana Superintendent of Public Instruction Elsie Arntzen
Dennis Prager, a long-time radio host and PragerU’s co-founder,
PragerU was founded in 2009. Its recent videos feature messages opposing transgender health care and suggesting Americans say “Merry Christmas” instead of “Happy holidays.” Last year, the organization debuted a line of cartoons and classroom materials aimed at school children, called PragerU Kids, which over the last six months has received approval from four state education agencies.
The PragerU Kids video content ranges from lessons for teens about why universal health care systems in countries like Canada are worse than the United States’ system, to an explanation for young children about Israel’s Iron Dome.
In one animation, two time-traveling kids ask Christopher Columbus whether he enslaved Indigenous people. Cartoon Columbus responds, “Being taken as a slave is better than being killed,” and insists it is “estupido” to judge him by modern moral standards. In another, the abolitionist Frederick Douglass defends the Founding Fathers for not outlawing slavery.
Several researchers told Reuters that PragerU misrepresented their findings in videos about climate change. An official at the National Center for Science Education said that allowing PragerU’s content in classrooms sent an inappropriate message about how to teach global warming.
NBC News spoke with education policy specialists, attorneys and ethics experts who say PragerU’s courting of elected officials raises red flags. All said it is abnormal, and even alarming, for an organization to try to get its curricula into classrooms by appealing directly to politicians and to ask state leaders to film commercials.
The officials’ willingness to appear in PragerU’s promotional videos “is highly unusual,” said Craig Holman, a government affairs lobbyist at Public Citizen, a nonprofit that seeks stricter campaign finance laws. “It crosses the line of ethics when you use your official position to promote the interests of any single entity.”
PragerU is not the only conservative organization creating teaching materials, but it’s one of the best funded. The group raised $65 million last year, according to tax filings. Its donors have included Farris Wilks, a Texas billionaire who has compared homosexuality to bestiality; the Marcus Foundation, a nonprofit founded by Home Depot’s co-founder, who is a prominent Republican donor; and a foundation run by Betsy DeVos, who served as secretary of education in the Trump administration.
PragerU Kids got a major entreé in July, when Florida became the first state to approve its videos for use in public schools.
Soon after, the New Hampshire State Board of Education voted to approve the use of PragerU materials to satisfy a newly required financial literacy credit.
Edelblut, the state’s education commissioner, agreed in August to visit Los Angeles to film the promotional video with Streit and speak to the nonprofit’s donors, according to emails between PragerU staff and Edelblut’s office. He paid for his own flight but accepted a one-night stay at an upscale hotel on PragerU’s account.
Arntzen, Montana’s state superintendent, agreed to appear in a promotional video for PragerU shortly after she signed a textbook license agreement with the organization in August, according to emails in which she instructed her staff to set up a time for filming.
A spokesman for her office said Arntzen “does not partake in political activity while conducting official business” and noted that she has also done a video promoting the state’s partnership with the education technology company Frontline Education.
In Oklahoma, the education department added links on its website to PragerU videos, lesson plans and e-books following a July call with the organization, as PragerU had requested, according to emails between the two entities. Walters also volunteered to connect the PragerU team with the South Carolina state superintendent, according to emails recapping their call that were sent to department staff.
PragerU’s foray into K-12 public education has generated pushback from activists and government watchdog organizations.
Progressive Florida activists circulated a form parents could use to opt their children out of lessons using PragerU content. Parents in New Hampshire demonstrated against PragerU before the state board approved the partnership with the organization.
The advocacy group Americans United for Separation of Church and State, meanwhile, announced in October that it had launched an investigation into the process Florida and Oklahoma education officials used to vet and approve PragerU materials. The group says that PragerU materials “advance the myth” that the country must be “a Christian nation,” citing videos like one in which a cartoon George Washington says the country should have a religious population.
“It’s not just an alternate reality to what the existing curriculum is saying, but an alternative to almost any mainstream source of information,” said John Rogers, director of UCLA’s Institute for Democracy, Education, and Access.
“Textbooks and other curricular materials are supposed to both reflect the consensus of experts in a particular field, whether it be biology or whether it be 19th-century U.S. history,” he added. “The Prager model neither draws upon expertise in particular fields, nor presents the controversies in ways that allow young people to see the differences of opinion that reside amongst scholars or amongst the broader community.”
Jill Simonian, PragerU’s outreach director, said the organization hired historians, journalists and teachers with master’s degrees to create the group’s content, and that it always relies on original sources.
n the year ahead, according to PragerU representatives, the organization plans to continue discussions to get more states to approve its videos as a resource for teachers, and to develop additional educational materials.
Prager said he’d like to see the American education system resemble how it operated generations ago, when there was more attention to “character development” in schools. Like the 1930s, he added, “minus the bad things. [uh?! So minus LGBTQ+ people, people of color, women?]
Cape Girardeau Public Library (MO)The Cape Girardeau Public Library doubled down on its message that there are no p_____aphic or obscene materials in its collection.
https://www.semissourian.com/story/30...
The library issued a statement Wednesday, Dec. 27, saying it is fully compliant with all state laws regarding p___graphy or obscene material in any form.
"There are no p____graphic materials in the library's collection, as defined by state law in Missouri Revised Statutes Chapter 573," the message stated. The library published the statement on its website, and shared it on social media. It did not indicate who authored the statement.
The message was issued following a Dec. 15 library board meeting at which more than 50 people objected to children's access to certain library materials. During that meeting, activist Adrienne Ross asked for a response from the board within 14 days, "after which we will proceed if there is no response or if your response is not satisfactory."
The library's statement included information that in November 2021, the Cape Girardeau Police Department received a complaint regarding employees of the library providing p____phy to children.
"Officers interviewed library staff, reviewed the materials cited in the complaint, and made a required report to the Cape Girardeau County Prosecutor," the message stated. "Neither the police department nor the prosecutor's office found any grounds for further action."
In the Dec. 15 meeting, an attendee said she and other "concerned citizens" would pursue new criminal complaints and legal action against the library and its administrators, among other actions.
Ross responded Thursday, Dec. 28, that the library's statement is neither truthful nor responsible.
The library's message further defended the institution's position by citing the U.S. Supreme Court in Miller v. California in 1973.
The Supreme Court decision established a three-part test for obscenity, which is used to determine whether "the average person, applying contemporary community standards, would find that the work, taken as a whole, appeals to the prurient interest; whether the work depicts or describes, in a patently offensive way, sexual conduct or excretory functions specifically defined by applicable state law; and whether the work, taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value."
"None of the materials in the library's collection meet the requirements of this test," the message stated. "The library is also fully compliant with Missouri 15 CSR Section 30-200.015 -- Library Certification Requirement for the Protection of Minors, effective May 2023."
The library's Materials Selection Policy states, "Children are not limited to the juvenile or teen/young adult collections, although these collections are kept together to facilitate use. Responsibility for a child's reading must rest with the parent or guardian, not with the library."
In June 2023, the library's Use Policy was revised to include the following: "Any borrower's card issued to any person under the age of 18 shall require the knowledge, consent, and written authorization of at least one of the application's parents or legal guardians with whom the applicant resides, stating that the parent understands that library staff, directors, or other official persons affiliated with the library do not have supervisory duty over their child and that it is the parent's responsibility to monitor the child's behavior and consumption of content, in any and all forms. If the parent is unwilling to sign the agreement, a library card will not be issued to the minor applicant."
Good news in LouisianaQueer Louisianans Are Fighting Book Bans—And Winning
St. Tammany
https://inthesetimes.com/article/st-t...
Two Boys Kissing
A self-identified veteran says: “If the book was about two men kissing and featured all adult characters, it would be just as compelling, and I would stand behind it wholeheartedly. But as the book stands, featuring minors and s--ual acts, I believe the book should be restricted.”
Another speaker argues: “One can’t judge a whole book by cutting and pasting, and that’s what’s being done with the challenged books.”
Between August 2022 and this November, 172 titles have been challenged at the library, 160 of them — including Two Boys Kissing—following complaints from local resident Connie Phillips, who claims the books expose children to p_____raphy and p___hilia and confuse readers about gender identity.
“We’re the capital of the United States when it comes to censorship,” says St. Tammany resident Jeremy JF Thompson.
Thompson is the cofounder of Queer Northshore, which started in 2022 as a social group in the Republican-controlled parish. The group’s aim is “building an LGBTQ+ community in a part of Louisiana where there wasn’t one,” according to its website. But after Phillips’ book challenges began later in 2022, Queer Northshore shifted gears. Thompson and others organized the St. Tammany Library Alliance, which now sends a hefty roster of individuals to meetings whenever challenges arise. A half dozen or so people from the group spoke in favor of keeping Two Boys Kissing on the shelf at the August board meeting, according to Kristen Luchsinger, a member of the alliance.
“We’re nice,” says Luchsinger. The group sometimes brings water, ice cream and signs to support the library. And even book banners “get an ice cream.”
Someone burned down a “Ban Hate, Not Books” yard sign, Luchsinger says. And Phillips is currently facing misdemeanor battery charges after she allegedly grabbed a library supporter’s phone and warned them not to “f- with me.”
“I suspect this is all a reaction to the fact that the United States is becoming less white, less Christian and less straight over time,” says Mel Manuel, Queer Northshore’s other cofounder.
In the past year, right-wing groups began targeting hundreds of books at once — a tactic designed to overwhelm librarians, who must produce reports on each. For each complaint in St. Tammany, library policy has been to pull the book from circulation and refer it to an internal committee for review — a time-consuming process.
Magnusson says “They say their goal is just to get rid of p___raphic books, but in no place has it ever stopped there. … Then, there begins to be a dialogue about, ‘Well, what are librarians doing in schools anyways? Why do we have a library?’”
anyways? Why do we have a library?’”
In the whirlwind of book challenges nationwide, St. Tammany stands out for the sheer volume of complaints.
In response, Manuel says, the St. Tammany Library Alliance uses diverse strategies and tactics to challenge the bans. They encourage organizers to research books, create shareable infographics, organize group meetings, reach out to local political leaders, attend meetings and make petitions.
It seems to be paying off. Public comment at library board meetings increasingly tilts in support of the challenged books, and the alliance has helped fight off several proposed bans.
Back at the committee meeting, library director Kelly LaRocca shares the findings of the internal review. Two Boys Kissing, she reports, portrays “the joy and despair of being a teen, especially a gay teen.” Once public comment ends, the board votes to keep the title on the shelf.
About two months later, in October — with 150 challenged books waiting for internal review and limited library capacity to assess them — the St. Tammany Library announced a policy change: It would no longer pull challenged books from circulation while the books await review. That decision effectively thwarts the key right-wing strategy of using cumbersome processes as a backdoor means of banning books. Still, with new challenges surely ahead and book-banning laws continuing to spread nationwide, the alliance knows they’re in for a long fight.
“We are very consciously and meticulously trying to make our community visible, and I think that’s definitely upset some people,” Manuel says. “They want us to be quiet so we can ignore each other, but we’re not going to be quiet.”
The censors prove themselves ignorant about librarianship.Hutchinson School Board (MN) is going to make banning books in the district easier.
https://www.crowrivermedia.com/hutchi...
Books could be removed from district libraries if the Hutchinson School Board adopts a policy change currently under review.
The proposed policy would allow parents or guardians to request removal of a book from a school library. The request would be reviewed by staff and administrators, with the final decision of removal resting with the board.
This policy, 606.5F, complements the existing 606F district policy, which allows removal requests for textbooks and instructional materials like videos or models.
In conjunction with 606.5F, policy 606.5 outlines what library materials are and who is responsible for their review. While the policies draw inspiration from the Minnesota School Boards Association, they are tailored to Hutchinson’s community needs, according to board member Michael Massmann.
Sandy Juffer, a Hutchinson resident who spoke at Dec. 11 School Board meeting, said the policy could be improved. She emphasized concerns that, while members of the public are gatekeepers, they lack access to school media centers. She said the school district should define standards for media center materials.
“The decision of appropriateness is left entirely to the viewpoint of that media specialist,” she said. “There’s no objective guidance for specialists to decide what materials to include.”
Under the district’s current policy, library materials must follow educational goals, support the curriculum, and cater to student needs without discrimination. They should meet quality standards in areas like artistic quality, critical thinking, and readability, while conforming to the school district budget, according to policy.
Policy 606.5F outlines a review committee featuring the superintendent or superintendent’s delegate, the principal and two teachers from the school, a media specialist and a School Board member. How the delegate, teachers and board member are selected is not defined.
“I think it’s important to note that the committee (selection) will be undefined in the policy,” Massmann said. “It will be a best practice or process that the board establishes and the administrative team establishes. So we’ll determine who those people are and how they’re selected. We didn’t want to put it into the policy because then that absolutely handcuffs you to those names and that criteria, and that may change and evolve over time.”
Slightly good news in AlaskaThe team which has filed a lawsuit against the removal of 56 books in Mat-Su schools (AK), has just filed for an injunction that would put the books back on shelf before the trial.
https://www.frontiersman.com/news/nor...
, the Northern Justice Project (NJP), LLC, and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Alaska filed a motion Tuesday for a preliminary injunction to return 56 book titles to Mat-Su Borough School District (MSBSD) library shelves.
The filing was made in an attempt to achieve immediate relief to the complaint that the plaintiffs, in this case the students, had initially filed in November.
The preliminary injunction would return the 56 book titles to the shelves in school district libraries where they were previously removed and pause the removal of any other books pending a further order from the court.
“The District removed fifty-six books from all school libraries because of the books’ LGBTQ themes or protagonists of color that a few in the community disagree with. This is censorship plain and simple, and it violates the First Amendment. Until the courts can review the merits of the case, these books must be returned to school shelves,” said Savannah Fletcher, attorney for NJP in a press release.
Mod
https://www.alreporter.com/2023/12/29...
..."
I would not do this of course, but it might be fun to figure out which books groups like Moms for Liberty and other American Nazi/Stalinist groups agree with and then call the hotline and snitch of specifically THESE books and only THESE books.
They are calling the hotline to report the Bible and other bogus complaints!
Ann Patchett is banned in Florida and speaking out"The Patron Saint of Liars," Patchett's debut novel, is a book about a home for unwed mothers in rural Kentucky. "Bel Canto," tells the tale of a terrorist situation in South America. Both joined the list of nearly 700 banned books from schools in Orange County, Florida.
In an Instagram reel from Parnassus Books, store owner Patchett shared her concerns with her books being banned.
https://www.tennessean.com/story/news...
The M4L are taking exception to the Florida rule that says 3rd graders who can't read must repeat a year. Still a ploy to get their kids into Christian based schools with public funding.https://www.tampabay.com/news/educati...
Florida senators have homed in on the often contentious state law that requires children to repeat third grade if they don’t show enough progress in reading.
They want to give parents more control over that decision.
But three groups that regularly advocate for expanding the Parents’ Bill of Rights told lawmakers at a recent hearing that they “strongly oppose” the idea.
Why? Because it “allows parents to override the school district for their child,” according to a letter detailing the stance taken by the Moms for Liberty Florida Legislative Committee, Florida Citizens Alliance and Citizens Defending Freedom.
“While there is an argument that retention needs to be balanced with parental rights, an illiterate child allowed to advance will not only never recover but will have a significant negative impact on the 4th grade class,” they wrote. “Standards are in place for a reason. This needs to be removed.”
The groups, however, took a different position on state standards when they argued against another proposal that would require schools to provide greater access to prekindergarten offerings. They contended Florida’s Voluntary Prekindergarten program should be “completely private” without state regulation, and that “Parents who vote with their attendance or (l)eave are the accountability.”
Monroe County School Board chairperson Sue Woltanski, who has written extensively about the state’s education accountability program on her Accountabaloney blog, posted that the groups’ primary goal did not appear to be parental rights.
Instead, Woltanski said in an interview, the groups’ stance on third grade retention “seems to be a political maneuver rather than what’s best for children.” She added that it appears to contradict the Moms for Liberty publicly stated philosophy, as illustrated by its social media tag #WeTheParents and its motto stating “We do not co-parent with the government.”
Few education decisions could be more important for a parent than whether their child is forced to repeat a grade, which often is a predictor of dropping out, she said.
In SB 7004 — which has unanimously passed two committees — senators propose that parents should be able to decide retention is not in their child’s best interest and approve a reading intervention plan instead.
A staff analysis says the legislation aligns with the state’s Parents’ Bill of Rights, which specifies it is a fundamental right of parents to “direct the upbringing, education, and care of their minor children.” The law adds that government may not infringe on those fundamental rights “without demonstrating that such action is reasonable and necessary to achieve a compelling state interest” that cannot be achieved by some less restrictive means.
“The Florida Citizens Alliance is 100% for vouchers to private Christian schools and 100% supports homeschooling, where parents have complete control of their children’s education,” Woltanski said. “To be supportive of that, but not to support a public school’s parental consent after consulting with teachers (regarding) retention of children, that is absurd.”
Keith Flaugh, a managing director of the alliance, said via email that there must be limits to parent rights.
“Parents can’t send their child to a government school with a gun or drugs or cigarettes to name just a few examples,” wrote Flaugh, who served on Gov. Ron DeSantis’ 2018 education transition committee.
He added that an illiterate child can drag down an entire class of children.
“Those 20-plus parents have rights also,” Flaugh wrote. “Parents rights are not absolute.”
Sarah Calamunci, Florida state director for Citizens Defending Freedom, said via email that her group stood by its statement in the letter to lawmakers that reading standards for advancing to fourth grade are needed to “help protect the success of children as they continue to advance in their educational journey.”
A spokesperson for Moms for Liberty stepped back from its Florida Legislative Committee statements on the legislation, saying the national organization had not decided whether to support it.
Flaugh’s view on boundaries to parental rights lined up with views espoused by state House Speaker Paul Renner, who in 2021 voted to create the Parents’ Bill of Rights and backed a major voucher expansion in 2023.
Parents who don’t want their children retained can put their kids in private or homeschooling for a year to avoid it, he noted, and then bring them right back to public school for fifth grade.
“If we’re going to give parents a seat at the table, it has to be at every table and not just the ones we like and we’re OK with,” Simon said.
More from Florida as people come to their senses...Retired teachers tout Democratic candidate seeking to counterprogram Moms for Liberty message
Former teachers are speaking out about how a new legislative focus drove them from teaching and now has them joining a Democrat's House campaign.
https://floridapolitics.com/archives/...
All this is in response to Orange County, Florida banning 700 books in schools, most of which are adult books and young adult books, including celebrity written books, classics kids have been reading in class for years, poetry, LGBTQ+ content, and ... anything they think contains "s-e-x-ual content" whatever that means.https://pen.org/books-banned-orange-c...
The good news is an indie bookstore in Ashville, NC is giving away books removed from Duval schools.https://jaxtoday.org/2024/01/05/books...
, Firestorm says it intends to ship the first round of books in a few weeks, focusing initially on people in Florida who request them. PEN America, a nonprofit dedicated to literature and human rights, documented 565 titles banned in Florida during the 2021–22 school years.
Firestorm says it plans to mail at least 10,000 books for free directly to children in the U.S. where the business says their freedom to read is under attack. Firestorm states that it also will distribute over 10,000 books in partnership with organizers, educators and librarians with grassroots connections.
Firestorm estimates it will spend about $17,500 on postage alone. Children and their supporters can request the books through a secure link, then will get five or six picture books for ages 4 to 8 or chapter books for ages 8 to 12, along with stickers, Firestorm said.
Firestorm has begun a campaign to raise $30,000 it says it needs to ship books to those who request them. The campaign, called “Banned Books Back!,” had raised $11,402 as of Friday afternoon.
In its fundraising appeal, Firestorm describes itself as “your friendly neighborhood anarchist bookshop.” It’s a 15-year-old collectively owned bookstore and community event space that sells titles for all ages online.
https://givebutter.com/bannedbooksback
Children's Books
Books mentioned in this topic
Out of the Blue (other topics)The Princess in Black and the Prince in Pink (other topics)
My Rainbow (other topics)
Butt or Face? Volume 3: Super Gross Butts (other topics)
The Day the Books Disappeared (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Jodi Picoult (other topics)Sarah J. Maas (other topics)
Ellen Hopkins (other topics)
Jodi Picoult (other topics)
Scott Stuart (other topics)
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Former Norman High School English teacher Summer Boismier, fired for sharing the QR code to Brooklyn Public Library's Books Unbanned shelf linking to Gender Queer, still has questions about whether her license will be revoked.
The department filed to have her license revoked in March, but in August, the assistant attorney general found that her license should remain intact.
https://okcfox.com/news/local/questio...