Children's Books discussion
Banned Books: discussions, lists
>
Discussion of censorship, equity, and other concerns.
Utah has two contradictory laws making their way through the legislature.Utah's Draconian Book Banning Bill Close to Passage; An Anti-Book Ban Bill Proposed In Response
Brian King, a democrat running for governor, introduces an anti-book ban bill to counter HB 29.
https://literaryactivism.substack.com...
House Bill 29, known as the "Sensitive Materials Amendments" Bill, has been making its way through the chambers quickly. The bill would criminalize librarians under the belief that they are distributing "p___graphy." Among the "p___graphy" pointed to as proof are books like Toni Morrison's Nobel Prize winning The Bluest Eye, as well as books written by Judy Blume, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian and more. All have been banned in districts across the state per the "Bright Line Rule," which classifies them as p____graphy. This "Bright Line Rule" allows school boards to skip a formal review process and remove materials without further action.
Additional titles that have been targeted and banned under the "Bright Line Rule" include The Handmaid's Tale, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter, All Boys Aren't Blue, and Laurie Halse Anderson's Twisted.
HB 29 takes this one step further. If the bill passes–and right now it looks extremely close to just that–then books banned in one school district could be banned in every district in the state within 10 days were the following met: the book has been removed in three school districts or two school districts and five charter schools. It would be up to the state board of education–not the district's–to decide whether or not the book should be reviewed.
Per Michael Curtis, Legislative Counsel, librarians and educators would be held criminally liable for having those books available.
"These definitions all come from the criminal code, so when we're talking about p----graphic or indecent materials in these various sections...they are all criminal code definitions. These sections are about displaying or distributing p-----aphy to a minor. So the individual who hands pornography to a minor, provides access to a minor could be subject to criminal penalties," Curtis told legislator Carol Moss in a November Interim Education Committee Meeting. He also told legislator Angela Romero in the same meeting that, "really regardless of whether the board takes a vote and determines that something is not, doesn't violate these p-----aphy standards that doesn't foreclose the possibility that a prosecutor could bring charges against someone."
These decisions would apply retroactively, too. Books already classified as inappropriate by the identified quantity of districts would need to be purged across the state upon the passage of the bill.
In Utah, there is another bill on the table when it comes to library access, and it's a bill that would help keep libraries as spaces of democratic equity. That bill, House Bill 583, was introduced February 23 by Democrat Brian King. King is currently running for Utah governor.HB 583 would extend protections to library workers for their collections while also codifying library collections reflect the diversity of the community. Control over material selection and removal would not be in the hands of the state but instead, local educational leadership.
King notes that the state legislature has taken their power too far. Indeed, the movement toward "parental rights" with such legislation is actually a step backwards for giving rights to parents.
"[Legislators] think they know better than parents ... better than educators, better than the children themselves what the children should be reading. That's a problem in my humble opinion," King said to KSL.com upon introduction of his bill. "We have way too many people in the Utah State Legislature who want to be judgmental. They don't want to be curious."
A key portion of HB 583 is that challenges to books need to be done on the basis of the entire book and not just passages. This aligns with the Miller Test, the guiding principal for determining obscenity in the United States. HB 29, which is near passage in the state legislature, overrides that precedent.
"The work as a whole is important to evaluate as a whole and determine whether it has value as opposed to just picking and choosing the stuff that you think is objectionable," King said to KSL.
Utah residents seeking an opportunity to get involved on the ground to combat book bans and state-sanctioned censorship can do so with Let Utah Read. The group has been active and engaged with the freedom to read statewide.
Ridiculous to give in to these parental rights people. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools has parted ways with a library app used by elementary school children due to a new North Carolina law.
https://www.wbtv.com/2024/02/27/cms-e...
The e-book platform EPIC provides access to over 40,000 books, audiobooks and learning videos.
According to CMS Deputy Superintendent Melissa Balknight, the platform was used primarily in kindergarten through second grade to provide books for students during independent reading time.
In January, it was brought to the attention of the Learning & Teaching team that EPIC contained books and resources that may be in violation of SB49. According to the district, leaders made multiple attempts to connect with EPIC about the ability to eliminate access to books and resources that were in violation rather than removing access, however, there was no response.
Senate Bill 49, titled the Parents’ Bill of Rights, states that schools are not allowed to teach anything about sexual orientation or gender identity to students in grades K-4. It also gives parents the right to inspect and review all materials from library books to textbooks.
The chair of Moms of Liberty of Mecklenburg County, a group that advocated for the Parents Bill of Rights, told WBTV she got at least one complaint from a parent regarding EPIC.
“A concerned parent reached out to me last week because a teacher notified him that his ten year old daughter read a particular book that she thought he would want to know about,” Brooke Weiss, Chair of Moms for Liberty, Mecklenburg County, said. “I only explained that the PBOR requires schools to provide the ability for parents to review all curriculum and supplementary materials within the school or by digital means, and I told him he could contact the teacher and request an appointment to do so.”
According to CMS, the decision to remove EPIC was made prior to that complaint.
A spokesperson said the district collected information from Instructional Leaders and Media Coordinators about the impact with the loss of EPIC. They also consulted with legal and based on guidance, the decision was made to remove access during the school day effective February 26th.
The district communicated with principals at a Thursday session on January 15th, and shared how another platform used by the district, SORA, provides access to resources and books for students.
“This is all about choice and parental rights, and parents ultimately feel like they’re losing rights,” Monterrey said. “Ultimately this decision can hurt our most vulnerable students in the district. That is very concerning. Parental rights is having a negative impact on educational access.”
Families can purchase a subscription with EPIC to use outside of the school day, but Monterrey says not all families can afford it.
One CMS teacher, who wanted to remain anonymous, told WBTV that “we are limiting kids’ access to books and a quality resource that helps teachers and students because not every book can be approved by a parent.”
A parent and district employee, who also wanted to remain anonymous, said “It concerns me that children’s reading comprehension skills will decrease as access to virtual books decrease.”
The Parents’ Bill of Rights was enacted in 2023 by Republicans who overrode Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper’s veto of the legislation.
Wisconsin A parent challenged 444 books in Elkhorn. Here's how the district responded.
https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/e...
After three months of consideration, students pleading for the books to be kept, and a local pastor reminding board members that they are "servants of God," the district has emerged from the process.
Most books are back on the shelves. Some books — including Toni Morrison's "Beloved," John Steinbeck's "The Grapes of Wrath" and Alice Walker's "The Color Purple" — are gone from the middle school. Over 100 are on a "restricted" list, requiring parental permission. And, with lessons learned, Elkhorn Area School District Superintendent Jason Tadlock hsaid the district is preparing to change its procedure going forward.
On Nov. 29, Elkhorn parent Melissa Bollinger emailed the principals of the local middle school and high school. She asked them to review the list of books she found had content "harmful to minors" and recommended removal.
For each book, Bollinger included a "Request for Materials Reconsideration" form with the district's logo on it, which Tadlock said was not a district form, and excerpts from the books. She sent 656 pages to the middle school principal and 1,201 pages to the high school principal.
Many of the excerpts were pulled, as Bollinger noted, from BookLooks.org. It's a website launched by a former Moms for Liberty member that helps parents find books that include content related to sexual activity, commentary on racism and LGBTQ+ characters.
Bollinger didn't respond to an interview request from the Journal Sentinel. At a December school board meeting, she identified herself as a parent and "not an outside organization." She said she was raising objections about "violent and p____graphic books."
"We, as a community, need to protect our children from things that we know are harmful," Bollinger said.
At the middle school, principal Ryan McBurney decided to remove 24 books from the school, out of the 163 he reviewed. Those books were moved to the high school. Another 64 are on a "restricted list," available only to eighth graders or younger students who get parental permission.
At the high school, principal Dan Kiel didn't remove any of the 281 books he reviewed, but he put 47 books on a restricted list. Restricted books include: Toni Morrison's "Beloved" and "The Bluest Eye"; Jodi Picoult's "Nineteen Minutes"; Margaret Atwood's "The Handmaid's Tale" and Khaled Hosseini's "The Kite Runner."
To access books on the restricted lists, parents can fill out an online form to grant students access to all restricted books or certain titles. Tadlock shared the form with families on Tuesday. As of Friday, he said 94 parents had already filled out the form to grant full access. He expected the "vast majority" of parents would do so.
Tadlock said principals used three sources to determine whether books were age-appropriate: Common Sense Media, Barnes and Noble and Amazon reviews.
They turned to the same sources in 2021 when the district received the only other challenge Tadlock has experienced. A parent, Kristin Hovestol, asked the middle school to remove "Burn Baby Burn" by Meg Medina and "Everybody Sees the Ants" by A.S. King — books Tadlock said were part of a middle school reading kit compiled by Scholastic.
In an email to Hovestol, Tadlock said he turned to Common Sense Media for recommended age levels for the books, because Amazon and Barnes and Noble seemed to identify age ranges based on reading difficulty rather than content.
Common Sense Media has condemned book banning and said its ratings should "never be used to limit content in libraries or schools," according to a September post by Mandie Caroll, the organization's senior editor of book reviews. Common Sense Media has encouraged reading frequently banned books, a list that includes books that Elkhorn administrators restricted.
Under Elkhorn's standing policy, the district removed challenged books until they could be reviewed. Tadlock said this was "disruptive to the learning environment," especially because some of the books were on the reading list for an Advanced Placement course.
School board members are considering a new draft policy that would keep books on shelves during a review process. Also under the new draft, a review will only be triggered if at least five people request the review.
After the books on Bollinger's list were first removed for review, Tadlock said most people he heard from wanted the books to stay.
"People's dander got up because this was an individual saying, I don't want any kid to have access to these 444 books, rather than just saying, I don't want my own kid to have access to it," Tadlock said. "A lot of parents were like, you can do what you want with your kids but don't tell me how to raise my kids. That's probably the predominant theme that went on."
At a Dec. 10 school board meeting, several students and staff spoke against the idea of removing books. Koda Rebernak, a sophomore, said it felt "disrespectful" that students could have driver's licenses and work jobs but not be allowed access to young-adult fiction.
"This has felt even more disrespectful when many of my peers were able to find that this list of books under review had a pattern of relating to the experiences of minorities and genuine elements in many parts of our lives," Rebernak said.
Some parents spoke in support of Bollinger at the meeting. Crystal Andraska said while some books on the list were "benign" and had literary value, others had "extremely graphic scenes."
"E---ticism has no place in the school library, and neither does books that contain X-rated street lifestyles expressed in a graphic nature involving drug dealing, drug use, prostitution and extreme violence," Andraska said.
A local pastor, Paul Vawter of Emmanuel Baptist, read Scripture at the meeting and told board members that beyond the authority granted to them through democracy, there is a "more fundamental source" to their authority.
"I encourage you to be mindful of where your authority comes from and the real source of it because you are a servant of God," he said, adding: "I am a pastor, and I know that means that I will give account to Him for my service, and I want to encourage you to think of that as well when you think about what you do on the school board."
The following 24 books were removed and transferred to the high school, according to district records:
Six books by Ellen Hopkins: "Burned," "Crank," "Glass," "Identical," "Impulse" and "Smoke"
Seven books by Sarah J. Maas: "Empire of Storms," "Heir of Fire," "Kingdom of Ash," "Queen of Shadows," "The Assassin's Blade," "Throne of Glass" and "Tower of Dawn"
"Beauty Queens" by Libba Bray
"Before I Fall" by Lauren Oliver
"Beloved" by Toni Morrison
"Code Name Verity" by Elizabeth Wein
"I Am the Messenger" by Markus Zusak"
"Life of Pi" by Yann Martel
"Lips Touch Three Times" by Laini Taylor
"Pretty Little Liars" by Sara Shepard
"The Color Purple" by Alice Walker
"The Grapes of Wrath" by John Steinbeck
"The Killer Angels" by Michael Shaara
Dumbest news of the day. I can't believe they actually did this. These people have such dirty minds. I don't remember Mickey's little boy part and I have to look closely to see it.Shorts and shirts added to beloved children's books amid Florida book bans
https://www.cnn.com/videos/us/2024/02...
Better newsBanning books may become harder across Colorado in proposed bill opposed by school boards
https://www.cpr.org/2024/02/27/propos...
The bill received opposition from school board associations, charter schools, and conservative groups. Their reasons varied. Representatives for school boards and charters argued the bill would interfere with local control rules.
“While I personally support the need for diverse materials in libraries and to ensure fair processes are in place for addressing objections, as a director of the [Colorado Association of School Boards], we continue to oppose this bill,” said Lisa Webster, a member of the Summit County School District Board of Education. “This bill still provides prescriptive language that usurps local control from locally elected boards of education.”
The bill’s sponsors said they are working on changes to address some of the concerns that it infringes on districts’ power to set their own policies, but opponents remain concerned.
Webster and other school board members noted that many districts already have processes in place to address complaints about library resources. They said the proposed bill, as originally written, would unnecessarily mandate a new process even though old ones still work.
Other groups, like the conservative organization Moms For Liberty, said the bill reduces parents’ rights. Their leaders objected to what they described as “obscene” content.
“What this bill is essentially doing is reversing our current [law] that protects children from p---philes, providing them with pornographic material and criminalizes parents for trying to remove this material from our children's schools,” Kristy Davis, chair for Moms For Liberty El Paso County.
At the end of the three-hour session, the committee tabled the bill without taking a vote. Cutter said she and other co-sponsors will make significant changes before returning to the committee for action on Wednesday.
“I think we're solid, maybe with tweaks, to the public library side, and it's just a matter of what provisions we're going to include in the school library side,” Cutter said.
A planned amendment Cutter detailed would remove the required process school districts would have to abide by, and instead would allow them to review complaints about library materials in their own ways, as long as they have a detailed process in place.
Go Oregon!Oregon Senate passes bill prohibiting book bans based on race, gender, and more
https://www.koin.com/news/oregon/oreg...
A bill that prohibits school boards or district officials from banning textbooks, instructional materials, or library books has passed the Oregon Senate in what supporters call a win for free speech.
SB 1583 prohibits book bans on the basis of race, gender identity, country of origin, sexual orientation, disability and immigrant status. Democrats say the bill protects the rights of parents to decide what their children read.
Sen. Lew Frederick (D-Portland) said the bill keeps national culture wars out of public schools and libraries.
“Book banning is a widespread tool used to oppress free speech and thought in Oregon and nationwide,” Frederick said. “All kids deserve the opportunity to see themselves, their families, and members of their community represented in the books they read. Oregonians should get to decide what they personally read, not political agendas.”
But according to Senate Republican leader Tim Knopp (R-Bend), Republicans wanted to discuss SB 1583 during a longer legislative session because some Oregonians remain “deeply concerned” about its impacts.
“Democrats framed this bill as an issue of discrimination, but the bigger picture is ensuring Oregon schools provide appropriate reading material to their students to enhance their educational experiences,” Knopp said. “Our minority report recognized that discrimination is wrong, and so is providing children explicit content harmful to their development.”
The bill now heads for the Oregon House of Representatives.
A letter from a student in South Carolina about book bansLetter: Attempts to ban books leave students 'more stranded than we already are'
By Elliott Naddell Submitted to the Post & Courier
https://www.postandcourier.com/columb...
Nevada- Washoe County petitions clash over appropriateness of certain library books for childrenhttps://mynews4.com/news/local/local-...
RENO, Nev. (News 4 & Fox 11) — Two separate petitions have been circulating Washoe County recently, each with more than 1,000 signatures, but two opposite objectives.
One of the petitions aims to remove certain books from Washoe County schools and to restrict access to some of those books by moving them to the adult section in the Washoe County Library.
"They contained what we felt to be p-----phic, obscene material of a s--ual nature, and some are just super vulgar. And these books are in our middle schools, our high schools and in the children's section of our county libraries," Executive Director and Founder of Wake Up Washoe County Nichelle Hull said.
Library Director for the Washoe County Library System Jeff Scott, on the other hand, said the books in question are already in the appropriate sections.
"All the books we purchase are appropriate for the collection, for the intended audience, for children and adults," Scott said.
Residents in favor of restricting the books are adamant that this is not a book ban.
"The goal is just to remove those books from the children's area, from children's and young adult, which is teen. So we're not banning them. We're saying, can you move them to the appropriate area because what they contain is completely adult material," Hull said.
Meanwhile, Jeff Scott argues that moving the books to another section is still a ban in itself.
"Removing access is a ban. So if you have a children's book and you're saying now it requires your parent's permission to get it, that's a book ban," Scott said.
According to Scott, the books that have been challenged at the Washoe County Library are in various stages of review by the Library Board. It is unclear when exactly a final decision will be made on them.
South Carolina is on a rampage. I'm not at all surprised given the results of the primary the other day.Greenville Co. libraries moving books about gender identity out of children’s section
https://www.wspa.com/news/local-news/...
The Greenville County library system’s board of trustees approved moving certain books about gender identity out of the children’s section in library branches.
It’s the newest policy in a long-winded argument about LGBTQ+ materials within the Greenville County library system. It states materials targeting audiences under the age of 12 which affirm gender transitioning are being moved permanently to the parenting and early childhood section of library branches.
But the board said only six of the library system’s 12 branches have parenting and early childhood sections, making those materials less accessible.
“Kids, especially young kids, don’t have to be exposed to that at an early age and they can make that decision when they are a little bit older and have the right mind to make those kinds of decisions,” said Emma Jennings, a Greenville County resident.
The board said the policy change comes after a library patron complained about a specific book that tells the story of a trans fourth grader.
“They specifically came out and stated that the transgender community is who they are going after,” said Susan Ward, president of PFLAG Greenville. “Alan Hill kept saying harmful to children over and over again, how these books are harmful to children. There are transgender children, these books are not harmful, these children are not harmful, these are people who exist, these are families in our community. It makes me angry. It makes me sad.”
Others disagree.
“It is kind of a big topic and it is concerning the development of the body and other stuff so I think when they’re old enough they can travel to the parent section, it’s not like its off limits to kids it’s just less presented to kids,” said Perri Martin, a Greenville County resident.
Like the other adult sections in the library system, children 17 and under need a parent’s permission to check out books from the parenting and early childhood section.
The library system’s materials committee approved the policy about two weeks ago, and last night’s vote by the board finalized it.
Wow! A story about a school that did NOT ban books in Texashttps://www.cbsnews.com/texas/news/co...
Jacob's New Dress
Jacob's Room to Choose
N - In a 6-1 vote, the Denton Independent District School voted to keep two books in the library at Newton Rayzor Elementary.
At issue, books titled "Jacob's New Dress" and "Jacob's Room to Choose." The main character of the series goes on a courageous journey towards wearing a dress to school. The fictional child also deals with bullying of his clothing choices as he goes into the bathroom.
Debi Scaggs and Citizens Defending Freedom filed a grievance to have the books removed from the library where kindergarten through fifth graders have access.
School officials said the two books meet district and state standards. They said since getting the books in 2020; students have checked one of the two pieces of literature out two times.
The low checkout rates didn't douse the flame to get the books removed by a school leaders' vote.
"They have entrusted you to know the difference between educational material and material that amplifies a s--ual experience," Attorney Mitch Little said.
Little even brought copies of books he thought were more suitable for elementary school children.
Dr. Lisa Thibodeaux, Denton ISD Director of Secondary Curriculum, told the board voting to remove the books violates state law and a Supreme Court ruling.
She said books cannot be removed based on ideas and preferences.
The board's vote allowed the books to remain but reaffirmed parents' rights to restrict access to content deemed objectionable.
This should not have happened unless the parent gave permission to check out adult books in either case, it's not this other woman's business. Icebreaker
https://www.wtol.com/article/news/loc...
PERRYSBURG, Ohio — Perrysburg resident Maria Ermie is concerned about a s-----y explicit book ordered by a student that was delivered from Way Public Library to Hull Prairie Intermediate School.
"Icebreaker" is a fiction novel by Hannah Grace, about the love story between a figure skater and a hockey player. Parts of the book graphically describe [adult relations] between the two.
"Sexually explicit, that to me you would find in a s----ually-oriented business, not a library," Ermie said of the book after a meeting at the library on Tuesday.
Ermie said her friend's 11-year-old requested the book while at Hill Prairie. It was delivered from the library to the school and then given to the student. She said the student's parent had no idea.
Ermie would like to see that process change to prevent other students from possibly ordering explicit books, while others at the meeting feel differently.
"The disgusting p____raphy is not in the library. It's probably on the internet," said Joan Rothroch, who was also at the meeting. "That's where the problem probably is. Not the library."
"We're not here to ban. We're just here to make sure kids don't get access to this material," Ermie said. "I empathize, absolutely empathize, and I understand that age-appropriate is important."
Way Library Director Janel Haas said the library started delivering books to students since Hull Prairie was built in 2017 without a library.
She announced at the meeting that library administration is working on a system that would email parents when their kids request books from them while at school.
"The schools will also be reviewing the books when they get to the school before they get into the student's hands," Haas said.
Tom Hosler, superintendent of Perrysburg schools, provided WTOL 11 with the following statement:
"We greatly value our partnership with Way Public Library. Since 2017, Hull Prairie Intermediate students have enjoyed the opportunity to check out books and access materials, which are then delivered to the school and distributed by our staff twice a week. In just the first semester of this school year, over 7,000 books have been checked out by 850 students, offering them a wealth of reading options that surpass what any school library could provide. Families, of course, have the right to decline to have their child access the Way Public Library collection.
We offered our apologies for the discomfort and frustration that this situation has caused a family in the school district. Despite everyone's best efforts, a novel with inappropriate content was caught by our staff days after it was issued to a student.
We have worked closely with the Way Public Library team and moving forward will be sharing with families the titles that their children have checked out in real time, empowering them to review selections based on which titles are most appropriate for their child. We appreciate the dedicated staff at Hull Prairie Intermediate School, who remain committed to reviewing incoming titles and ensuring a positive reading experience for students."
People in attendance said they would like to see stickers on books in the library to say the book is made for an adult audience for when a child is physically in the library.
Haas said the "Icebreaker" is located in the adult section and parents would need to keep an eye on what their child is reading during out-of-school hours.
Minnesota is the latest state to introduce an anti-book banning bill. I'm tapping my foot waiting for my state to do it too. https://literaryactivism.substack.com...
House File 3782 makes changes to the state education code which would make banning books based on ideological or content objection in public schools and libraries illegal. Library and school administration and boards would not have book removal within their purview. The language in the bill makes clear that removal of material is not the only unallowable action. These same groups would not be allowed to restrict age-appropriate materials, either.
Librarians who are licensed with the state to work in the schools, as well as those with the proper education credentials, would be the only ones allowed to manage the collection. Decisions made about the inclusion or exclusion of titles would need to be made in accordance with the American Library Association's Bill of Rights. It is worth noting that this legislation would help emphasize the importance of librarians and their professional knowledge, experience, education, and expertise.
The language in the bill directly addresses the rhetoric surrounding book bans coming from supporters of so-called book removal. "Parental rights" are not undermined by leaving the work of professional library workers to them.
Good news/maybe not good news from my neighbor to the north- New Hampshire.State-Run Book Banning Bill Killed in House
YET a similar bill sits in the Senate. In case you don't know, they're also discussing transgender bathroom laws.
https://www.bostonglobe.com/2024/02/1...
The bill’s prime sponsor, Republican Representative Glenn Cordelli of Tuftonboro, said K-12 schools are making s---ually explicit materials available to minors, and he argued such books could be contributing to rising rates of sexual violence.
To illustrate his point, he began reading a passage from Laurie Halse Anderson’s “Speak,” an award-winning 1999 young adult novel that explores a survivor’s sense of trauma and guilt after her sexual assault. (view spoiler)
The publisher indicates “Speak” is intended for readers 12-18 years old, and the story is about “consent, healing, and finding your voice.” It’s listed among TIME Magazine’s “best YA books of all time.”
House Speaker Sherman A. Packard repeatedly urged Cordelli to keep his remarks in their proper context, and he scolded the Democrats who shouted their objections.
Democratic Representative Lucy M. Weber of Walpole called for a vote on whether Cordelli should be allowed to continue. She said the members understood the point Cordelli was making, but the manner in which he made it was offensive to many and “triggering” to those who have themselves experienced sexual violence.
But the House voted 201-173 to allow Cordelli to continue, and he did so.
“This is not about banning books,” Cordelli said. “It is making sure that your children have access to age-appropriate educational materials. Period.”
Not all GOP members supported Cordelli’s bill.
Republican Representative Bill Boyd of Merrimack proposed an ill-fated amendment that, he said, would acknowledge locally elected school boards (not the seven appointees on the State Board of Education) as the final arbiters of disputes over challenged books.
“Keeping these decisions at the local level holds local decision-makers accountable for their actions on questions of obscenity,” he said. “Placing these decisions with an unelected bureaucratic State Board of Education would politicize decision-making with no accountability to these decision makers as well.”
Ultimately, the House rejected Boyd’s amendment and voted 192-181 to table Cordelli’s unamended bill. Members voted 187-162 later on Thursday to kill the bill.
The bill would give the New Hampshire Department of Education and others the ability to sue schools that fail to comply with any final determination of the centralized appeals process.
“School districts already have processes in place to address book challenges, and New Hampshire already has a state law that addresses harmful materials being given to minors,” Gilles Bissonnette, legal director at the American Civil Liberties Union of New Hampshire said. “If enacted, bills like this would be used as a tool to scare teachers and librarians out of recommending or even offering some books to others.”
Although this proposal, House Bill 1419, is dead, a nearly identical measure, Senate Bill 523, is pending before the other chamber.
A different pending proposal, House Bill 1311, would require local school districts to adopt a policy to govern their process for challenging library materials. Its sponsors include seven Democrats and two Republicans in the House, plus two Democrats in the Senate.
Colorado has a proposed statewide anti-book ban bill and this one town has done it already.https://www.aol.com/colorado-town-pla...
A group of residents who showed concerns about books in a Colorado library last month have sparked a ban they did not foresee this week: a ban on book bans.
The Wellington town board voted 5-2 to pass a resolution that barred the board from restricting access to materials at the Wellington Public Library on Tuesday, The Coloradoan reported.
The move followed an August town board meeting where residents, led by town board member Jon Gaiter’s wife, Christine Gaiter, referred to books ― what she called “p____graphic materials” ― she said weren’t suitable for kids.
Gaiter’s list of 19 books included “The Bluest Eye” by Toni Morrison and “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” by Stephen Chbosky, according to the newspaper.
Gaiter told the board on Tuesday that she wanted restrictions on children accessing the books, not a book ban, but some residents said in August that they did want a ban.
A “majority” of residents “packed” a board room to support the resolution that would ban book bans on Tuesday, according to The Coloradoan.
The Dothan Houston County Public Library in Alabama has made it super easy to ban book.https://www.aol.com/appeal-system-add...
The library’s Board of Trustees Wednesday approved new restrictions that will make it easier to completely ban some books and move other books behind the circulation desk where access will have to be mediated by a staff member.
The way the new changes read, even if a book has great value overall, if it contains graphic illustrations or depicts s-x acts that the library thinks are unnecessary, then the book can be banned.
The board’s new policy adds more restrictive language, emphasizing that books “that contain graphic and gratuitous illustrations or depictions of s--ual acts, unnecessary to the work taken as a whole, will not become part of the collection.”
The library is also going to start putting some books in a “limited access” category, moving them behind the circulation desk, and only allowing people 19 and older to access them.
They say this will apply to books that include what they categorize as “visually explicit depictions of people engaged in s---al activity.”
“Some books do deal with those things in more explicit ways than others, which is why we’ve created this special collection category,” said Warren.
The library is also going to start giving people a chance to appeal if they complain about a library book, but it remains on the shelf or they aren’t happy about the decision.
The revised policy now states that after someone complains about the content of a book or requests a book be removed, three library employees will review the book in question, then make a recommendation to the library director. The director will then decide whether to leave the book where it is, reclassify it and move it to a different part of the library, or remove it from the library altogether.
“Librarians are also cognizant of the fact that something that might be objectionable to one person, might be very meaningful to someone else. So, we look at this process through that lens, and we’re able to make very thoughtful and very conscientious decisions about how we approach this process, ” said Chris Warren, the Director of the Dothan Houston County Library System.
Under the new changes, a patron who is unhappy with the decision can now appeal it directly to the Executive Committee of the Dothan Houston County Library System of Board of Trustees.
All appeals must be sent in written form within ten days of the director’s decision and must give specific details as to why they believe the decision was wrong.
Although the new restrictions create new ways for books to be restricted , the library says it will consider all viewpoints before deciding whether a book should remain or be reclassified or be removed.
Two new Crawford County plaintiffs join federal suit challenging Arkansas’ library obscenity lawOlder teens!
https://arkansasadvocate.com/briefs/t...
In January, 17-year-old Madeline Partain and her mother, Miel, of Crawford County, joined 17 other plaintiffs in the lawsuit against Act 372 of 2023, according to court documents.
The suit originally had 18 plaintiffs when it was filed in June. U.S. District Judge Timothy Brooks temporarily blocked two sections of Act 372 in July, shortly before the law was scheduled to go into effect, and the case is expected to go to trial in mid-October.
Act 372 would alter libraries’ material reconsideration processes and open the door to criminal charges against librarians who distribute content that some consider “obscene” or “harmful to minors.” Brooks enjoined the sections that would create criminal liability and give local elected officials the final say over whether a challenged book can stay on library shelves.
The plaintiffs in the suit include public library systems, independent bookstores, free speech advocates and individual library patrons.
Hayden Kirby of Little Rock was 17 when the suit was filed, and her mother, Jennie Kirby, was a plaintiff as her minor child’s representative. Hayden has since turned 18 and is still a plaintiff while her mother is not.
The other individual citizens challenging Act 372 are Olivia Farrell of Pulaski County, Leta Caplinger of Crawford County, Garland County Library executive director Adam Webb and Central Arkansas Library System executive director Nate Coulter.
CALS, the Fayetteville Public Library and the Eureka Springs Carnegie Public Library are the three public library systems challenging the law.
Earlier this month, former state Sen. Jason Rapert unsuccessfully tried to withhold funding for all three libraries at his first meeting as a member of the Arkansas State Library Board.
Supporters of Act 372, including Rapert, have said LGBTQ+ books should be segregated in sections of libraries only accessible to adults, as written in the partially blocked law.
The Crawford County Library System segregated LGBTQ+ children’s books in 2022 after public backlash, and the county faces two separate lawsuits over the matter, including the one against the state over Act 372.
In the second lawsuit, filed by three parents whose minor children are library patrons, a federal judge denied the plaintiffs’ request for an injunction in September.
Virginia Beach School Board considers committee to keep ‘s--ually explicit content’ out of libraries https://www.pilotonline.com/2024/02/2...
During the Feb. 13 meeting, board member David Culpepper proposed a policy change that, if approved, would create a committee to “ensure there is no s--ually explicit content” in elementary school libraries and create a list of such books for middle and high schools.
The proposal came as a surprise to some on the dais. According to the published agenda, the policy, 6-65, was up for review to adjust its formatting. Culpepper then gave printouts to members of his suggested additions during the discussion. He later told The Virginian-Pilot/Daily Press when the board last discussed changes to this policy one of the concerns was that library media specialists were not “included in an effective manner.”
His proposal would require at least four people be on the committee, along with senior staff and the school board attorney. It was not immediately clear how the committee would function.
“It’s perfectly appropriate for the school board to address the appropriateness of various content that taxpayers pay to provide to minors, including elementary school students,” Culpepper said.
Board member Beverly Anderson said she was against the amendment and raised concerns about bringing forward items for a vote “lickety-split” without public input. Others agreed. Culpeper referred to a statute considered legally sufficient during a 2023 debate, though changes governing library materials didn’t pass then. School board attorney Kamala Lannetti said she was uncomfortable saying whether the proposed language and legal references would be sufficient now without review.
One suggestion was to send the proposal to the policy review committee. However, board member Victoria Manning made a motion not to because she believed the group would not approve and bring it back to the board. Her motion passed. The board then pushed the vote to Tuesday’s meeting.
A division spokesperson said Thursday morning that Lannetti and other staff were still reviewing the proposed amendment.
Jill Blake, a library media specialist at Bayside High School, said if she had known about Culpepper’s proposal, she would have been there to speak against it. She plans to attend Tuesday’s meeting.
She said including library media specialists is a step in the right direction, but she still questions the expectations of a committee. She said high school libraries can receive 500 to 600 books each year — and there are 11 high schools. She does not believe it is reasonable to review each to see if there is one paragraph someone might say meets the state’s definition of “s---ally explicit.”
“When are these four library specialists supposed to do that?” Blake said. “As part of their regular day?”
The amendment would do what Manning pushed for last year. Changes would have required a public list of newly acquired materials at middle and high schools deemed to have s--ually explicit content. The materials would have been banned from elementary school libraries. It also gave a deadline, which many thought wasn’t feasible. Manning previously said it was about ensuring parents were aware of what was available in libraries and protecting children from material that could “cause harm and trauma.”
Her proposed changes failed last summer.
Culpepper said his proposal is “significantly different” by having library media specialists on the committee. Board member Jennifer Franklin voted against last year’s proposal because of the deadline and lack of media specialist involvement. She said she could support Culpepper’s amendment but asked for more review time.
Last year’s often-heated debate went on for months. There were concerns that library materials could be removed based on a phrase, word or image that meets the definition of “s--ually explicit” rather than considering the work as a whole. Others said there needed to be better ways for parents to control what their children can access.
Windsor Oaks Elementary School library media specialist Becky Feld said suggesting there are inappropriate library materials implies that specialists are not properly trained to curate their collections. They are certified and rely on professional journals and peers to determine what is age appropriate. Feld raised concerns that the “sexually explicit content” definition was vague and what one person views as indecent might not be for someone else. So she asks, “Who’s making the decision?”
The division administration stated in a statement Thursday, “We have worked diligently to develop procedures to put parents in the driver’s seat regarding what their children can check out from the library.”
Good news out of Idaho for right now anywayIdaho Senate rejects bill on ‘harmful’ library material. Is bill ‘worse than this’ next?
https://www.aol.com/news/idaho-senate...
Senate lawmakers on Thursday killed a bill to allow Idaho residents to challenge library books they deemed “harmful” to minors, halting for the time being another effort to regulate public book collections and allow penalties against libraries.
What prevented the bill from passing in an 18-17 vote was an unusual accord between Democrats and the far-right bloc of Republicans, the Idaho Freedom Caucus — although they had entirely different reasons for voting “no.”
Most Democrats opposed the bill because they believe that the controversy over library books is largely invented and that allowing lawsuits against libraries could risk shuttering or hindering the knowledge hubs in local communities.
The Republicans who opposed the bill mostly did so because they said it was too complex, or too bureaucratic, and would make it too difficult for parents to question the books on library shelves available to their children.
“This is going to essentially make parents the police of our libraries,” Sen. Scott Herndon, R-Sagle, told lawmakers. “The burden is entirely on them, and I wish we could do that differently.”
Herndon voted no on the bill.
Senate Bill 1289 would have allowed parents or other community members to sue libraries if they believed a library or school board erred in deciding that a book wasn’t “harmful.” It would have required libraries to create committees to review challenged books available to children, and would have given parents the ability to appeal a committee’s decision to a school board or library board, and to the courts.
If library staff members concluded that a book was harmful to minors based on the U.S. Supreme Court’s obscenity test, it could be required to be relocated to an adult section. If the library failed to move the book, a parent could sue and be awarded $250 in statutory damages, plus other “actual damages.”
The bill was crafted by Sen. Geoff Schroeder, R-Mountain Home, and Rep. Jaron Crane, R-Nampa, after the lawmakers separately introduced library bills earlier this year.
Rep. Brent Crane, R-Nampa, who chairs a powerful House committee and is Jaron’s brother, told the Statesman that he will hold meetings with lawmakers to determine a path forward for another library bill — which could mean a second try with an earlier measure or an entirely new piece of legislation.
Schroeder told senators on Thursday that his bill would have provided “a reasoned, deliberative process” to answer a question “burning in everyone’s minds”: whether libraries have harmful, or p____raphic, books and other materials in their catalogs available to children. He said his bill would not ban books or ideas.
At public hearings this year, testimony largely opposed passing bills to regulate librarians. Some testimony in favor of the legislation featured objections to books that include gay characters or relationships, and even claims that libraries were “grooming” children for s-x trafficking.
Sen. Cindy Carlson, R-Riggins, said she opposed the bill because “you have to challenge the book in order for the material to be removed.” [??!!!!!!!!!!]
Sen. Linda Hartgen, R-Twin Falls, said she was queasy about any bill that allowed for lawsuits against the “safest place” in her community, but she voted in favor, saying she didn’t want something “worse than this” instead.
While Democrats largely maintained their disapproval for library bills, multiple members noted that this version included lesser penalties than previous iterations. A bill that failed two years ago could have jailed librarians who ran afoul of the law, while a bill vetoed by Gov. Brad Little last year could have handed them $2,500 fines.
The changes were enough to convince Sen. Carrie Semmelroth, D-Boise, who voted yes.
“It’s the best bill yet we’ve seen on this subject,” said Sen. Rick Just, D-Boise, though he still opposed it because “there is no plague of p___graphy in our libraries.”
Senate Pro Tem Chuck Winder, R-Boise, cautioned lawmakers before the vote that if this one didn’t pass, there could be a harsher bill offered later this session.
“For those of you who say you’re not ever going to vote for a library bill, your opposition ... may not kill that bill,” Winder said. “And you may end up with something a lot worse than what’s before you today.”
Winder said he didn’t mean his words as a threat, but the Boise senator told colleagues that he does not want to adjourn without a new library law.
“So I really ask you to think hard about what you might get if you don’t get this one,” he said.
Wisconsin is on a good roll...Like no kid ever wondered why there was a section in the video store kids couldn't go or desperately wanted to go in there. And once again we get books compared to cigarettes. Say what?
https://www.thenorthwestern.com/story...
Winnebago County Board has withdrawn proposals that supported creating 'adult-only sections' in libraries for 's--ally explicit content'
District supervisors Shanah Zastera and George Bureau initially proposed to create adult-only sections for materials containing s--ually explicit content.
Winnebago County Board of Supervisors won’t be voting to restrict minors’ access to certain material in public libraries anymore, as a pair of resolutions targeting books like “Gender Queer” were pulled from the Feb. 27 meeting agenda.
The other resolution, also introduced by Zastera and Bureau, advocated for funding provided by the county to the Winnefox Library System and county libraries no longer be utilized for the American Library Association.
The ALA deems that any policies and procedures that deny minors’ access to all library resources is in violation of its Bill of Rights.
According to County Board of Supervisors Chairman Thomas Egan, the proposed resolutions were pulled because they didn’t follow the proper procedure of going through the committee first to be proposed as an ordinance.
Both resolutions can be reintroduced at any time, but there are doubts within the board that this will happen considering Zastera has opted not to seek reelection for the District 32 seat.
The proposals were met with widespread criticism on social media, particularly drawing the ire of the LGBTQ+ community, as the book “Gender Queer” was the only one referenced in the resolutions.
But Bureau said this isn’t about targeting one community as much as it’s about protecting minors from what he deemed age-appropriate material.
“I draw the parallel here to putting cigarettes behind the counter so only adults can access them because they’re not age-appropriate,” Bureau said in an interview with the Northwestern before the resolutions were pulled.
“I hear from the constituents in my district, so we’re not trying to single out any particular groups, we’re just trying to protect our children from seeing s---ally explicit acts and making the access to that controlled.
“And these are still just recommendations to the libraries, who can choose to ignore them, but what we’re saying as a county is that our children don’t need to be exposed to everything just like you wouldn’t expose them to a Playboy centerfold,” he added.
Maryland- Protests interrupt Moms for Liberty meeting about removing books in Howard County schoolshttps://www.thebaltimorebanner.com/ed...
The conservative parents’ group met Monday night at Howard’s Central Branch library in Columbia to brainstorm how they could get books they deemed inappropriate out of their children’s school libraries. Their guest speaker for the evening was Jessica Garland, who led a successful book-removal campaign in Carroll County. The Howard chapter wanted the playbook.
The chair of the chapter, Lisa Geraghty, knew protesters were coming, but anticipated only a few dozen. However, the meeting room was flooded with protesters in the seats, on the floor and standing along the walls. Geraghty and Garland were heckled throughout their speeches and a librarian warned the audience not to yell during the presentation.
Christie Lassen, spokesperson for the Howard County Library System, told The Banner via email that Moms for Liberty had reserved the meeting room at the Central Branch, which the library system’s policy allows, but “use of library meeting rooms does not constitute HCLS endorsement of the users or their beliefs. As public libraries, it is our role and responsibility to provide space for community conversations, and no one may be excluded based on beliefs, points of view, or affiliation of the sponsors or participants.”
Lassen said the system supports the First Amendment and the freedom to read.
Howard County Public School System’s board members have no plans to [mass ban books] Instead, they’ll rely on their librarians and existing book selection processes.
That doesn’t bother Geraghty. Her group already knows the board’s position, and she won’t let it impact their campaign, she said. The protesters aren’t a bother to her, either. She’s used to them showing up at meetings and they’ve often been respectful and peaceful.
But it was a different story on Monday. Protesters interrupted, called out questions and voiced their opposition throughout the 1 1/2-hour meeting as Moms for Liberty members tried shushing them. Geraghty, who started her remarks by explaining what Moms for Liberty is, was met with giggles by people in the audience when she said the group is nonpartisan and nonpolitical. Her voice was drowned out by the crowd when she said, “We equate social justice ideologies to a religion.”
“We did not target homosexuals, we did not target heterosexuals, we did not target trans,” Garland said, adding that they only removed s---ally explicit books.
When she took questions at the end, one woman said, “I was 4 years old when I was first s--ually assaulted and wrote about it. Why do you think it’s OK to take my voice away?”
he audience cheered as Garland tried to explain that was not what she was trying to do.
Carroll’s vice chapter chair pushed back on the audience while sticking to her talking points. At one point, she told the audience “you are the abnormal ones” for letting their kids read s--ually explicit content. The room erupted in dissent.
The plan for the Monday meeting was for Moms for Liberty to hear what Garland had to say, then take those notes to an upcoming book committee meeting later this week, Geraghty said. She didn’t want to share the list of books the group plans to challenge just yet, but said Maia Kobabe’s “Gender Queer: A Memoir” is one of them. The Howard County chapter will first target books in high schools that, she said, amount to “p----graphy,” then challenge the books that talk about gender and sexuality.
Moms for Liberty, a conservative parent nonprofit, has been criticized for targeting books by LGBTQ authors and authors of color. Geraghty says those critics are creating a false narrative and the group’s only focus is s---ually explicit content.
“The left just likes to make things up,” she said. “If you don’t believe in their ideology, then you are wrong and a bigot.”
Her Moms for Liberty chapter is critical of the Howard County Public School System embracing what Geraghty calls “social justice ideology.” It’s why she pulled her daughter out of the school system five weeks ago.
“You walk into a school and see 50 pride flags,” she said. “It’s way over the top.”
She said Moms for Liberty wants to bring public attention to these issues in Howard County schools and inspire people to run for school boards or the state legislature.
*sigh* Texas...Lake Travis ISD considers improving parental access to library books online
https://communityimpact.com/austin/la...
Lake Travis ISD officials discussed updating campus library websites and making it easier for parents to browse library books online at a recent meeting.
Over the past few months, community members have voiced both concerns and support for removing challenged books from district libraries.
The overview
Amanda Prehn, LTISD director of elementary curriculum and instruction, provided an update on the district’s library services at the Feb. 21 board of trustees meeting.
The district is working to adopt or consider some of the following changes to its library offerings, Prehn said, including:
Updating the district’s library policy to align with new guidelines from the Texas State Library and Archives Commission
Moving to a districtwide book reconsideration committee that is randomly selected instead of being appointed by campus principals
Streamlining campus library websites to include similar information
Creating videos for parents on how to use the district’s online library database to search books
Adopting new features from its book vendor to increase parental engagement
Some board members suggested the district improve the process for parents to search library books online by specific topics known as tags. Parents may use an advanced filter to search books by age range, subject and author, and ask campus librarians to restrict their child’s access to certain topics, Prehn said.
“There are some pretty robust search tools within our database that [are] easy for parents to navigate and use,” Prehn said. “We want to make sure that we're putting that information out there, so everybody can easily access that.”
Prehn gave an example that a parent could restrict their child from reading any books about cats; however, Place 3 board member Erin Archer asked if the library system could flag more serious topics, like suicide. Board President John Aoueille requested a list of all current book tags.
“The tags—that's the key to making our parents in our district comfortable,” Aoueille said. “The big tags are going to be gender fluid. They're going to be violence. It’s going to be explicit materials. It’s going to be language. It’s all of those things that our parents are asking us for.”
The district launched an online form last year allowing parents and community members to challenge books and see books under review. Five library resources were challenged from December to January, Prehn said. Decisions on two of the books were appealed and will go to the board of trustees for a final vote, she said.
Since December, many community members have attended board meetings to speak against the district banning books after the board of trustees voted to remove and transfer three books from campus libraries at a Nov. 15 meeting. The board's vote reversed the decisions of a reconsideration committee and district administrators to keep the materials in campus libraries.
Good news from Maine, as usual, Gender Queer is allowed to stay because it's not you know... taken as a whole it's relevant and important. Maine school district votes against removal of one of the nation’s most-challenged books
https://www.aol.com/maine-school-dist...
Board members of Maine’s School Administrative District (MSAD) 6 during a Monday evening meeting voted 10-1 to keep Kobabe’s book in school libraries, with board member Julie Anderson casting the sole dissenting vote.
Anderson last month was the only board member to back a proposal to ban the 1994 book “It’s Perfectly Normal,” which educates preadolescent children about puberty and sexual health and identity.
The Nowhere Girls was banned by the board in Brevard County (FL) schools, despite the review committee saying they should keep it on shelves.https://www.floridatoday.com/restrict...
The Heartstopper graphic novels are being challenged in the Milford Schools (CT). 10 year olds don't belong in Middle School. Tough potatoes that your daughter is a year younger than all the other students. She's not the only kid in the school. And why haven't they taught sex ed before 7th and 8th grade? SO what happens when a 3rd or 4th grader gets her period and other girls have questions?https://www.milfordmirror.com/news/ed...
Superintendent of Schools Anna Cutaia is pondering whether to pull Alice Oseman's "Heartstopper" graphic novel series from a middle school library at the request of a group of parents who said they feel as it inappropriate for that age group.
Parent Rebecca Lattanzi and Harborside Middle School Parent Teacher Organization Vice President Malinda Childs met with Cutaia and other school leaders Friday to discuss Lattanzi's contention that the book's content was too adult for sixth-graders such as her daughter, who got a copy of one of the four books in the (so far) five-volume series that the school library carries.
"We would never ask for a book to be banned. We recognize that everybody deserves to be represented regardless of their background," Childs said. "The question here is the age-appropriateness of a book. That came about because of a (then) 10-year-old checking that book out."
The book, Lattanzi said, features explicit curse words, anti-gay slurs in a bullying context, mental health and eating disorders and frank discussions of body parts and the impact of puberty upon a group of boys and girls. She said she knows about 20 parents who share her views.
Given that sixth-graders aren't yet taught all of these things as part of the school curricula, Lattanzi questioned why school officials thought it was appropriate among a mix of books viewable by children like her daughter, who started Kindergarten at age 4 because her birthday is in September.
Seventh and eighth grade health classes cover the more interactive aspects of sexuality, with sixth-grade classes dealing more with puberty, she said.
"It seems concerning when they haven’t had the education yet," Lattanzi said. "Even if my daughter was a non-reader, the pictures mirror what is going on in the story. It is a graphic novel. They (readers) can easily see what is going on in the story."
Cutaia said she has been following the school system's reconsideration process. That's the multi-step procedure approved in October in which school officials form a committee to review books questioned by parents or others before submitting a recommendation to the superintendent, who makes a final decision.
"I have been gathering research on this topic and have personally reviewed books and other materials available in our school library collections. As an additional part of this work, I am collecting information from all points of view — including parents, teachers, students, and administrators," Cutaia said in a statement. "Because we are in the final step of this process, we are not able to comment further on any decisions made previous to this, but wish to assure everyone that we are approaching this topic with the care and consideration it deserves."
"Heartstopper" has been banned or faced calls for bans from parents in counties or municipalities in Florida, Iowa, Michigan, Mississippi and South Carolina while receiving commercial and critical support for its generally uplifting, humorous and gentle handling of the coming-of-age struggles of teens. Most of the criticisms seemed to occur in 2022 and 2023.
ADVERTISEMENT
Article continues below this ad
Oseman's website doesn't specify recommended ages, but includes content warnings about her several series of graphic novels that specify a range of activities that parents might find questionable for their children.
More than a dozen parents questioned the fitness of the books for middle school students at the Harborside PTO Facebook page, including several who said they wrote to Cutaia to protest. Lattanzi said she found a lot to like in Oseman's series.
"It opens the window for great conversations with character and the opportunities for students to see themselves in the characters in this series, but at the high school level. Not the middle school," she said. "If they have posters in the (school) hallway saying that the f-word is bad language, then I question why it should be in books. It is a hard concept for 10 to 12 years to understand when to say to them, you can’t say it but you can read it."
Cutaia did not say when she expects to reach a decision.
A school in Florida has their first challenge! Pasco school's first formal book challenge debates 'The Letter Q'
https://www.wusf.org/education/2024-0...
Pasco resident Rebecca Yuengling, who said she has two high school-aged children, petitioned for the removal of the book from Gulf Middle School in New Port Richey, calling it inappropriate for minors.
Only one copy was available throughout the district, and was removed while the review process played out since Yuengling objected to the book based on "alleged p----graphic and s--ually explicit content."
"The Letter Q" features letters from 63 LGBTQ+ authors addressing their younger selves. Scholastic, the book's publisher, writes: "Through stories, in pictures, with bracing honesty, these are words of love and understanding, reasons to hold on for the better future ahead."
The meeting held over Zoom on Monday consisted of an hour of discussion from the ten-person committee, which is composed of teachers, principals, a counselor and other administrators.
Most, including Rushe Middle School principal David Salerno, spoke about the book's merits while conceding that "some letters could have probably been left out."
"But I think that the majority of them really did accomplish what the author intended," said Salerno, "and that is to give hope, to help the reader, who may be struggling, know that life as an adult will be successful."
Gulf Middle principal Amy Riddle said the book may be more appropriate for older grade levels, but agreed that the book could offer hope to LGBTQ+ students.
According to the district's policy, the committee has five school days from Monday's meeting to issue their final recommendation to Riddle, who will then inform Yuengling of the decision within 10 days.
If Yuengling objects to the final ruling, she can appeal the decision to Pasco Supt. Kurt Browning.
During the hearing, Yuengling said that some passages in the book "glamorized" an inappropriate relationship between a minor and adult, as well as substance abuse and suicide. In addition, Yuengling said the book "pushes" ideas of gender construct and identity, which she said she does not believe in and violates state law.
In her written complaint, Yuengling also objected to references to the Trevor Project, saying that "children should not be given a resource to contact a 3rd party, TrevorSpace, where they can talk to unknown adults about their sexuality."
The Trevor Project is a nonprofit organization focused on suicide prevention and mental health for LGBTQ+ youth.
This isn't the first time Yuengling has accused the district of violating state legislation. In 2022, after the Parental Rights Law went into effect, a contentious feud between Yuengling and the district on LGBTQ-related issues prompted the district's superintendent to step in and reassign Yuengling's daughter to another high school, according to a report from the Tampa Bay Times.
Sad news from Coloradothe anti-book ban bill in the state has died in committee.
https://www.cpr.org/2024/02/27/propos...
That amendment failed 4-3, with Committee Chair Janet Buckner voting against it. On a subsequent vote, the unamended bill also ultimately failed, 5-2.
:
Questions raised about censorship in the libraryPERRYSBURG, Ohio (WTVG) - Kids are getting their hands on s--ually explicit material through the library. Now, Perrysburg residents want something done. This is after parents say a student was reading an inappropriate book.
https://www.13abc.com/2024/02/28/ques...
Who is responsible when a book gets into the wrong hands? Is is the library or the parents? It depends on who you ask.
Residents in Perrysburg gathered at Way Public Library Tuesday night. The question on the table, who should censor adult books in the library? Currently there is no system in place.
“I have an 11-year-old daughter at HPI and it kind of freaked me out that my daughter could order that book without me knowing about it,” concerned parent Tom Underwood said.
Weeks ago parents said a student at Hull Prairie Intermediate School was caught reading an adult book at school. The school partners with Way Library allowing students to choose the book of their choice. Citizens for censorship at tonight’s meeting believe that the responsibility is on the library to regulate what the child reads.
“In my opinion the s--ually explicit books need to be in a special area that children are not allowed,” concerned resident Maria Ermie said.
Citizens against censorship believe it’s a decision made at home.
“I think that’s something that a family has to decide I don’t think that’s anything that librarians have to make the decision for people,” concerned resident Kathy Helmick said.
Way Public Library Director Janel Haas said the library has unrestricted access, limiting how much the library can sensor.
“We immediately started working with the schools to add some layers of protection so that it we can try to prevent it from happening again,” Haas said.
Haas said the library will start sending out an email list of books checked out to parents before the books are sent to the school.
The email system will be put in place next year. In the meantime, the school will now be reviewing the books that come into the school.
Questions raised about censorship in the libraryPERRYSBURG, Ohio (WTVG) - Kids are getting their hands on s--ually explicit material through the library. Now, Perrysburg residents want something done. This is after parents say a student was reading an inappropriate book.
https://www.13abc.com/2024/02/28/ques...
Who is responsible when a book gets into the wrong hands? Is is the library or the parents? It depends on who you ask.
Residents in Perrysburg gathered at Way Public Library Tuesday night. The question on the table, who should censor adult books in the library? Currently there is no system in place.
“I have an 11-year-old daughter at HPI and it kind of freaked me out that my daughter could order that book without me knowing about it,” concerned parent Tom Underwood said.
Weeks ago parents said a student at Hull Prairie Intermediate School was caught reading an adult book at school. The school partners with Way Library allowing students to choose the book of their choice. Citizens for censorship at tonight’s meeting believe that the responsibility is on the library to regulate what the child reads.
“In my opinion the s--ually explicit books need to be in a special area that children are not allowed,” concerned resident Maria Ermie said.
Citizens against censorship believe it’s a decision made at home.
“I think that’s something that a family has to decide I don’t think that’s anything that librarians have to make the decision for people,” concerned resident Kathy Helmick said.
Way Public Library Director Janel Haas said the library has unrestricted access, limiting how much the library can sensor.
“We immediately started working with the schools to add some layers of protection so that it we can try to prevent it from happening again,” Haas said.
Haas said the library will start sending out an email list of books checked out to parents before the books are sent to the school.
The email system will be put in place next year. In the meantime, the school will now be reviewing the books that come into the school.
Catawba County Schools (NC) discussed hiring a court reporter for the upcoming hearing on books one of the school board members is complaining about.https://12ft.io/proxy
Book challenger and school board member Michelle Teague kicked off the Catawba County Schools work session Monday morning with a discussion on temporarily suspending the district’s book challenge policy.
Teague said suspending the policy would allow the board to eliminate the need for a hearing and place the next challenge on the regular meeting agenda. Teague said suspending the policy would also eliminate the need for a court reporter.
Court reporters, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, “create word-for-word transcriptions at trials, depositions and other legal proceedings.”
Teague said that since there are meeting minutes and regular meetings are now recorded, there would be no need for a court reporter. Teague’s logic is that hiring a court reporter is expensive.
Chairman Jeff Taylor said the book hearings are considered quasi-judicial proceedings.
“There is the potential for … someone to challenge us legally in court,” Taylor said. “And our reason for having a court reporter here at those times is so that, if such a challenge or lawsuit occurs, we have an exact transcript of everything that was said, as it was said.”
Taylor added, “I think in any legal action, you are required to submit a transcript, and I don’t know that anyone that we have would be either qualified or able to transcribe every word said at a meeting.”
Board Attorney Crystal Davis was not present to give legal counsel.
Teague suggested outsourcing a court reporter to transcribe meetings based on the recordings. Board member Leslie Barnette asked what advantage that would give the board. Teague said, “I’m sure it would be less expensive.”
Taylor said, “That would expose us to tremendous potential for litigation, which could end up costing the county and our board money that would far supersede whatever we’re paying a court reporter.”
Teague said, again, that if the board temporarily suspended its book challenge policy, the next book challenge conversation could be an item on the agenda at the next regular meeting rather than a legal hearing. Barnette asked what the advantage would be. Teague said it would reduce the number of meetings.
“I think it’s ironic that the person causing the meeting is worried about us having too many meetings,” Barnette said.
“I’m not worried about having two meetings,” Teague said. Earlier in the meeting, Teague said cutting the number of meetings by making the next book hearing a regular discussion item would be an easier process.
“If the challenge is worthy of our time, if it’s worthy of the committee’s review time, then I think we owe it to give it a due process hearing on its own,” Taylor said. “I agree with you, I’m not a huge fan of having to come twice a month. But if that’s what it takes to get through this process, I’m willing to buckle down and do that.”
Taylor said he is not certain the board can temporarily suspend its own policies anyway. Teague said she has seen other school boards suspend their policies. She did not name the other boards.
At the meeting, the board set the next book hearing for March 18.
The hearing will focus on Jodi Picoult’s “Nineteen Minutes.” Teague challenged the book for s--ually explicit material, according to the request for reconsideration form.
Nineteen Minutes” is the last of the 24 books that Teague challenged. This will be the final hearing on books Teague challenged, adding up to almost two years of debate and review.
Scary news from Idaho. Contrast with the ongoing saga in Massachusetts!An Idaho sheriff entered a public library to find a book complained about
https://www.reckon.news/news/2024/02/...
This Idaho sheriff thinks he has the right to raid your library and decide what you can read
Caught on camera, an local sheriff’s “obscenity” hunt in a library clashes with First Amendment rights, sparking a fiery battle over what kids should be allowed to read.
The footage shows Kootenai County Sheriff Robert Norris searching a local library for a young adult novel, “Identical” by Ellen Hopkins, which he deemed “obscene.”
Norris was accompanied by a member of a local citizen’s group, CleanBooks4Kids, advocating the removal of what they consider inappropriate materials from libraries. The footage reveals the sheriff expressing a desire to use the book as part of a “political stunt.”
This isn’t the first the sheriff has tried to take matters into his own hands.
In August, Norris said he was “shocked” and “disturbed” at some of the books available to youth at local libraries and admitted to choosing to pay for copies to retain them, rather than returning them. The other book he borrowed and hasn’t returned is “Deal with It! A Whole New Approach to Your Body, Brain, and Life as a gURL” by Esther Drill, Heather McDonald and Rebecca Odes, a comprehensive and frank resource for teenage girls covering body changes, mental health and relationships.
The sheriff has defended his actions, stating his concern lies with protecting children from “inappropriate” materials. He has not elaborated further on what legal basis, if any, he believes could be used to remove material from the library.
The incident has sparked significant backlash from library patrons, educators, and advocates of intellectual freedom. They argue that the sheriff’s actions represent a form of censorship and an overreach of authority, highlighting that libraries follow established procedures for selecting and handling materials.
Concerns have also been voiced that the incident could have a chilling effect on librarians’ abilities to serve their communities.
To avoid being called a book banner, one Tennessee lawmaker is proposing a new bill where anyone could get books relocated in libraries.https://www.newschannel5.com/news/ten...
"Countless constituents are concerned that public and school libraries, nationwide, are making p___graphic materials available to minors — and yes I said p___graphic," said Rep. John Ragan, R-Oak Ridge during the House Department and Agencies Subcommittee.
"Since this is going to be broadcast, I’m not going to be graphic. But there are pictures that are p___graphic by anybody’s standard. They're put in children’s books and they’re put on the library for children," said Ragan during an interview with NewsChannel 5.
It turns out, according to the Knoxville News Sentinel, Anderson County became outraged over sexual education and LGBTQ+ books being accessible at their libraries, to readers of any age.
"Let the people be involved as opposed to unelected, undemocratically accountable people," said Ragan.
That's why he's proposing a new state law that would let concerned individuals petition for a book to be relocated to the restricted section.
If the bill passes, those wanting to file a petition have to notify the library 30 days in advance. If the two sides agree, it all ends there.
However, if the two sides can't agree, actually filling out the petition is pretty complicated. First you have to do a little math. In each county, you have to calculate what five percent of the county's voting population that voted in the last gubernatorial election. That's the number of signatures you need. "If it’s declared valid, then the library must take action at that point to protect minors," said Ragan.
There is an appeal process the library or the petitioners can go through. Also, the petitioners have to put down a money deposit to move forward.
But Cari Lambert, a member of the Rutherford County Library Alliance, says the obscene content is likely being taken out of context.
"It’s so infuriating, we have constitutionally guaranteed rights," said Lambert. "Those being used in comprehensive sex education materials are not child p___raphy."
The RCLA was formed to oppose book censorship. She thinks Ragan's bill is a classic example.
"Then you’re taking a few parents, and they get to parent everybody’s kid and tell them: No you can’t protect your child and teach them what they need to know because I don’t like it," she said.
But Rep. Ragan says the content and context is irrelevant when citizens don't get a say.
"The taxpayers are the ones supporting these libraries -- and in my mind -- taxpayers should get a direct say," said Ragan.
The bill passed out of the House Departments and Agencies Subcommittee on Thursday.
It still has several steps to take before it reaches the House floor.
The bill has not reached the first committee in the Tennessee Senate yet.
More good news from MaineMe and Earl and The Dying Girl will remain on shelves in MSAD 44 (ME).
Residents ask library board to change course, accept subscriptions to conservative publicationshttps://www.timesrepublican.com/news/...
At the Marshalltown Public Library Board of Trustees meeting, most of them asking the board to reconsider its previous decision not to subscribe to two conservative publications, The Epoch Times newspaper and American Rifleman magazine.
After the Marshall County Republicans sent out an email urging their members to attend the meeting and advocate for the inclusion of conservative publications in the library, a total of 10 speakers signed up to make their voices heard during the public comment period at the end of the regular agenda. The first, Marshall County Republicans Co-Chair Dave Engel, told the board the library was one of the best in the state but felt that readers should be exposed to a wide variety of opinions, including those expressed in The Epoch Times and American Rifleman.
He also cited a UNESCO public library manifesto from 1949 — “The library is a prerequisite to let citizens make use of the right to information and freedom of speech. Free access to information is necessary in a democratic society (for) open debate and creation of public opinion.”
When he was a professor at MCC, Engel said he encouraged his students to seek out all points of view, and he wasn’t sure how they could do so without all of them being freely available. Steve Licke spoke next and endorsed adding the two publications to the shelves, noting that sponsors have offered to pay for both so that the library would not incur any costs.
Mark Steinberg, a retired community college administrator and process improvement specialist, hoped for a compromise and a solution that would contribute to the betterment of the community. Tom Weber thanked the board for its hard work and called the library a great asset to Marshalltown where his grandkids love to visit, and he also offered his wholehearted endorsement of The Epoch Times for its wide range of coverage despite his disappointment that the paper doesn’t include a sports section.
Linda Huston Cakerice, flanked by her husband Lon, described herself as a supporter of the library who often checks out multiple books before heading south for the winter, and she was able to find some of her favorite Christian books during a giveaway last fall. She then shifted focus to the concepts of DEI — diversity, equity and inclusion — and wondered if those principles also applied to conservative Christian viewpoints.
John Worden of Green Mountain, who has led the push to get the publications added to the library’s shelves, started by lamenting that his statements of concern have been rejected by the board for the last 13 months and expressed frustration with Library Director Sarah Rosenblum, accusing her of circumventing policy and preventing the board from engaging in dialogue on the topic.
“The board accepts the policy deviation and refuses to correct it. Allowing the dialogue would afford all patrons the opportunity to discredit disingenuous, subjective statements regarding the request for materials,” Worden said.
He went on to recount emails between Rosenblum and Maryann Mori of the State Library of Iowa — obtained through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request — that labeled him a problem patron, a harasser and a bully who regarded himself as the mayor of the unincorporated town where he lives. Worden felt the director and the board should look in the mirror regarding the legislature’s “War on Libraries” and foresaw three potential courses of action for Rosenblum: continuing on the current path of not allowing the publications and “dragging down public perception” of the library, committing to a compromise to allow them in or resigning from her position.
Garrison Oppman said he was relatively new to the community but wanted to get more involved. Oppman discussed the principles of the Constitution and the First Amendment and felt the Epoch Times presented “both sides of issues.”
“I like that. I listen to mainstream media. I listen to some conservative ones. I think that’s good for us to be able to look at the facts and see both sides and try to make an opinion,” he said.
Ray Mitchem, a retired biology teacher who has supported Worden since the early days of the controversy, felt the science reporting in The Epoch Times was the most accurate he had read.
He said he and Worden had both been cordial and cooperative despite “being yelled at” a few times and wondered why a compromise couldn’t be reached. Mitchem said he has been bringing The Epoch Times to the library each week and believes it is something the public “needs to have.”
Mark Eaton reiterated his support for the requests of the other commenters and asked the board to consider recording its meetings and posting them on YouTube after the fact to allow those who can’t attend to watch. The final commenter of the night, Friends of the Public Library Board Member Linda Holvik, struck a decidedly different tone than her predecessors.
“This issue being discussed tonight is a dead horse that has been beaten beyond all recognition, and it is time to stop,” she said.
After adjournment, Board of Trustees Vice President Kevin Pink, who led the meeting in the absence of President Tonya Gaffney, told the T-R he did not believe the board would be revisiting the matter.
According to Worden, he originally requested that the library purchase the subscriptions ($160 a year for The Epoch Times and $12 a year for American Rifleman), and in August of 2022, David Bursley offered to pay for a one-year subscription to The Epoch Times to “gauge response” from the public before offering more years. Rosenblum asked Bursley to commit to three more years, and he declined.
Last May, Mitchem offered a three year subscription to The Epoch Times that was declined, and Monte Eaton also offered to direct his lifetime American Rifleman subscription to the library.
The Garfield County Public Library District (CO) is potentially going to be taken over by county commissioners.https://soprissun.com/garco-report-co...
Library board president Adrian Rippy-Sheehy presented the commissioners (BOCC) with several updates, including an overview of the recent library-sponsored housing forum at the Ute Theater in Rifle, which the BOCC did not attend.
John Lepkowski told the BOCC that he applied for the library board vacancy and that he returned all 35 of the Manga books he had checked out of the Silt Library, ostensibly to protect the community from what he considers to be p___graphic content.
At the end of Monday’s meeting, the BOCC went into executive session with the county attorney to discuss library board appointment issues. After about 20 minutes, they emerged with an action item.
“Mr. Chair, I would like to move that this board directs staff that we take over the appointment…” blurted Jankovsky, quickly correcting himself. “Not ‘take over’,” he said. “That we take control of the appointments to the library board, which means advertising, looking at the applications and looking at all of the potential applicants to be on the board, and that we do that immediately for the position that’s vacant right now in Rifle.”
Jankovsky said that this move is in line with what the BOCC does with other county boards and is “standard operating procedure.”
“So, we’re not stepping outside of our authority to do this,” said Martin. It was a unanimous decision in favor of the idea.
A letter was drafted by the county attorney Monday afternoon, signed by Martin, sent to Rippy-Sheehy, and, upon request, was also sent to The Sopris Sun. It states “The BOCC has determined it will be advertising, accepting applications, interviewing, and appointing the trustee for the Rifle area to sit on the GCPLD Board of Trustees. Please modify your posting to reflect this decision by the BOCC. Please forward any applications the GCPLD received to the BOCC. You will be notified of the date and time for the interviews should you and the other trustees wish to participate in this process.”
GCPLD Executive Director Jamie LaRue told The Sopris Sun on Monday, before the letter was sent, that the trustees received no advance notice of the BOCC’s direction. “Nor have we yet received any formal communications from them about this sudden break in longstanding practice. It is a cause for concern,” he said in an email.
Mod
An Idaho sheriff entered a public library to find a book complained about
https://www.reckon.news/news/2024/02/...-..."
That sheriff needs a darn good spanking and him and his relentlessly publicly shamed. If I had been at that library, I would have very loudly called Robert Norris a NAZI and yes even if it meant being arrested.
Manybooks wrote: "That sheriff needs a darn good spanking and him and his relentlessly publicly shamed. If I had been at that library, I would have very loudly called Robert Norris a NAZI and yes even if it meant being arrested..."Yeah and he stated it was a political stunt, in contrast with the plainclothes detective in Massachusetts who went into the school looking for a book and backed off when they investigated the book and saw it was fine and not you know the p word and others vouched for the teacher but not the custodian who filed the complaint.
Oh and I don't think they mind being labeled Nazis. The MAGA Republics have aligned themselves with the white supremacist groups, NeoNazis and declared their intent of overthrowing the Constitution and instituting a theocracy their way. So yes, Nazis.
After dispute with Somali parents, St. Louis Park, Minnesota school board says state should clarify how far book challenges can goSchool board says state’s opt-out law is too broad; Somali mom says pushback shows “hostility toward religious parents.”
https://sahanjournal.com/education/st...
The St. Louis Park school board is calling for a law change, following a legal dispute over whether families could choose not to read books with LGBTQ+ characters.
In the fall, six Somali Muslim families threatened to sue the St. Louis Park Public Schools when they said the district had denied their requests to remove their children from storytime with picture books featuring LGBTQ+ characters. Under Minnesota law, parents have the right to review instructional materials and, if they object, make “reasonable arrangements” for alternative instruction. In mid-February, the law firms representing the families declared victory when they said the St. Louis Park school district had granted the parents’ requests.
But in Wednesday night’s school board meeting, board members made clear that while they intended to follow the law, they also believed that the law needed to be changed. In their resolution, they called on the Legislature to make clear that representation of protected classes—including race, religion, gender identity, and sexual orientation—could not be a basis for seeking alternative instruction.
“The way this law currently reads means that someone can opt out of anything for any reason,” said board member Anne Casey. “If protected classes aren’t excluded, someone could come in and say, I don’t want my child to learn about people of color. I don’t want my child to learn about Jewish people. I don’t want my child to learn about people with disabilities. Those are literally all legal under the current iteration of this law, and that does not sit well with me.”
The resolution also provides specific guidance to St. Louis Park teachers on what materials parents may review and the process for reviewing these materials—and makes clear that teachers should not review materials on a parent’s behalf to screen for possible objections. The resolution specifies that classroom discussions, teacher lesson plans, classroom decor, and library material not being used for instruction do not constitute materials subject to parental review. It also specifies that any parental objections must pertain to specific materials: “Blanket objections to content and representation of protected classes that are not specific to reviewed and identified instructional material(s) will not be accepted.”
Several board members said they had had conversations with staff who needed more guidance on how to implement the district’s parental curriculum review policy. That confusion became evident the day that the parents declared victory. Kayla Toney, an attorney with the First Liberty Institute, a conservative Texas-based law firm focused on religious freedom that represented the parents, said that one of her clients had received notice that they would be notified in advance of any materials relating to the LGBTQ+ community. The school district clarified that this was an agreement reached for one student, but that in general the district would not be reviewing materials or providing advance notice of what parents might find objectionable.
Board chair C. Colin Cox said he had met with the interim superintendent and principals, who described “the fear coming from our teachers, and how we put them in a really awkward space here” as they had to figure out their role in handling these requests. Cox said he was proud of the board’s work to spell out clearly the expectations of the parental curriculum review policy, which he hoped would provide more support for teachers.
Every board member present spoke in favor of the resolution which passed by a vote of 6-0. Board vice chair Abdihakim Ibrahim was absent. On Friday, he issued a statement in the district’s newsletter.
“As a parent and a school board member, I fully support our district’s commitment to equity and inclusion,” he said. He reiterated the district’s commitment to allowing families to opt out of materials for any reason.
In a Saturday morning phone call, however, Abdihakim clarified that he did not support the resolution and would have voted against it.
“People opt out for so many reasons,” he said. “So why is it different when the Muslim and Somali community are opting out?”
“It was very difficult for me to attend the district’s February 28 board meeting, where the Board passed a resolution which demonstrates hostility toward religious parents like me, and toward any parents who would like to know what their children are learning in school,” Fatuma Irshat, one of the parents who requested alternative instruction for her children, said in a statement. “It is unfortunate that the school board is resorting to this tactic. Our community is already marginalized, and now we are being treated as if we do not exist.”
The parents would continue advocating for the right to review curriculum and opt out of lessons that contradict their religious beliefs, she said.
“The School Board is making its hostility toward our clients clear,” said Toney, Fatuma’s attorney. “They’ve even admitted that they would rather hide what they are teaching from parents than provide them advance notice like the law requires.”
She described the call for a legislative change as “aggressively hostile” and pointed out that religion, too, was a protected class.
“We will keep monitoring to make sure our clients—and other parents across Minnesota—keep their opt-out rights,” she said.
Representative Larry Kraft, DFL-St. Louis Park, praised the school board’s resolution.
The governor’s education bill, introduced on February 21 to the Minnesota Senate Education Policy Committee, includes a prohibition on banning books from school and public libraries. The bill, however, explicitly says that it does not intend to change the parental curriculum review statute.
“Nothing in this section impairs or limits the rights of a parent, guardian, or adult student to request a content challenge,” reads the text of the bill.
Kat Rohn, executive director for OutFront Minnesota, said that they had spoken in recent months with a number of metro school districts experiencing an uptick in opt-out requests, including at schools in Minneapolis, St. Paul, Hopkins, Apple Valley, and Ham Lake. OutFront has been in conversation with the Minnesota Department of Education, seeking more clarity from the agency on how districts should be implementing the existing law, Rohn said.
“We’re not expecting that there will be a change in the law based on timing and how these conversations are evolving before the end of this session,” Rohn said. “There’s not a clear easy fix for it.”
However, Rohn said, OutFront Minnesota would likely advocate for better guidance from the Minnesota Department of Education. Rohn would like to see the state provide both a definition of instructional materials, and the scope of how districts should comply with requests for alternative instruction.
In a brief statement to Sahan Journal, the Minnesota Department of Education said: “We look forward to finding out more about how we can support local school communities in navigating this issue.”
The challenge for school districts, Rohn said, was to “accommodate community needs in a reasonable way.” Rohn said that meant allowing people to opt out of a specific classroom material, but not an entire subject—especially a protected class. Otherwise, the requests could become untenable for schools and harmful for students.
“You need to be able to have classroom conversations about people’s varied religions, LGBTQ identities, race and ethnicity,” Rohn said, citing Minnesota’s anti-discrimination laws. “You can’t just have people opting out broadly of those topics for classroom discussions without it causing harm to those diverse communities.”
Sarasota Librarians speaking about book banningUnitarian Universalist Congregation of Venice to host library forum on book challenges
https://www.heraldtribune.com/story/n...
A public interest forum on book bans will be presented by two Sarasota County librarians on March 12 at 1 p.m. at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Venice at 1971 Pinebrook Road in Venice.
The American Library Association defines a book ban as “removal of a book based on the objection of a person or group.” The discussion will address the question: "What happens at the public library when books are challenged?" Presenting the topic are Jennifer Perry, branch services manager for Sarasota County Libraries, and Cathay Keough, central services coordinator.
“Public libraries have been an important resource in American communities since the first one was established in Boston in 1711 and provide access to knowledge to any and everyone,” said Kathy Avery, UUCOV director of religious education. Vist uucov.org/events/book-challenges-at-p....
Mod
Good point, so I guess we should instead loudly call them Stalinists, radical Communists and members of the KGB. They would definitely not like that label.
Lots of news today.This news out of Florida is contradictory to their other book ban laws!
Florida school principals could be penalized under proposed book rule
Florida school principals could face state penalties if they are determined to have illegally prevented students from looking at library books in their schools, under a new rule under consideration by the state Department of Education.
Randy Kosec, chief of the department’s Office of Professional Practices, introduced the proposed rule on Friday during a lightly attended 20-minute online workshop. It reads that “a school principal shall not prevent, direct anyone to prevent, or allow anyone to prevent students from accessing educational materials without legal cause to do so.”
https://www.tampabay.com/news/educati...
Gov. DeSantis blamed activists who challenge too many books, and educators who remove access to entire sections of libraries, for hijacking the process to make political points. He called on the department to write rules for educators who take such steps, and encouraged lawmakers to amend state law to deal with the outside objectors.
Friday’s workshop represented the department’s first step toward following the governor’s directive.
During the session, participants raised questions about what the terms in the proposed rule mean. They targeted the phrases “educational materials” and “legal cause.”
Carlos Guillermo Smith, senior policy adviser for the LGBTQ+ advocacy group Equality Florida, contended the rule appears as vague as the laws that schools are attempting to follow when they remove books from shelves. Those include measures that place limits on the instruction of sexual identity and gender orientation, along with prohibitions on books that depict p----graphy or s--ual conduct.
“The law is vague and the law is punitive. It has led to a toxic environment in our schools where educators are afraid of being prosecuted by the state if they don’t remove the books,” said Smith, a former state representative from Orlando who is seeking election to the Senate. “I don’t think the solution to a vague and punitive law is to double down on penalties.”
Bruce Harris, another speaker during the workshop, suggested the department needs to clarify the language. He noted that a principal might view a book as inappropriate even if the state does not, and asked whether that principal would be found to have violated the rule.
Kosec said it was a good point worthy of future consideration. He later added that, if the department receives a complaint about a principal’s action on books, his office would conduct a full investigation into how the decision followed district policy and state law.
Damaris Allen of Tampa-based Families for Strong Public Schools, who also attended the workshop, said she hoped the state will seriously consider requests for more clarity in what is considered inappropriate material, rather than keep its focus on punishing educators.
Kosec said the department would continue to accept public input on the proposal as it moves toward an April consideration by the State Board of Education.
Meanwhile, lawmakers have taken a step toward dealing with excessive book challenges from the general public.
The Florida House has proposed a provision to assess $100 processing fees for each challenge filed by a parent or resident who does not have a student in the affected school, after that person has had five unsuccessful challenges. That item is in a larger bill (HB 1285) that awaits Senate action.
The House also had included in its education deregulation bill (SB 7004) a proposal to limit nonparent objectors to one challenge per month. That line was deleted from consideration before the bill passed, though.
Additional news on the same issueSenate President: Parents, others, ‘overdid it’ on book challenges; wants to reign in objections
https://floridaphoenix.com/2024/02/28...
Florida lawmakers are looking to curtail the number of book challenges in Florida’s public schools. While a final decision hasn’t been made, Senate President Kathleen Passidomo said Wednesday she supported the efforts to reign in the objections.
The Senate has yet to vote on a House proposal, HB 1285, that proposes a $100 “processing fee” on subsequent challenges filed by people who have already unsuccessfully challenged five materials available in a school district where they don’t have children enrolled. The House approved that bill on Feb. 15, but senators haven’t taken it up with a little over a week left in this year’s session.
If the school district approves the challenge, the person who raises the objection would get the $100 back.
“When we originally passed the legislation, the thought in mind was that there are valid issues, valid concerns of parents and community members about certain books that were found in school libraries,” Passidomo told reporters on Wednesday. “I had parents come to me with books that they had taken out of the school library and not only was I shocked, but I was embarrassed by some of the content.
“But like anything, all of a sudden, it became a thing to do where everybody in the community was running to the school library and looking at books, and they overdid it. So, I think we need to reign it in a little bit, and I support those efforts.”
Additionally, Gov. Ron DeSantis appeared supportive of the move to penalize frivolous book challenges during a press conference on Feb. 15. At the same time, he called the notion that Florida was banning books a hoax.
“If you have a kid in school, OK. But if you’re somebody who doesn’t have a kid in school and you’re going to object to 100 books, no, I don’t think that that’s appropriate,” he said in that press conference.
Republican Rep. Dana Trabulsy of Port St. Lucie also included the $100 book challenge fee in her version of one of the Senate education deregulation bills aimed at removing requirements from traditional public schools that private and charter schools don’t have to abide by.
The House is scheduled to take up that bill on Thursday, but Trabulsy filed an amendment Monday substituting the contents of the Senate bill with her own proposal. However, she left out any mention of the fee for objecting to materials in classrooms and school libraries.
Good news from South Carolina for a changeBeaufort, South Carolina, schools return most books to shelves after attempt to ban 97
from CBS News 60 Minutes
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/beaufort...
The interview is criticized for being pro-Moms for Liberty. Red, Wine and Blue argues that M4L does NOT speak for ALL parents and have set up a petition to send to CBS.
Llano County Texas Public Librarian Fired for Not Banning Books Sues County, Library Commissionershttps://literaryactivism.substack.com...
In late 2021, the Llano County Commissioners Court demanded that the public library thoroughly evaluate every book for children in the library. The six library workers were tasked with determining whether or not books were appropriate, and they were to decide whether certain books belonged in a "young adults plus" section. The library shut down for three days to do this, which included shutting down patron access to digital books. The commissioners chose this last action because of how time intensive it would be to evaluate each title.
These demands from the County emerged in the wake of State Representative Matt Kraus's request that every school library go through its collection and see if any of the 850 books on his now-infamous list were in it. If so, the district needed to confirm with Kraus, putting a major target on their backs for further investigation by the state.
In Llano County, a board member of the library emailed a county judge Kraus's list–which had no legal sway what so ever. Emails acquired by Book Riot shows conversations where books were characterized as "p----graphic filth" needing to be removed ASAP.
The judge then advised the board to remove “all books that depict any type of s---al activity or questionable nudity.”
In Llano County, a board member of the library emailed a county judge Kraus's list–which had no legal sway what so ever. Emails acquired by Book Riot shows conversations where books were characterized as "pornographic filth" needing to be removed ASAP.
The judge then advised the board to remove “all books that depict any type of sexual activity or questionable nudity.”
The results of the three-day public library closure and evaluation was the removal of at least two books from shelves: In The Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak and It's Perfectly Normal by Robie Harris. It also led to the Commissioners Court, Cunningham and Commissioner Jerry Don Moss deciding to dissolve the county's library advisory board. They appointed 12 new members, all of whom were in favor of banning materials across the public library system.
In response to escalating book bans across the country, state, and her own library, head librarian Suzette Baker put together a book display in March 2022 that highlighted books being targeted. Baker was asked by one of the board members to remove from the display books which were targeted by the commissioners in earlier emails. The librarian said no.
Then, Baker was fired.
"The books in my library in Kingsland were not taken off the shelves, we did not move them, I told my boss that was censorship," Baker told local news, following her ousting.
In April 2022, a group of Llano County residents filed a lawsuit over violations of their First and Fourteenth Amendment rights following the closure and book censorship. By April 2023, the judge ruled in favor of those residents, deeming the board's demands for censorship a violation of their rights. In response, the library board debated shutting the entire library down, rather than returning the 12 books named in the lawsuit back to shelves. The county appealed the decision, and it remains in appeals court.
Now Suzette Baker is filing a lawsuit over her wrongful termination against Llano County, Llano County Commissioners, Ron Cunningham (who sits on the Commission and is being sued in both his professional and personal capacity), Amber Milum (Director of the Llano County Library System), Jerry Don Mass, Bonnie Wallace, Rochelle Wells, Rhonda Schneider, and Gay Baskin. Wallace and Cunningham were engaged in conversations about the "p___graphic filth" in obtained emails.
Baker is represented by Rathod Mohamedbhai LLC and Edwards Law, who have become forerunners in the fight against First and Fourteenth Amendment violations against librarians.
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/taddx5...
QNPoohBear wrote: "A school in Florida has their first challenge! Pasco school's first formal book challenge debates 'The Letter Q'
https://www.wusf.org/education/2024-0......"
Follow-up
Actually I would put this in the teacher classrooms for students to access if necessary. I do see their point but parents can opt-out of having their kid check-out the book so the challenge and review is really unnecessary.
Pasco panel votes to restrict LGBTQ+ book of essays to high schools
An objection to “The Letter Q” was the school district’s first formal book challenge since new laws took effect.
https://www.tampabay.com/news/educati...
A committee of teachers and parents has partially upheld a Pasco County mom’s objection to a book of essays by LGBTQ+ authors, saying it does not belong in district middle schools but declining to remove it from the district altogether.
The panel on Monday recommended allowing “The Letter Q: Queer Writers’ Notes to Their Younger Selves” in high schools, where members said the material would be more age appropriate.
No high schools currently own the book. Lea Mitchell, the district’s Leading and Learning director, said the recommendation would be placed in purchasing guidelines in case any school decides it wants the title in the future.
“This is not saying we are purchasing that book,” Mitchell said.
During Monday’s discussion, opinions about which grades the book would be appropriate for spanned the spectrum.
Pasco High School teacher William Nelson argued it does not belong in schools at all. He pointed to passages such as one essay that described a boy climbing into a sleeping bag with an adult and having a sexual encounter.
“I believe it’s a violation of state law,” Nelson said, urging the others to “err on the side of caution” as state guidelines suggest.
District media specialist Donna Dorilio, by contrast, referred to several professional reviewers who recommended the book as appropriate for all high school ages. “I would like to see it at all the grade levels,” she said.
Gulf Middle School in New Port Richey had the district’s only copy of the book, and it was never checked out.
Objector Rebecca Yuengling, a Wesley Chapel parent with connections to Moms for Liberty, urged the panel to keep the book out of all county schools. She argued that it glorifies sex, including recommendations for s-x toy websites, and said it violates state law that prohibits p---graphy in schools.
“It is solely about the laws that we the people want enforced in schools with our children, our most precious gifts,” Yuengling told the group. “I don’t see the pedagogical purpose of this.”
During that committee discussion, it quickly became clear that a majority of members had concerns about the content. Four said they believed it contained prohibited “p----graphy” and seven agreed it included “s---ual conduct” that required further review.
“Yes, it does have that,” said Dorilio, the media specialist. “At the same time, it’s not explicit. It’s not the focus of the book. I don’t feel it’s harmful to minors.”
Dorilio contended the essays had literary merit, particularly for LGBTQ+ readers.
“The authors tell readers not to lose hope, never give up,” she said. “It’s a really inspiring message.”
Nelson, the Pasco High teacher, countered that if “The Letter Q” were only inspiring words, it would be a welcome addition to the library collection. But he argued the book’s explicit passages make it “damaging to minors.”
“I would not want anyone, especially an LGBT member, to read this and think this is normal,” he said. “They don’t need adults to put this into their head.”
Gulf Middle principal Amy Riddle said she saw both sides of the debate.
“I don’t think this is appropriate for middle school students,” Riddle said. “But I do agree there was some hope in there for some people.”
Riddle said Monday she would abide by the committee’s recommendation.
Parent Denise Nicholas reminded the committee that it should keep in mind that parents have the right to control their children’s access to books in the schools already. With that ability in place, she said, it seemed unnecessary to remove access for everyone.
The committee did not vote at that meeting. Mitchell, the Leading and Learning director, said she wanted to give members time to ponder all that had been said, along with the relevant laws, before rendering a decision.
Removing books from a school “is a drastic option” that requires thoughtful deliberation, Mitchell explained.
If Yuengling disagrees with the outcome, she may appeal to Superintendent Kurt Browning. According to district policy, Browning can either review the appeal request and make his own ruling on the book or decline to take up the issue.
If he chooses not to review the appeal, Yuengling would be able to take her case to the school board for its input.
Yuengling said via text message that she did not agree with the committee decision. She questioned the wisdom of the majority’s willingness to allow “a book with an 18+ s-x toy website, along with a website where children can date and talk to adults” in front of children as young as 14 years old.
“After all,” Yuengling said, “they are the experts on appropriate content.”
Still, she signaled that she did not expect to appeal to Browning. It “would be moot, as he appointed everyone on this committee,” she said.
Michigan- Northview school board to hear appeal over 8 challenged library bookshttps://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapi...
The YA books include
Kingdom of Ash” by Sarah J. Mass.
“Push” by Sapphire.
“All Boys Aren't Blue” by George M Johnson.
“Tricks” by Ellen Hopkins.
“Me, Earl, and the Dying Girl” by Jesse Andrews.
GRAND RAPIDS, MI – The Northview Public Schools Board of Education will reconsider a request this week to remove eight books from the district’s library over concerns of sexually explicit material.
In December, the district decided to keep the eight books on its shelves, after a book review committee determined the books were not considered to be sexually explicit “when read in their entirety and considered as a whole.”
A Dallas Theater group has produced a play about book banning in schools. It's designed to make the audience think about the topics the books discuss.https://spectrumlocalnews.com/tx/aust...-
Mod
https://spectrumlocalnews.com/tx/aust......"
The link does not seem to work, but I do wonder if that unhinged Texas Attorney General (or the governor) will try to get the play stopped and to arrest the actors etc.
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)
More...
Maryland House panel reviews Freedom to Read Act in dramatic hearing
https://wtop.com/maryland/2024/02/mar...
A bill that proposes to protect library books, reading materials and other resources from would-be censors received a long and at times dramatic first public hearing Wednesday.
The Freedom to Read Act stands atop a “decency agenda” championed by House Speaker Adrienne A. Jones (D-Baltimore County), which has become part of a national conversation on what literary material is being made available in public schools and public libraries.
“This crucial and timely legislation will safeguard our libraries from becoming the next frontier of censorship, protecting literature and the freedom for readers to choose for themselves,” the chief sponsor, Del. Dana Jones (D-Anne Arundel), said before the House Ways and Means Committee. “The Freedom to Read Act…will prevent intolerance and hate from taking root in our institutions and in our schools.”
Jones sat alongside five supporters of the legislation, including Skip Dye, senior vice president of library sales and digital strategy for Penguin Random House, the book publisher, who traveled from Delaware to testify. Two of the company’s four distribution centers are located in Carroll County.
The bill was the last of 19 to be heard by the Ways and Means Committee Wednesday. The marathon session lasted more than six hours, with the hearing on Jones’ measure lasting almost two hours.
The legislation seeks to protect school and public library employees by stating they “may not be dismissed, suspended, disciplined, demoted, reassigned, transferred or otherwise retaliated against” for following state library standards.
Some of the standards, according to the bill, would include not removing library materials, books and other resources based on an author or creator’s background, origin, or opinions. In addition, a library should not prohibit or remove materials from its catalogue “because of partisan or doctrinal disapproval.”
If any county library, resource center, or “cooperative service program” developed by the Maryland State Library Agency have policies that aren’t consistent with these state standards, then the state librarian would authorize the state comptroller to withhold state funding from the institution.
A state Library Board has designated three rural county libraries as regional resource centers in Charlotte Hall in Southern Maryland, Hagerstown in Western Maryland and Salisbury on the Eastern Shore, which will become clearinghouses for more library materials and resources than an individual library can provide on its own, according to an analysis of the bill.
Under the legislation, a person cannot “knowingly and” unlawfully take, disfigure, or ruin any book or other library property.
Anyone accused of these offenses would be charged with a misdemeanor and, if found guilty, could spend up to 10 months in jail, pay a fine not exceeding $1,000, or both. The current fine is $250.
Two people testified in opposition of the bill.
Suzie Scott, chair of the Moms for Liberty’s Maryland Legislative Committee, hoisted a book slightly above her shoulder titled, “Let’s Talk About It: The Teen’s Guide to Sex, Relationships, and Being a Human.” Her gesture revealed a page of the book with pictures of male sex organs.
Scott, chair of the organization’s Harford County chapter, said she got the book from her jurisdiction’s public library.
Lorna Henry, an attorney with a conservative legal defense organization called Pacific Justice Institute, said the bill seeks to promote a sense of “perceived fairness.”
“The language of this bill is not clear and is ripe for legal challenges in its current form,” she said. “Is the freedom of a 6-year-old to read a s---ually explicit book greater than the freedom of their parent to direct the upbringing of that child not to read that book?”
https://wtop.com/maryland/2024/02/mar...