Children's Books discussion
Banned Books: discussions, lists
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Discussion of censorship, equity, and other concerns.
Upstate New York- D.R. Evarts Library in Athens, New York, just saw their new director leave the position because he was confronted internally over adding inclusive book titles to a display. Yes, sir, you did the right thing.
https://www.wamc.org/news/2024-06-17/...
The director of a small-town library in Greene County has resigned following a dispute over a book display.
Athens’ D.R. Evarts library is located on a shady street on the west side of the Hudson River. The stately stone building also recently lost its full-time director, who says the library board president’s resistance to a Pride Month book display led to his resignation.
“They've been consistently resistant to my input. None of them use the library. They don't interact with the community the way that I do, and for them to make a blanket judgment call like this for the book on behalf of the community, was…that was it for me.”
Hired in October, Julian Giarraputo, whose official title was Library Business Manager, served for eight months. His resignation was accepted by the library Board of Trustees on June 11th.
Giarraputo believes he was acting appropriately and in line with New York state Diversity Equity Inclusion guidance when he selected two books on non-traditional parenting to be displayed at two story walks in Athens – one, at the Athens Riverfront Park, the other at the local elementary school.
Giarraputo says the president of the Evarts board, Kathy Jackson, objected to his selection of “And Tango Makes Three” to be displayed at the school.
Giarraputo said he hung up “Tango” at the river over Jackson’s concerns of posting it at the school. The book that was originally selected for the Riverwalk, “My Maddy,” about a child and a gender-nonconforming parent, was never hung up, and is now on display outside the Kinderhook Memorial Library. He stands by his book selections as a timely recognition of the LGBTQ+ community.
“I'm a minority in a predominantly white county, and I felt like this was a necessary move, especially considering that we're governed by the Board of Regents and the Board of Education, which has a DEI requirement. So, this kind of just dovetails altogether. These are award-winning, popular books, not doing anything, not going out on a limb, really. These books are fun to read and also have a larger message,” said Giarraputo.
Library Board President Jackson says she does did not see the conflict over the book display as a disagreement. She said she pushed Giarraputo to instead create a display to draw students to the library’s summer reading program.
“I saw it as more, we know what the important things have to do with the library are a little better than he does, only because he hadn't been here for a summer. And so, the summer reading program, the urgency of it, the urgency of getting the message out, of making sure that as many children knew about it, knew about the benefits that we were going to offer for it…”
In an email exchange between the two, Jackson characterizes Giarraputo’s selections as biased. She writes:
“Whether the board and you and your staff are totally on board with LGBTQ+ initiatives is a personal statement and represents bias. At the library, we need to appear unbiased. All viewpoints are welcome at the library. We can't show favoritism which is why we may create and display rainbows, but we don't antagonize those with opposing views by posting a book at the school that we know will be unwelcome by some members of our community,” wrote Jackson.
Jackson declined to comment on internal employee communications, but reiterated her position about the importance of promoting the summer reading program for a library that has only an annual tax levy amount of $160,000.
“If it was another time of year, would it have been, OK? That it wasn't summer reading time that we were trying to promote? I would have said, ‘Go to the school's principal and make sure that he's on board so that he's not blindsided,’” said Jackson.
The library has since hired an interim director. Meantime, Giarraputo is seeking employment elsewhere.
Back to TexasCorpus Christie Public Library (TX) will have its policies related to collection development scrutinized by a committee. Corpus Christie has been well influenced by local book banners.
Within a four-month period, residents have sought to either remove or relocate a series of books in Corpus Christi’s libraries – the majority featuring either characters identifying as LGBTQIA+ or including LGBTQIA+-focused subjects.
The residents’ requests – along with the majority of Library Board members’ plans to form a subcommittee that would review and potentially suggest changes to the Corpus Christi Public Libraries’ book collection policies – is drawing attention.
In a Facebook message posted by Pride Corpus Christi, members urged advocates to go to the Tuesday meeting of the Library Board “to advocate for our First Amendment Rights and free access to information,” as well as to “show up in numbers to show how censorship spreads hate and not love.”
Three of the four books that have been requested for reconsideration remain on the shelves. A fourth, which a staff committee reviewed, has also remained on the shelf – but it’s a decision that the requestor is appealing, according to an email sent by city staff to the Caller-Times.
The meeting may set a precedent, both in the board’s recommendation on whether or not to remove sex education book “Doing it Right: Making Smart, Safe and Satisfying Choices about Sex,” by Bronwen Pardes, and also as the potential first steps to possible changes in the library’s offerings on its shelves or where on the shelves books may be located.
In the past, some residents addressing the City Council have asserted that there are books located in the young adult section of the public libraries that include age-inappropriate, explicit depictions of sexual activity.
Several critics have said that relocating the books from the young adult section to the adult section – or possibly age-restricting the materials – is a solution to address concerns about access to mature content while avoiding censorship. It’s no different than restricting access to certain video games and movies, proponents have contended.
Pushback against those ideas has included assertions that by relocating certain books or restricting access to certain books is inherently censorship, or alternatively, the early overtures that signal greater intentions to further restrict material.
Although the nine-member Library Board is considered advisory, several City Council members in the fall expressed interest in the board reviewing the book collection policies and making recommendations, following questions about content of some of the books in the young adults section of Corpus Christi Public Libraries.
Ultimately it would be up to the council as a whole to approve any changes based on the board’s prospective input.
Even if efforts to remove LGBTQIA+ books were accomplished, there remain resources online and at organizations like Coastal Bend Pride Center to support LGBTQIA+ youth, said Pride Corpus Christi President Jonathan Swindle.
It’s ineffective to remove and restrict books, he said, but added that it is still important to “go and counter it.” “At the end of the day I think the real issue there – it’s more so reducing the LGBTQI-plus youth from feeling like they belong,” Swindle said.
Corpus Christi Public Library policies state that books are selected, in part, by public interest, community significance, cost and reviews.
“Diversity is pursued by attempting to meet the needs of all ages, backgrounds, and educational levels, by providing as many subject fields as possible, and by providing alternative perspectives on unpopular or unorthodox as well as popular materials,” the documents state. “The collection represents various opinions and viewpoints on all issues of general concern and should broadly reflect the various ethnic and social groups in the City.”
Library staff have said the guardians of children are the ones who are responsible for deciding what their children may check out from the library.
A library staff committee reviewed the four books requested for reconsideration and determined that all meet the collection development policy and criteria, according to an email from city staff.
The email states that two were requested to be restricted by age for checkout – “Queer: A Graphic History,” located in the adult nonfiction section of the library, and “What if? Answers to Questions About What It Means to be Gay and Lesbian,” located in the young adult nonfiction section.
The library staff committee who reviewed the requests determined both would stay at their current locations, wrote Library Director Laura Garcia.
“Auntie Uncle: Drag Queen Hero,” which had been requested for removal, remained on shelves following a staff committee review, according to the email.
Appeals were not filed for any of the three, Garcia wrote.
Shawn Flanagan, who requested the removal of the sex education book by Pardes, is appealing the library staff committee’s decision.
In part, the request for reconsideration stated that city staff should “remove this item from all sections of the library,” according to the email sent by library officials to the Caller-Times.
The appeal was filed after a Corpus Christi Public Libraries’ staff review determined that “the book meets several Collection Development Policy selection and criteria requirements” and it was not removed.
“Based on the recommendation of the reconsideration committee, the book will be moved to the adult nonfiction collection as the book covers topics that a wide range of ages will be interested in reading," the email states.
The appeal means the Library Board will make a recommendation on whether to agree with the staff’s opinion, or alternatively, recommend that the staff’s opinion be overruled.
Should the board disagree with the staff committee’s decision, the request would go to either the city manager or his designee, Garcia wrote.
https://www.caller.com/story/news/loc...
Two days later -Corpus Christi Library Board Meeting votes on a book petitioned for removal
https://www.caller.com/picture-galler...
Victoria Holland provides public comment on limiting book purchases to what the majority of the community wants during a Library Board meeting at the La Retama Central Library on Tuesday, June 4, 2024, in Corpus Christi, Texas.
With a vote, the Library Board unanimously supports the public library's decision to keep a sexual education book in the public library under the adult section during a meeting at the La Retama Central Library on Tuesday, June 4, 2024, in Corpus Christi, Texas.
'There are checks and balances': Corpus Christi Library Board creates subcommittee to help with book selection policy"It's been pretty rare that we have had reconsiderations, with the exception of this year, we have had four."
https://www.kiiitv.com/article/news/l...
Many members of the community showed up to a scheduled Library Board meeting Tuesday, as the topic of moving or completely banning certain books took center stage.
The Library Board voted to create a subcommittee to help make recommendations to the libraries collection development policy.
During Tuesday's meeting, certain books were called into question. One book titled "Doing It Right: Making Smart, Safe, and Satisfying Choices about Sex" by Bronwen Pardes, was relocated due to its overall themes.
"The book was in the young adult section and the subcommittee determined that they would recommend to move it to the adult section," City of Corpus Christi Assistant Director of Library Technology Alan Carlos said.
If members of the community have an issue with a book they feel should be removed, Carlos said they can fill out a form requesting reconsideration. That form is then taken to the subcommittee where they will help determine a course of action.
Cy-Fair ISD, Texas trustees gain power in book banning processThey seem to be anti-vaxxers and do not believe in science. Vaccines do not cause autism or any other disease or neurodiversity. You can not cure autism or prevent it.
https://abc13.com/post/cyfair-isd-boo...
On Monday, the Cy-fair ISD school board voted to give themselves more power to ban books from district libraries, marking the second major decision regarding instruction and reading material selection in weeks.
Before the last day of school on May 31, the board approved cutting half of its librarian positions and separately omitting science textbook chapters that all but one board trustee considered "controversial."
On Monday, the board faced parents and teachers who wanted answers about the textbook issue and the library book review process.
The new library material review policy gives the board of trustees the ultimate responsibility of looking through, selecting, and reconsidering library books.
Another heavily debated update to the policy is ensuring new library books up for consideration will be posted to the district's website for at least 30 days before being included in the library.
These lists must also be provided to the superintendent and board at least five days before being posted on the website.
Parents and educators fear this will empower the board to override the decisions of review committees.
According to the board meeting agenda, at least 19 people registered to speak about a "Level 1 complaint filed by an employee regarding adoption of science instructional materials."
Alicia Royer, a 30-year science instructor at Cypress Falls High School. In a June 14 report, Royer claims the board violated a policy stating that members should rely on district personnel to select instructional material. This came after board Vice President Natalie Blasingame put to a vote the removal of 13 chapters from a list of 25 textbooks the board had to approve.
Royer told Community Impact she was on a committee reviewing instructional materials, but its recommendations weren't considered before the May 6 vote.
In the June 14 report, Blasingame is quoted questioning global warming impacts after she read an excerpt from an omitted chapter.
"'Global warming will affect precipitation and snow melt; cause extreme weather; alter biodiversity; melt arctic sea ice and glaciers; add to the acidification of the oceans; and cause sea level rise,'" Blasingame read from the textbook on June 13. "Is that true? Where's the data? Where was the reference?" [Yes it's true. Go visit a glacier and take a photo. Compare it to a photo from 20 years ago, 50, 100! Check the weather data. Science. Data. Yes include footnotes in the textbook for goodness sakes.]
Another trustee, Todd LeCompte, also questioned Royer about vaccine information being included in biology textbooks, which falls outside her purview since she teaches earth systems.
He implied vaccines cause autism, which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have refuted.
Lesley Guilmart, president of the nonpartisan nonprofit Cypress Families for Public Schools, said she believes censoring science textbooks will make it more difficult for students to engage in critical thinking.
"There's no 'both sides' to scientific data. The data is the data. ... Analysis and evaluation can enter the picture in science class when students are given the opportunity to consider whether or not rising temperatures and sea levels are a problem that should be addressed. Why don't six of the CFISD board members trust educators to facilitate this exploration?" she said in an emailed statement to Community Impact.
Royer's complaint was a couple of items after the board revised how the district reviews library materials.
Part of the policy requires educators to categorize all library content as juvenile, young adult, or adult and ensure parents have a say in the reading materials their children can access at school.
Community Impact reported that a few community members, including a trustee's wife, submitted most requests for books to be removed.
Texas is on a roll.https://www.houstonchronicle.com/neig...
According to Kelly Jensen at BookRiot, Ocean Vuong’s On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous was removed from Conroe Independent School District (TX) shelves. "The school claims it was weeded but, chances are that’s a convenient excuse for a book that has regularly faced bans."
Vietnamese-American poet Ocean Vuong is offering to send copies of his book “On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous” to anyone in Conroe after he claims Conroe ISD banned the book from school libraries.
Vuong, who lives in Northampton, asked that anyone familiar with a LGBTQIA center or a community organization near Conroe to get in touch with him, saying he wants to send free copies of his books to organizations in the area so “people who want them can find them.”
“I will do whatever I can to fight this,” he wrote. “I have worked too hard, survived too much, to be silenced now.”
https://x.com/HoustonChron/status/180...
https://www.boston.com/news/local-new...
Also in Conroe ISD
19 books banned in the district won’t be reinstated even though those tasks with reading them didn’t bother to.
https://x.com/frankstrong/status/1803...
https://franklinstrong.substack.com/p...
In a Tuesday night meeting that stretched into early Wednesday, the Conroe Independent School District board of trustees voted not to return nineteen books to classroom collections after a grievance hearing on the district’s internal review process.
Members of the board majority argued that, though they may or may not agree with the results of the process, the internal review committee had followed district policy.
But a majority of board members also expressed misgivings with that process—specifically with the fact that it allows books to be removed by committees who have not read the works in their entirety. “It’s obvious that our [policy] changes that we took from Katy have caused collateral damage,” said trustee Theresa Wagaman. “I think it’s very important to make a decision on the complaint we have before us and then come back and see how we can clean up all of this damage at a later time.”
At the end of the night, Wagaman requested the board re-evaluate its book policies, EFA Local and EFB Local, and procedures at a future meeting.
All classroom copies of the nineteen books will now be disposed of by the district. There appears to be no further mechanism in current board policy that could reverse the removal decisions.
The hearing resulted from a last-ditch effort by four Conroe ISD parents and educators to save the books, which were removed through the district’s internal review process. At March’s board meeting, community members pointed out that, while book challengers can appeal district decisions to retain books under policies EFA and EFB Local, there is no such process in those policies for challenging a decision to remove books. District administrators responded that the formal grievance process, outlined in policies DGBA, FNG, and GF, offered the only opportunity to appeal such a decision.
But in both the Level 2 hearings on the books and in last night’s final appeal, the district argued that trustees could not overturn the internal review committee’s decisions, because the committee had not violated the procedures set forth under EFA Local.
Notably, the district did not argue that the committee had made correct decisions. “The informal committee made the best decisions they could,” Dr. Jarod Lambert said, representing the district. He noted that the educators of the committee took their task seriously.
Board member Stacey Chase seemed exasperated with the idea that district policy, properly followed, could result in the removal of this batch of books, which include National Book Award winners, Pulitzer and Nobel Prize winners, and texts that regularly appear on the Advanced Placement English Literature exam. She pointed specifically to Alice Walker’s The Color Purple, and asked, “How is that not appropriate for instruction? What is if not that?”
“What are we doing here?” she asked at another point. “These are classics.”
She returned to a point made by one of the complainants, who asked, “Can administrators act with good intention and still generate a wrong outcome?”
Trustee Datren Williams pointed out that 47% of the books under appeal were either written by authors of color or dealt with LGBTQ themes. While this set of titles was selected by the complainants, authors of color and LGBTQ topics are disproportionately represented in the district’s book removals under both EFA and EFB Local.3 “We have an inherently racist policy,” he said.
In their addresses to the board, the four complainants—AP English teacher Theresa Neman,4 former teacher DeDe Fox, librarian Andrea Yang, and district parent Erin Miller—highlighted numerous flaws in the review process. They pointed out, for example, that committee members who deemed the books educationally unsuitable were not required to read the books in question; that, though all of the books in question were high-school-level books, the committee did not include any high school English teachers or librarians; and they argued that—contrary to Lambert’s assertion—the committee did not always approach its task with the careful consideration it deserved.
All four complainants emphasized the quality of the texts in question, with Yang speaking movingly about the history of Slaughterhouse-Five and Fox reading a powerful passage from Laurie Halse Anderson’s Speak. Neman’s statement summed up the complainants’ request:
“Boards and districts are Constitutionally required to consider the entirety of the work, not merely excerpts. Our policy requires the reviewer to consider the entirety of the work, not merely excerpts. I ask you to consider these works yourselves. When we consider the work as only its pieces, and not the sum of the whole, we ignore the multifaceted aspects that make the work a statement about living, a builder of empathy.”
But it was the need to read books in their entirety that drew the greatest emphasis from the complainants, and seemed to resonate most with the trustees. “How do you know if the process was followed if you haven’t read the books?” Chase asked Hubert near the end of the discussion.
Seven of the nineteen books were found to be in violation of both EFA Local and EFB Local after informal challenges, and have been removed from both classrooms and libraries. The rest, according to the district, were removed from classrooms—not libraries—after an internal review committee began auditing books that are typically found in classroom collections. At Tuesday’s hearing, the district estimated that it has audited around 5000 books as a part of this process.
According to documents from the Level 2 grievance hearings for these books, the internal review committee consists of fourteen individuals, eleven of whom have classroom teaching experience. But the district conceded in Tuesday’s hearing that none have experience teaching the books in question, and the complainants pointed out the committee included only one library coordinator and two English-Language Arts representatives, both at the elementary level. What’s more, the Level 2 documents revealed that not all committee members read the books, and that, “due to the volume of books under review, teachers were paid to read the books and provide information to the Committees.”
“I agree that’s something we should look at,” said trustee Melissa Dungan, one of the three “Mama Bear” trustees who campaigned in part on a promise to remove inappropriate books from Conroe schools. Board president Hubert recommended reviewing the policy. “What I would love to do is come back later and discuss the policy that we put in place,” he said.
Stephana Ferrell, of the Florida Freedom to Read Project, has described policies like Conroe ISD’s as “a net, not a hook,” and pointed out that they can catch up quality books in attempts to remove “educationally unsuitable” ones. Community members in Conroe, too, have warned that the new policies would result in books being removed haphazardly or without consideration for their classroom value. Tuesday’s hearing provided evidence that that has, in fact, happened.
After the discussion ended and the votes started, trustee Chase—who said she values some of the books up for discussion so much because she has read them—grew emotional, pleading directly with her colleagues not to vote against all of the books. “I do not believe that these were removed with an appropriate interpretation of our policy as it is written.”
“I trust our committee,” responded “Mama Bear” trustee Tiffany Nelson.
Hubert said, “My issue is this: I haven’t read the books. I wasn’t asked to read the books.” About the review committee, he said, “We asked them to do something, and I don’t feel appropriate to say, Well, you did it wrong.”
But Chase pointed out that upholding the book removals also sends a message to district employees.
“I understand you didn’t read them,” she said of the books in question. “That committee didn’t read them either. But you know who did read them? The AP and English teachers we have in our district that have taught this material year after year. So if you want to support our teachers and our educators in their professional judgment, I would suggest you look toward the history there, rather than this misinterpretation of where we want our district to be.”
Alabama they just don't listen or quit.Ozark-Dale County Library (AL) will be going through their children’s books to ensure they don’t have any books that are “s--ually explicit” in order to receive state funding
https://www.wtvy.com/2024/06/13/ozark...
Back to VirginiaHow the book banning policies at Virginia Beach schools are impacting their reciprocal relationship with the public library system in Virginia Beach
https://www.pilotonline.com/2024/06/1...
The School Board in February approved a “content committee,” to develop procedures for schools “to ensure that elementary school library materials do not contain s--ually explicit content.” The committee will develop processes to identify such content in “incoming library materials at the secondary level libraries” so that it can be listed on the division’s website.
Division staff must now review books and other reading materials provided to schools or students by outside partners.
Katie Cerqua, the Virginia Beach Public Library’s programming and community outreach manager, said school officials reached out to the library system in April to inform it of the new guidelines. That led to the library pausing some of its programs. After a meeting with school officials last month, most programs resumed with modifications.
But a deposit collections program, in which the library provides 25 to 30 new titles for preschoolers each month, has been paused.
“A lot of times the elementary school libraries have books for the older kids and not the pre-K,” Cerqua said. “So we are just there to help kind of support the younger ones.”
The library also provides collections to other preschools and childcare centers across the city, she said.
According to a May 1 email obtained by The Virginian-Pilot, Cerqua told library staff that the school division wouldn’t be able to vet deposit collections because of limited staffing. But Cerqua said this week that the division and library system are still looking for ways to move forward with the partnership next year.
“It might be a little different in formatting, we’re not quite sure yet.”
In response to questions regarding the program, the Virginia Beach school division replied: “We will continue to consider donations in compliance with policy to ensure materials are reviewed and approved prior to distributing them to students.”
Division officials said, generally, school principals and Department of Teaching and Learning staff are responsible for vetting material provided by outside groups. The library will continue to partner with the division for its summer literacy camps at Title I schools, this year providing an enrichment activity on bioluminescence to go with the camp’s “firefly” theme. Library personnel will also bring in books that children can take home. This year, the library sent the school a list of book titles that will be prizes for students.
Kelly Jensen reports"East Bonner County Library District (ID) will not pull the Saga comic series from the collection following complaints. A state senator was one of the folks complaining. FWIW: this is an adult comic series in the adult area of the library.
“Several of the parents called on the board to end self-checkout, relocating the adult section away from the juvenile graphic novel area to behind the counter or a locked cabinet. Several parents echoed those comments at the June meeting, comparing it to library cards that allow the ability to prohibit internet access.”
https://bonnercountydailybee.com/news...
Idaho Sen. Scott Herndon had approached the EBCL board in May asking them to either pull the series from circulation or move it to an adults-only area, calling it p---graphic and damaging to children.
"This situation causes unnecessary risk to the emotional and psychological well being of our children," said Meredith Bennett, one of the parents who called on the board to address the library's holding of the series.
While they respect the community's diversity of beliefs, another parent said a book in the series was found hidden in a public area and was easily accessible to young children. With a self-checkout system in place at the EBCL facilities, it is all too easy for inappropriate materials to end up in young hands.
"This issue goes beyond politics," the parent said. "It's about the well-being of our children. Why is it so easy for children to access and check out obscene content alone at the public library. It's our collective responsibility to shield our youth from harmful influences."
Several of the parents called on the board to end self-checkout, relocating the adult section away from the juvenile graphic novel area to behind the counter or a locked cabinet. Several parents echoed those comments at the June meeting, comparing it to library cards that allow the ability to prohibit internet access.
"It seems like it might be a way to help with all the requests for reconsideration," one parent told the board.
The series was among the most 100 challenged books between 2010 and 2019, according to the American Library Association. Saga has won multiple Eisner and Hugo awards, given for best American comic books and best science fiction or fantasy works.
After hearing the concerns, library board vice chair Jeanine Asche told fellow trustees that, having been unable to attend the May meeting, she appreciated the thoughtful comments on the comic series. However, she said she researched and read the comic series and agreed with the library staff assessment that it should not be removed from the library's collection.
Saying she believed deeply in the U.S. Constitution and the First Amendment, she said it was her professional opinion that the series did not meet the definition of pornography as defined by the U.S. Supreme Court. Citing the Miller test, a three-part guideline that determines whether items are legally obscene. Under the guidelines, to be considered p---graphic, items must appeal to prurient interests based on community standards, depict offensive s--ual content, and lack serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value when considered as a whole.
"My response to this is that this series may be offensive to some in our community but it has been very popular and circulated 150 times in the last 10 years," Asche said at the June 10 board meeting. "But because House Bill 710 will complicate this. We may need to move this and many other books to another section."
Calls to move the series would go against what libraries are mandated to do — offer books and materials that serve all readers, not just one segment of the community, Asche said.
"Libraries are not allowed to serve only what the majority of what people want and find acceptable," she said. "The First Amendment guarantees all individuals the right to express their ideas without governmental interference and to read and listen to the ideas of others."
Can the series be shocking? Yes, Asche said. But the library has many other materials that some might find shocking, from nonfiction books on male medical problems and anatomy to fiction, including "Outlander," "Fifty Shades of Grey" and "Game of Thrones".
"These are just a few of the books that we have in our library that could be considered objectionable to many people," she added. "So, where does it stop?"
Having worked in libraries her entire career, Asche said she has worked in facilities where objectionable books were kept before a desk and, as a result, rarely checked out. The practice, in effect, denies people the right to read unhindered as guaranteed them by the First Amendment.
"They were essentially made inaccessible as no one wants to go through a gatekeeper or check out a book on a sensitive nature."
Saying she could not stress it enough that no one at the library, whether on the staff or the board wanted to see children harmed in any way.
"It's just not an option but I have never, in my many years as a librarian, have ever known a book to harm a child."
While she said she had stated her case for keeping the series, Asche told fellow board members that the matter was, in large part out of their hands due to the Legislature's passage of HB 710. The bill requires public and school libraries to move materials deemed harmful to children or face potential lawsuits. Under the bill, which takes effect July 1, libraries have 60 days to relocate challenged material to an adults-only section or face a lawsuit.
"Our library will follow the letter of the law and everything is now subject to scrutiny," Asche said. "I ask that those of you who have written and spoken so passionately about the Saga series to please be patient with us as we navigate these uncharted waters."
Mainehttps://12ft.io/proxy
The Spruce Mountain High School robotics team suggested celebrating Pride Month on Facebook, prompting a comment from a director that has been called 'hurtful.'
Spruce Mountain Middle School teacher Julie Taylor said, “At the Feb. 29 meeting addressing the banning of an LGBTQ+ book, the board member remarked and I quote, ‘Make no mistake there are two genders. These two genders are given to us by God. Anyone that tries to contradict that is a liar.'”
The quote was by Holly Morris at the time an appeal of the book “Rick” was being considered. Morris was one of five directors opposed to allowing the book to remain in the elementary school library.
...
[Morris made a hurtful comment on a FB post by the INCLUSIVE robotics club about their eagerness to celebrate Pride Month. The children are deeply upset.]
Resident Jamie Carden-Leventhal of Jay said the first three items in the school board policy manual address nondiscrimination, equal opportunity and harassment/sexual harassment. “School board members must be exemplary, not judgmental, no matter what their personal feelings are,” she said. “Those words as written were very hurtful, discouraging and completely inappropriate.”
Director Roger Moulton of Livermore Falls condemned the action. “I hope we never have to deal with something like that again,” he said.
Gary McGrane of Jay suggested the board develop an ethics policy.
“When a board member posts on a school-run Facebook page, their views are not the views of the entire board,” Chairman Bob Staples said.
Any library card holder under the age of 18 in Lafayette Parish Public Library (LA) will now have restricted access in the library. A parent needs to go into the library and give their children permission to access anything outside the parameters of that restricted card. Lafayette Library Board approves library card restrictions
"Well, y'know, it feels like this board has an agenda that is not necessary tied to the best interest of the library,” said Lynette Mejia with Louisiana Citizens Against Censorship. “Y'know, they sit there and listen to our public comments but they don't take any of it into consideration and it's really frustrating and it makes us feel like this public library is not for all of us. They want the public library to be only for them and people like them and it's really just a shame for our community."
The decision is the latest in a string of controversial actions taken at Lafayette's public libraries. Among those was the recent banning of certain book displays, including those for Black History Month.
https://www.kadn.com/news/local/lafay...
Here are the concerns that the Alabama Public Library Association has about the new legislation the state governor has put into place concerning public library collections and funding.https://www.cullmantimes.com/news/all...
The Alabama Public Library Association has vocalized a number of concerns local libraries could be facing, including requirements to receive state funding and the likelihood of temporary closures, in the wake of administrative code changes approved by the state’s library service board of trustee’s last month.
At the recommendation of Alabama Governor Kay Ivey, the Alabama Public Library Service approved several changes to its administrative code largely centered around the availability of what some groups have described as “s--ually explicit” content to minors.
During a virtual town hall meeting Thursday, June 6, Alabama Library Association Treasurer, Jessica Hayes said she believed Ivey’s proposals were “good-faith policy changes” despite a counter proposal from the association being rejected.
However, Hayes brought up several concerns surrounding amendments to the approved changes brought by board members Amy Minton and John Wahl.
Wahl also serves as the chair person of the Alabama Republican Party.
One of Hayes’ main concerns was the timeline in which these changes would need to be implemented. She said it remains unclear if libraries would need to have policies in place by July 15, when the amendment becomes finalized, or if state funding would still be available as long as libraries took appropriate measures by October 1 when the APLS begins the process of distributing state funds.
Even to meet the lengthier October deadline, Hayes said many libraries would require the immediate redirection of library staff which could potentially disrupt popular summer reading programs.
Assistant Director of the Cullman County Public Library Shelby Creekmore said she didn’t think “any libraries would be able to get these things done,” if the July deadline is enforced. However, she said her and Director Amber Thornton have been proactive in dividing up the responsibilities of reviewing the library’s current policies and was confident that no interruptions or closures would be necessary.
Among Hayes’ concerns were Minton’s apparent ties with the conservative interest group Eagle Forum Alabama.
“I have concerns in that an appointed public official is working in that capacity. They are just concerns and I believe that everyone is entitled to their own opinions and preferences,” Hayes said.
After the APLS tabled an original proposed amendment from Minton in March, Eagle Forum championed a letter writing campaign to support her efforts.
“There were concerns about a conflict of interest as Minton was actively championing the Eagle Forum initiative on her social media pages in her capacity as an APLS board member,” Hayes said.
Minton was a vocal supporter of Alabama HB385 — which sought to expand the state’s definition of sexual conduct and remove librarians’ exemption from anti-obscenity laws — and personally challenged over thirty young adult books in the Gadsden Public Library. Minton listed LGBTQ+ themes and characters as the reason for all of the challenges with the exception of “Looking for Alaska” by John Green.
Hayes also worried that that the approval of a modified version of Minton’s amendment — which removed any direct references to sexual orientation or gender identity — from Wahl did not offer industry stake holders an opportunity to weigh in with their concerns. Hayes noted that this is a requirement of the Legislative Services Agency process regarding state policy changes.
Wahl told The Times in May how he felt his amendment brought and extra layer of clarity to Ivey’s recommendations which he believed would be appreciated by all parties involved.
“One of the amendments is to put in place a policy that would address the location of s--ually explicit materials in children’s sections, but does not actually direct whether those materials can or cannot be there. I think that lack of firm direction is what has people confused on both sides. One side worries that changes come with an assumed requirement and the other side wants there to be a requirement included,” Wahl said.
Hayes argued that such substantial changes could further muddy the waters in regards to local libraries’ ability to receive state funding.
Prior to the APLS policy approval, state lawmakers included provisions within the Education Trust Fund Budget which would require local libraries to adhere to Ivey’s recommendations in order to receive state funding. Rather than offer clarity, Hayes argues that such substantial modifications to the original proposal would instead muddy the waters in regards to state funding.
“This new language and its substantial changes might affect that requirement and there are concerns about the budget conditional language,” Hayes said.
Hayes also outlined numerous operational concerns she said librarians had expressed since the changes were approved, including:
- The lack or designated space needed to separate materials in smaller rural libraries.
- What would qualify as an appropriate selections and materials policy.
- Questions regarding the requirement of physical safeguards such as barriers or access point ID cards.
- Questions on how the policy changes would affect minors currently employed by local libraries.
Hayes said this was just a short list of questions presented to the ALLA from librarians throughout the state. She said these questions have led to concerns that more regulations could follow if conservative pushback continues.
“Will there ever be enough safeguards in place for [libraries] to be in compliance or will there always be just one more thing that needs to happen,” Hayes said.
Good news/bad news VirginiaThe good:
Crank will likely not be banned in Frederick County Schools
https://www.winchesterstar.com/winche...
The Frederick County School Board’s Instruction Committee heard the latest on School Board Chair Edward “Scott” Sturdivant’s book challenge Monday evening.
After moving through review committees at Millbrook, Sherando and James Wood high schools, as well as one at the division level, Sturdivant’s request to remove “Crank” by Ellen Hopkins from the three schools was not granted.
The Instruction Committee forwarded a recommendation to retain the book without any further restrictions to the full School Board for approval.
The board can vote to approve that recommendation, place additional restrictions on the book or remove it entirely.
The book was on a list of materials that meet the Code of Virginia’s definition of sexually explicit content before Sturdivant’s challenge, a restriction that will remain in place as long as it is available in the division’s libraries. The option to restrict student access to “Crank” and other books on the list will remain available as well.
“To be honest with you, the portions of the book that I read were not necessarily what I would call explicit,” Sturdivant said of “Crank.” “But it was the overall content, and nationwide that book has been targeted to be removed, and it has been removed. I read somewhere that it was one of the, she (Hopkins) is one of the most banned authors in the country, and that book has been removed from I don’t know how many libraries. So my initial reason for doing this was that it was adult content, and that was why I made the stand that I made.”
When asked by School Board member Dianna Klein (at-large) what the book’s circulation rate looked like, FCPS Assistant Superintendent for Instruction James Angelo said, “It’s not an overly popular book.”
“So just to make double, extra sure,” Klein said, “as a parent, if you do not want your child to read this book, you can go through the process, which is on our home page, to fill out the s---ally explicit, basically, ‘I don’t want my child to have access to any s--ally explicit books,’ and this would be one of them.”
“That’s correct,” Angelo said. “I want to make a point of the conversation that occurred on the division-level committee, and that is that they didn’t feel as if the book needed any restrictions, that’s why they voted to retain without restrictions. They did, however, say perhaps quarterly reminders to families, frequent mention in newsletters, ‘Hey, if you want your student to opt out of certain books, here’s the process, here’s the link,’ just to put it in front of people more frequently through the year, which Miss (Amy) Hall (FCPS supervisor of English, reading, performing arts, and libraries) and I thought was a terrific idea and an easy thing to do.”
Instruction Committee member Miles Adkins (Shawnee) said that placing further restrictions on a book, which might look like a sticker identifying it as containing mature content, could entice even more students to give it a read.
“I mean, when I was in high school, I think during the Bush administration, they put all the labels on the CDs, the Eminem CDs and everything, guess what I bought first?” he said.
Sturdivant’s initial challenge covered four books, the other three being “A Court of Thorns and Roses” by Sarah J. Maas, “Lucky” by Alice Sebold and “On the bright side, I’m now the girlfriend of a sex god: further confessions of Georgia Nicolson” by Louise Rennison.
“A Court of Thorns and Roses” and “Lucky” were both available at Millbrook at one point, but have since been lost, stolen or otherwise gone missing. Angelo said that since “neither one of those had terribly high circulation rates,” there isn’t much interest in replacing them at this time. The third book is available at the middle school level, and upon further research, Sturdivant decided to withdraw his objection.
The bad-Several Virginia school boards are leaving their actual professional association for board members to join one made up by conservatives.
School Boards that did not renew VSBA membership
Bedford County
Isle of Wight County
Orange County
Rockingham County
Warren County
https://wydaily.com/education/2024/06...
VSBA offers school boards networking opportunities, professional development sessions, optional add-on policy and legal services, governance training, and can assist with superintendent searches.
Conservative and some newly elected board members, including those from Warren and Orange counties, said the organization wasn’t incorporating their legislative priorities and providing training that mirrors their principles.
Before they were elected, some of those school boards’ members campaigned on certain parents’ frustration with how school boards operated by allowing “divisive concepts” in schools, endangering students, adopting controversial policies around transgender students and books, and renaming schools and mascots connected to the racist ideals of the Confederacy. Gov. Glenn Youngkin focused his campaign on many of the same issues.
Tiffany Van Der Hyde, executive director of We The People, a 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization tracking shifts in school board memberships, said Gov. Youngkin rallying with parents over education issues in 2021 contributed to some Virginia school boards’ political polarization and the exodus of many of their members.
Youngkin’s election “empowered a lot of far-right candidates to seek office in this space, and we saw a lot of really great conservative, local school board members across the state decide not to run again,” Hyde said.“ They just didn’t want to be a part of it and when they left, the more extreme candidates filled those gaps.”
Warren County Board Member Thomas McFadden said during a Sept. 6 vote to leave the VSBA that he believed the school staff and board could govern themselves and implement policies relating to issues like school discipline without the association.
“They do provide some services that are worthwhile, but I look at the return for what we’re putting in and what we’re getting, then I look at our geographic location, and there are other counties here in the [Shenandoah Valley] that sort of get snubbed by them,” McFadden said.
The Warren County School Board became one of the earliest to decline to renew its membership with VSBA, followed most recently by boards in Orange County and Rockingham County. Rockingham voted to begin its membership with the alternative School Board Member Alliance, but keep VSBA’s policy services.
On May 20, board members in Orange County voted not to renew their agreements with VSBA, citing thousands of dollars in costs and saying they could find resources elsewhere. Members are also only attending some training sessions, which carry additional fees.
Orange County board member Darlene Dawson claimed that the VSBA has been a “monopoly” for a long time.
“They self-identify as a lobbying organization, and they lobby for many things that I, on principle, stand against, and I’m not interested in supporting them,” Dawson said in May. “I prefer to take my training from someone who supports my values.”
The School Board Member Alliance of Virginia, a conservative-leaning group and nonprofit organization, has emerged as a popular alternative for some of VSBA’s former school board members in the past year.
As of June 12, the association represents five percent of Virginia’s school boards members and supports parental rights, educational freedom for families and traditional academics. Unlike the VSBA, the Alliance offers individual memberships.
“Our professional development is based on the powers and duties afforded to school board members under Virginia law,” said Shelly Norden, spokesperson for SBMA. “We believe every child deserves a quality education in a safe and disruption-free environment. School boards have the legal authority to ensure this is happening.”
Alliance members and leaders have reportedly threatened a board member in York County (which the SBMA refutes) and rebranded two schools with Confederate names in Shenandoah County.
Norden said the alliance’s members were elected to local school boards to serve their constituents.
“SBMA launched to give school board members a choice when it comes to professional development,” Norden said in an email to the Mercury. “Our goal is to continue adding professional development opportunities and services that will enable our members to serve their communities effectively.”
Other members across the commonwealth expressed concern that leaving VSBA could impact whether their school’s policies and procedures would be updated to ensure the division’s compliance with state laws.
“That’s what it does,” said Orange County Board Member Jack Rickett, who voted against leaving VSBA. “Can other people do that? Yes, they can … Lawyers are going to cost money, and we will have extensive legal fees when we remove ourselves from the VSBA.”
In Rockingham County, board member Jackie Lohr pointed out that VSBA’s position as a lobbyist for school boards gives members a way to influence policymakers that they wouldn’t otherwise have.
“When we’re no longer members, we no longer have a voice, we no longer have a vote,” Lohr said at the June 10 Rockingham school board meeting. “They are a big, big machine and they will continue to lobby, and they have the ears of a lot of politicians and if we’re not there to provide the conservative voice, no one else will be.”
MissouriSt Charles Public Library Board r banned an adult book in the adult section of their public library last fall and then last month claimed that they needed to close three branches due to funding issues.
Good news the three libraries will not close.
https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/s...
Good-ish news in MichiganMembers of the Alpena County Library [MI] board say moving or removing books in the children’s and teen sections that contain s---al content isn’t as easy as some believe and, at least for now, the books will remain where they are.
https://www.thealpenanews.com/news/lo...
At an Alpena County Board of Commissioners committee meeting on Wednesday, commissioners and representatives from the library discussed what the library can and can’t do with the controversial books, which have led some in the community to call on voters to nix an upcoming library tax proposal.
Commissioner Robin LaLonde, who does not serve on the committee that met Wednesday but attended the meeting with the public, heavily criticized the books and vowed she would not support the millage renewal on the August ballot because, she said, the library has failed to protect kids.
Library Assistant Director Jessica Luther abruptly left the meeting before the discussion between commissioners and library officials concluded and before public comment.
Among the books in question are one titled “It’s Perfectly Normal,” which is in the children’s section, and “Let’s Talk About It,” in the teen section. The children’s section is for kids up to 11 years old, while the teen section is for kids 12 to 17 years old.
The committee wanted to know why the books, ... ended up being purchased and placed where they are. The commissioners also wanted to know what is being done to make sure the books don’t land in the hands of children. [Puberty/Sex ed books for kids... don't belong in the hands of children?!]
Alpena County Library board President Joe Garber said the library’s current placement policy is outdated and the library is early in the process of revamping the policy.
Garber didn’t share any insight into how the new policies would regulate objectionable books and provided no definitive timeline on when the policies would be completed and reviewed. He did say the library wanted input from the public to help craft the new rules.
Commissioner Travis Konarzewski asked Garber who has the final say on which books are selected and purchased. Garber said the board sets the policy and staff seeks out recommended and approved books from the American Library Association.
Garber said administrators at the library choose which books to purchase and use information from the Library Association for placement.
He said the board plays no role in book selection. Garber also said the board does not review the books employees select.
“We create the policy and staff carries out that policy,” he said. “We have never as a board been asked to approve what books are purchased.”
Konarzewski wanted more specifics and asked again who chooses the books and who orders them.
“We have department heads, the library director, and the assistant director who review and decide what books may be appropriate,” Garber answered.
Debra Greenacre is the current director and Luther is the assistant director. Luther also served as the interim director from June 2022 until May 2023.
Garber said the director also is the first to rule on book challenges from the public before appeals move those challenges up to a library committee and then the full library board. He said only one book has come to the full board, which he said he did not read.
It is not known if others on the library board read the challenged book, “All Boys Aren’t Blue,” during the book challenge process.
Lauren Mantlo is a library trustee and director of the library for Alpena Community College. She said she earned a graduate degree in library and information science and warned the commissioners about a potential First Amendment violation if the book is removed or moved.
“When I was appointed to this board, I was very clear on my feelings about the collection and where I stood as a library professional,” she said. “What I’m doing is upholding the Constitution and First Amendment. As trustees, we have to make sure we are following the law. So, it doesn’t matter if you like or don’t like these books. There are going to be books that offend everyone and a good library will have books that offend everyone. That’s the whole point.”
Several of the commissioners questioned Mantlo’s opinion and pointed to ratings, content warnings, and age requirements for movies, music, video games, and websites.
Each commissioner on the committee and Commissioners La Londe and Burt Francisco, who also attended in the audience, have expressed concerns about the books and the library’s handling of them.
Commissioner Brenda Fournier was critical of the library and staff and said something needs to be done so what she called p----ic content doesn’t fall into the hands of minors.
LaLonde reminded everyone at the meeting how she has for years supported area youth and worked closely with the Boys and Girls Club of Alpena and other youth endeavors. She said the library lost her vote for the proposed millage renewal in August.
When LaLonde described some of the images from the book “Let’s Talk About It,” one woman in the crowd had her children leave the meeting.
“I want you to understand what you’re defending,” LaLonde said. “The worst part is the library’s Board of Trustees had not even read the books. The community is having a fit about these books, so sit down at the table and look at them. I will shout from the rooftops about this and you have lost my vote for the millage, 1,000%. I don’t know why the trustees are dying on the hill of offering p___n to children. They will not regulate it.”
Konarzewski, who looked at the books and did research on them, said many libraries around the area do not have the books in their inventory.
Each year, the commissioners appoint or reappoint one library board member.
Earlier this month, commissioners discussed whether the county has the ability to replace the entire board in one swoop.
According to County Administrator Jesse Osmer, a county attorney said the commissioners can replace any appointee with a majority vote if they deem the appointee is incapable of executing his or her duties properly.
The county didn’t take any action on Wednesday and most of the commissioners agreed that the library provides many good and important programs for the community, but that the book issue needs to be addressed — before the election, if possible.
With the blessing of commissioners, the library is seeking a 0.7462-mill, 10-year renewal of the property tax that funds library operations and maintenance. The tax would generate about $842,000 for the library in its first year and cost the owner of a $100,000 home about $38 a year.
“If the millage doesn’t pass, the library would have to close,” Garber said.
More news from MO and it is not goodFrances Howell School District (MO) is considering banning discussions of gender and allowing the school board to be who decides on every book purchased or donated to the district.
https://www.stlpr.org/education/2024-...
The board at its meeting Thursday will consider several proposals, including one that would allow anyone who lives in the district to call for bans on particular books and classroom materials.
The measures follow the board's monthslong effort to modify the district's Black history and literature courses, which ended when the board in March approved revised curricula that removed social justice standards developed by the Southern Poverty Law Center.
Some parents and teachers are outraged at the board’s latest moves.
“Instead of trying to create policy and procedure and change their mindset and thinking to best align with what the community wants so that they can best represent the community, instead, what they're trying to do is to limit access to information by the community,” said Heather Fleming, Missouri Equity Education Partnership's executive director and a Francis Howell parent. “That is shameful, it’s anti-democratic.”
Adam Bertrand and Randy Cook, the board's president and vice president, will introduce the bills, which could receive final votes by mid-July. The proposed policy changes could lead the district to ban books and discipline teachers who advocate for “social policy issues.”
Jamie Martin, a Francis Howell parent and member of the Francis Howell Forward Political Action Committee, said board members are intruding on curriculum standards set by educators. She said the board's 5-2 conservative majority wants to overlook a history of oppression and “protect students from progress.”
“The bulk of the changes expand the power of these politically elected officials of the school,” Martin said, “and then limit the autonomy of students and teachers. We're giving more power to an oversight body that has no requirement to have any education or training.”
Another measure would ban books that contain “explicit descriptions of s--ual conduct,” normalized alcohol and drug use, repeated profanity and “purposeful conduct that injures the body or property of another in a manner that would be a crime.”
“The irony behind it is that I'm a pastor, and the Bible itself wouldn't pass the test,” said newly elected school board member Steven Blair, one of two board members who is not a member of the conservative majority. “The actual process of these policies is poor.”
The policy does allow board members to consider exceptions for religious texts, classic literature and nonfiction books.
Another proposed policy would require the school board to approve all library books and common learning materials before they are purchased or donated. Parents who opt in would be notified every time their child checks a new title out.
Under the proposed changes, any resident or employee of the district could challenge books from the library or teachers' classrooms. The books would then require clearance from most board members before returning to the shelves. Blair said this would create an overwhelming number of requests.
Board members also planned to introduce another proposal that would bar teachers from discussing partisan, political or social policy matters with students — and punish them for wearing any item with a message. They decided Wednesday to delay the measure until teachers union negotiators can provide feedback.
For Tierney, it makes sense that teachers shouldn’t advocate for political candidates in class. But he said prohibiting discussions about gender identity could keep the school from being a welcoming place for all students.
“I think that school is a place where students can go to feel safe and feel included, even if they might be gay,” Tierney said. “That would help promote that sense of unity within schools.”
Martin plans to meet parents and teachers outside the school board meeting, where they’ll rally against the proposals.
“Our board will tell you that they are here to protect us from political indoctrination,” Martin said. “That's what they will tell you. In reality, silencing political speech, silencing progress, new ideas and education is a political act in itself.”
And CaliforniaThe latest update from Huntington Beach, California’s public library: the privatization company bidding to take over has withdrawn the bid.
https://www.latimes.com/socal/daily-p...
Censors of the day
Mayor Pro Tem Pat Burns.
Councilmember Kalmick responded on a variety of topics, including the upcoming budget deficits and why he uses the term “book ban” in regard to the created parent/guardian children’s book advisory board.
Councilman Casey McKeon accused Kalmick, Moser and Bolton of sowing fear and distrust during the process.
LGBTQ+ librarians grapple with attacks on books - and on themselveshttps://apnews.com/article/lgbtq-libr...
Good newsTemecula, California school board president who led conservative culture war loses recall vote
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/a...
Voters in Temecula, California, have ousted the local school board president who thrust the political body to the forefront of rightwing culture wars by seeking to eliminate discussions of race and gender identity from the classroom.
Joseph Komrosky was recalled by 51% of Temecula voters
California’s governor, Gavin Newsom, threatened to impose a $1.5m fine on the district for not adopting California social studies curriculum [due to a reference about Harvey Milk], though Komrosky and the school board vowed to find a way to circumvent doing so while adhering to state mandates. The board also initiated another controversial vote to limit which flags can be displayed on school grounds.
The unflattering public attention drawn by the controversies Komrosky’s actions ignited incited the recall election against him.
The recall vote was conducted on 4 June with final results released on Thursday. Among 9,722 ballots tallied, 4,963 supported the recall. The recall election turned out 45.1% of registered voters in Temecula.
Komrosky told the LA Times he is inclined to run for the school board again given his slim margin of defeat in the recall.
“Given the narrow margin, I will likely run again in the November 2024 general election,” Komrosky said. “If not, it has been an honor to serve the Temecula community, and I am proud to have fulfilled all of my campaign promises as an elected official.
“My commitment to protecting the innocence of our children remains unwavering.”
Less news now in the summer but what there is is not so good.South Carolina to Launch Biggest Censorship Campaign Yet
https://newrepublic.com/post/183029/m...
South Carolina is expected to implement one of the most restrictive state-wide public school books bans in the country Tuesday.
The new law will require all instructional materials, including library books, to be considered “Age or Developmentally Appropriate.” The new rule vaguely defines appropriate “topics, messages, and teaching methods” as being “suitable to particular ages or age groups of children and adolescents, based on developing cognitive, emotional, and behavioral capacity typical for the age or age group.”
This definition, which leaves plenty of room for its expansive application, comes with an additional caveat that will make possible the most restrictive ban on books in the nation.
Instructional material will no longer be considered “age or developmentally appropriate” if it includes descriptions or visual depictions of “s---al conduct.” South Carolina state law defines sexual conduct as (view spoiler)
This change is a significant tightening of the law, which previously required descriptions of s--ual conduct to be considered “obscene” in order for them to qualify a book for removal from a public school library. For s--ual conduct to be considered obscene, it needed to appeal to a “prurient interest in s-x,” lack “serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value,” be patently offensive, or fail to meet community standards, according to state law.
South Carolina’s .... rule will automatically go into effect on June 25.... The South Carolina law will undoubtedly have an outsize effect on all materials related to LGBTQ+ people and experiences, but it will also apply to classic works of literature such as Catcher in the Rye, Romeo and Juliet, and The Odyssey.
The new law is the brainchild of State Superintendent of Education Ellen Weaver, who was invited to speak at a summit in Philadelphia last summer for the extremist parental rights group Moms for Liberty.
Earlier this month, South Carolina’s Department of Education decided to drop Advanced Placement African American studies courses fro schools and remove college credit for those classes. In April, Weaver advised schools to ignore President Joe Biden’s updated Title IX rules, which expanded protections for LGBTQ+ students.
I knew this would happen.Louisiana parents sue over placing Ten Commandments in schools
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/...
The parents, backed by civil rights groups, contend the new law violates the Establishment Clause, which forbids government from taking any action to establish a state religion.
Nine Louisiana families filed a federal lawsuit Monday against their state's education department and their local school boards challenging the constitutionality of a radical new law requiring that the Ten Commandments be displayed in public school classrooms.
The lawsuit was unveiled less than a week after Louisiana's Gov. Jeff Landry put pen to paper and made his state the first in the country to require all public schools to display the Christian commandments in classrooms since the Supreme Court declared such a requirement unconstitutional more than 40 years ago.
The families, who are Jewish, Christian, Unitarian Universalist and nonreligious, alleged in court papers filed in the U.S. District Court, Middle District of Louisiana, that the new law “substantially interferes with and burdens” the parents’ First Amendment right to raise their kids in whatever religion they want.
Also, the new law, "pressures students into religious observance, veneration, and adoption of the state’s favored religious scripture," the complaint states.
"It also sends the harmful and religiously divisive message that students who do not subscribe to the Ten Commandments ... do not belong in their own school community and should refrain from expressing any faith practices or beliefs that are not aligned with the state’s religious preferences.”
Two of the plaintiffs are members of the clergy: Unitarian Universalist minister, Rev. Darcy Roake, and Rev. Jeff Simms, a Presbyterian.
The parents are backed by the American Civil Liberties Union, the American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, and the Freedom from Religion Foundation. They are being represented pro bono by the Simpson Thacher & Bartlett law firm.
Attorney Jonathan Youngwood said the case has already been assigned to a federal judge in Baton Rouge and they are seeking a hearing this summer "so this law can never be implemented."
NBC News has reached out to the Louisiana governor's office for comment.
Gov. Landry , a conservative Republican, said at the bill signing ceremony Wednesday that the state would fight off any legal challenges.
“If you want to respect the rule of law, you’ve got to start from the original lawgiver, which was Moses,” Landry declared.
Landry also has the backing of presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump who wrote on his social media platform Friday that the entire country should follow Louisiana’s lead in allowing the Ten Commandments in public schools. [He's broken many of them himself so that argument sounds hollow to me.]
In the coming days, Landry is also expected to sign into law a bill prohibiting teachers from discussing gender identity or sexual orientation from kindergarten to 12th grade. It's modeled on a Florida law that critics have derided as a “Don’t Say Gay" law.
Both Louisiana bills were pushed forward by State Rep. Dodie Horton, a Republican from mostly rural Haughton, Louisiana. NBC News has reached out to Horton for comment about the lawsuit.
Horton has made no apologies for pushing religion, specifically Christianity, into public schools.
“I’m not concerned with an atheist. I’m not concerned with a Muslim,” Horton, who is a Southern Baptist, said during a House debate in April. “I’m concerned with our children looking and seeing what God’s law is.”
James Carville, a Democratic strategist whose family roots run deep in Cajun country, described Horton in a recent interview with NBC as a “foot soldier for Christian nationalists.”
“This is a group of people who believe the Constitution was written for and by Christians and that the First Amendment only applies to Christians,” said Carville.
Carville said he believes this is about more than just the Ten Commandments.
“This is the opening salvo of what’s likely to be a long, drawn-out war that could end up in the Supreme Court.”
While the Supreme Court ruled in 1980 that classroom displays of the Ten Commandments were unconstitutional, the current panel has six conservative judges and three liberal judges.
“They think they have a better shot with this court,” Carville said.
Rachel Laser, president and CEO of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, agreed.
“Not just in Louisiana, but all across the country, Christian Nationalists are seeking to infiltrate our public schools and force everyone to live by their beliefs,” Laser said in a statement after the lawsuit was filed.
William Snowden, an assistant professor at Loyola University New Orleans College of Law, said that Landry suggesting last week that he’s anticipating being sued shows “an awareness of the legal complications of such a bill.”
But, Snowden said, he’s not convinced the governor can make the argument that this law is beneficial for all Louisiana residents, no matter their religious background.
Ohio lawmakers warring with librarians, teachers and drag queenhttps://www.dispatch.com/story/opinio...
House Bill 556 would take book banning to the extreme here.
School librarians and some teachers who allow books, movies and other materials deemed obscene to be available to students in K-12 schools could be subject to a fifth-degree felony punishable by up to 6-12 months in prison.
Classic books once thought innocuous could land librarians and teachers in hot water, a fact not lost on the Ohio Federation of Teachers.
"We are concerned with the vagueness of the bill and the ability for it to be weaponized by bad faith actors who are focused on attacking public schools and libraries, not on protecting children," Melissa Cropper, that organization's president, told theUSA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau. "We also question whether there is a need for this new bill or if existing laws can address the concerns behind HB 556."
In another example of a solution in search of a problem, libraries that do not hide "harmful" materials from kids would risk losing state funding if House Bill 622 is approved.
Books and other material that describes or represents "nudity, (view spoiler) would be targeted if deemed to be patently offensive to the community standards about what is suitable for children and teens and appeal to the prurient interest.
Protecting the minds of innocent children from perversion is among the supposed goals of House Bill 245 but like bills targeting libraries, the real intent is censorship and suppression of free will, expression and/or speech.
HB 245 takes aim at Pride parades, LGBTQ bars and nightclubs and drag story times which typically feature drag queens reading to children while dressed in princess or festive attire.
If the bill is passed, performances by those who use "clothing, makeup, prosthetic or imitation genitals or breasts, or other physical markers" to exhibit a gender identity different to the gender assigned at birth in view of children would be criminal if the performance appeals to prurient interest and offends community standards.
Similar laws have been temporarily blocked by judges in Montana and Florida and ruled unconstitutional in Texas and Tennessee.
Approved in May of 2023 by the Ohio Senate but stalled in the Ohio House, misguided Senate Bill 83 would take aim at "indoctrination," faculty tenure and mandatory diversity training while penalizing professors who are found to not have created classrooms free from bias.
Teaching and stances on so-called controversial beliefs that includes "climate policies, electoral politics, foreign policy, diversity, equity, and inclusion programs, immigration policy, marriage, or abortion" will be targeted.
Iowa Senator Tells Schools Use Moms For Liberty’s BookLooks, Book of Books to Remove Bookshttps://bookriot.com/iowa-senator-tel...
Last spring, Iowa republican legislators passed Senate File 496 (SF 496). This sweeping piece of legislation includes provisions that disallow educators to use students’ preferred pronouns, among others related to gender and sexuality in public schools. But it is perhaps most known in the for its wide range of topics that would lead to books being pulled from schools across the state.
Senate File 496 requires all materials be age appropriate and that there be no “descriptions or depictions of s-x acts,” defined by Iowa Code 702.17. The state has given virtually no guidance beyond what’s written, and some districts, unsure of how to approach implementation on the timeline provided by the state prior to the pause on the book ban portion of the bill, turned to artificial intelligence to do the culling.
The legislation was heavily championed by Hate Group Moms For Liberty, who became cozy with the state governor between 2022 and 2023. Moms For Liberty has been active in Iowa and has used Iowa schools as a launching point for misleading campaigns about the materials being offered to students in classrooms, as seen in the Polk County chapter’s omission of both pages of a letter sent home from a high school educator about book choices students would have in the classroom. The letter was used as proof of inappropriate books available in schools and led to that chapter’s creation of the Book of Books, used by chapters of Moms For Liberty nationwide.
SF 496’s passage led to two lawsuits. The first came from Iowa Safe Schools and a suite of parents and students from five districts in the state, claiming the bill infringed on their Constitutional rights. The second lawsuit came from Penguin Random House, alongside several authors, Iowa State Education Association, and a student, who claimed the book banning portion of the bill was overly broad and infringed on First and Fourteenth Amendment rights.
The United States District Court for the Southern District of Iowa issued an injunction on SF 496 in December related to the Penguin Random House lawsuit. This meant that the portion of the bill related to book bans could not be enforced until a decision in the case was made.
Despite the injunction, Iowa schools have been banning books in line with the vague and broad language in the bill since the start of 2024. The Des Moines Register, through open records requests, found that of the 3,400 books removed from school districts prior to the injunction, 2,000 were still not available to students. Among those unavailable to students include books that are common curriculum titles, including The Handmaid’s Tale, Slaughter-House Five, and I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings. Other books include popular targets by groups like Moms For Liberty, such as And Tango Makes Three, Identical, Tricks, New Kid, 19 Minutes, and more.
Perhaps it comes as little surprise that it has been the work of Moms For Liberty via their BookLooks website and Polk County’s Book of Books which have become a guidepost for several school districts in the state, thanks to one of the State Senators who championed the bill.
State Senator Sandy Salmon, who sat on the Senate Education Committee that proposed SF 496, has been working to “help” school districts in the state navigate the new law. But where there is no actual list or tool designated for schools to determine whether or not materials are in compliance with the law, Salmon has used state letterhead to inform some districts that there is–and it’s Moms For Liberty’s Book Looks and the Book of Books.
Dike-New Hartford High School received [a] letter from Senator Salmon last June, following the passage of SF 496.
The letter came with a copy of the Book of Books, created and distributed by an Iowa Moms For Liberty chapter. At the top of the packet, which you can see in full here, are some of the books in the Dike-New Hartford High School deemed inappropriate. The letter refers to a group of “concerned Iowa parents” who created the packet, without ever mentioning the concerned parents were the Polk County Moms For Liberty chapter.
Recall that the state did not provide districts with a list of books. But here, a State Senator has taken it upon herself to tell a school which books would be good to begin the purge with, all based off a ratings system that is not only politically motivated but is based on cherrypicking passages out of context and counting up uses of profanity. Moreover, if decisions about books are about “local control,” per so many of the arguments, then why would a list created in Iowa’s 15th Senate district be applicable to the 29th Senate district?
How many districts Salmon sent such letters is unclear.
SF 496 remains in the court, though recent updates about the bill have anti-book ban advocates concerned that Iowa’s law might render its freedom to read as hindered as states like Florida or Texas.
According to Annie's Foundation, a Freedom to Read organization, "Attorney General Bird invokes the government speech doctrine to justify the state’s unrestricted authority to remove any book it deems inappropriate from school libraries. The crux of her position is that since elected officials fund school libraries using taxpayer money, they (the legislators that you elected) have the exclusive authority to determine the school library’s book collection. According to this position, the selection of books for the library is government messaging, like selecting a statue for a park or a design for a license plate. The government holds the authority to include or remove whatever it desires and can utilize the school library as a platform to communicate its political messages.
[…]
In AG Bird’s Iowa, the government has the authority to strip books from school libraries that don’t advance its political aims. If her position prevails, school libraries could be systematically cleansed of materials that, in the government’s view, are insufficiently supportive of white nationalism."
Now for some better newsAuthor sells out LGBTQ+ children's book after store returned them over 'policy'
https://www.thepinknews.com/2024/06/2...
after a bookstore returned all 100 of them for breaching their “policy”.
A bookstore contacted Paul Castle, the TikToker-come-author (known for his interabled couple content with husband Matthew) to return the order of two boxes of his inclusive children’s book, The Secret Ingredient, he alleged.
Fans who heard about the incident rushed to order the book online. Reportedly 11 bookstores have “written to ask if they can carry it”.
Mod
Author sells out LGBTQ+ children's book after store returned them over 'policy'
https://www.thepinknews.com/2024/06/2...
after a b..."
Would it not be absolutely hilarious if that bookstore ended up going belly up!!
Manybooks wrote: "Would it not be absolutely hilarious if that bookstore ended up going belly up!!They did say they thought the book was charming but they didn't think they could sell it. The story is circulating on TikTok so I have to get ahold of my niece and find out more.
In today's news, South Carolina's draconian book banning rule goes into effect. It's more strict than even Florida's!https://www.wltx.com/article/news/loc...
Regulation 43-170 received automatic approval today, after lawmakers failed to bring the regulation to a vote this past session. Under the new guidelines, materials containing any "descriptions or visual depictions of “s--ual conduct" will no longer be allowed in South Carolina's schools.
Some parents say that guidelines need to be put in place to make a uniform policy.
"Across South Carolina, we were seeing so many different things depending on the individual county," said Christi Rhom Dixon from Lexington County Mom's for Liberty. "A uniform policy I believe helps to put guardrails in place so that everyone knows what the expectations are."
But some say the regulation is vague and would open the door to banning a number of books that are age-appropriate and necessary for children. In a statement, ACLU Executive Director Jace Woodrum said, "By crafting and promoting a broad new book-banning policy, Superintendent Ellen Weaver has handed a blunt instrument to her ideological allies in the pro-censorship lobby. We still believe in academic freedom and will fight tooth and nail alongside teachers, librarians, students, and parents against the ongoing campaign of harassment and intimidation in public schools and libraries.”
The regulation also includes a procedure for parents to appeal any decision approving a book or classroom material to the South Carolina Board of Education. The Board of Education said in their executive summary, "under the current patchwork of district policies and practices, stakeholders are afforded an uneven opportunity to have their concerns addressed in a uniform, transparent manner."
But the vague guidelines could create issues for teachers to interpret, says Palmetto State Teachers Association's Patrick Kelly.
"If you create an environment where every single thing you do is being questioned and measured against an undefined standard of age appropriateness or under defined standard I think that’s going to cause a lot of anxiety and stress," said Kelly. "I think it going to lead to a lot of teachers leaving this profession at a moment where our children just can’t afford it."
The regulation will be in effect when students return in the fall.
and in Nevada, Pastor John Amanchukwu shuts down Nevada school board meetingHe's not even FROM Nevada!
https://www.rgj.com/story/news/educat...
Washoe County School Board meeting stops twice after book protesters read graphic passages
The Washoe County School Board went into recess twice during public comment Tuesday after people read from books that the speakers said were inappropriate for school children and were on library shelves.
Dozens of people filled the district board room, lobby and an overflow room to talk during public comment.
People held signs that said "No X rated books in schools" and "We do not coparent with school boards."
The majority were there to read from books they believe should not be available in schools.
Public comment started when conservative North Carolina pastor John Amanchukwu started reading explicit passages from "American Psycho."
Board Vice President Adam Mayberry asked Amanchukwu to refrain from using profanity during public comment. Amanchukwu continued to read and talk to the crowd even after the board members left the room.
The meeting later resumed and Amanchukwu left the board room.
The pastor has spoken at other school board meetings across the country. According to multiple news reports, he has been asked to leave other school board meetings.
The crowd cheered as Amanchukwu was approached by school district police officers, who asked him multiple times to leave the administration building.
...
The board went into recess for a second time when speaker Bruce Foster started reading from "Looking for Alaska." Foster was asked to leave the board room by two district officers. He sat back down and did not leave the room.
Chris Knox, a parent with two Washoe County School District students, spoke against banning books during public comment that now has stretched beyond two hours. She was one of a handful speaking against the majority of the room.
Knox, from Sparks, said she wants all current books and diverse books to stay on the library shelves.
"Do not let retired folk and people who aren’t from our community persuade you to override my students’ first amendment rights and ban books those people disagree with," she said, addressing the board.
“I would like my children to have access to all books.”
I read this book recently and could have done without the Christian content but I liked the message.Christian writer's new book reminds kids what makes them different makes them special
My Guncle and Me
https://www.npr.org/2024/06/26/nx-s1-...
This week's news courtesy of Book Riot's Literary Activism newsletter edited by Kelly JensenAll QNPoohBear has to say to the headlines is : "What the h-e-double hockey sticks?!"
26 books, all LGBTQ+ titles, were pulled from shelves in Citrus County, Florida, public libraries “for review” after complaints.
Citrus Libraries has provided the Chronicle with a list of the 26 books that Citrus County library staffers have pulled for review, following a citizen’s request for resource reconsideration. All but two titles (“Lawn Boy” and “This Book is Gay”) are found in the juvenile or young adult section of the library:
https://www.chronicleonline.com/news/...
A Pride book display was burned at a Portland, Oregon, bookstore.Chronicleonline.com/news/local/the-26...
At about 4:30 a.m., Portland Fire & Rescue responded to a fire at Dark Star Magick, located at 729 East Burnside Street. Crews arrived to the scene and saw light smoke coming from a broken storefront window.
The fire was quickly extinguished and contained to a small pile of books, according to PF&R. There are apartment units above the bookstore but none were affected by the fire.
The owner of Dark Star Magick, Steve Kinchen, says someone smashed a window, before dumping some kind of fuel on their Pride display and lighting it on fire.
“Whoever did this put at risk an entire apartment building full of people. They need to be caught. This is not acceptable,” Kinchen said. “This is not the Portland that we love. This kind of nonsense has to stop. We’re just small business people trying to make a living.”
Kinchen says there have been previous incidents at his store involving graffiti.
...
Portland police say they are aware of the fire. Their Major Crimes Unit will be working with arson investigators to determine if a bias crime was committed.
AlabamaStaring down a lawsuit, the new policies in Prattville Public Library (AL) would not outright ban LGBTQ+ books.
https://www.alreporter.com/2024/06/24...
Prattville Library poised to rescind ban on LGBTQ+ books for minors
The new policy would not outright prohibit books containing LGBTQ+ content.
Faced with a federal lawsuit, the policy committee of the Autauga-Prattville Public Library board of trustees met Friday afternoon to hear from attorney Bryan Taylor about potential policy changes.
As explained by Taylor, the new policy would not outright prohibit books containing content on “sexual orientation” or “gender identity/ideology” for minors.
Read Freely Alabama and the Alabama Library Association joined other APPL patrons in May to file suit against the board in Alabama’s Middle District Court, claiming the current policy is vague, overbroad and engages in unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination.
Taylor filed a request for an extension until July 1, because the library board intended to meet to consider revisions to the policy that could require the complaint to be amended, or could even make it “moot.”
Taylor’s suggestion is to essentially replace Prattville’s policy with the policy likely to be required by the new state administrative code—which requires libraries to safeguard minors from books that are “sexually explicit” or otherwise “deemed inappropriate for minors” in order to receive state funding.
One of the major questions has been how materials are “deemed inappropriate for minors.” Nancy Pack, director of the Alabama Public Library Service, advised library directors through email Tuesday that libraries will determine what is inappropriate at the local level.
Taylor proposed not to define inappropriate material in the policy, but allow the library director to decide what is appropriate for minors outside the scope of sexually explicit content. Although this had not been specifically stated in the previous policy, this is how the process has worked in Prattville formerly.
Taylor also proposed changes to the public’s right to challenge materials, calling for a mechanism to allow the public to challenge the acquisition, shelving or removal of books.
There are currently more than 50 books pulled from the shelves and the catalog for review, including many books that have LGBTQ themes but no sexual content.
Follow-upKeep in mind library directors are NOT always trained librarians, let alone youth media specialists!
https://www.alreporter.com/2024/06/25...
Prattville Library approves workaround for LGBT book ban
The Autauga-Prattville Public Library board of trustees ended its outright ban on LGBT books Monday.
The Autauga-Prattville Public Library board of trustees ended its outright ban on LGBT books Monday, but approved internal rules that would support the library director for removing LGBT books.
The policy wasn’t immediately available Monday following the meeting—board secretary Doug Darr said it should be posted on the website within 24 hours—but attorney Bryan Taylor told the board the new policy mostly copies the recommendations from the expected changes to the Alabama Public Library Service administrative code.
The only major additions to what is laid out in the APLS state aid requirements are definitions for “obscene” and “s--ually explicit” materials, and the designation of who will deem materials inappropriate at the library.
Those decision will be made by the library director “in the exercise of common sense, professional judgment and compliance with any applicable laws and any relevant standards, guidance and policies adopted by the board of trustees,” Taylor read from the policy.
As discussed at a policy committee meeting on Friday, the policy also makes changes to the reconsideration of materials policy which currently exists solely to challenge books on the shelves. The new policy will allow challenges at the acquisition stage and at the stage of removal by the library director.
The policy committee did not previously discuss, however, a resolution setting internal rules for that process. According to Taylor’s reading, those rules include barring the board from overturning the director’s decision to remove a book if it includes “mature themes concerning issues of sexuality, sexual orientation, sexual abuse, or gender identity.”
The board would also be unable to overturn the director’s decision if it includes the glorification or encouragement of “illicit drug use, alcohol or tobacco use by minors, overt racial or ethnic animus, sexual harassment or discrimination, xenophobia or homophobia, transphobia or animus based on sexual orientation, promiscuity, teen pregnancy, physical or sexual abuse, polygamy or any other criminal activity or conduct.”
The rule barring a reversal of a book removal based on “mature themes concerning issues of sexuality, sexual orientation, sexual abuse or gender identity” appears to give the library director the power to remove books targeted by Clean Up Prattville such as The Pronoun Book and many others without any potential recourse from patrons. The board could not overturn the director’s decision, although the board can terminate the employment of directors at will who they feel are not properly managing the collection.
Taylor said interim director Tammy Bear had been advised not to answer questions about what specific content would be weeded, as those decisions should be made on a case-by-case basis based on her judgment of the content found in each book.
Under this new policy, the director could wipe out every LGBT-affirming book in the library, and the board has pre-insulated itself from overturning those decisions. Unless new board members change the policy again, this would also insulate future boards from overturning those decisions.
https://www.alreporter.com/2024/06/25...
In CaliforniaParents in Lodi Unified School District (CA) can opt their kids out of “inappropriate” books.
https://www.recordnet.com/story/news/...
A committee's attempt to review books at Lodi Unified School District stirs confusion and controversy
The Lodi Unified School District has added a new feature to their parent portal which allows families to determine whether certain books are appropriate for their children to read.
The addition came after parents and teachers voiced concerns about the formation of a book review committee that was not advertised publicly.
Earlier this month, there were accusations that the committee voted to ban two challenged books from district libraries on June 4.
At the time, school district officials said "no final decisions" had been made at the committee meeting.
Lisa Lennon Wilkins, president of the Lodi Education Association, said she and many of her colleagues were blindsided by the formation of the committee.
"As a courtesy for a lot of these committees, I get asked for recommendations or to make sure that teachers have applications to be on these committees," Lennon Wilkins said. "That happens all the time. That did not happen here."
Lennon Wilkins said she was concerned because she believes it's important for her students to have access to books at school that reflect their lives and show other experiences.
"I've always worked at Title I schools in north Stockton," Lennon Wilkins said. "There is no public library in north Stockton where any of our students can walk to the library to get a book."
Additionally, Lennon Wilkins claims that the committee did not read the books and was using the website BookLooks.org as their primary source of information.
...
In an interview with The Record, Superintendent Neil Young said no books were removed from school library shelves as a result of the committee meeting. He also denied that he had any involvement in the formation of the committee as some community members have suggested.
"I want to make this clear ... I did not personally select the members of that committee," Young said.
"Nowhere gives anyone but the board of education the final authority on instructional resources," Young said. "I do not have more authority than the board, nor do I believe that it is appropriate for a superintendent to have greater authority than the board of education."
District staff said the committee consists of eight members, including Morada Middle School teacher Madeline Mettler and Millswood Middle School teacher Laurie Johnson.
Tokay High School Vice Principal You Lor and Westwood Elementary School Principal Joe Ward also serve on the committee, along with McNair High School librarian Michael Gould and Millswood coach Sean Campbell.
Becky Harper and Esitel Uhamaka serve as the committee's parent representatives.
"If you look at the board rule, and if you look at the committee makeup, I will say it was in alignment with the board's rule and it was not a deviation from that," Young said.
However, Lennon Wilkins believes that only certain parents and school staffers were asked to serve on the committee. One of the members was a mother who had filed challenges for the books that were being reviewed, she said.
When asked how parents were notified to apply for the committee, Young said the district's ed services department reached out to principals at middle and high schools in north Stockton to see if they knew of any parents who wanted to serve on the committee.
"I can tell you that we don't have something on our website inviting parents," Young said. "I certainly think we are wanting to make sure that if a review committee is needed in the future — and understand the review committee has no authority to remove instructional resources — but if in the future it is needed, we will certainly make sure that that process is done in such a way that people can volunteer to be a part of that and a selection process will occur."
In the fall, Lodi Unified families will be able to use the Aeries parent portal to opt their children out of reading certain books.
WisconsinIron River Library board addresses concerns about library’s future
https://www.apg-wi.com/ashland_daily_...
... A petition titled “Keep the Library Open” started circulating around the Bay Area in May.
The petition, launched by the Supporters of the Iron River Library, claims some community members are saying they want the library to close or withdraw from the Northern Waters Library Service.
The NWLS is a joint agency of Ashland, Bayfield, Burnett, Douglas, Iron, Sawyer, Vilas and Washburn counties serving 29 public libraries. It receives state funding through the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction and provides technology-related services to communities without a public library and rotating book collections to public libraries.
Around the same time the petition started circulating, library board member John Castro spoke as a citizen during the May 9th Iron River Town board meeting about the library board and “what a mess it is,” according to the meeting minutes.
He proposed two solutions, “a ballot type vote on which books to be exposed, or resignation of Library director — dissolve Library Board which will save the Towns people money,” the minutes said.
To clarify what he meant, Castro during Wednesday’s meeting explained, “What I said is if the board wanted to clear this up, we needed to ask for the resignation of the library director; not getting that, the town board should eliminate the position of library director.”
“Northern Waters is calling all the shots anyway. Let her work for them and save the money. After they do that, we get to be dissolved because there’s no reason for this board to exist if Northern Waters is taking care of everything,” he said. “I never mentioned getting rid of Northern Waters.”
Doing so would be detrimental to the library, said Beth Good and Lori Melberg, who are part of the group that started the petition.
“The relationship with Northern Waters gives the library a lot of services covered by Northern Waters, not as a part of the library’s budget, that would be next to impossible to replace — things like the electronic materials we’re able to check out from the library … and the tech support for the computers,” Melberg said. “These are things that are paid for by the state through Northern Waters that this library takes advantage of that would cost something over a million dollars to replace.”
So, if the town or library board were to decide to sever its relationship with Northern Waters, Melberg said “our concern is that effectively we’re closing the library,” or the library would go back to a time she remembers from elementary school when there was much less technology.
The discussion about exploiting books in the library and whether to keep the library open started last pride month when the book “Lets Talk About it” was on display. The book and others in the library prompted the anonymous group “The Concerned Citizens of Iron River” to send a letter to community members saying many books “encourage exploration of changing your gender to small children” including kids as young as toddlers.” After reviewing the book, the library board voted to put the book in the adult nonfiction section.
Library Advocate Rachelle Swanson feels this is the right decision. Although there are books in the library she doesn’t want her kids to necessarily read, she said “I also have the understanding that I don’t get to decide what everybody else in the community has a right to read.”
“It’s a matter of working it out with your kids and having good conversations; using the library like any wise person,” she said.
As a parent, fellow library activist Rachel Zwicky said she understands there’s passion towards the issue and that fear can be a powerful tool, but stressed
“that’s not an excuse to discriminate against a whole group of people.”
“It’s not an excuse to take away a whole institution and a staple of our community. I wish people could find a more productive way to talk these out rather than attack the library,” Zwicky said.
Library board members touched on the matter earlier this month by updating the library’s material selection policy. Under its new policy, the library cannot restrict the freedom of patrons to borrow library materials in the possibility that it may come into the possession of a minor. The library may supervise and guide children in the use of the library, along with parents and guardians. The library will accommodate individual parent requests to restrict specific titles or materials to one’s child. Library materials will not be marked or identified to show approval or disapproval of their contents.
"Let it be known that no one on the town board or library board ever, ever said ‘close this library.’ We’re doing what we can to keep it open,” said library board president Cassie Fleming.
Missourihttps://web.archive.org/web/202406220...
"In Cameron, Missouri, about 45 minutes northeast of Kansas City, the public school board and administration have been surreptitiously cutting off access to award-winning titles, and engaging in alleged skullduggery resulting in removing materials from school shelves. Intellectual freedom advocates on the ground note an overabundance of credulity toward Cameron school administrators on the part of the board, as well as violation of the board’s own policies — such as its policy manual’s section on objectives for the selection of library materials — in pursuit of shielding the youth from today’s conservative cultural bugaboos.
Chief among these: the reality that LGBTQ+ people do indeed exist, and might even be interested in reading books in which their lives and experiences are reflected. Parents and educators point to Cameron administrators’ use of a suspicious review platform, BookLooks!"
"... the Missouri Library Association Intellectual Freedom Committee [wrote a] letter to the board which gives a good description of the pro-reader viewpoint on the topic, a committee that recently won the prestigious Downs Intellectual Freedom Award for its yearslong work promoting the freedom to read in this state. It asks the Cameron school board “to consider the irreparable harm that undermining intellectual freedom causes to students and their trust in public institutions that come between them and attempts to understand their world.”
...
Research has been done on cycles of cultural paranoia, moral panic and attempts to challenge the centrality of the written word in education, and how these fit together in the broader political and cultural fabric of our democracy. Emily J. Knox, an important scholar on intellectual freedom, said in her testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee this past September that books about LGBTQ+ folks are frequently incorrectly assumed to be all about s-x, and books about nonwhite characters are deemed unacceptable if they do not conform to a narrative that she and author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie call “the single story.” Knox said there is a fundamental misunderstanding baked into the framing of book challenge attempts by those who would censor materials in libraries: “When it comes to parents, they do have the responsibility to talk to their kids about what they are learning and reading and to steer them towards appropriate choices for their children and their family. However, they do not have the right to make those choices for other children and families.”
Read more at: https://www.kansascity.com/opinion/re...
Also MissouriFrances Howell Schools
Proposed policies will restrict Learning Commons collection on basis of being “age appropriate”
https://fhctoday.com/56280/showcase/p...
English teacher Dr. Jason Becker holding a sign reading, “P6310 will make me afraid to teach diverse authors. Ask me why.” The policy will remove many books out of the district Learning Commons and the process to gain approval for specific titles will be slow and smaller scale than demand by librarians and students.
A flurry of policies introduced for first reading at the Board meeting on Thursday, June 20, 2024 brought yet another wave of community backlash while stirring distrustful sentiments within the community and teachers.
Policies introduced at the June 20 board meeting, specifically a proposed change of the existing Policy 6310(P6310) regarding the Learning Commons and “classroom libraries,” and a new proposed Policy 6341(P6341) and Regulation 6341(R6341) detailing committee referral and granting the board the ultimate decision over the removal of challenged Learning Commons material, may be deepening the ravine of distrust between teachers and the district to a point where multiple teachers are considering leaving the district including Dr. Jason Becker, an English teacher who has been in the district for 21 years and attended Thursday’s board meeting.
According to board Vice President Randy Cook, both Policy 6310 and 6341 have been checked by the district legal team. The change to P/R 6310 and the new P/R 6341 were both proposed by Vice President Cook.
P6310 outlines the proposed “Collection Development,” where any book including the following material would be subject to the weeding procedures described in Regulation 6310(R6310): “nudity” and “s-xual content,” “alcohol and drug use,” “repeated use of profanity,” and “depictions or incitement of violence.” Under this policy, elementary school materials “shall have no profanity,” whereas secondary school materials would align with the “repeated” definition, as written in P6310: to have no more than “ten (10) or more occurrences of any combination of terms.” Vice President Cook answered as to why the change to Policy 6310 is necessary.
“Our community has voiced concerns with school libraries for some time now. Given the sensitive nature of this topic, I took time to propose revisions that I feel will alleviate most concerns and restore trust to our schools,” Vice President Cook said. “I believe the change here will protect all of the groups you mentioned [students, teachers, and librarians]. Keeping only age-appropriate materials is an expectation of all who care for children. By defining what is considered age-appropriate, teachers and librarians can know where the dividing line is.”
Any material meeting the weeding criteria, including meeting criterion 7 by violating “Collection Development” prompts as described in R6310, “will be withdrawn from the collection and discarded.” Under this policy, only such material as a “highly regarded piece of classic literature, non-fiction work, or religious doctrine” can be appealed to be kept in the district Learning Commons. However, only 20 titles can be submitted to the board for approval each month, both purchases and for appeal. This is merely 200 titles a year, whereas a librarian who attended the meeting bought 1,300 titles in a year, or 130 titles a month. However, Vice President Cook said he is open to revising the 20 title limit.
TexasA Fort Worth, Texas, Christian group is threatening to remove the school district’s trustees because of the content in 90 books they don’t like.
https://www.cbsnews.com/texas/news/ch...
Censor of the day
Josh Moore said. "It describes what actions are happening in the book. And it's very, very bad."
A former New Hampshire lawmaker, Moore is with "For Liberty & Justice." The Christian-based nonprofit was launched in 2021.
Another group led the charge when the Fort Worth Independent School District removed the books to determine if they met the district's standards.
FWISD said master librarians have checked the books to see if the pieces are age-appropriate for the shelves of school libraries. The district said some of those titles were back at schools in April, but the process is still ongoing.
A junior at Paschal High School was among the first to speak out to the board during their June meeting Tuesday night.
"Today, I'm here to address the issue of p____graphic books being brought back to our schools this fall," she said. "I want to start off by saying that these books have no place in our school libraries."
The high schooler said having the books available in elementary and middle schools was "sickening."
Titles on their list of objectionable books range from "A Court of Frost and Starlight" by Sarah Maas to "Gender Queer" by Maia Kobabe, "The Handmaid's Tale" by Margaret Atwood and "Jesus Land: A Memoir" by Julia Scheeres. [Highly doubt these adult books are in elementary and middle schools.]
Not everyone was against banning the books. One man told the group,"that's your religion."
"I hear the uproar, the uproar that these are p----graphic. There's the definition of p----graphy is not just that gay people exist and trans people exist. And they deserve to exist in peace and not be oppressed and demonized," he said.
The comments were not an agenda item, so board members listened to a slew of two-minute speeches, including "For Liberty & Justice" members threatening to remove them from office.
"But whatever you do, if this ever happens again, I need you to hear my words. All eight of you are gone," the member said.
CaliforniaSunol Glen Unified School District (CA) has been dealing with two board members whose tenure has been about pushing book bans and anti-trans related policies and now, their seats are up for recall.
https://www.pleasantonweekly.com/cove...
The months-long effort to oust Sunol Glen Unified School District Trustee Linda Hurley and Board President Ryan Jergensen > from office is reaching its end as the small-town community gets set for the special recall election next week.
One more - from OntarioMilton Catholic high school removes book ‘The Hate U Give’ from curriculum
School-level decision made following concerns from a parent, but book remains in curriculum of other schools.
https://www.insidehalton.com/news/mil...
A Milton high school has removed the book “The Hate U Give” from classes.
St. Francis Xavier Catholic Secondary School Principal Adriano Perusin confirmed a parent raised concerns regarding the content of the book.
Perusin said he reviewed the concerns in consultation with appropriate staff, including Superintendent of Curriculum Services Jeff Crowell, under Halton Catholic District School Board’s Selection of Learning and Library Materials policy.
“A school-level decision was made to remove the book as a classroom resource,” Perusin stated in an email to the Burlington Post.
Perusin did not respond by deadline to followup questions about whether “The Hate U Give” is available to students who want to read it, despite no longer being part of the St. Francis Xavier curriculum, and what specific concerns about the book were raised.
It was one of 10 books added to the HCDSB curriculum in 2021 as part of the Culturally Responsive and Relevant Pedagogy Project.
The board bought “contemporary texts written by authors of various cultures and ethnicities,” a June 2021 newsletter from another of the board’s secondary schools stated.
“These texts represent different narrative voices to further enhance our student’s abilities to see the world through many cultural perspectives,” the newsletter stated.
Andrea Swinden, the board’s strategic communications manager, said the board’s Selection of Learning and Library Materials policy notes learning resources in secondary schools are subject to principal approval, and although the policy allows principals to provide an alternative book for an individual student, it does not prevent a principal denying use of certain learning resources.
A section of the board policy, titled “Reconsideration of Learning Materials,” states if a parent, student, staff or community member questions particular learning materials, the principal will direct the individual to complete a “Request for Reconsideration of Selection of Learning and Library Materials” form, and meet with the individual and appropriate staff to discuss the issue “to arrive at a solution that is acceptable to all parties.”
If the request isn’t resolved at the school level, the complainant can have it deliberated by the board’s committee for the review of materials.
“The concern is only referred to the committee if the concern cannot be successfully resolved at the school level,” Swinden said.
She said the St. Francis Xavier Secondary School decision to remove “The Hate U Give” was shared with all HCDSB secondary school administrators.
“But no decision has been made to remove this book from the curriculum across all schools,” Swinden said.
QNPoohBear wrote: "A bookstore contacted Paul Castle, the TikToker-come-author (known for his interabled couple content with husband Matthew) to return the order of two boxes of his inclusive children’s book, The Secret Ingredient, he alleged."
He's gained followers too! This isn't the first time he's been discriminated against.
More news I found on GoogleThe truth and lies behind one of the most banned books in America
https://www.npr.org/2024/06/26/119795...
TexasAgain
Mind you, at least one of these is an adult book and not available in elementary schools! IF there is a book by that name in the elementary school, check the author and you will find it is not the same book. Reading comprehension 101.
Leander ISD parents push district to remove 'obscene' books
The parents accuse the district of going against HB 900, despite the law currently being blocked.
https://www.kvue.com/article/news/edu...
Parent Perla Hopkins said there are books that are available at a "student's reach" that include racial stereotypes, racial slurs and pornographic depictions. One example Hopkins gave was a book called "The Lawn Boy" by Jonathan Evison, which is labeled as a semi-autobiography about self-discovery.
Hopkins details that it depicts graphic s--ual scenes that are not appropriate for minors to read.
"We find this to be egregious and just deliberate on the part of the Leander Independent School District," Hopkins said.
Hopkins, along with fellow parents and pastors, said the goal is to urge the district to reconsider the reading material in classroom libraries and instructional material.
"If I am a Christian or whatever I follow and I don't agree with what you're exposing my children to, that should be something that's very important to you," fellow parent Prater Gerald said.
Pastor Richard Vega, founder of the At His Feet Ministries in Houston, drove alongside others to the district to raise concerns before board members – an action he said he has been doing across Texas cities.
"School districts that have p---graphy and extremely racist books within their within their schools that are accessible to minors, which is completely unacceptable by any any means," Vega said.
The group alluded to House Bill 900, which is aimed at banning sexually explicit material in school libraries. The bill was passed into law by Gov. Greg Abbott last year but has been temporarily blocked, leaving the future of certain reading material up in the air.
Back in 2021, Leander ISD removed 11 books after parents had deemed the material inappropriate. Some students within the district took action despite the removal and formed a "banned book club."
A hero retires.The librarian who spoke out: Irene Padilla steps down after 22 years as Md. state librarian
https://wtop.com/maryland/2024/06/the...
Idaho Libraries brace for new law restricting 'harmful' library materialshttps://www.idahoednews.org/top-news/...
HB 710 is the result of a multiyear effort to place tighter restrictions on library materials that are available to children. Republicans in the House and Senate overwhelmingly supported the bill and the governor signed it into law. The bill’s co-sponsor Sen. Cindy Carlson, R-Riggins, said: “This legislation creates a process that is fair for both sides. One side may want kids to have access to certain material and the other side does not.”
The new law establishes a statewide policy for reviewing materials that could be considered “harmful” to minors, including items with s--ual content, nudity or homosexuality.
If a patron challenges an item, library officials have 60 days to remove or relocate it, after which the patron can file a lawsuit. A library that violates the law faces a mandatory $250 fine.
Similar proposals surfaced in previous legislative sessions (including two competing bills in 2023, one vetoed by Little).
This year, library officials across Idaho lobbied against HB 710, arguing it would compromise local control, place a hefty financial burden on institutions and raise questions about censorship. And many librarians questioned the need for the law at all.
Mary DeWalt, director of the Ada Community Library and vice president of the Idaho Library Association, says summer is usually the happiest and healthiest time for libraries.
With kids out of school, the library becomes a main source for education. Families and teachers turn to their local libraries to help prevent the “summer slide” and keep kids reading into the new school year.
Summer literacy programs are popular in nearly every community around the state.
But this summer feels different, DeWalt told EdNews. Confusion, trepidation, hurt and fear circulate among top library staffers statewide as they attempt to move in accordance with HB 710.
DeWalt compared the July 1 deadline to the sword of Damocles — a constant, unavoidable threat hanging over librarians’ heads.
“Everything feels hard now,” she said.
Librarians from around the state echoed DeWalt.
Following the law, they say, is about more than adjusting policies.
Library officials are juggling summer reading programs with other objectives: meeting with legal counsel, reorganizing shelves and even planning renovations to create separate spaces for adult content.
And the adjustments look different depending on zip code.
For large libraries, the focus remains mostly on policy and interpretation. But for small institutions, like the Donnelly Public Library, space is of high concern.
Sitting at 1,024 square feet, the Donnelly library doesn’t have much room to play with, Director Sherry Scheline said.
“Donnelly is disproportionately impacted because we are so small,” she said. “We do not have the space to move a book from one side of the library to the other side of the library, it just doesn’t work that way.”
Plus, Donnelly’s annual operating budget is $74,000 — just 10% of the nearby McCall library district’s budget.
With no free space, and with no funding for renovations, Scheline had to make some drastic decisions.
As of July 1, all of the library’s materials will be considered “adult” items.
Parents who want their kids to participate in programming and spend time in the library will be offered a waiver with three options.
The first option allows parents to waive their HB 710 rights to allow their child to check out materials without a parent present. “I understand the librarians have not been afforded the opportunity to review every item in their inventory, and therefore are not responsible for the content of items that my child may check out,” the waiver reads. “I affirm that my signature on this clause permits my child to circulate materials that may or may not have adult themes.”
A second option allows children to be at the library without a parent present, but requires parental permission for the child to check out materials.
A third option requires children to have a parent with them in the library at all times.
The library is piloting the waiver system this summer. So far, all 50 parents who signed their child up for summer programming have chosen to waive their rights.
“Everyone wants equal access to the library,” Scheline said. “Our patrons are speaking by signing the waiver and patron application. … I’ve not gotten any negative feedback whatsoever.”
When asked about previous challenges to materials, librarians from North Idaho to the Treasure Valley said their collections had been questioned only a few times in the past decade.
Lewiston library director Lynn Johnson said she’s only seen one challenge in her 17 years experience working in libraries.
The request came from a minor, who wanted a book removed for allegedly racist content.
The question went before the library board, which ultimately decided to keep the book. The board determined the book provides information that would not be freely accessible elsewhere.
In the East Bonner Library District, interim director Vanessa Velez says administration handles two to three challenges per year.
The administration has never removed a book due to a challenge in her time at the library.
The Donnelly library has received only two complaints in its six years operating as a public library, Scheline says. Neither went through the official process — one started as a conversation with Scheline about a commonly challenged young adult novel, “Looking for Alaska.”
“We had a verbal discussion about it,” Scheline said. “She told me why she felt that way. The process was not furthered. I took the book and I relabeled the book and I put it in the adult section. There was no further discussion.”
Another patron spoke with Scheline about removing “Educated,” a memoir about a woman growing up in a survivalist Mormon family, due to negative depictions of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.
Scheline encouraged the patron to follow the policies in place, but never received a request for reconsideration.
With an annual purchasing budget of $600, most of Donnelly’s collection was donated.
“The books that we have in our collection really reflect our population,” Scheline said. “The books that the Idaho state Legislature is fighting, that they keep bringing up, we just simply don’t have here. We just don’t have them.”
Currently serving as interim director, Velez says she considered not applying for East Bonner’s directorship position and leaving public librarianship altogether following the passage of HB 710.
“This is criminalizing my profession,” Velez said. “It’s depressing and disheartening.”
Velez has spent the summer budgeting for legal fees, researching cost of renovation, and rewriting her library’s policies to match the “vague” language of the law.
“In addition to being against the principles of a public library, I think it’s a waste of time,” Velez said. “Literally the amount of hours that have been spent trying to figure out how to comply with the law, but also, taxpayer money. Our time is taxpayer funded.”
Johnson, Lewiston’s library director, is in the same boat. She’s spending the summer developing new policies that take the heat off her frontline staff.
Hiring staff is already a hardship, she said. Now, she believes HB 710 could exacerbate the issue.
“I won’t say people don’t feel insulted,” Johnson said. “No youth librarian comes to work and says to themselves, ‘I’m here to hurt children.’ We all come with a service attitude, wanting to do the best for everybody in our communities. … But by being required to potentially censor … that goes against what we’re trained to do.”
Not to mention collection development, collection management, budgets, programming and everything else the library offers.Woman With A ‘Master's In Library Science’ Explains Why Librarian Jobs Require A College Degree
https://www.yourtango.com/self/woman-...
The most egregious news of the day is, like Texas, Oklahoma Dept. of Ed. is requiring the Bible to be taught and used in schools with sanctions for those teachers who don't comply. Can we say unconstitutional?! OK schools head vows sanctions for teachers who won't teach the Bible
Ryan Walters
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/oklahoma...
In an interview with NBC News, Walters said if a teacher refuses to follow the Bible instruction mandate, they’d face the same consequences as one who refuses to teach about the Civil War. The punishment could include revocation of their teaching license, he said, a process that requires a vote by the Oklahoma State Board of Education, which Walters chairs.
“Any teacher that would knowingly, willfully disobey the law and disobey our standards — there are repercussions for that,” Walters said. “So we deal with that on a case-by-case basis, but yes, teachers have to teach Oklahoma Academic Standards and this is absolutely going to be part of them.”
Walters’ new rule on incorporating Bible instruction was immediately criticized by civil liberties and religious groups. The Jewish Federation of Tulsa and the Oklahoma chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations both said in statements that Walters is inappropriately promoting Christianity in schools.
Americans United for Separation of Church and State also weighed in. “Walters is abusing the power of his public office to impose his religious beliefs on everyone else’s children,” the group said in an email, adding that it is “carefully assessing options.”
Pennsylvania. I've reported on this story previously. I guess he hasn't finished his investigation yet.This Bucks County Dad Took His Child's School District to Court to Uncover a Secret Book Banning Scheme
https://buckscountybeacon.com/2024/06...
Children's Books
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Insanity. I've never even seen a one room library! How is that possible? My childhood library was 3-4 rooms (the main area was open but perhaps once had a wall and door). It's now a tiny house. I think the library near the beach house was two big open rooms. It still is according to Yelp.
https://www.kmvt.com/2024/06/13/effec...
The effects House Bill 710 will have on one room libraries in Idaho
The library bill, also known as House Bill 710, is going to take effect in one month. How will this affect policies at the one-room libraries in Idaho’s towns?
House Bill 710 explicitly states that a book that an adult deems inappropriate, has to be relocated to the adults-only section in the library.
For one-room libraries, this poses an issue, of whether they will completely take the book out of the library as a whole or change their policies.
Stephanie Jewett, of the Camas County Public Library, talked about the procedure they would go through if someone were to file a complaint, “I want to know where they’re from, I want to know specifically what they’re objecting to, I want to know if they reviewed the entire material, all of it and so we will still have that form that they will have to fill out and because a complaint has been made, in order to comply with the law we would have to remove it from the shelves.”
In the form the person will need to state who they are, they cannot remain anonymous.
“I want their objection in writing, with their name on it. I’m not going to do it for someone who tries to remain anonymous, that’s not going to happen,” Jewett stated.
The book would be relocated to the back room that the library has.
“Those books won’t be browsable. I mean people will be able to find it in our catalog, they just won’t be able to look at the shelves and find,” Jewett explained.
If the minor wants to check out that book, a parent would need to come with them and give permission.
At the Filer Public Library, they have no set policy yet, they are still deciding what policy to implement.
Right now they have a system of letting parents put restrictions on what books their child can read and what they can’t.
Debbie Carpenter, from the Filer Public Library, talked more about this, “Our library cards are a family library card, the parents have to sign up and we also allow the parents to put restrictions on what books their children can check out or if the children can even check out books when the parents are not with them.”
Filer also has a reconsideration form, that is similar to the form from Camas County.
These two libraries are not going to be removing any books from their libraries.