Children's Books discussion
Banned Books: discussions, lists
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Discussion of censorship, equity, and other concerns.
TN law prohibits books with s--ual imagery. Libraries scamble to keep up with the new law. What else is new?https://www.wbir.com/video/news/local...
Some news this week.Sadly Brazil is taking a page out of the M4L, etc. playbook and banning books.
Brazil’s unparalleled spate of book bans is page out of US culture wars
A series of bans on volumes with race, gender and LGBTQ+ themes have proliferated in recent years
https://www.theguardian.com/world/art...
Good news in Idaho in spite of the law'We are standing up to protect our libraries': Idaho Democrats Statewide Day of Action
https://www.ktvb.com/article/news/loc...
More good news‘The power of fiction’: San Francisco store sends LGBTQ+ books to states that ban them
https://www.theguardian.com/world/art...
Fabulosa Books, located in the Castro, the city’s historic gay neighborhood, has received widespread support during Pride month for its Books Not Bans program, which allows customers to buy and send books to LGBTQ+ organizations operating in conservative parts of the country.
Becka Robbins, founder and director of the program, and the bookstore’s events manager, launched the initiative last year, inspired by repeatedly witnessing how impactful it can be when youth discover queer literature for the first time: “At the store, I’ve seen young people who don’t have access to these books, and it’s definitely a cinematic moment, where they are like: ‘Oh my god!’ … This should be ordinary. They should see this queer lit in their own libraries, in their classrooms, on their parents’ bookshelves. But they’re not.”
The project is a grassroots effort that operates out of a closet in Fabulosa, and since launching, Robbins said, she has sent more than 700 books to states across the US, including Texas, Florida, Alabama, Arkansas and Oklahoma.
“I really believe in the power of fiction as a driving force for connection, resilience and empathy. It gives you the capacity, in a way that nothing else does, to connect with people who are different than you,” Robbins said. “There’s been times in my life where fiction has really kept me going.”
She has more boxes ready to ship, and since the program got recent news coverage in the Los Angeles Times and the Associated Press on and local television stations, donations have been pouring in, with more people stopping by the store wanting to buy books for other communities: “It’s been a community effort. Customers come in and pay for entire boxes and say: ‘Send this to Florida.’ They leave a note that says: ‘Hang in there, you’re going to get out of that place.’ It’s encouraging and also a little heartbreaking. People shouldn’t have to leave to find safety and comfort.”
...
Fabulosa owner Alvin Orloff said some of the local patrons supporting Books Not Bans come from the communities that are now facing rising censorship: “Our customers live in San Francisco, but they know what it’s like to grow up in a small town where everybody’s bigoted. So they feel really strongly that they want to do anything they can to make life easier for the next generation.”
The program is also designed to show solidarity with transgender and queer groups that are sometimes faced with significant backlash and violent threats over their efforts to defend people’s rights, Orloff added: “There’s a psychological thing for them to just know there’s people out there who are thinking about them and care about them, that they’re not invisible, that there’s a world beyond their community that values them.”
Watching the escalating book bans has reminded Orloff of the 1970s campaigns of anti-gay activist Anita Bryant, who claimed her efforts were about “saving the children” and promoting parents’ rights: “Politicians just want to whip up the fear. It’s a big, symbolic thing for them to say we’re ‘protecting the children’. It’s the same thing they were saying 50 years ago when I was growing up.”
“Books offer a wider variety of role models and a greater understanding of queer communities than you’re going to see in the movies,” Orloff added. “It just makes you feel so much better to know that there are people like you out there and that you don’t have to have a life constricted by people who don’t value you.”
EveryLibrary reports the crazy news Just eleven people are responsible for 73% of book ban requests in Wisconsin!
Many of the book banners aren't parents, don't have children in the districts, and many books they want banned aren't even in the school libraries!
Gee what a surprise!
https://action.everylibrary.org/books...?
Sign a petition and get your voice heard
https://action.everylibrary.org/banne...
Now the bad newsAfrican American studies is too 'divisive' for one Maryland school district
https://www.thebaltimorebanner.com/ed...
The nearly 100 Harford County Public School students who signed up to take the Advanced Placement African American Studies next school year will have to find a new class.
The latest version of the college prep course piloted at three Harford high schools was rejected by the school board last week in 5-4 vote, with some members calling it divisive, with a progressive agenda and too much focus on racism. The curriculum, designed by a national nonprofit called the College Board, will be widely available for the first time this fall, but not in Harford County.
“The topics are heavily politically oriented and perpetuate the message of oppressed versus oppressor,” Terri Kocher, a board member who voted against the class, said at the meeting. “I think we’re missing an opportunity to present positive messages of unity and great American contributions.”
in MARYLAND?! Sure... okay... Let's review the history of Maryland shall we?
Over 100 Wisconsin school districts fielded inquiries, challenges to bookshttps://www.rawstory.com/over-100-wis...
More than 100 Wisconsin school districts — 1 in 4 — fielded inquiries about books or formal requests to remove them since 2020, according to a Wisconsin Watch review of records obtained from all but two of the state’s 421 public school districts.
Many requests came from organized conservative groups and politicians rather than organic requests from parents concerned about required reading. In several cases, the school district didn’t even own the books someone wanted to remove.
Requesters involved with school board or state-level politics filed nearly half of the challenges and concerns. Book ban requests in one district sometimes rippled into nearby districts, fanned by viral social media posts and conservative media personalities.
Records revealed a culture of hostility and division surrounding book-banning efforts and added stress for district administrators and library specialists who faced personal threats and saw their job responsibilities expand in unexpected ways. In some cases, school board members resigned following requests for book removals, citing resulting division and harm.
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A handful of “super requesters” seeking to remove more than 15 books made up nearly three-quarters of removal requests and concerns, often using information from right-wing media and lists compiled by national groups to formulate requests.
Requesters targeted books with LGBTQ+, sexually explicit and racial content, repeatedly alleging liberal bias and anti-Christian values.
Experts say Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Michigan — among the most competitive battlegrounds in national politics — are particular hotbeds of book challenges as partisan actors use such tactics to energize their base. Tasslyn Magnusson, a Wisconsin-based program consultant with Freedom to Read at PEN America, called Wisconsin “one of the most dangerous states for book bans.”
“They are tipping point states in the election, which means we're going to get so much money poured in here,” Magnusson said. “The governor can veto some of this crisis legislation, but then what happens is these groups and these efforts then change policy at the local level.”
The records from every corner of the state showed 165 unique requesters raised questions about or formally sought to remove 1,617 books across 106 Wisconsin school districts between Jan. 1, 2020, and Oct. 13, 2023. That includes 625 formal challenges.
There were 679 titles, including classics, bestsellers; and in one case someone inquired about 12 books including Hillary Clinton’s “It Takes a Village” and Anne Frank’s “The Diary of a Young Girl.” But the most frequent requests were for books about s-x and LGBTQ+ themes.
Districts removed books or restricted them to older grades or parental permission in 190 instances, involving 127 titles. Most removals took place in southeast Wisconsin districts, particularly Waukesha, Kenosha, West Allis, Oak Creek-Franklin and Elmbrook.
The books “All Boys Aren’t Blue,” a memoir by George Johnson of growing up a queer Black man, and “Lucky,” a memoir by Alice Sebold involving a traumatic sexual assault, were either restricted or removed six times each, followed by “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” by Stephen Chbosky and “Tricks” by Hopkins at five each.
Since 2020, one in four Wisconsin school districts received complaints or requests to remove books from school libraries. The most challenged books feature storylines that include LGBTQ+ topics, sexual explicitness, profanity, violence and racially charged content. (Shane Fitzsimmons for Wisconsin Watch)
After Wisconsin Watch filed its requests, Elkhorn and Menomonee Falls removed or restricted pending an investigation an additional 477 books. Adding those to the Wisconsin Watch total, Wisconsin schools removed or restricted at least 667 books. That’s 114 more than the list PEN America maintains.
Members of organized conservative groups facilitated removal requests in at least 14 districts, and many more districts received challenges from requesters who used lists of books compiled by national political groups. The largest groups involved were Moms for Liberty, No Left Turn in Education, Mass Resistance and Parents’ Rights in Education.
In many cases, independent citizen requesters relied on lists compiled by larger national groups like booklooks.org and ratedbooks.org.
Eleven “super requesters” — those who raised concerns about or challenged 15 or more titles at a time — accounted for 73% of the targeted books. They often referred to lists of books originating in other districts or from online forums. Some had no children in the district. In nearly 60 cases, the school district didn’t own the book the requester sought to remove.
In addition to lists on national websites, super requesters used lists compiled by parents in other states. Two parents who collectively lodged a concern about 86 books in the Watertown Unified School District used IowaMamaBears.com and an anonymous list they called Parents List of Sexually Explicit Content.
The largest request from the period Wisconsin Watch requested records came from Lisa Anne Krueger in the Manitowoc School District, who on Oct. 10, 2023, inquired about 310 “aberrant obscene inappropriate pro-abortion and anti-Christian” books from a list, but did not follow through with a formal request. Krueger in February unsuccessfully ran for election to the Manitowoc School Board. She was the only requester in the district.
After Wisconsin Watch made its open records request in October, Melissa Bollinger in the Elkhorn Area School District challenged 444 books on Nov. 30, 2023, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
A district policy prompted the temporary removal of the books, and following review, administrators placed or maintained restrictions on 135 books. Prior to her challenge, the district had only received two removal requests, both resulting in removals.
At least 849 inquiries and formal challenges to books — more than half compiled by Wisconsin Watch — came from a school board member or candidate, another local politician, or someone otherwise heavily involved in local conservative activism.
The most prominent such lawmaker was Sen. Jesse James, R-Altoona, who in March 2022 asked 12 districts if they possessed a list of 51 books, according to his staff. The list was compiled by an Eau Claire parent who previously spoke out against COVID-19 masking efforts and equity training materials. ... Only eight of the districts provided records showing James’ requests, so only those 408 were included in the Wisconsin Watch count.
“Nothing more came out of the request besides simple information gathering,” a James spokeswoman said. “We did NOT follow up with the schools after the fact about removing the books, and we did NOT pursue any legislation or oversight after the request was fulfilled. … James really just wanted to know what age groups the books were available for, if they were available at all.”
In the Mequon-Thiensville district, supporters of an unsuccessful fall 2021 effort to recall school board members requested the removal of “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian” by Sherman Alexie from libraries on Sept. 30, 2021, saying it included “p----raphy” and “racist” content. Requesters Curt and Torri Woda and Dennis Becker, along with Moms for Liberty’s Scarlett Johnson and Amber Schroeder, who helped support the request, also took part in the recall movement based on concerns over pandemic restrictions and what members called critical race theory.
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Conservative media played a role in requests for removal in at least 12 districts.
Libs of Tik Tok
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Kevin Mathewson of the far-right blog Kenosha County Eye sent emails on Sept. 11, 2023, to two district administrators, noting that book removal requests put Kenosha in national headlines. He asked whether the district planned to remove four titles critics had flagged.
Bristol School District #1 Administrator Jack Musha responded that the district had “a few of the titles” in its library and has a “very specific policy in regards to book reviews.” In his response, Mathewson asked: “Do you think liberals like you have a mental disorder or really believe in the ideals of the democratic party?” He then asked Musha to provide a photo of himself, adding, “When I write about you liking kids to watch p---n, people will want a face to go with your p---phile-like behavior.”
Michelle Garven, Trevor-Wilmot Consolidated Grade School District administrator, told Mathewson none of the books were available to check out at district libraries, but families could search for titles through the Wisconsin School District Library Consortium.
Mathewson vowed to write “a story about not only how you allow p----graphy in your district, but that you don't want the public to know about it.” He later wrote he was “very eager to publish a story about your s----al deviance” and added, “Don't make me sue you and embarrass you further because when I write my article people are going to be wondering why you want kids to be exposed to p-----phy.”
His emails and reporting prompted Garven to send a cease and desist letter to Mathewson.
Most books targeted for removal in Wisconsin explored themes related to identity or coming of age, with a particular focus on LGBTQ+ and racial storylines. Many also dealt with abuse, mental health or grief, Wisconsin Watch found. Data from PEN America show that restriction efforts nationally overwhelmingly targeted books about people of color and LGBTQ+ individuals.
For the majority of the cases, a small group sought to challenge more than 15 titles. Such “super requesters” were often affiliated with organized conservative groups. Moms for Liberty, No Left Turn in Education, Mass Resistance, and Parents’ Rights in Education were among the largest. Shane Fitzsimmons for Wisconsin Watch)
Baraboo district officials, however, said they couldn’t find [Gender Queer] in their inventory. Two other districts — Kenosha and the Sheboygan Area — removed the book.
Magnusson said critics of “Gender Queer” tend to focus on short excerpts and discuss them out of context.
Opponents of “Gender Queer” and other books targeted in Wisconsin expressed concerns that s----ally explicit scenes, regardless of how little of a storyline they make up, could expose their children to sensitive topics before they’re ready. Many book restriction advocates said they would prefer that parents instead discuss such issues with children.
Two sets of parents in the Silver Lake J1 School District complained after a fourth-grade teacher added the book “Love Makes a Family” by Sophie Beer to her Amazon wishlist.
“The question almost inevitably will come up in the classroom of why two daddies are in the bed and both my husband and I absolutely do not feel like it is the place of the teacher to be explaining this to our child,” one parent wrote, referring to an illustration of a same-sex couple. She added that she feels like “political views, religion, and how we raise our own families need to stay out of schools.”
Supporters of the targeted books applaud their affirming storylines that help teenagers navigate their identity. Jennifer Handrick, a Chippewa Falls art educator and Cadott School District parent, wrote in support of keeping four challenged LGBTQ+ books in the school district.
Wisconsin is home to some of the nation’s starkest disparities between white and Black residents in education, public health, housing, criminal justice and income. But book challengers also objected to a range of books that explore issues surrounding race.
TALLAHASSEE , Fla. — In a key battleground in the larger debate about removing and restricting school books, plaintiffs in a lawsuit against the Escambia County School Board asked a federal judge this week to order officials to return to the shelves seven titles that have been off-limits for over a year.https://www.wftv.com/news/local/retur...
Mod
‘The power of fiction’: San Francisco store sends LGBTQ+ books to states that ban them
https://www.theguardian.com/world/art......"
Maybe they should also send these books en masse to Ron DeSantis and other book banning happy politicians as well as all M4L members.
More news from BookRiot's Literary Activism newsletter:Horrible news in Arkansas!
Ozark Library announces temporary closure to remove books, complying with new state policy
Staff says they must comply with the changes to receive state aid, which totals approximately $45,000.
https://www.wdhn.com/news/local-news/...
Back to Escambia County• Escambia County School officials in Florida want to be protected from having to talk in the two lawsuits they’re part of for banning books.
https://www.wmnf.org/school-officials...
" Facing two lawsuits alleging they violated First Amendment rights, Escambia County School Board members and the district’s superintendent are arguing they should be shielded from testifying about decisions to remove or restrict access to school library books.
Lawyers for the school board and Superintendent Keith Leonard filed motions this month seeking protective orders to prevent them from having to give depositions in the federal lawsuits.
Attorneys for plaintiffs in one of the cases, involving the removal of the children’s book “And Tango Makes Three,” fired back in a court filing Wednesday. The filing called the request for a protective order an “untenable position.”
“Defendant’s motion attempts to shield from discovery some of the most significant evidence in this litigation: the motivations of the five board members who unlawfully removed ‘And Tango Makes Three’ from the district’s public school libraries and the superintendent who assisted the board in doing so,” the filing said.
In the motions, lawyers for the school board and Leonard pointed to issues such as a legal concept known as “legislative privilege.”
“Because the board acts as one, its individual members’ motives are not only irrelevant but protected by legislative privilege,” the motion in the “And Tango Makes Three” case said. “Florida law prohibits any private deliberations by the board — indeed, all deliberations concerning Tango occurred in the sunshine during a public meeting — and forcing the board members to testify would be irrelevant, unduly burdensome and unnecessarily cumulative.”
“And Tango Makes Three” co-authors Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson and a student identified by the initials B.G. are challenging the removal of the book, contending, at least in part, that it was targeted for depicting same-sex parents raising a child. In April, U.S. District Judge Allen Winsor refused to dismiss their claims that the school board’s decision to remove the book violated the authors’ right to freedom of expression and the student’s right to receive information.
The other lawsuit, filed by parents of schoolchildren, authors, the publishing company Penguin Random House and the free-speech group PEN America, challenges decisions to remove or restrict access to numerous books. U.S. District Judge T. Kent Wetherell in January rejected motions to dismiss First Amendment claims in the case.
During the past month, the plaintiffs’ attorneys in both cases served notices to take depositions of the school board members and Leonard. But lawyers for the school officials responded by filing the motions for protective orders.
The motions were similar. In addition to making the argument about legislative privilege, they cited what is known as the “apex doctrine.” That doctrine helps shield high-ranking government or business officials from testifying in lawsuits if information can be obtained in other ways.
“Each of the elected board members are constitutional officials, vested with control of the district,” identical arguments in the two motions said. “As such, they are protected from being called to provide testimony in all but the most unique circumstances. Board members, like agency or corporate heads, are the highest-ranking officials in the board and are vested with constitutional and statutory authority over the district.”
But in the filing Wednesday, attorneys for the plaintiffs in the “And Tango Makes Three” case disputed the arguments about legislative privilege and the apex doctrine.
“At best, the board is a group of part-time officials, of equal rank, who have some responsibility related to the day-to-day operation of district schools, which is not sufficient for the apex doctrine to apply,” the plaintiffs’ attorneys wrote. “The board members’ roles are best analogized to county or city commissioners, who are not considered to be ‘high-ranking’ for purposes of apex.”
Attorneys for plaintiffs in the other case had not filed a response Thursday afternoon to the motion for a protective order.
BookRiot's Kelly Jensen reports:The staggering costs of book bans, broken down by cost per book, in Alachua County, Florida Schools. This expense is the point — these same book banners will turn around and cry irresponsibility on the part of the school.
One district in FL spent over $40,000 during the 23/24 school year reviewing objections filed by 6 people. One person filed 9/19. Another filed 7/19.
The Fight Book Bans Act by
@RepMaxwellFrost
would help districts recover some of these costs.
https://x.com/FLFreedomRead/status/18...
Drag Queen Story Hours Under Attack!• Books Inc. (Bay area, California) drag queen story time received a bomb threat.
This time, the threat was found to be not credible but the event and location have been a target before.
Two years ago, protesters went to a story time, heckling the hosts and protesting outside.
Though Silicon Valley Pride said it partners with others for extra security, it said it can't let hate stop its work.
"We're teaching the kids in terms of promoting how to read, and also how to accept everybody, regardless of the gender identity or gender expression," said Saldy Suriben, chief marketing officer with Silicon Valley Pride.
The Campbell Police Department confirmed with ABC7 that officers responded to a report of a bomb threat and evacuated Books Inc. and nearby locations.
K9s canvassed the area and determined that it was safe for everyone to return and that's just what they did, later continuing the story time outside in a Pruneyard Shopping Center courtyard.
"The show must go on," Suriben said. "We were just happy that we were able to not cancel the event and still promote drag queen story time."
https://abc7news.com/post/campbells-b...
• A small arts center outside Boston, Massachusetts, holding a drag story time also received a bomb threat. That story time continued
https://www.bostonglobe.com/2024/06/1...
One day after thousands of people descended on Boston Common to celebrate the city’s Pride march, a small arts center in Newton received a bomb threat that nearly derailed its Drag Queen Story Hour.
Emily O’Neil, executive director of the New Art Center, said she received an email Sunday morning, less than an hour before drag performer Missy Steak was set to begin a free story hour at the center.
“It was sort of a nondescript threat,” said O’Neil. She added that although the sender made no anti-LGBTQ statements, the threat’s timing leads her to believe the drag story hour was the impetus for the email. We “believe that was the catalyst,” she said in an email to community members disclosing the threat.
O’Neil, who was out of town at the time, immediately notified the Newton Police Department. The building was still locked, so O’Neil said the authorities quickly checked the building’s doors and other exits as well as its security footage. The fire department also checked the roof.
“They were able to give the building an all clear about 10 minutes before our free event was supposed to start,” said O’Neil. “It was probably a bogus and idle threat, but it’s still something that we took incredibly seriously before opening our space up to the public.”
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Drag performer Missy Steak said she and the staff didn’t have all the details but stayed at a “more secure location” while the authorities swept the building.
“There was fear, there was also frustration,” said the performer. “It all felt so surreal.”
Once the building was deemed safe, O’Neil said her staff felt “very strongly about continuing to hold the event so that we wouldn’t be beholden to hatred.”
“We made it clear to people who were coming to this free event that there had been a threat,” said O’Neil. “Some people left, but the majority of people stayed.”
Missy Steak added that she also was determined to go forward with the story hour.
“I didn’t want to bow out of the reading hour, especially because some of the families chose to stay,” she said. “I trusted that the police were able to make sure it was a safe space.”
Drag story hours have become a focus of anti-trans activists in recent years, with protesters voicing their disapproval of the events. Missy Steak was herself targeted by right-wing protesters during an event last year at Newton North High School.
“It doesn’t continue to surprise me, because there are people trying to stoke the flame,” she said. “I do believe we are stronger and they are afraid of that.”
O’Neil said Sunday’s bomb threat was a first in her organization’s 47-year history, adding that the center held a similar story hour last year that drew protesters.
During this year’s event, the drag performer said she read three books, including “The Hips on the Drag Queen Go Swish, Swish, Swish,” by Lil Miss Hot Mess; and Joanna McClintick’s “‘Twas the Night Before Pride.”
“I’m very friendly, and families usually really enjoy time with me,” she said, adding that a lot of the anti-trans outrage is “manufactured.” “There’s nothing I can do to appease these people anymore. It’s just the culture war: They’re mad about things they don’t even really care about.”
Also threats in Montclair, NJ
https://newjersey.news12.com/montclai...
Bomb threats made at several locations in Montclair on Sunday coincided with one of the town’s Pride Month events, according to the New Jersey Office of the Attorney General.
The threats were made against the Montclair Public Library main branch on South Fullerton Street and at the location on Bellevue Avenue, which was closed at the time.
Officials say the threats were emailed and coincided with a “Drag Story Hour” event scheduled at the library’s main breach. It was part of Montclair’s Pride Month celebrations.
The library was evacuated Sunday afternoon as a precaution. No explosives were found.
Idaho Libraries Rally Against State's New Library Lawhttps://www.krem.com/article/news/edu...
July 1
Demonstrations took place at North Idaho libraries on Monday [July 1]. Idaho's new law on regulating books that may be considered "harmful materials" goes into effect today.
The legislation could impact how libraries operate, specifically when it comes to children.
The Library Alliance of North Idaho is one of the groups rallying against the state’s new library law, as well as showing their support for local libraries.
“We as Idahoans, we see ourselves as free people and free people read freely,” Megan Dardis-Kunz, who is with the Library Alliance of North Idaho, said.
The demonstration kicked off at 3 p.m. and more and more people gathered throughout the afternoon.
Those rallying against the new law believe this takes away parental rights and adds unnecessary work for libraries.
The law impacts both public libraries, as well as those at public and private schools.
"Books are the one area where items are reviewed, published and go through a lot of process, and [to] have restrictions on that is absurd," Joe Morrison, a free-speech advocate, said.
The Coeur d’Alene Public Library said it made minor changes in preparation for the new law. It said it already had a material review policy, form and procedure in place. However, they modified each of them to match the process outlined in the new statute.
On Monday, the Library Alliance of North Idaho invited the public to sign thank you cards that will be delivered to librarians. Demonstrations are also going on right now at branches in Hayden, Post Falls, Spirit Lake, and others.
"Our hope is first, that our librarians and our library workers know that we support them and appreciate the work that they do and we trust them," Dardis-Kunz said. "We trust them to make the decisions about what material should be in our books."
VirginiaFranklin County Public Schools to review book policy: Keeping tabs on your teen's reads
No privacy for the child, and worse, as soon as the parents want to challenge the book, they can.
OMG teenagers reading about s-e-x in BOOKS! Pass the smelling salts. C'mon have you seen the internet lately? My mom has heard second hand about some of the things my niece has been exposed to on TikTok AND heard in the schools! She's not even IN high school yet!
https://wset.com/news/local/franklin-...
The school board passed the policy last fall, and when they passed it they said they would review it at the end of the school year to see if they want to keep it, tweak it, or change it all together," Superintendent Dr. Kevin Siers said.
Siers said the current policy allows many different layers.
"First if a parent or an employee or a student wants to challenge any book that's in the library, they can notify the librarian or school principal. Then, have a meeting with the principal, talk about the material. Then, they can determine from that meeting if they would like to file a formal challenge," Dr. Siers said.
Siers said the best part of their policy is that engages parents.
"We have changed our whole mode in the library to notify every parent every time their child checks out a book. So, if a child checks out a book that their parent doesn't want them to have access to, they will receive an email immediately and they can contact the school and say this is material I don't want my child to be exposed to," Siers said.
Siers said at the high school level, they have created a YA+ section, for material that may not be appropriate for younger folks.
"Any student under the age of 17 can't check out books from the YA+ section," Siers said.
Siers said parents have the opportunity to fill out a form that can limit their child's checking out ability for certain types or themes of books. He hopes they will keep the existing policy. Earlier this month, multiple community members voiced their concerns about books having s--ual content in the schools.
"I wouldn't want to discount anyone's concerns because people have very strong beliefs and they have every right to voice their beliefs. I will just say that we tried to create a policy that defers to what the parents want for their children," Siers said.
Siers said they do label s--ually explicit books and continually monitor books to see if they are appropriate.
Fourteen books have been challenged, five removed, and two moved to the YA+ section.
I was wondering what happened with former Oklahoma teacher Summer Boisimer who shared the QR code to the Brooklyn Public Library's Books Unbanned shelf with her students. Now we know and this is horrible and hateful!!• The State Board of Education in right-wing-controlled Oklahoma has suggested that the educator who gave her students a QR code to access books banned in the state should have her teaching license revoked
State Board of Education rejects judge's advice to restore former Norman teacher's license
https://www.oudaily.com/news/oklahoma...
Oklahoma’s top school board has voted to ignore a judge’s finding that former Norman teacher Summer Boismier should keep her teaching license after posting a link in her classroom to an online library containing banned books.
The Oklahoma State Board of Education on Thursday unanimously voted to reject the judge’s recommendation and instead instructed its own attorney to put together a list of findings, signaling the board members could vote to revoke Boismier’s certification despite being advised against it.
Both Boismier and her attorney, Brady Henderson, denounced the state board’s actions.
“More than a year after Summer Boismier prevailed in her administrative hearing where her accuser failed to prove that she had broken any law, a group of political appointees chose to disregard that result and use their power to make a second attempt to revoke Boismier’s teaching certificate regardless of there being no legitimate factual or legal basis for doing so,” Henderson said.
The board’s attorney will present the report next month to highlight evidence and testimony “that reflect a decision to revoke the teaching certificate of Summer Boismier,” board member Katie Quebedeaux said while reading aloud the directive.
The Oklahoma State Department of Education has pursued revocation on the grounds that among the thousands of books in the catalog, some have s---al content. The teacher has said she never recommended any specific book in the collection.
Boismier said the decision sends “yet another chilling message to teachers, students and the entire state of Oklahoma.”
“The board’s action today means that this fight for free expression will soon move to the courts, where I am confident our rights will be restored and the board’s wrongs rectified,” she said.
After a June 2023 hearing, a judge found the state Department of Education failed to prove Boismier deserved to have her certification taken away, though the state board makes the final decision. Revocation is a penalty typically applied to teachers facing criminal charges, unlike Boismier.
But state Superintendent Ryan Walters said he views his administration’s case for revocation as “pretty open and shut.”
“We’ve heard from parents all over the state,” he said after the meeting. “They don’t want indoctrination in their schools. They want to make sure teachers are obeying the law.” [Yet putting the 10 Commandments/The Bible in schools is NOT indoctrination?!!]
Walters accused Boismier of breaking state law and attempting to “push inappropriate material.” However, the teacher and her former school district maintain she never violated the law nor faced any disciplinary action. She has not been charged with a criminal offense.
Boismier has been a target of Walters’ since she resigned from Norman High School in August 2022 in protest of a state law banning certain race and gender concepts from the classroom. The law prompted Norman Public Schools to have teachers remove books from their classrooms until each title could be reviewed.
Boismier made national news at the time when, rather than taking down her books, she covered her shelves with red paper that read, “Books the state doesn’t want you to read.” She also placed QR code links to the Books Unbanned program at the Brooklyn Public Library, which gives teenagers access to its catalog nationwide.
Walters, who at the time was a political candidate running for state superintendent, called for her certification to be revoked because “there is no place for a teacher with a liberal political agenda in the classroom.”
Boisimer is suing Walters in Oklahoma City federal court, contending he personally owes her $75,000 or more for defamation, slander, libel and false representation.
AlabamaFascism in Augusta-Prattville
Autauga-Prattville Library Board approves book removal policy as controversy continues
https://alabamareflector.com/2024/07/...
The Autauga-Prattville Public Library Board of Trustees last week approved a resolution giving themselves the power to remove any materials they believe inappropriate, whatever a library director may decide.
The move is the latest in an ongoing controversy over access to books at the library, one that has led in the last year to the appointment of a new board; the firing of a former library director and a federal lawsuit over selection criteria approved by the board in February that plaintiffs say violate patrons rights.
“We have a current lawsuit open, and I expect the plaintiffs will also allege there are problems with the resolution,” said Bryan Taylor, a former candidate for chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court who is representing the library in the suit.
Board members passed the resolution several weeks after the Alabama Public Library Service Board ratified changes to its administrative code. The new changes require local libraries to adopt policies aimed at restricting minors from having access to materials with themes related to sex and gender identity.
Members of Read Freely Alabama, formed in opposition to Clean Up Alabama, and allies oppose the resolution and the library board’s policies adopted earlier this year.
“This case is a problem of the library board’s own making,” said Will Bardwell, senior counsel at Democracy Forward, the organization representing Read Freely Alabama in its lawsuit. “The board could have backed away from its extremist agenda and returned the library’s policies to the way they used to be. Instead, the board is doubling down. The wording of the policies has changed, but the board’s book banning goal remains. Until the board stops violating the First Amendment, this case will continue.”
Based on the language, the resolution appears to target the appeals process available to patrons seeking to challenge the decisions made by board members based on the selection criteria policy adopted in February.
Library officials adopted a policy in February allowing them to remove books or other materials from circulation if they believe they are s--ually explicit, contain gender identity themes or otherwise inappropriate.
The policy allows for books or materials to be removed or not purchased based on the selection criteria policy. The resolution allows the library director to make those decisions but permits patrons to submit a request to appeal the decision.
It begins by stating that the library director is the ultimate arbiter of the library collection subject to oversight by the board and that the director is responsible “to protect minors from materials deemed inappropriate for children and youth.”
Language in the resolution also states that the public may submit a request to the library director to challenge decisions regarding books included within the library’s collections or those that were removed because of the selection criteria policy.
Decisions by the library director regarding books or other materials from the collection that are “advertised for consumers under the age of 18 and which he or she deems inappropriate for children or youth” could be reversed by a majority vote of the board.
The board must determine that the item is not “harmful to minors” based on state or federal law. It cannot include graphic descriptions, illustrations or other representations of s--ual conduct as defined in state and federal law.
The resolution also states the items may not contain “mature themes” of sexuality, sexual orientation, sexual abuse or transgender identity. The book or material also cannot promote or glorify illicit drug or tobacco use, have racial or ethnic themes, sexual harassment or discrimination, homosexual themes, xenophobia or transphobia.
It also cannot have content that relates to gender identity, promiscuity, teen pregnancy, physical or sexual abuse, p---philia, polygamy, or any other form of criminal behavior.
The board may also overturn a director’s decision to retain materials and books in the collection, based on the same criteria.
The resolution largely aligns with changes that board members from the Alabama Public Library Service adopted in their administrative code. Changes not only included the amendments recommended by Gov. Kay Ivey but also further restricted minors from having access to library materials.
The code change requires libraries to develop policies to determine the materials appropriate for the collection or risk losing their public funding. They must have a policy in place for placing displays that highlight materials targeted at children. Libraries also must have guidelines to ensure that the children’s section does not have obscene or s--ually explicit materials and that those materials cannot be purchased for patrons less than 18 years old.
Groups such as Read Freely Alabama and the Alabama Library Association have opposed the board’s resolution and the administrative code changes adopted by APLS, believing they violate free speech rights and discriminate against LGBTQ+ groups.
Also in A-P Alabama• The Autauga-Prattville library board is also trying to get out of the lawsuit filed against them.
https://www.alreporter.com/2024/07/02...
You can read more about that lawsuit
https://bookriot.com/how-alabama-libr...
Prattville Library board files motion to dismiss lawsuit
The court filing argues that the board’s replacement of the challenged policy renders the suit moot.
The board had asked for an extension on the deadline to respond to the complaint, filed in May by patrons of the library alongside Read Freely Alabama and the Alabama Library Association.
The board voted last week to throw out the challenged policy and replace it with a policy that more closely hews to language in new requirements for state aid from the Alabama Public Library Service.
The board argues in the filing that the replacement of the challenged policy renders the lawsuit moot.
“In this lawsuit, Plaintiffs seek injunctive relief and declaratory relief from the challenged policies. Specifically, they ask the Court for an order ‘enjoining the Board from enforcing’ the challenged policies and declaring that the policies are each unconstitutional, void, and of no effect,” the board’s counsel wrote in the filing. “Having been superseded, though, the challenged policies will not be enforced, even absent any order of this Court; they are no longer in effect.”
The filing also challenges the idea that patrons have a legally protected right to check out and read materials from a public library.
“In short, then, if the Complaint is to be read as supporting standing at all, it must be read as alleging that the ‘right to check out and read’ books and other material from a public library is a ‘legally protected right,’” the motion states. “But is it?”
The filing recounts the policy changes made by the board, most importantly its shift toward letting the library director decide what is and isn’t appropriate. While the board created a process to challenge book removals, it specifically blocks challenges to the removal of books containing “a mature theme or themes concerning issues of sexuality, sexual orientation, sexual abuse or transgender identity.”
That rule means that if the director removes a book such as The Pronoun Book, which started the challenges in Prattville, its removal could not be challenged unless a majority of the board were to find that it does not contain “a mature theme concerning … transgender identity.”
Some currently challenged books should not be removed under exemptions for books about history, such as What was Stonewall? and What was the AIDS Crisis? However, the resolution on how to handle removal challenges does not mention these exemptions, making it unclear whether the board could restore these books if they are removed.
Good news• What Girls Are Made Of will remain on shelves in Osseo District School (MN).
https://www.hometownsource.com/sun_po...
Another challenged book will remain on shelves at an Osseo District School, the school board decided June 25.
The Osseo School Board voted 4-2 to keep the controversial book “What Girls Are Made Of” by Elana Arnold available in the Osseo Area Learning Center library, 7300 Boone Ave. N., Brooklyn Park.
District resident Britt Stuessy brought the challenge to the book and appealed the decisions to the board level.
“The rationale behind this book challenge is not about limiting information. It is about calling into question the appropriateness of s----ally explicit and obscene materials in publicly-funded school libraries,” Stuessy said.
Stuessy believed that the book pushed “an ideology on teenage girls.” She described graphic sections of the book, emphasizing that girls as young as 14 have access to it at the Learning Center. She asked that it be, at minimum, age restricted to students 17 and up, with a warning label and a parent notification system for when their child checks out a s---ally-explicit book.
Ultimately, the board voted upheld the school committee’s decision to keep the book on shelves. The district’s general counsel, Amy Moore, reported that despite disturbing themes, the committee had reported that the work “served a purpose” and that members hoped the book drove “questions and conversations” for young readers.
Moore added that a Learning Center library administrator previously admitted to Stuessy that they do not read every book they put in the library, but rely on journal reviews when deciding which books to purchase. Stuessy argued that book reviews are often biased as they are paid for by the book’s publisher.
According to Moore, the committee had also told Stuessy that the Learning Center was the only district location that offered “What Girls Are Made Of,” but Stuessy alleged that book was also at Park Center High School and questioned whether the committee had done their due diligence.
School Board members Heather Douglass and Sarah Mitchell voted to remove the book.
Mitchell believed the book did not enhance the curriculum, devalues a girl’s self worth and is not appropriate for minors. Douglass said the book is graphic and does not align with the district’s mission. She was concerned by the depiction of s--ual activities between minors.
Members Thomas Brooks, Tanya Prince, Jackie Mosqueda-Jones and Tamara Grady voted to keep the book at the Learning Center library.
“There is definitely explicit content, a lot of adult themes, and it was very heavy,” said Prince. It was new information to her that there is a “s-- fiction” label in the libraries.
Prince said that out of the 306 learning center students, 203 are in grade 12. Another 65 are in grade 11. At this particular school, a larger portion of the students would qualify as mature readers than at other high schools.
Mosqueda-Jones saw a different message in the book than other speakers.
“I came out with a theme that in society, girls are often told that they have to accept conditional love,” Mosqueda-Jones said. “This book addresses that, and her struggle with that, and her decision to not be in relationships where there’s that conditional love,” she said.
She added the book could be very beneficial to certain students, and added that the focus of the decision is on this specific book at the Learning Center library, not on broader issues or books in other schools.
Before the vote, several community members offered comments in support of removing the book.
One of the speakers, Natalie Sonnek, has been involved with book challenges at the board level before. She challenged the book “Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic,” by Alison Bechdel, which the board also decided to keep available.
“I am here tonight to read a statement from Gays Against Groomers,” Sonnek said. “Their statement is as follows.
“Multiple concerned parents have reached out to us regarding Osseo-Maple Grove School District’s controversial and highly s----ally graphic books in their school libraries. Sexuality, regardless of gender identity, does not belong in an educational environment, especially without parental consent. When school officials choose to take it upon themself [sic] to place psychologically harmful, s----ally graphic containing books in the schools, they open up the door to p----graphy and s--ual abuse.’”
The statement went on to claim that s---ally graphic content has been medically proven to cause a rise in sexual activity, STDs, pregnancy, and harmful situations such as sexual assault by adults. It added that the district has not achieved sufficient levels of proficiency in subjects like reading and math, and should focus on those subjects instead of teaching morality.
Parent Mark Brenner spoke next to finish the statement from Gays Against Groomers.
“‘The things that are provided are not for minors, and they desensitize children to adult s--ual activities and images,” Brenner read. The statement concluded by saying Gays Against Groomers provides more appropriate resources for young LGBT youth.
Parent Julie Smith
“We are concerned about our students. We believe s--ally-explicit books do not provide any educational value and should be removed or at least restricted. They should also be labelled with a warning and a rating system,” she said.
Smith said that the book challenges are not motivated by hate or discrimination, and those who claim otherwise have ulterior motives.
Smith said FOX-9 reporting on the February School Board meeting combined two agenda items in a deceitful report to make the district look hateful and discriminatory.
• Book censorship is being pushed by conservative church folks in the Rio Grande Valley (TX). This is where one district, Mission Independent School District, pulled nearly 700 books within 5 minutes of their request.--Kelly Jensen
https://www.valleycentral.com/news/lo...
Conservative group aims to remove over 600 books from schools
MISSION, Texas (ValleyCentral) — School districts throughout the Rio Grande Valley received a list of 676 books that a conservative group believes should be removed.
Pastor Luis Cabrera, the director of Remnant Alliance, says this is not a book ban but rather a removal of profane material.
He says he doesn’t want children like his eleven-and nine-year-old learning about the s---ally explicit material the books contain, in school.
House Bill 900, also known as the Reader Act, was passed by Texas Lawmakers and went into effect last fall. It prohibits the acquisition of harmful material and prohibits the possession, acquisition and purchasing of books rated s----ally explicit material.
Jackelin Elizabeth Trevino, a local literary advocate, is against the book ban and calls it a ban against freedom of expression. She believes the group is trying to force their views into the classrooms.
“It’s simply the tip of the iceberg of an agenda to further erode the separation of church and state, using our public schools as a vehicle for that,” Trevino said. “Children having access to a variety of ideas and a variety of perspectives through their libraries is part of developing critical thinking and this ban makes me afraid that our youth are missing an opportunity to develop those skills.”
Trevino hopes school districts carefully evaluate the books in their libraries before removing any titles.
She believes that sexual education experts and both conservative and liberal parents should be involved in the process. Trevino says the ban will mainly have an impact on LGBTQ+ students.
Cabrera disagrees and says the goal is to protect the minds of children even if they identify as LGBTQ+.
The Brownsville School District has already removed several books. Some of the titles include “Jay’s Gay Agenda” and “The Big Question Book of Sex and Consent.”
Brownsville Independent School District Superintendent, Jesus H. Chavez says the books are being removed based on foul language and content.
“This is a controversial topic whether this book should be read or not read by our students and a lot of times you will have people on both sides of that,” Chavez said. “So, we educators then have to stand in judgment and say let me look at the book, let me look at the content, language and subject.”
Chavez says they have a committee that is continuing to check the list. Cabrera says in the fall they will begin reviewing which books were removed and which have not so they can discuss the law further with the school districts.
Women of color disproportionately targeted by book bans, study findshttps://www.colorado.edu/today/2024/0...
The analysis also revealed a stark racial disparity in book bans. Authors of color were 4.5 times more likely to be banned than white authors, particularly women of color. This is largely because women of color were more likely to write children’s books featuring diverse characters.
“By banning children’s books, these political actions served as a symbolic move to silence women authors of color and the diverse characters they wrote about,” said the paper’s corresponding author Katie Spoon, a PhD candidate in the Department of Computer Science at CU Boulder.
Most of the banned books were not particularly popular before the bans, and the bans did not lead to notable increases in sales.
“I don’t think many people even know about these books being banned, because they are not reading them to begin with,” said Spoon.
Instead of information censorship, the bans might serve largely as a political tactic to rally voters, she said.
The team revealed that counties with a weakened Republican majority over the past two decades were more likely to ban books compared to nearby counties that had a Republican stronghold.
“We are not sure how impactful these bans have been in terms of censoring information, which is what people commonly associate book bans with. To us, this looks like a politically motivated strategy,” Spoon said.
• People showed up to voice their feelings — for and against — book bans in the Corpus Christi Public Library (TX)https://www.kristv.com/news/local-new...
Corpus Christi community voice concerns about book censorship
On Tuesday, dozens of people packed out the Corpus Christi Library Subcommittee meeting as the topic on book censorship filled the room.
During public comment, many community members voiced their concerns about the potential ban on certain books, while others supported the need for the subcommittee.
“I would love to see myself in books and stories and I want to make sure that youth can find themselves in books as well," Director of Coastal Bend Pride Center Robert Kymes said.
Others mentioned that they believed parents should choose what their children are exposed to, rather than the children's decision.
The city’s Library Board created the subcommittee nearly a month ago to provide advice for the library collection development policy.
The conversation to ban certain books in public libraries and minimize the need for librarians has grown across Texas.
However, in Corpus Christi, many community members believe that without a variety of topics in libraries, people, especially children, will not learn about certain cultures, diverse groups, religions or feel properly represented.
“We need resources that our minority children, teens and adults read and see themselves represented," one community member said during the meeting. "We need to ensure that the offerings that are available on our shelves meet the wide range of all our citizens.”
In particular, some people posted their concerns on social media about banning books of the LGBTQIA community, minority history, diversity, equity or inclusion.
Their referencing focused on pioneers like Dr. Hector P. Garcia, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Sylvia Rivera and more.
“I am part of the LGBTQIA community and I believe that without any real knowledge of what it’s like in being a LGBTIA person or a minority person, that having availability of books at libraries will change a child who is exposed to it," Tom Tagliabue, who is against the ban on books, said.
Teenagers were in attendance and emphasized the need to keep books that drive representation.
“There are so many self-help books that I have checked out in the library just to help me, like I said in the meeting, to help guide my emotions," teenager, Kat Dutton, said. As a trans teen, I want the library to stay a safe space.”
Some even believe the board’s subcommittee should be eliminated completely. But there are others who also think that content within libraries should be monitored, particularly when certain literature is over s----alized.
“We have to protect the kids," Carol Nash, a supporter of the Corpus Christi Library Board subcommittee said. "Let the children be children. But do we really need to involve s-x in everything because that’s basically what it is. They want to have books that are more like them [the LGBTQIA community], but what about the children that are confused and need something to help them look at the other side to see if this is really what they want. It seems like they only want the one side.”
[Yes LGBTQIA+ books help confused kids figure out who they are! That's the point...]
Full Fifth Circuit to Review Library LGBTQ+, Sex Ed Books Casehttps://news.bloomberglaw.com/litigat...
Court vacates opinion ordering books back in circulation
Rehearing slated for week of Sept. 23
The full Fifth Circuit will take up a First Amendment case involving a Texas library that pulled several books off the shelves that it deemed to be inappropriate, including books on racism, sexual education, transgender identity.
The conservative-leaning appeals court on Wednesday announced it would rehear the case and vacated a divided panel court ruling that largely upheld a trial court judge’s preliminary injunction that ordered the library to put the books back into general circulation. It is one of a growing number of lawsuits challenging library and public school book bans or restrictive policies.
The lawsuit was brought by seven patrons of the Llano County library system, who argued that the library and county officials infringed on their First Amendment right to access information when they decided to pull 17 books out of circulation after receiving complaints about their content. The titles include “Being Jazz: My Life as a (Transgender) Teen” and “Caste: The Orgins of Our Discontent"—a No. 1 New York Times bestseller about the history of racism in the US.
The divided panel opinion held that the plaintiffs were likely to succeed on their First Amendment claims and ordered the library to place eight of the contested titles back on the shelves.
Wednesday’s order granting en banc review was accompanied by a letter from the court clerk, which established a briefing schedule over the summer and informed the parties that argument would be heard during the week of Sept. 23.
Like Texas, Florida is now banning textbooks on climate change! *sigh* Florida. You would think that since we're in the middle of a heatwave with giant terrifying hurricanes and tornadoes becoming more frequent, Texas and Florida would want their kids to learn about climate change! As I write this, Hurricane Beryl clobbered the Caribbean and made landfall in Texas today! 8 People were killed, according to CNN. CNN claims "The role of climate change: Experts say this hurricane season will be far from normal, as fossil fuel pollution contributes to abnormally warm water and rapidly intensifying storms."
The footnote they want citing my source
https://www.cnn.com/weather/live-news...
AND experts say Beryl was made worse by climate change.
https://www.climameter.org/20240703-h...
Another footnote, thank you Florida, yes footnotes are necessary but so is science.
https://www.rv-times.com/nation_world...
Textbook authors were told last month that some references to “climate change” must be removed from science books before they could be accepted for use in Florida’s public schools, according to two of those authors.
A high school biology book also had to add citations to back up statements that “human activity” caused climate change and cut a “political statement” urging governments to take action to stop climate change, said Ken Miller, the co-author of that textbook and a professor emeritus of biology at Brown University.
Both Miller and a second author who asked not to be identified told the Orlando Sentinel they learned of the state-directed changes from their publishers, who received phone calls in June from state officials.
Miller, also president of the board of the National Center for Science Education, said the phrase “climate change” was not removed from his high school biology text, which he assumed happened because climate change is mentioned in Florida’s academic standards for biology courses.
But according to his publisher, a 90-page section on climate change was removed from its high school chemistry textbook and the phrase was removed from middle school science books, he said.
The other author said he was told Florida wanted publishers to remove “extraneous information” not listed in state standards. “They asked to take out phrases such as climate change,” he added.
...
Late Tuesday, the Florida Department of Ed. posted the list [of approved science textbooks] on its website. Miller’s and the other author’s books were among those approved. .
... [T]here are no textbooks for high school environmental science classes on the approved list, though three companies submitted bids to supply books for that class, according to documents on the department’s website. Course material for that subject typically includes significant discussion of climate change.
“How do you write an environmental science book to appease people who are opposed to climate change?” asked a school district science supervisor, who is involved in science textbook adoption for her district. She asked not to be identified for fear of job repercussions.
She and other educators, the textbook authors and science advocates said the state’s actions will rob students of a deeper understanding of global warming even as it impacts their state and communities through longer and hotter heat waves, more ferocious storms and sea level rise.
Florida had already earned a D — and was among the five lowest-ranked states in the country — in a 2020 study that graded the states on how their public school science standards addressed climate change, said Glenn Branch, deputy director of the center for science education, which was a partner in the study.
Excising the phrase from science textbooks will “make Florida climate education even worse than it is,” Branch said. “These ill-considered actions are going to cheat Florida students.”
Branch said it was especially troubling the decision seemed based on “ideological grounds” and ignored the “rock solid” science that has documented climate change and its impacts.
Brandon Haught teaches environmental science at a Volusia County high school and was active in efforts to include evolution — another controversial science topic — in the standards adopted 16 years ago.
His ninth graders know almost nothing about climate change because it is not taught in the lower grades, he said. He spends at least a week on the topic but is covering only “the basics,” he said.
Florida students need more information on the subject not less, he added. “Florida is one of the most impacted by the impacts of climate change, and oh my goodness Gov DeSantis, why?”
...
There were 146 textbooks submitted for consideration. About 75 books from a total of about 10 publishers were approved for middle and high school classes, with four publishers also approved to provide science books for kindergarten-to-fifth-grade classes, according to documents on the department’s website.
Textbooks can be rejected for failing to match Florida’s standards or failing to provide content that is accurate, among many other issues.
Science textbook publishers were told in advance to keep “critical race theory,” “social emotional learning” and other “unsolicited strategies” out of their textbooks. However, the “rubric” used to evaluate the books made no mention of “climate change.”
REPORTEDLY.... according to the Daily Mail, Reddit and other unverified sources, s sign in the Idaho Falls Public Library, with a huge stop symbol, informed patrons they would need to show photo ID if they were under 30.Children could only enter if they had an unrestricted library card signifying their parents were happy with them browsing alone, or be accompanied by a parent who 'must sign an affidavit every time you come to the library'.
[The law] allows attacks against libraries for having any type of book that is deemed 'harmful to minors' without a clear definition of what 'harmful' includes,' the Idaho Democratic Party said.
'Books containing any gay characters or any discussion of race could be deemed 'harmful.'
'It takes away local control and could cost libraries thousands of dollars, ultimately forcing many small libraries to close.'
The law came about in part because of a years-long push by right-wing organizations like Against Bad Books that claimed some books were 'X-rated' and 'p-----graphic'.
The husband and wife team Blaine and Anna Conzatti who run the group drew up a hit list of 53 books they wanted pulled from library shelves.
The list curiously included Fry Bread: a Native American Family Story by Kevin Noble Maillard. [Note: Because the family includes Two Spirit members].
Others were The Color Purple by Alice Walker. Beloved, Sula, and The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison. Forever by Judy Blume. Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie.
The Conzattis claimed such books contributed to the 'impairment of the ethical and moral development of our youth'.
Kootenai County Sheriff Bob Norris sparked more outrage when bodycam of footage was released showing him going through the young adult section of the Hayden Public Library, hunting for books he deemed obscene.
On camera he claimed libraries were 'enticing' children with inappropriate books 'like the old-fashioned guy in the van with candy'.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...
The Daily Mail should be taken with a grain of salt. Pictures can be manipulated. The whole point of library cards is a form of ID. Not everyone has a driver's license, passport or photo ID, especially in rural areas, especially immigrants and unhoused people who come to the library for bathrooms, computers, classes, etc.
Good news in Vermont!Vermont law protects public libraries from book banning, censorship
https://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/s...
As of July 1 next year, Vermont public schools and libraries must establish clear, nondiscriminatory procedures for challenging and removing books from shelves. Books can no longer be banned or restricted for discussing politics, sexual orientation, gender identity, sexual health, race, ethnicity, personal morality, religious views or disability status.
Despite Vermont’s status as a low-risk state for book bans, challenges and censorship of controversial literature still occur, ” Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman, an advocate of the bill, said referencing the influence of Parents Against Critical Theory a group that “voiced the same book restriction rhetoric that we have seen in other states."
Vermont’s new legislation also extends privacy to library patrons 12 and up whose library records cannot be disclosed to parents or guardians without their consent. Previously, only children 16 and older had that right. This part of the act took effect on July 1 of this year.
“Growing up as a gay kid, I would go to the library and search out books, trying to figure things out,” said Sen. Brian Campion, D-Bennington, in support of this portion of the bill. “And we want kids to be able to go in the same way − in a way that they can sort of feel safe and explore who they are.”
The law also protects public libraries from criminal threatening, a right previously afforded to municipal libraries only. This component also took effect this month.
Florida school board wants testimony from 7-year-old in book ban suithttps://www.tallahassee.com/story/new...
A Florida school board is trying to take the deposition of one of its 7-year-old students in the hopes it helps tank a federal lawsuit filed over some of its book ban decisions.
The Escambia County School Board, which is simultaneously arguing its own members can't be deposed, says it "has the right to explore the claims and defenses in the case directly with the students."
A deposition is out-of-court testimony by a witness given under oath, often at an attorney's office, for a lawsuit.
"What a parent thinks their child wants to read and is interested in and what the child actually wants to read and is interested in may be different," a defendant's attorney wrote to those suing in emails found in court records.
The case at hand was filed by national free speech group PEN America, book publisher Penguin Random House, book authors and the parents of students who were denied access to school library books.
...
The parties have agreed to depositions of the older students with some limitations and parental supervision, according to court records, but the plaintiffs draw the line at elementary-age children.
"It would require young J.N. to devote time away from family and friends to prepare for her testimony and to face questioning by opposing counsel in deposition – an experience that is enormously difficult and stressful for adults, let alone a seven-year-old," they wrote in a court motion last week.
Those suing say J.N. and other students like her have been negatively affected by the removal of several books, including "And Tango Makes Three," a children's picture book about a same-sex penguin pair raising a chick together.
"The courts have consistently held that a student’s potential access to a book outside of school is irrelevant to that student’s standing to challenge restrictions on access to that book within school," the plaintiffs also argued. "To the extent that the Board seeks to examine J.N. regarding her ability to access these books outside of the school library (a topic they have raised in the student depositions that have taken place so far in this case), that is not a basis to depose her."
If the court determines the elementary schooler should sit for a deposition, her attorneys say it should "significantly limit" it. But the Escambia County School Board also is asking the court to prevent the deposition of its five members and superintendent. Board members say they're protected by "legislative privilege."
"It cannot be disputed that the Board’s actions in deciding to remove or restrict certain books were legislative in nature," they said in a late June filing. "Requiring the Board members to testify as to their motives and underlying thoughts concerning their decision to remove or restrict the books at issue would eviscerate the privilege’s purpose, which is to protect the 'legislative process itself.'"
The defendants also cited legal protections held by some government officials and say depositions are unnecessary anyway because deliberations happened before the public.
County school officials also are trying to get out of depositions in a separate high-stakes lawsuit filed against them, this one by the authors of "And Tango Makes Three."
The authors say the board members removed "And Tango Makes Three" from its school shelves "because of its positive depiction of a same-sex couple and their family." And they produced emails they say show at least one member had "individual animus" toward it because of such content.
Two days before the board members voted on whether to remove the title, a constituent emailed board member Kevin Adams that she was opposed to the book because it "(promoted) transsexual decisions and homosexual ideas." Adams responded the next day, "I agree with your concerns and will vote accordingly."
Wisconsin Divided opinions over children's book removed in Menomonee Falls School District
https://www.tmj4.com/news/waukesha-co...
The supplemental book, "Love Makes a Family” by Sophie Beer, was removed from the district's curriculum after parents alleged it showed an 'inappropriate relationship'.
The Menomonee Falls Board of Education voted to remove a children’s book offered in the district’s 4K classrooms Monday night.
The book, "Love Makes a Family” by Sophie Beer, was challenged at a Curriculum and Learning Committee Supplemental Material Reconsideration Meeting.
The book is a part of the district’s 4K Family Traveling Read Aloud Books program.
According to public records obtained by TMJ4 News, parents Paul and Katrina Mouldenhauer challenged the book after it came home from Shady Lane Elementary with their five-year-old daughter.
The Moldenhauer’s argued the book showed a transgender couple in bed, saying “There are two men lying in a bed together.”
“Most importantly, it depicts a man waking up to another man with pigtails and breasts. Showing relationships like this to young kids in the classroom is inappropriate,” Paul Mouldenhauer said at the public meeting.
The principal at the school, Brad Hoffman, said the book has been with the district for at least a few years and has never been a problem.
“What’s being alleged as a transgender man is quite a stretch,” Hoffman explained. “The subject is that love makes a family. To try and eliminate one family structure is dangerous.”
The book was an optional, supplemental resource to allow families an opportunity to read with their children, Hoffman added.
Menomonee Falls School District Policy 871 allows parents to challenge supplemental materials used in schools, leading to a formal review process.
relationship'.
Menomonee falls book ban
By: Kaylee StaralPosted at 11:14 PM, Jul 08, 2024
MENOMONEE FALLS — The Menomonee Falls Board of Education voted to remove a children’s book offered in the district’s 4K classrooms Monday night.
The book, "Love Makes a Family” by Sophie Beer, was challenged at a Curriculum and Learning Committee Supplemental Material Reconsideration Meeting.
The book is a part of the district’s 4K Family Traveling Read Aloud Books program.
VIDEO: Divided opinions over children's book removed in Menomonee Falls School District
According to public records obtained by TMJ4 News, parents Paul and Katrina Mouldenhauer challenged the book after it came home from Shady Lane Elementary with their five-year-old daughter.
The Moldenhauer’s argued the book showed a transgender couple in bed, saying “There are two men lying in a bed together.”
“Most importantly, it depicts a man waking up to another man with pigtails and breasts. Showing relationships like this to young kids in the classroom is inappropriate,” Paul Mouldenhauer said at the public meeting.
Love Makes a Family book
TMJ4
The principal at the school, Brad Hoffman, said the book has been with the district for at least a few years and has never been a problem.
“What’s being alleged as a transgender man is quite a stretch,” Hoffman explained. “The subject is that love makes a family. To try and eliminate one family structure is dangerous.”
The book was an optional, supplemental resource to allow families an opportunity to read with their children, Hoffman added.
Menomonee Falls School District Policy 871 allows parents to challenge supplemental materials used in schools, leading to a formal review process.
During the meeting, the committee considered presentations from both the challenging parents and Hoffman.
They ultimately banned the book on the grounds of it not being in alignment with the district’s Human Growth and Development Standard.
According to the district's website, the Human Growth and Development Standard, which explains relationships, isn’t taught until grade three.
“It’s not necessarily in line with the standard in my opinion,” Chris Stueland, Menomonee Falls School Board Vice President, said.
“Just because a child goes to public school doesn’t mean they have to learn about alternative relationships.”
Also at the meeting, were dozens of parents and community members.
“It shows different families and different diversities. We’re all here to show support that the book should stay in the classroom,” Andy Guss, a parent of two kids in the district, said.
He’s also a part of the Grassroots Menomonee Falls Area community organization, which advocated against a high school book ban in October 2023.
“We had 33 books banned from high school in the fall and we’re back here as Grassroots Menomonee Falls. It’s concerning we’re back here talking about love,” Guss explained.
So many people showed up to the meeting, that the district’s superintendent had to ask them to watch online or from the hallway instead.
Mod
So according to many social conservatives, if you are against homophobia and in favour of homophobia and homophobic behaviour being punished as a criminal activity, as hatred (and like it should be), you are supposedly a "fake" conservative.
Manybooks wrote: "https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/cons...So according to many social conservatives, if you are against homophobia and in favour of homophobia and homophobic..."
I'm sorry the right-wing extremists are infecting Canadian conservatives. People need to get off social media and grow brains and get out in the community, meet people, listen and learn empathy. I wish they would stop taking it out on the children! Be honest and stop with the protect the children stuff and acknowledge this stuff is politically motivated and all about control.
Mod
So according to many social conservatives, if you are against homophobia and in favour of homopho..."
And moderate conservatives need to realise that they will be unable to change the collective Stalinism and religious fanaticism of the extremists and either join forces with the Liberals or create their own party.
Ridiculous and horrible news in PA.https://bookriot.com/blasco-public-li...
Kelly Jensen reports:
"Blasco Public Library (BPL), a branch of the Erie County Public Library system in northwest Pennsylvania, allegedly received several complaints about a Pride display in the children’s area of the library. In response, the Erie County Public Library Director Karen Pierce directed staff to move the display from the entrance of Blasco's children's library, asked the display be taken down, a directive given and supported by the Erie County Executive Director Brenton Davis.
The library workers did as told, leaving behind signage explaining that censorship of Pride displays go against their professional duties and ethics.
Librarians opted to take down all displays in the children's library rather than single out the "Read With Pride" display in question.
four board members — Quyen Aoh, Adam Groves, Kara Murphy and Ann Rosenthal — called for the return of the display to its original location and voiced concern about how library materials celebrating diverse communities will be presented moving forward.
It was a statement that Davis had warned them not to make.
In an email obtained by the Times-News that was sent to multiple board members and administration officials, Davis informed the Library Board the weekend prior to the Monday statement that it was "up to the administration to handle the PR and the internal operations."
"We have made the only public statement which will be made regarding this matter," Davis wrote. "Further deliberation will only continue to fan flames unnecessarily. This matter is now considered to be a personnel issue and no further comments will be made. This is common legal practice related to any personnel or any other pending legal matter related to the county."
County Councilwoman Mary Rennie, who formerly served as Erie County Public Library director, said it was the "M.O. of the administration," to not allow anyone under him to comment publicly.
"That speaks volumes in itself," she said. "If you are a professional in your field, why wouldn't you be the one to stand up and say something about what is ethically right or what is professional correct?"
"If you represent what is good, and what is right and what is professional in your field, and you're an expert on that, you have a right — in fact, you have an obligation — to set the record straight."
Seven of the nine members on the Library Advisory Board are appointed by County Council members representing their respective districts. Two are appointed at-large by the county executive. The board evaluates and gives support to the development of library programs, according to the Erie County website.
Board members are volunteers and are not county employees.
County Public Information Officer Chris Carroll said Pride Month displays remain in the library and that it's the administration's policy to "respect everyone who is celebrating but are also sensitive to those who don't wish to celebrate."
Rennie called out the administration's position.
"I don't think everyone realizes that asking to have books 'relocated' is, in fact, censorship," she said. "In doing so, there is a judgement that certain materials might be offensive to some and therefore they should be shielded from them. That's ethically and professionally wrong. Libraries are democracies in action."
https://autos.yahoo.com/erie-county-l...
Three members of the board resigned in response. It was not long before eight library positions were then on the chopping block, alongside several other key social service jobs within county administration, in the 2024 fiscal budget. This was despite increased library usage statistics. Those positions were saved by a narrow 4-3 vote, and the county passed a near-11% property tax hike.
Now, Davis and other conservative county executives are agreeing to lease space in the Blasco Public Library to a tax-exempt private religious institution, Gannon University. The agreement allows the University to build a water research and education center in the neighborhood of 3,000 square feet in the east wing of the library’s first floor. The 25-year lease gives the space to the institution at a rate of $7 a square foot, less than half the cost of office spaces already owned by the county, which average $15 a square foot. The lease also ensures the rent won’t increase.
While few are against the project itself, its location and the terms of the agreement are.
Initially, Gannon’s research program was hoping to move into a facility owned by the Erie Western Pennsylvania Port Authority. The university could not get the lease as long as they wished to have it, though, and they began to look for alternative locations.
That’s when Davis stepped in and offered the university the library operation, according to Gannon University president Walter Iwanenko. Discussions began in June 2023–the same time Davis demanded the removal of the Pride display in the children’s section and issued a gag order of library workers and advisory board members.
...Lease opponents find it troublesome that university President Walter Iwanenko and Erie Bishop Lawrence Persico, chairman of the school's board of trustees, would agree to the low-cost lease to the possible detriment of library users.
The lease agreement was approved behind closed doors without public input in October.
There was no advanced notice the proposal was even on the table. It was not listed on the public agenda of the city’s finance committee prior to its approval the week before it was voted on by the full county council. At that October meeting, attendees expressed several concerns, including the fact that the library would be unable to expand into their own space for at least 25 years and that parking would be reduced. The library’s master plan, developed with taxpayer input, would utilize that space well before the ending of the inked agreement with Gannon. The private institution’s lease would impede on the public library’s growth, without ever having to give a dime of tax money itself.
The agreement also puts the library in a precarious position when it comes to funding. If library services are hindered, BPL could lose its library designation as a state library center, meaning that it could forfeit state funding."
"The land on which the Blasco Public Library sits was donated to the county for the explicit purpose of a public library. Per the state’s Dedicated or Donated Property Act, the lease agreement with Gannon University would be in violation, as the Act ensures that properties held in a trust can only be used for the originally intended purpose; in this case, that’s as a library.
An attempt to recall the Gannon agreement in late April failed to garner supermajority support.
Organizations like the NW Pride Alliance blasted the director's actions, calling it an "outright attempt to censor queer content." A "Bring Back Pride" read-in, organized by the PA Equality Project, was also staged at the children's library on Monday.
... Community members and library supporters calling themselves Keep Our Library Public, are pushing back and making clear that this agreement is not about what’s best for Erie taxpayers. It’s about what helps support the County Executive Director and his desire to retaliate against the library.
Keep Our Library Public, a group which has been vocal in their opposition to the agreement, has now filed a lawsuit against the project."
I'm hoping to attend my city library board meeting next week. I have a feeling it will be boring and not well attended but I want to hear what they're discussing.
What began as a small group of vocal library supporters has grown into a powerhouse pushing back against a targeted attack on a beloved institution.
Davis has a well-documented history of offensive comments, including those against the LGBTQ+ community, even prior to his nomination for the role of the county’s Executive Director in 2018. In his role, he has behaved in ways aligned with the philosophies of the far-right. He fired all of the board members of the Erie County Diversity, Equity, and Inclusivity committee in 2022, prior to his demand that the Pride display in the Blasco Library be removed."
The news round up for the end of the week.Ohio-
Students will have no privacy according to this new policy in Mentor
Mentor school board approves new policy amid controversial book debate
https://fox8.com/news/mentor-school-b...
During a contentious meeting before the vote on the policy changes at school libraries across the district, taxpayer Jacqueline McCormick told board members, “if you truly want a safe environment for all children, s---ally explicit material should not be allowed in our schools, especially given to children by trusted adults.”
The policy debate in Mentor began after parental challenges earlier this year to library books that children have access to, including “Right Now! Real Kids Speaking Up for Change” and “Empire of Storms.”
Some parents say the books contain content that is not appropriate for children, but the board voted 3 to 2 in March to keep the two books in circulation.
During Thursday’s meeting, one parent told the board, “that’s not a decision that a teacher or librarian should make because every child is different, every parent is different, and it should be squarely on the shoulders of parents to make those decisions for their own children.”
As part of the new policy approved by the board, Mentor Schools will no longer accept donated books, amid what educators say is an organized effort from outside of the district to influence what students see and read.
“I don’t think that we should be involved in deciding politically which side of the aisle the books are coming from because we’re here to educate with our regular curriculum, we’re not here to worry about politics,” said Mentor School Board President Maggie Cook.
As part of the new district policy, parents will also receive email notifications about books their children would like to check out from school libraries, and if they so choose, parents will have the option to say “no” to the request.
“Not only does this policy let parents know exactly what their children are reading, it also gives complete control over what books their children can and cannot read to those parents who want it,” said parent Lyndsie Wall.
Mentor parents will continue to have the right to challenge any book that their children can see or read, but under the new policy, each challenge will be considered by a committee of educators rather than just the superintendent.
A survey by the school district found that 75% of Mentor residents are not concerned about books in the school libraries, but a vocal critic told the board Thursday night that voters will ultimately decide if Mentor Public Schools are maintaining standards that protect children.
The audience applauded after McCormick told the board, “continue to maintain this harmful material and the next levy will fail. We will have an effort to ensure that it does.”
Stupid. I gave my newest cousins The Family Book. ONE PAGE says some families have two moms or two dads! ONE PAGE! Yet the book is continually challenged - for that ONE page. One page. (And sometimes the earlier page that shows some families look different from each other.)https://www.wbaltv.com/article/carrol...
Carroll County BOE votes against adding two books addressing different types of families
Two books will not be part of Carroll County's elementary school curriculum.
The Board of Education met Wednesday night and rejected the addition of "The Family Book" and "The Great Big Book of Families," both of which address different types of families but do not touch on sexual identities.
Prior to the vote, the topic was met with debate from students and board members.
"Children do perform academically better when their family life is acknowledged. And, in turn, the family is more inclined to participate in their child's education by either attending school activities... to also developing a line of communication with the teacher and the staff at the school," said Tara Battaglia, vice president of the Board of Education.
"You don't need the books in order to teach to the standards that are being required, by either by the Maryland framework or what we've adopted for the Carroll County version. You don't need the books. The lesson plans that have been developed are very inclusive," said Donna Sivigny, a board member.
The Family Life Advisory Committee said it found problems with the books because of questions about how it defined "family."
Tennessee KCS revises library policy reflecting new law that targets certain books
The district voted to pass changes to add language from the Tennessee Age-Appropriate Materials Act.
https://www.wbir.com/article/news/loc...
A new law requires all Tennessee schools to pull books with explicit s--ual content or "excessive violence" off of library shelves. The Knox County School board voted Thursday to pass a policy revision that adds language from the Tennessee Age-Appropriate Materials Act.
While the law went into effect on July 1, KCS Superintendent Dr. Jon Rycewyk said it would take much longer for the district to comply.
"I just want to be real clear to you all, and the public, we will not be in compliance with this law when school starts the first day," Dr. Rycewyk said at the school board meeting.
Leaders with the school district add that the earliest work can be started on identifying and removing books would be when librarians return on Aug. 1.
"Thinking about timeline, our first opportunity for Sarah and her team to even be with that collective group is our in-service day in early August," Dr. Keith Wilson, assistant superintendent with the district, said. "From there and from those conversations we'll start working towards a process."
The assistant superintendent also said they expect state leaders to offer more guidance about certain books, language, or behavior falling within the updated law.
Dr. Rycewyk said the district will start with what he calls "direct violations" and then move to books and content that may be a tougher call.
"We obviously will start with obvious ones," Dr. Rycewyk said. "There's a whole lot of grey, this is why these kinds of laws are difficult to translate. There will be some things that are real easy, that are direct violations and we'll work and prioritize those first."
Kelly Jensen's latest BookRiot post has some good information on how book banners targeting diversity, equity and inclusion are violating the Americans With Disabilities Act and how Project 2025 supports ableism and sees those who are not like them as less than human. Check it outhttps://bookriot.com/book-bans-and-di...
Her regular news summary includesKaty, Texas still at it. At the rate they're going, they won't have any books left to ban.
5 books have been pulled from Katy Independent School District (TX) since April. One is a puberty book. The books are Ares: God of War, Boy O Boy, The Almost Moon, The Haters, and The Girl Guide: 50 Ways to Learn to Love Your Changing Body.
GeorgiaAt least 30 recently acquired books in Cobb County Schools (GA) were banned because of a divisive concepts law. Also, Shakespeare.
https://cobbcountycourier.com/2024/07...
Cobb County School District is responding to HB 1084, Georgia’s 2022 divisive concepts law known as “Protect Students First.” The law restricts classroom discussions on race and politically divisive topics.
Gov. Brian Kemp signed the bill into law in April 2022. Critics argue the vague wording causes confusion about what is permitted and chills class discussions.
While the bill expressly addresses matters of race in the curriculum, it does not specifically address sexuality or gender identity.
Also passed in 2022, SB 226 allows for the removal of books deemed “harmful.”
Cobb’s policies, written to comply with Georgia law, specifically provide that the district will continue to instruct on and discuss “topics of slavery, racial oppression, racial segregation, or racial discrimination, including topics relating to the enactment and enforcement of laws resulting in racial oppression, segregation, and discrimination in a professionally and academically appropriate manner and without espousing personal political beliefs.”
An email exchange regarding the “Picture Perfect Stem” series for grade K-2 showed that one lesson on planting trees was removed after review, while the rest of the lessons were approved. The pulled lesson uses the picture books “We Planted a Tree” by Diane Muldrow which depicts families planting trees in different parts of the world with a nod to Kenya’s successful Green Belt Movement, and “Wangari’s Trees of Peace” the true story of a Kenyan student fighting against deforestation.
The district declined to answer the Courier’s questions about why the lesson was deemed divisive.
Other books flagged for review included Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet” and “Antony and Cleopatra” for references to suicide, “Dracula” for vampires drinking blood, and “The Cage” for “Holocaust content-nothing too specific.”
Also flagged: “Divergent” for references to s-x, assault, and kissing, “The Skin I’m In” for an attempted s--ual assault, “Drama” for LGBT references, “The Star Fisher” for a parent hitting a child, and “Does My Head Look Big In This?” for references to s-x, brief description of a miscarriage, and a character being told they look like a drag queen.
An 8th-grade question in an ELA persuasive writing unit was flagged. Students were asked to describe the way of life the Southern states sought to protect by seceding from the Union. A sample answer states, “The Southern way of life was a life of wealth and power that the people in the South enjoyed because of slavery. They wanted to govern themselves to protect the institution of slavery instead of being influenced or controlled by the North.” An anecdote about Dred Scott, a slave who unsuccessfully fought for his family’s freedom all the way to the Supreme Court was also noted as potentially divisive.
Materials pertaining to the highly-publicized investigation and firing of teacher Katie Rinderle from Due West Elementary for a lesson including the gender themed picture book “My Shadow is Purple” by Scott Stuart to her fifth grade students were also returned.
In order to get supplemental materials approved by the district, staff must submit information regarding the applicable standards, a quality assessment of the material and source (ie. author, publisher), whether it contains any potentially divisive concepts, and three links to reviews, one district-recommended source being Common Sense Media.
In one such request for use of “The Crossover” by Kwame Alexander, a staff member answered the question about why supplemental materials were needed in addition to district-provided material with, “This is a more recently published novel than most of the district-provided materials. Students enjoy more relevant texts.”
In another, requesting approval of “Operation Yes” by Sara Holmes, the staff member wrote, “Novel studies are no longer part of the Target curriculum now that AC [advanced content classes] exists. The needs and interests of advanced learners often go beyond what is available in grade level texts.”
Staff members were assigned to review materials related to the Read 180 and ESOL programs. The documents for ESOL indicated reviewers did not find any “materials harmful to minors.”
“If there are any controversial issues or you’re in doubt, a third reader is required,” the instructions for reviewing Read 180 stated.
Documents included an extensive log of books and materials removed from school libraries in August 2023. The Marietta Daily Journal published an article about the log in October 2023. Superintendent Chris Ragsdale lashed out at the newspaper at the subsequent school board meeting alleging it was misleading.
Ragsdale has routinely referred to the book removals as a matter of “good and evil.”
American Oversight’s review of the materials noted several removed titles, some of which overlapped with the MDJ’s list, including:
”Beyond Magenta: Transgender Teens Speak Out” by Susan Kuklin
“Confronting Stereotypes” by Robert Rodi
”It’s Okay to Be Different” by Todd Parr
“The League of Super Feminists” by Mirion Malle
“American Women Activists” by Kathryn Cullen-DuPont
Weeding is an essential part of maintaining a library to keep materials up to date and relevant.
Cobb’s list from August included books acquired as far back as the 1990s, as well as obsolete technology.
However, of the more than 1,000 pages of weeded titles, the Courier focused on books listed in the first 650 pages that were acquired by the district for high school libraries as recently as 2021, 2022 and 2023. It did not include the titles marked as lost.
Of the individual books that were weeded, 30 are noted online as containing LGBTQ themes or characters.
Titles dealing explicitly with race issues were also pulled.
Not all recently acquired books that were purged in August 2023 fell, at least not overtly, into those categories.
Multiple books by romance author Colleen Hoover were pulled from Cobb schools.
A group of students, alum, and teachers have filed a federal discrimination lawsuit against the Cobb County School District alleging discrimination against LGBTQ students and political persecution of educators.
Back to Tenn.SULLIVAN COUNTY, Tenn. (WCYB) — In 2022 Tennessee enacted a law called the Age Appropriate Materials Act requiring public schools to publish a list of their library books online for parents to see.
https://wcyb.com/news/local/tennessee...
Now, Tennessee legislators added some new requirements.
Any child-parent guardian can say "hey I think this book is inappropriate for my child", said Tennessee State Senator Jon Lundberg. "We’re trying to keep kids safe and make certain that what they’re reading and what they’re seeing in public libraries are appropriate for their age."
News 5's Yannia Nordelo spoke with local school leaders and they say they're prepared for these changes.
"It’s something that we have been complying with for years already and all of us here in Sullivan County have." said Principal of Sullivan East High School Andy Hare. We will get together and make sure that we get all that stuff taken care of and we’ll be ready to go come August 5th.
The law bans books that contain nudity, s--ual excitement, s--ual conduct, or excess violence.
It also states that materials cannot appeal to “prurient interest” which has sparked debate among lawmakers.
Specifically with books discussing the LGBTQ+ community.
There are certain things that for certain ages they shouldn’t be able to access and see, especially in public institution libraries, said Lundberg.
School leaders have 60 days to review their books if not they could face penalties.
It automatically goes to the state textbook commission and the state textbook commission takes a look at the materials makes a determination and tells not only the originating LEA but every other LEA across the state, said Lundberg.
Local school leaders believe this law will protect students from sensitive topics and give parents a voice in their children's education.
This isn’t something that’s bad I think what it is it’s just another sign of how we work together with the community, said Hare. We operate for the benefit of our students we’re all in the same game together and that is to give our children the best opportunities
Oklahoma- A state lawmaker says she’s ready to take the state school board and State Superintendent Ryan Walters to court after she says they violated Oklahoma’s Open Meeting Act when they refused to let her sit in on their executive session discussions last week.https://kfor.com/news/state-senator-c...
State Senator Mary Boren (D-Norman) says the law makes it very clear, as someone who serves on the Oklahoma Senate’s education committee, she should have been allowed in the room during the Oklahoma State Board of Education’s executive session during their meeting last week.
In addition to state school board members and their legal staff, State Superintendent Ryan Walters and some of his executive staff also regularly take part in the board’s executive sessions, including last week.
“We just don’t have enough people holding Superintendent Walters accountable,” Boren told News 4. “And one of the basic things that I’m able to do by law is to observe executive session hearings to ensure that he’s held accountable.”
She said a number of things on the executive session agenda from last week’s meeting piqued her interest.
“There was one item on the agenda regarding the disqualification of one of the school board members, and they voted on that in executive session,” Boren said. “And then there was several agenda items on other teachers whose certificates were in the process of being revoked… I knew that my district really cared about that.”
She says she informed the state school board’s attorney she planned to exercise her right to sit in on the executive session in advance of the meeting last week.
“Last Thursday, I emailed the attorney for the board and notified her that I would was intending to observe the executive session that was on the agenda for that day,” Boren said. “And when they broke for executive session, I walked up to the attorney and I said, ‘Hey, did you get my email?’ And she said, ‘yes.’ And she said, ‘Come this way.’ So I started walking with her and I turned to go into the executive session room towards that door.”
But she says the attorney never let her walk in the door.
“And she said, ‘wait a minute, Mary, we need to talk. You can’t go in there.’ And I said, ‘Oh.’ And then at that point, I was informed that they didn’t think that I had jurisdictional connection with what was happening in the executive session and also thought that the attorney client privilege would be violated if I was in there to observe.”
Tim Gilpin is an attorney, a former member of the state school board and a former Assistant Oklahoma Attorney General. He knows Oklahoma’s Open Meeting Act well.
He told News 4, the Act does allow for legislators who serve on committees overseeing an agency to sit in on that agency’s executive sessions.
“In order to go into executive session—which means all the people watching have to leave, only the board that the head of the board and the board’s counsel can be present—the Oklahoma Open Meeting Act requires only certain topics can be discussed in an executive session,” Gilpin said. “There is a little caveat that one of our state legislators who is serving on specific education committee is allowed… to attend.”
Gilpin says he’s not aware of any clauses in the Open Meeting Act that would have allowed the state school board to make an exception in Boren’s case.
“I don’t know why they didn’t want [Boren] there, but I suspect a judge is going to have to decide what’s going on,” Gilpin said.
Boren says she wants Attorney General Gentner Drummond to give an opinion on whether or not it was legal for the board to prevent her from entering.
“And then once that happens, I hope that I can take that to the State Department of Education, State Board of Education’s attorneys, and explain to them why the law says what it does and how their decisions last Thursday didn’t conform to the law and ask them to reevaluate their position so that moving forward that they can be in compliance with the law,” Boren said.
Boren says, if they still refuse to allow her access after that, she is ready to sue.
Alabama legislators, unhappy with the failure of their librarian criminalization bill this session, have already filed a new librarian criminalization bill for 2025. Sickening.https://www.alreporter.com/2024/07/10...
Bill to arrest librarians filed for 2025 session
A bill that could have led to the arrest of librarians narrowly missed becoming law last session, but sponsors have already filed a follow-up.
House Bill 4 is primarily sponsored by Rep. Arnold Mooney, R-Indian Springs, but has a total of 49 co-sponsors including House Speaker Nathaniel Ledbetter, R-Rainsville; House Majority Leader Scott Stadthagen, R-Hartselle; and House Speaker Pro Temper Chris Pringle, R-Mobile.
With nearly half the House signed on as co-sponsors and the bill filed more than six months in advance, it appears the bill is poised for smooth sailing through the lower body in the next session.
The bill is facially similar to its predecessor, but has been streamlined to better detail the procedure for charging librarians with a crime.
“Fifty Alabama lawmakers want to throw Alabama librarians in jail for daring to shelve books that challenge their worldviews,” said Read Freely Alabama leadership in a statement Tuesday. “Ripped straight out of the Project 2025 playbook, HB4 will criminalize librarians for vaguely-defined ‘obscene’ literature that targets LGBTQ and racial justice content. Read Freely Alabama members will continue to defend all our libraries against these unconstitutional, nationally-coordinated attacks from extremists. Libraries are nonpartisan spaces where everyone can find their stories represented in all sections; we will continue to ensure it stays that way.”
Although books featuring racial content and homosexual orientation have been challenged or removed in some libraries across the state over the past year, this bill does not mention racial issues or even sexual orientation in its language.
It does, however, include “gender-oriented conduct” in its new definition of sexual conduct.
The bill redefines “harmful to minors” by redefining the term “sexual conduct” and sets out a procedure that would allow criminal charges to be brought against librarians if material “harmful to minors” is shelved in sections for minors.
The current definition of what is “harmful to minors” is a three-part test. To be considered harmful to minors, the material in question must meet all three standards below (emphasis added by APR):
The average person, applying contemporary community standards, would find that the material, taken as a whole, appeals to the prurient interest of minors; and.
The material depicts or describes s--ual conduct, breast nudity, or genital nudity, in a way which is patently offensive to prevailing standards in the adult community with respect to what is suitable for minors; and.
A reasonable person would find that the material, taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value for minors.
Despite technical changes, that part of the law remains the same in HB4. The change in the definition comes by a change to the definition of the term “s--ual conduct.”
Under current law, s--ual conduct is defined as:
(view spoiler)
Those two sections remain substantially unchanged; however, the bill adds a brand new third section that states:
In K-12 public schools or public libraries where minors are expected and known to be present without parental presence or consent, any se--al or gender-oriented conduct, presentation, or activity that knowingly exposes a minor to a person who is dressed in s--ually revealing, exaggerated, or provocative clothing or costumes, who is stripping, or who is engaged in lewd or lascivious dancing.
Past comments from the bill’s sponsors indicate this section is meant to envelop “drag queen story hours” and library books dealing with transgender content.
Despite including the terminology of “gender-oriented conduct, presentation or activity” it is unclear how that language would apply when taking into account the full scope of the definition of “harmful to minors.” There is no definition provided for gender-oriented conduct. The definition is also circular in part, including the term “s--ual conduct” within the definition of “s--ual conduct.”
The bill now clearly defines the process for bringing a charge against a public library.
Any person who is a resident of the county or municipality where a public library is located who believes that material is present or conduct is occurring at the public library that violates this division may provide written notice by certified mail, return receipt requested, to the director of the library and at least one member of the library’s board which reasonably identifies the specific material or conduct.
The process is similar for K-12 schools, but the complaint must be brought by a parent or guardian of a student.
Once a library receives notice of a potential violation, it will have 15 days to either:
Move material identified in the notice that violates this division to an age-restricted area of the library.
Remove material in the notice that violates this division from the library.
Cease conduct in the notice that violates the division.
Make an official determination that the material or conduct does not violate this division and take no further action.
The library must notify the complainant of its action. If the public or K-12 library decides to take no action, the complainant can then take the matter to law enforcement.
The bill does not include a section from last session that could have made retail stores a public nuisance for distributing material harmful to minors.
The bill does not bring the matter before district attorneys, which had been heavily discussed last session as a factor to curb frivolous prosecution. Because the charge is a misdemeanor, it would fall in municipal court instead of being handled by district attorneys.
Another change is that the bill creates no schedule of misdemeanors as set out in last year’s legislation. The previous legislation allowed a Class C misdemeanor for a first violation, working up to a Class A misdemeanor. Current law does not classify the level of misdemeanor, but sets a fine of up to $10,000 and one year in jail for distributing material “harmful to minors” to minors.
This will be the third year that the core bill has appeared in the Legislature. Originally designed as a bill to ban drag performances in public spaces—Stadthagen referred to it as the “drag queen bill” as recently as last weaken an interview on the Yafee program—it has since morphed to primarily target librarians.
The plan to rework the bill to target library materials came as a concoction of Clean Up Alabama, a joint effort between Eagle Forum and the Prattville group Clean Up Prattville. In an email recounting the organization’s Aug. 2023 meeting, the group laid out three statewide legislative goals—two of which are combined in this single bill and work in tandem to create a threat of misdemeanors for librarians who have transgender-oriented books on the shelves for minors under 18.
The first goal is to remove the criminal exemption for libraries and librarians for the distribution of content that is obscene or harmful to minors. Some proponents of the bill have emphasized the removal of the exemption for “obscene” material rather than what is “harmful to minors.” But obscenity is a tougher standard than even p----graphy, and no evidence has been provided of Alabama libraries distributing obscene content.
Considering the second goal of Clean Up Alabama it is clear the real objective is to clear the way for criminal charges for libraries that are alleged to distribute material harmful to minors.
The objective is in line with Project 2025, a policy playbook by the influential conservative nonprofit Heritage Foundation. In the foreword of the 900-page plan, Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts conflates p----graphy and “transgender ideology” and calls for librarians to be registered as sex offenders for distributing such materials.
Roberts wrote. “It has no claim to First Amendment protection … Educators and public librarians who purvey it should be classed as registered s-x offenders.”
Eagle Forum and Moms for Liberty have been heavily involved in promoting and designing the bill in Alabama. Both groups are coalition partners on Project 2025. 1819 News has pushed the narrative and the president of the Alabama Center for Law and Liberty wrote policies in Prattville to remove LGBTQ content from the shelves. Those two organizations were spawned by the Alabama Policy Institute, which is another coalition partner on Project 2025.
The bill is sponsored by representatives Mooney, Ledbetter, Stadthagen, Pringle, Kiel, Kirkland, Colvin, Estes, Moore (P), Brinyark, Underwood, Pettus, DuBose, Harrison, Butler, Robertson, Hulsey, Yarbrough, Shaw, Paschal, Lipscomb, Hurst, Marques, Sorrells, Brown, Smith, Wood (D), Whorton, Rehm, Oliver, Treadaway, Bolton, Lamb, Stubbs, Baker, Hammett, Lomax, Rigsby, Gidley, Carns, Stringer, Bedsole, Woods, Sells, Holk-Jones, Fidler, Starnes, Standridge, Fincher, and Givens.
Better news in Virginia- slightlyROCKINGHAM COUNTY, Va. (ROCKTOWN NOW) – The Rockingham County School Board voted to retain several books in the county’s school libraries but also voted to remove one.
https://rocktownnow.com/news/218812-r...
At their meeting Tuesday night, the board voted unanimously to remove A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas, following a recommendation from the Superintendent’s Content Review Committee as they determined that it contained s--ually explicit material. It is the first book to be removed from the county’s school library shelves since implementing the Supplementary Materials Policy.
The Kite Runner and My Friend Dahmer were retained with 3-to-2 and 4-to-1 votes, respectively. Eleanor and Park and The Absolute True Diary of a Part-Time Indian both passed unanimously.
Despite his vote to retain The Absolute True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, Chair Matt Cross said the text included a racist joke that would be inappropriate for younger readers, and that it may prompt some future review.
“It’s very bad, and it’s not funny, and I just hate the thought of another kid repeating the joke that’s in the book and one of our kids, their children at school, would be hurt by that,” Cross said. “So, hopefully it’ll come back up through another process, but I’m voting ‘yes’ on that tonight.”
MarylandCarroll parents ask school board not to exclude two contested family life books
https://www.newsbreak.com/carroll-cou...
Dana Parisi, who spoke at the June school board meeting, said she and her wife are concerned about the effects of this debate on their sons.
“Both my boys have expressed it in their own ways, like, ‘Is our family not as good as everybody else’s family? Do we not matter as much as those families do?’” Parisi said. “It’s one thing when it’s not part of the curriculum, it’s another thing when you’re going to have folks in charge of the curriculum and the Board of [Education] say that our family can’t be represented in the curriculum.”
Parisi said she believes by debating if the two books are age-appropriate, board members are actually inserting “adult topics into two children’s books.” The books in question, “The Family Book,” by Todd Parr, and “The Great Big Book of Families,” by Mary Hoffman, each depict different family structures, including families with same-sex parents, adopted children, single parents and stepparents, and do not include any discussion of sexual orientation or gender identity.
CCPS Parents for Honest Education, a group concerned with county education policy, called on community members to submit public comments and email board members in support of the two books in a July 5 Facebook post.
As of Monday, the Board of Education has received 50 public comments on the books. Of the comments, 47 are in favor of keeping Parr and Hoffman’s books in the curriculum, three are opposed.
The 25-member Family Life Advisory Committee is focused on editing the state’s indicators to match “community standards for age-appropriate instruction” on human sexuality, according to school board member and committee liaison Donna Sivigny. The committee voted in February 13-6-2 to disapprove “The Family Book,” and 12-6-3 to disapprove “The Great Big Book of Families.”
Sivigny was absent from the school board’s June meeting during which the board voted 3-1 to delay a final decision on whether to keep the two books in the curriculum. Board Vice President Tara Battaglia and member Patricia Dorsey supported including the books, while board member Steve Whisler voiced concerns, and board President Marsha Herbert expressed a desire to wait for Sivigny to be present before making a decision.
CCPS Parents for Honest Education supports including the books to create an “accurate portrayal of the world” in children’s education, according to group members.
“Rejecting these books is a rejection of Carroll County families, and more importantly Carroll County children, and doing so imposes an erroneous and unnecessary value system on family structure,” the group said in a written statement. “Carroll County parents must make their voices heard before it is too late.”
Amanda Jozkowski, a Carroll County school board candidate and Family Life Advisory Committee member, said she voted to approve the books because she believes both are, “absolutely age-appropriate and developmentally appropriate.” She said there’s, “nothing controversial,” in the books and to state otherwise, “is disrespectful to families who have different structures.”
If “The Family Book” and “The Great Big Book of Families” are excluded from the curriculum, the subject area will still be taught, according to Jozkowski, but two new books will instead be chosen to teach the same material.
Sara Penn was among the parents who posted a comment to the Board of Education’s website saying that the books represent diverse families in Carroll County. “My family is different,” Penn stated. “I am a single mother. It is important to teach our children that some things look different [than] others, but that doesn’t make them bad, or dangerous.”
The three community members who opposed including the books said parents, not the school system, should decide whether to educate young children on the topic of same-sex parents.
Back to Alabama where Resident Tonia Stulting is upset with the Madison Public Library (AL) because she cannot plagiarize the Moms for Liberty website to get books banned and instead has to do her own work.https://www.alreporter.com/2024/07/09...
A group of people has been consistently speaking out at Madison City Council meetings asking the council to withhold funding to the Huntsville Madison County Public Library system if it does not change its policies.
Two council members made clear Monday night that they have no interest in pulling funding.
“I will say pretty much unequivocally: I will never vote for cutting funding from the police department, Madison Fire and Rescue, public works or the library,” said District 1 Councilor Maura Wroblewski. “I will never support that.”
Wroblewski also said the council isn’t the body to decide where books are shelved in the library, and referenced the process available at the library for patrons to report concerns about books.
The council welcomed Madison Public Library interim executive director Connie Chow to discuss the library’s “statement of concern” process that allows patrons to explain what concern they have about the book and what action should be taken.
Resident Tonia Stulting argued during her public comment section that the process to file as a statement of concern is onerous and doesn’t allow a single patron to quickly submit multiple forms. She also said the process lacks oversight because the committee reviewing the concern is made up of librarians who put the book on the shelf to begin with.
District 6 Councilor Karen Denzine spoke about the new state aid requirements soon to take effect from the Alabama Public Library Service, and said it is the library’s responsibility to conform to those requirements, not the council’s.
District 3 Councilor Teddy Powell said last month that his vote “will always be for funding the library.”
“There are two things we do: we appoint someone to the board, and we fund or not fund the library,” Powell said. “And I don’t think either group is for not funding the library—or I hope not. And if you are that’s fine, but I’m telling you, my vote is always going to be to fund the library.”
District 2 Councilor Connie Spears at the previous meeting said checking a book out at a library and reading a book at a public forum are different things.
“You can check out a book at a library and nobody else has to know what’s in that book; but when you stand at that podium and read what’s in that book in a public forum, you’ve made it so that nobody else in this room has a choice as to what is being said,” Spears said. “… I wish that people would be more considerate of others in the room when they team up and grandstand at the podium.”
District 6 Councilor Greg Shaw said his daughter checked out a “horrific book” when she was in seventh grade and he sat down with the librarians, who didn’t know the book was there, and found a resolution. He encouraged speakers to do the same if they have issues with books in the library through the statement of concern process.
“If you want to find a resolution, go find a resolution; there’s a way to do that…” Shaw said. “To come up here and shock factor people every week doesn’t solve problems.”
District 7 Councilor John Seifert said there were books in the library he wouldn’t want his 15-year-old son to read, but said he supervises his son’s reading materials and that the freedom to read should be respected.
Good news in Illinois- The Metropolis Library has been saved!https://www.wpsdlocal6.com/news/metro...
The Metropolis Public Library board of trustees is back to nine members following appointments made at the Monday, July 8, Metropolis City Council meeting.
Board president Rhonda James on Monday said it took some time to ensure they were selecting the right candidates to fill the board vacancies. In addition to a love of the library, James said they were looking for diversity on the board.
"Libraries should serve all demographics of their community, and so that's what we try to do is find representatives of, of all different demographics," James told reporters. "Because, you know, there are more than one type of person and a little bitty town like this, and there are more than 10 types of people. And we want to make sure that we blanket all of that and represent everyone and consider all of the different residents here."
James sat in the meeting as Parker and Wells were officially named to the board. She said she hopes this board will be successful.
"My hope is, is that we can swear these folks in and get down to business. Let's stick to the agenda and everyone pay attention to what we're talking about. I would love my board members to study, I mean, we have very substantial board packets with financial reports, all sorts of things," James said.
Oklahoma again. Keeping up with Texas.Oklahoma history curriculum is being rewritten by some of the “thought leaders” behind Project 2025 and the movement for disinformation, including Ryan Walters.
https://oklahomavoice.com/2024/07/09/...
Right-wing pundits, out-of-state advocates to help create Oklahoma social studies standards
State superintendent says he wants pro-America history education
National conservative media personalities and right-wing policy advocates will develop Oklahoma’s academic standards for social studies, the state’s top education official announced on Tuesday.
State Superintendent Ryan Walters said his goal is to overhaul the existing social studies standards and emphasize American exceptionalism. He said the new standards also will eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion, though he gave no explanation of what specifically would be removed.
“Oklahomans — citizens, parents, and business leaders alike — are disgusted with the lack of civic knowledge, love for our country, and historical education among our young people,” Walters said in the announcement. “It is crystal clear that we need to return to more rigorous social studies standards that emphasize the unique and exceptional nature of the American republic, promote a proper understanding of the nation’s founding, and instill pride in our civic traditions and Oklahoma heritage.”
Academic standards are a lengthy list of topics and concepts Oklahoma schools are required to teach. They are developed on a six-year cycle, and social studies is up for review in 2025.
The Oklahoma State Department of Education gathers subject-matter experts and educators in review committees to update the standards for each subject. The Oklahoma State Board of Education and the state Legislature must approve the final version.
Walters chose nationally recognizable names for the review committee, like radio host and PragerU founder Dennis Prager, conservative talk show host Steve Deace and Kevin Roberts, the president of The Heritage Foundation, a national Republican think tank.
Only a few of the committee members Walters identified have lived in Oklahoma — author and journalist John Dwyer and former Oklahoma Wesleyan University President Everett Piper, who is now a Fox News contributor.
Another committee member, Texas resident David Barton, attended Oral Roberts University in Tulsa. Barton is the founder of Wallbuilders, an organization and media outlet focused on Christian education.
More than 75 Oklahomans, most of whom are public school teachers, are involved in updating the academic standards, Walters said. He did not name any of the local educators.
“I am very excited to have enlisted some of the brightest minds available to serve on our Executive Review Committee,” Walters said. “Their unparalleled expertise will help craft new academic standards that will serve as a model for the nation and help Oklahoma students for years to come.”
House Minority Leader Cyndi Munson, D-Oklahoma City, called the group of out-of-state advisers “extremist Republicans who are seeking to strip Oklahomans of their right to freedom of religion and a well-rounded, public education.”
Tulsa Democrat Rep. John Waldron, a former social studies teacher, said Walters’ announcement represents a “dangerous politicization of our academic process.”
It’s not the first time the state superintendent enlisted a far-right-wing voice from out of state to advise him. Walters named Chaya Raichik, who runs the social media account Libs of TikTok, to a Library Media Review Committee.
The state Education Department has refused to identify any other members of the Library Media Review Committee, despite the panel’s attempt to have bestsellers “The Glass Castle” and “The Kite Runner” removed from an Oklahoma high school.
Tuesday’s announcement is yet another conservative push from Walters’ administration, following his recent order that all public schools in Oklahoma incorporate the Bible in their history teaching. Last year, he encouraged public schools to use “pro-America kids content” from PragerU.
VirginiaKing William public library (VA) joins two other libraries that have pulled out of a regional library system due to the belief the system permits “inappropriate books” to be shared among them. This is not only deliberately wrong information perpetrated by a board that is supposed to oversee the good of a library, but the celebration of how much cheaper this will be for the library does not get at how many fewer resources and how much less support that library will have, too.
https://12ft.io/proxy
King William board votes to withdraw from Pamunkey library system
The King William Board of Supervisors has voted to withdraw from the Pamunkey Regional Library system, raising questions about the future of branches in Upper King William and West Point.
The board voted unanimously to pull out of the library system Monday after a closed session discussion. The county wants to instead set up in-house library services.
Neighboring King and Queen County voted to withdraw from the Pamunkey system last year and formed its own library this year. The library system has faced criticism in King William County over the last few years for increasing its funding request and for stocking books that critics claimed are s---ally explicit and can be accessed by minors.
Monday night’s vote came as the library system reduced library hours at the Upper King William branch on Sharon Road and in West Point by 13 hours a week effective July 1. The reduction came after the Board of Supervisors declined an additional $45,000 request to cover pay increases and other costs.
Board Vice Chair Justin Catlett made a motion to tell the Pamunkey Regional Library System’s board of trustees the county would withdraw from the system effective July 1, 2025.
King William plans to ask Goochland and Hanover counties, the other two local authorities covered by the regional library system, to waive a two-year opt-out clause in the existing agreement.
Catlett said the decision was based on pressure placed on the county. He said it may take two years to withdraw from the library system if the larger counties fail to back the request.
“King William has taken a giant leap and we plan as of fiscal year 2025 to operate and run independent King William County libraries within King William and West Point,” he said.
An independent library would cost the county less, Catlett suggested. King William pays more than $600,000 a year for library services.
“We were all in agreement we all would love to still see a library,” said Board Chair Lindsay Robinson.
The vote is the latest blow to the Pamunkey Regional Library Board. In June, the King William Board of Supervisors voted not to reappoint longstanding member Mary Shipman in favor of Sharon Landrum while John Edwards, the West Point town manager, resigned his seat on the board. Last year Shipman defended the library against criticism over the content of books it stocks.
Reaction to the King William board’s decision was varied on social media.
“King William will have an independent library,” wrote Jessica McLane of the Facebook group King William for an Independent Library who has in the past criticized the content available to youngsters in the library branches.
“The issue is if the county won’t support being part of a regional system which provides access to countless services and an abundance of resources, then you’re left with a county funded independent library with negligible resources,” wrote Betty Jenkins on the Real King William Happenings Facebook group.
Alaska- Mat-Su School District (AK) was “overwhelmed” with the number of book challenges they received and “streamlined” their review process. The most recent reviews were the final ones, and four more books were banned/restricted in the district: The Handmaid’s Tale graphic novel by Margaret Atwood, Tricks by Ellen Hopkins, and Living Dead Girl by Elizabeth Scott were all banned in the district, while Ellen Hopkins’s Perfect is restricted to the high school level only.https://alaskapublic.org/2024/07/10/m...
At a June school board meeting, Superintendent Randy Trani said the district has worked to streamline their book review process and the citizens committee is no longer needed.
“If a person, say a parent, has a concern about a book, it’s not a process that takes months and months and months, that it’s much more streamlined. So we’re trying to make an effort so we don’t end up in this situation again,” Trani said.
The board’s current policy on public complaints concerning instructional materials says that complaints about books brought to the school board will be determined by the superintendent or the superintendent’s designee, and can be appealed to the school board.
The Northern Justice Project and American Civil Liberties Union of Alaska sued the district last November on behalf of six students and two parents, claiming that the books should have remained on shelves while the review took place. Although 28 books have been returned to shelves, Savannah Fletcher with the Northern Justice Project said the eight plaintiffs are still seeking damages from the district.
“First of all, there are still the books that were fully banned. So now that they have been reviewed, they have been banned, and we have not yet determined as a team which of those we agree with,” Fletcher said. “There are a couple of we’ve already stated we were not disputing, but not all of them necessarily, do we think we’re properly banned outright.”
Another 15 challenged books are no longer in the district’s collection, and the committee did not review two books that will be left to the district administration to determine if they will be removed. The school board is expected to vote on the committee’s final recommendations at their next meeting on Aug. 7.
Scary news out of Iowa“Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird has filed a brief in federal court on behalf of 14 states defending an Arkansas law that prevents ‘indoctrination in K-12 schools.'”
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird has filed a brief in federal court on behalf of 14 states defending an Arkansas law that prevents “indoctrination in K-12 schools.”
A federal district court ruled the state could not prevent two teachers from discussing the ideas of critical race theory – a primarily collegiate academic theory that asserts racism was embedded in the nation’s institutions upon its founding – in class. The ruling did not outright block the state from enforcing the law.
The teachers, as well as two students who sued alongside the teachers, asserted that the law’s vague definition of critical race theory forced teachers to self-censor over fears of violating state law.
The state appealed the district court decision to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit which is where Bird filed her brief, which is co-signed by the attorneys general for Florida, Indiana, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah and West Virginia.
“If allowed to stand, the district court’s decision threatens to wreak havoc on States’ ability to determine what is taught in their schools,” the brief reads.
At the heart of the attorneys general disagreement with the previous ruling is the court’s interpretation of Pratt v. Independent School District where a student successfully challenged a school board banning a film that it religiously and ideologically opposed.
Bird and others argue the First Amendment is designed to prevent the government from censoring others and not itself, but that rulings like the one in the Pratt case force the government to self-censor.
“If the government is speaking, the public does not have a First Amendment right to control the message. If a private citizen is speaking, the First Amendment prevents the government from controlling the message,” the brief reads.
The Pratt decision was also the justification used by a Des Moines judge to block an Iowa book ban as being “staggeringly broad.”
Bird said the Arkansas law prevents schools from indoctrinating students.
“As a mom, I know how important it is that we create a healthy culture for our kids to learn and grow,” Bird said in a press release. “And most schools and teachers do an amazing job at that. But when education turns into indoctrination, parents have a right to push back.”
Children's Books
Books mentioned in this topic
Out of the Blue (other topics)The Princess in Black and the Prince in Pink (other topics)
My Rainbow (other topics)
Butt or Face? Volume 3: Super Gross Butts (other topics)
The Day the Books Disappeared (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Jodi Picoult (other topics)Sarah J. Maas (other topics)
Ellen Hopkins (other topics)
Jodi Picoult (other topics)
Scott Stuart (other topics)
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https://www.everylibrary.org/a_win_in...