Children's Books discussion
Banned Books: discussions, lists
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Discussion of censorship, equity, and other concerns.
Many schools go back this week, including Miami-Dade, some Texas schools and St. Louis. The news of the day is mixed.Interestingly, religious leaders in Texas are speaking out AGAINST book bans. I have more thoughts on that in a moment.
https://myrgv.com/local-news/2024/08/...
McAllen Faith Leaders Network, the religious group has been meeting informally once a month to discuss issues of faith and the ongoings in their community.
Recently their attention has turned toward a pastors’ group known as Latino Faith, which is associated with the Christian nationalist group Remnant Alliance. Latino Faith has called upon local school boards to remove books on a list of about 600 titles from their libraries.
The effort is part of an operation of the Florida-based Citizens Defending Freedom USA Foundation Inc.
“We got together and said, ‘This is not what our faith teaches,’” Rabbi Nathan Farb of Temple Emanuel said. “It’s not what we believe how decisions should be made in our public schools, and we felt the need to speak out about it.”
In the letter, which was signed by the rabbi and seven other religious leaders, the group states that they are nonpartisan and motivated “only by the shared drive to help our city live out the very best of the values of our faiths.”
“As religious leaders in South Texas, we hold nothing more important than our religious freedoms,” the letter goes on to state. “For this reason, we strongly support the independence of our congregations, our schools, and the separation of church and state.”
“We do not believe that the government should have a say in our religious practice,” the letter continues. “We don’t believe that a religious organization should exert decision making power over our public schools or any public body. We patriotically support these rights guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States, and we oppose efforts to undermine them.”
The rabbi said that he and other religious leaders who signed the open letter believe that educators and librarians should be trusted to do their jobs without the influence of religion.
“That just doesn’t make sense to us when we have excellent educators and librarians that are checking our libraries, and they are seeing which books are there and which books are appropriate for our kids in our schools,” Farb said.
“There are faith leaders who’ve signed this letter who operate their own schools or educational programs, and just like they would not want an outside organization telling them what they should or should not include in their programs, we don’t think that it’s right in the public schools either.”
“The main thing is we want to make sure that our educational leaders — our educators, administrators, librarians — we want to make sure that they know they have the support of the religious community in carrying out their responsibilities,” Farb said. “They have our support and our trust, and we don’t believe it is the job of religious leaders to tell public school educators how they should be doing their job.”
Gov. Greg Abbott signed House Bill 900 into law in September last year. The law aims to rid school libraries of inappropriate books by requiring book vendors to rate materials.
So, it's very interesting the above religious leaders are pro freedom to read. I am reading a cozy mystery/Pride and Prejudice sequel The Secret Life of Mary Bennet. She's told everything comes down to money. I read an interesting opinion piece that basically states the same thing. The Koch brothers don't REALLY care what books are on the shelves of the libraries. All they care about is voters electing leaders who will pass and enforce their fiscally conservative policies. That means privatizing everything that can possibly be privatized and slashing budgets for necessary institutions like schools and libraries, circling back to the books as an excuse.Food for thought.
Back to money! Good news though.Arkansas Library Board again refuses to block funds to certain public libraries
Former lawmaker Jason Rapert reads s----ally explicit excerpt of book he wants libraries to hide from minors
https://arkansasadvocate.com/2024/08/...
Six members of the Arkansas State Library Board stonewalled fellow member Jason Rapert’s attempts Friday to get the board to withhold funds from certain libraries.
Rapert has been trying since February to restrict or withhold state funding to some libraries for their involvement in a lawsuit over Act 372 of 2023, a law that would change how libraries handle controversial material and make librarians criminally liable for distributing content that some deem “obscene” or “harmful to minors.” A federal judge temporarily blocked two sections of the law last year shortly before it took effect. A trial in that case is scheduled for October.
The former state senator from Conway offered three different motions to withhold funds from libraries on Friday, all of which failed to obtain a second from other board members.
Rapert and board member Shari Bales of Hot Springs, both appointed to by Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders last year, spoke over each other as they debated whether the board has the authority to withhold state funds or ban books.
“We have the authority to decide how we dispense those funds,” Rapert said as he tried to read excerpts from controversial books that some conservatives in Arkansas have sought to remove from public library shelves or have stashed in hard-to-access areas.
Bales countered that state law and board bylaws make the board responsible for setting policy for the State Library only, “not every library in the state.” The board’s duty is to disburse the funds authorized by the Legislature, she said.
“Our opinions about these books don’t matter,” Bales said.
She suggested Rapert run for office again if he thinks the law should change or speak to legislators, specifically mentioning Sen. Dan Sullivan, the main sponsor of Act 372. The Jonesboro Republican was in the audience and said, “I’m here.”
Rapert’s first motion Friday sought to withhold funds from public libraries involved in the federal lawsuit over Act 372. His second motion sought to withhold funds from any library that refuses to segregate books deemed offensive to the community from general access to library patrons.
... cue shouting between censor and board....
Rapert, founder and president of the National Association of Christian Lawmakers, read the excerpt from “All Boys Aren’t Blue” and noted graphic images in “Gender Queer” before offering his first motion.
When that motion failed, he asked the board to withhold funds from any library that doesn’t segregate 30 books in a restricted area, which also failed to receive a second.
“Every time you vote or don’t vote, you’re telling the people of Arkansas you don’t care,” Rapert said after his second motion.
When his third motion – to stop providing funds to the American Library Association – died, Rapert said he would bring the defunding motions back at all future board meetings. It’s not clear that the board provides any funds to the ALA.
The board’s failure to vote on his motions was a vote against “decency” not a vote for censorship, Rapert said in response to board member Pamela Meredith, who said, “I will never vote for censorship.”
...
At one point, Rapert said he supported abolishing the board if “they won’t do their duty.” He said some legislators have contacted him and said, “If that board won’t do its job, we’ll just abolish the board and give the duties to the secretary of education.
“And unless the board acts, I say, amen, destroy it and put it in the hands of somebody who knows you shouldn’t be putting p____graphy in front of children.”
This is ridiculous and dumbs down the library. It's not hard to look up books in the computer catalog. The library is not Google. This is pretty much literally the exact same thing as Dewey. I go to the section with the call number on nature and look for the birds part if I just want to browse! What on EARTH are they paying librarians for if they won't let librarians do the jobs they were trained to do? This is going to take so much time and money! Will the books be available while they relabel them all? Some libraries in my state are doing this already.
I am Jazz listed under Kids--Self, others list it under DD # j306.768 Her and others just under E HER (picture book author last name), and yet more libraries list it under biography where it belongs.
Michigan
Reorganization of juvenile nonfiction books addresses public concerns, Alpena library says
https://www.truenorthradionetwork.com...
The interim director of the George N. Fletcher Public Library in Alpena believes a new process of organizing juvenile nonfiction books addresses the concerns of some community members who believe 1-14 books are too s---ally explicit for children of any age.
The majority of those citizens, along with county commissioners [how many exactly? Are they really the majority?] , believe the books in question should either be moved to an adult section of the library or placed behind the counter and only available to people ages 18 and older.
In a media release Monday night, interim library director Jessica Luther revealed that after months of research and discussions, library staff have begun the process of reorganizing the Juvenile Nonfiction collection to make it more user friendly for kids, parents, and caregivers. Specifically, the library is moving from the Dewey Decimal System for these books, to the “Browse Method,” which Luther said is a “globally recognized method of categorizing books with subject headings…”
“I think we wanted to be clear that we have been listening to the concerns expressed by members of the community about items they felt are too mature for some of the kids browsing the shelves and we felt that this reorganization was a good way to address those concerns, not removing or moving the titles but making sure that users can take a glance at the shelf labels and know exactly what type of material is shelved there,” Luther added.
In the meantime, county commissioners voted 6-1 on July 23 to start the process of removing trustees from the library board because they didn’t feel the board or library staff was responsive enough to the concerns of some community members. Commissioners are expected to discuss that process at a future public meeting.
....
The Browse method will shelve the books similarly to a bookstore.
Reclassifying the books will be a lengthy process with over 4,000 books in the Juvenile Nonfiction section. Each item will be placed under one of nine major categories and then under a more specific subcategory, the label on the spine will be color coded and clearly marked with the subject and subcategory. The shelves within the collection will be clearly labeled to ensure library users are searching in the section they want to be in. For example, if a child is doing a report on birds they would go to the Science shelves, look for the Nature section and ideally, all of the books in the Juvenile Nonfiction collection about birds will be right there instead of having to figure out which of the Dewey Decimal numbers corresponds to birds.
Additionally, books about human anatomy and body systems would be cataloged under Science: Biology; Anatomy and Physiology, while those
titles about sexuality, bodily autonomy, and other sexual education topics would be cataloged under Body, Health, and Mind: Family Life; Sex Education.
Once the Juvenile Nonfiction Collection has been reclassified, the Teen and Young Adult Collection will be next.
For more information on the Browse methodology visit:
https://www.cumberlandlibrary.org/bro...
QNPoohBear wrote: "ColoradoElizabeth School District..."
More!
Elizabeth School District Bans Nineteen Books With "Temporary Suspension"
"The board is trying to provide parents the opportunity to make these decisions for their children and empower them."
https://www.westword.com/arts/elizabe...
Of course, the Elizabeth School District isn't using that term; the word "ban" doesn't appear in the "Request for Board Action" issued by ESD Chief Academic Officer Kim Moore, asking the school board to approve a protocol for "flagging" books that include "sensitive topics."
"The board is trying to provide parents the opportunity to make these decisions for their children and empower them," says ESD Superintendent Dan Snowberger through spokesman Jeff Maher. "Parents who have no concern with their students accessing any such material may still allow them to do so. Parents who simply want to know when their students check out a book with such content will get an email and can have a conversation with their child. Parents who don't want their child to check out such material may 'Opt them out,' and the system will prevent them from being able to check out any books with such flags."
But that opt-out system applies only to books that have been "flagged," a list that currently consists of 130 titles. Nineteen others have already been removed from school library shelves in what Moore describes as a "temporary suspension."
According to Snowberger, the nineteen books removed from Elizabeth school libraries "will be on display for the next thirty days, with some evening opportunities for parents who do work." Depending on what they hear from parents, this temporary removal could become permanent, and Snowberger notes that "this list could change over time."
Last year, school district established a Board Curriculum Review Committee to "develop a protocol regarding handling books that may contain sensitive topics." According to the BCRC website, the committee comprises five people: three representing each educational level (elementary, middle and high school) and two members of the community. In addition to creating the list of nineteen books already removed from the shelves, the BCRC "flagged" over 130 titles as falling into one (or more) of seven categories: graphic violence, s--ual content, religious viewpoints, profanity/obscenity, drug use, racism/discrimination, and ideations of self-harm.
FloridaSlave masters, Hitler, Brevard Public Schools?’ Book ban opponents call out school board
https://www.clickorlando.com/news/loc...
Brevard County school board meeting Tuesday night got a little heated between board members and those who spoke out against the district’s removal of books from libraries because they are “inappropriate.”
One commentator compared the school board to racists and Nazis.
“Controlling information and who has access to that information is not about protecting people, it’s about controlling them,” Rachele Jolley said. “Do you really want to be on the same list: book banners, slave masters, Hitler, Brevard Public Schools?”
In the last two years, the school district’s book review committee has made recommendations for three dozen books — either to remove them totally or setting a grade limit to reading them.
Now, the district said librarians, or media specialists, have removed books from their libraries on their own.
The district issued a statement about what some board members called misinformation about the action.
“Brevard Public Schools was made aware of a book list circulating on social media that inaccurately claims there’s a long list of newly removed books from BPS libraries. The majority of books in question were moved from one elementary school library to a neighboring middle school library. School-based decisions do not impact district-wide libraries. School media specialists have the responsibility and authority to remove titles from their school,” the statement said.
School board members gave their own emotionally-charged comments on the issue at the Tuesday meeting.
Jennifer Jenkins supported the speakers.
“What is being shared on the internet is not false,” Jenkins said. “It was given to them as a public record.”
Matt Susin followed Jenkins.
“The issue is, is that they continued to spread the misinformation,” he said. “And that’s just disgusting.”
Board Chair Megan Wright said she believes the book review committee’s recommendations have been a good thing for students.
“I think it’s a fair expectation for any parent to assume that a book that’s picked up in one of our libraries is safe for their children,” Wright said.
Back to WisconsinElmbrook Schools narrowly votes to keep 2 books from being removed
https://www.tmj4.com/news/waukesha-co...
The Elmbrook School Board rejected a call to remove books from a high school English class. The books in question were “The Kite Runner” and “The Handmaid’s Tale.” Those books will stay in the classroom as a very close vote.
Before that vote, more than a dozen community members spoke against removing the book. Kevin Matthews, a father of four has been to multiple meetings speaking out against the proposal.
books from being removed
The Elmbrook School Board rejected a call to remove books from a high school English class. The books in question were “The Kite Runner” and “The Handmaid’s Tale.” Those books will stay in the classroom as a very close vote.
Screenshot 2024-08-15 at 4.34.37 PM.png
By: Rebecca KlopfPosted 6:12 PM, Aug 15, 2024 and last updated 6:32 PM, Aug 15, 2024
BROOKFIELD, Wis. — The Elmbrook School Board rejected a call to remove books from a high school English class. The books in question were “The Kite Runner” and “The Handmaid’s Tale.” Those books will stay in the classroom as a very close vote.
Screenshot 2024-08-15 at 4.30.15 PM.png
TMJ4
Tuesday night school board meeting for Elmbrook Schools.
The decision came Tuesday night in a four to three vote. It was met with applause from the audience.
Before that vote, more than a dozen community members spoke against removing the book. Kevin Matthews, a father of four has been to multiple meetings speaking out against the proposal.
IMG_3108.jpg
TMJ4
Kevin Matthews spoke out against removing the books from the English cirriculum.
“Really books are a proxy for educators because our educators [and] our teachers are coming up with this curriculum. They are saying as professionals that these are books that they recommend and want to teach and our school boards are overreaching and saying, ‘As non-educators, I don’t like what you are doing, so I want to impose my will into your classroom,’” said Matthews.
School Board member Sam Hughes, who wanted the books removed said he has nothing against teachers and has one issue with these two books.
“In 99.9 percent of the things that are brought to the board we agree with and we move through,” said Hughes.
But as he explained further saying this was not a political choice, the crowd started to speak over him.
[Notice the number of "I" and "My" in this statement:]
“It is funny that the laughter is about it being a political thing. This is about my relationship with my savior and God, who dictates my morality and I am required by my relationship with him to make sure that we don’t provide obscene material to children. These are children.
Superintendent Mark Hansen argued that the books were for advanced placement (AP) English, which is an optional college-level class. The books have been taught for more than a decade by teachers who know how to teach sensitive subjects. On top of that, parents know about the books and can make the right decisions for their own students.
“Trust our teachers to teach, trust our parents to parent, trust our students to learn,” said Hansen.
North CarolinaBooks about LGBTQ issues are being hidden from patrons at a Triad library
Mocksville, NC
https://journalnow.com/news/local/sto...
paywalled right now
Week's end round-up beginning with the goodToo big to ban? TN professor raises awareness with 'Unbannable Library' public art project
https://www.tennessean.com/story/news...
A professor at Austin Peay State University is pushing back against the increasing trend of book restrictions and bans in public school libraries across Tennessee in a big way — literally.
The project, titled the Unbannable Library, was created by APSU art Professor Paul Collins and consists of a series of massive books — around three feet by five feet — made by various artists that each feature different passages or themes from commonly banned or restricted books.
A professor at Austin Peay State University is pushing back against the increasing trend of book restrictions and bans in public school libraries across Tennessee in a big way — literally.
The project, titled the Unbannable Library, was created by APSU art Professor Paul Collins and consists of a series of massive books — around three feet by five feet — made by various artists that each feature different passages or themes from commonly banned or restricted books.
But the passion project evolved last year, when it was displayed at the 2023 Southern Festival of Books, from a love note to literature to a boisterous defense of it after Collins saw the startling rise in book restrictions in public school libraries.
“It really frustrates me as an educator,” he said. “The real challenge that I have is giving students the confidence they can do (art) and trusting their voice. And by trusting their voice, that means investing in thinking about who they are, talking proudly about their history, about where they come from. And these book bans target those experiences and they disproportionately target students who are seen as other.”
Of particular note to Collins was a recent proposal by Tennessee lawmakers that sought to expand who could file legal challenges against librarians and schools under an controversial law that requires public schools to identify books and other materials deemed "harmful to minors.”
The proposed law failed in the House in April.
“That really prioritizes certain voices in some towns,” Collins said. “If you think about the voting population of a small town, you could be talking about 10 people given the ability to censor the entire public collection.”
A number of content-restrictive laws have passed in Tennessee since 2022, when state lawmakers passed the Age Appropriate Materials Act, which removed the legal exception that previously protected librarians and other school personnel from being charged with a criminal offense over the presence of such materials in libraries.
Collins said fear of criminalization has been evident as he approached libraries and schools with this project.
“(Librarians) are energized. They are courageous,” he said. “They're saying, ‘We want to do anything’ every time I reach out to a library. But when it comes time to actually talking about how to do this, they're scared.”
To counter the fear, Collins has assembled 20 teams of artists, pairing of a visual artist and a writer or poet, to make and display these books around the state.
Locations include two books at Tennessee State University, a Clarksville high school, the Edgehill Public Library, Vanderbilt University and more.
...
Currently, the professor is seeking sponsors to help him make the creation process even easier for the team of volunteer artists. In the future, he said he hopes it can take on an even bigger life to fight rising book bans.
“It does seem expandable,” he said. “This is a suppression of lived experience issue. For me, as an artist, an educator and a dad, with that suppression leads to self-censorship, and leads to questions about one's self worth, about one's place in society. These are truly dangerous things. And it's very dangerous to just accept it, and I won't. And I don't think anybody should.”
Now the bad, a series of stories about the Francis Howell School District in Missouri.https://fox2now.com/news/missouri/fra...
Francis Howell School Board approves new policies on books, which some call a ‘book ban’
he Francis Howell Board of Education approved a series of measures that set limits on what kind of books can enter district libraries Thursday night.
Specifically, the new policies limit books that normalize alcohol and drug use, along with excessive or unnecessary profanity and violence. Board members in favor of the changes also said the new rules set limits on sexually explicit content that is not suitable for school-aged children.
Critics condemn Francis Howell’s new policies on books, gender discussions
https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/e...
https://www.ksdk.com/article/news/edu...
Francis Howell bans teachers from talking about gender identity
Back to Brevard County, FloridaBrevard School Board bans 105 additional books, including numerous classics
Most books were damaged or not circulated enough, but some were in violation of Florida law, according to the district. A list released by Brevard Public Schools to an anti-censorship group shows more than 103,000 books pulled from district shelves — as well as sensitive student information.
Nazi wannabes of the day include
School Board members Matthew Susin, Brevard County School Board Member, District 4, Megan Wright, and Gene Trent
Wannabe school board member included School Board District 3 candidate John Thomas, who was recruited to run by current School Board member Matt Susin.
https://subscribe.floridatoday.com/re...
Paywalled
This puts the total number of banned books in Brevard Schools over 450.
https://www.scribd.com/document/75702...
Screenshot of the spreadsheet returned by BPS from a Public Records Request by FFTRP showing the 171 books removed for HB 1069 (F.S. 10068.23)
https://imgur.com/hRYsxb0
WHAT THE WHAT????! "Weeded" in violation of Florida law HB1069
Anne of Green Gables ? (unconfirmed rumor that Mr. Phillips and Prissy Andrews- based on Maud's own teacher who wanted to marry her- is the inappropriate s-e-x-u-a-l content. Also possibly other issues such as Marilla being unmarried and raising a child. Also outdated social view and morons who think "London Street Arabs" is an ethnic slur! Also possibly strong gutsy Anne, disobedient Anne, Diana drinking the "raspberry cordial", Matthew dying
Anne of Avonlea?
Heidi?
Little Women?
MY favorites!
Also two Oz books
Treasure Island
Tom Sawyer
Sherlock Holmes
Robin Hood
20000 leagues under the sea
The Wind in the Willows (seeing as how there are no humans in the story nor is there any s-e-x I fail to see how this book violates the law).
The Yearling
Newer classics like the picture book No David!
The Golden Compass- I called that one as soon as I read it. I thought that stuff only happened in other countries!
and all the usual suspects
They hotly deny it of course and claim the books were moved up to another level from ES to MS. Most of this was done in secrecy of course.
Monroe County, commissioner John Ambrose reiterated his promise last Tuesday to shutdown the Monroe County Library [GA] in January if they don’t remove LGBT books from the youth section.https://www.mymcr.net/news/ambrose-vo...
Carroll Independent School District (TX) has hired a new superintendent with a track record of book banning.https://www.dallasobserver.com/news/c...
The Southlake-based school district named Jeremy Glenn as its sole finalist for superintendent earlier this week. At his previous district, Granbury ISD, Glenn was investigated by the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights for discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender after ProPublica published a recording in which Glenn ordered school librarians to remove dozens of books from the shelves.
“I acknowledge that there are men that think they’re women and there are women that think they’re men,” Glenn said in the recording. “I don’t have any issues with what people want to believe, but there’s no place for it in our libraries.”
Da’Taeveyon Daniels, a Fort Worth native and rising senior, works for the student advocacy group Students Engaged in Advancing Texas and called Glenn’s appointment “a significant threat” to efforts the group has made to stand against book banning.
“First of all, it's idiocy, but second of all, they're targeting books that specifically share LGBTQIA+ narratives and the narratives of BIPOC individuals,” Daniels told the Observer. “They're targeting these narratives of students that are marginalized and ostracized and basically saying their identity is too filthy to be in the school library.’”
Daniels said the organization regularly files OCR complaints against districts that violate laws protecting marginalized students, and the members plan to keep an eye on Carroll ISD for any new violations.
The district does have its own history with book banning (and civil rights complaints, which were brought to the national spotlight in the eponymous podcast Southlake.) In 2023, students at Carroll Senior High School formed a banned books club to read books deemed too controversial for schools. While Carroll ISD says the district does not have a book banning policy, a procedure does allow for books to be flagged for review by a committee to determine whether the literature is “pervasively vulgar” or unsuitable for learning. According to the American Library Association, an analysis of the most frequently banned books in schools showed that content pertaining to LGBTQ+ stories were the most likely to be successfully challenged.
But even in a traditionally conservative district made up of a majority white students, Daniels thinks it is important to prioritize books that share alternative narratives.
“They're threatening intellectual freedom and the emotional well-being of students on both sides of this argument,” Daniels said. “Because if I'm not able to humanize and find a way to understand or even live vicariously through the words of a black or brown author or a queer author, then I may not be able to understand my neighbor.”
Frederick County School Board (MD) is going to hear an appeal over their decisions of 35 challenged books. The committees only removed one book from the list, as well as moved two titles to a different collection. https://www.fredericknewspost.com/new...
A look at the ways that the school book in Cy-Fair Independent School District (TX) has curtailed curriculum and access to books and knowledge.https://abc13.com/post/cy-fair-isd-cu...
June 17 Six trustees doubled down on a previous decision to omit climate change and vaccine content from textbooks.
House Bill 1605, passed in 2023, permits school boards to adopt instructional materials that aren't approved by the State Board of Education. CFISD's board voted to remove chapters from textbooks approved by the majority-Republican state board and by CFISD educators.
"Education is supposed to be about providing the very best up-to-date and factual information to our students and [making] sure that students are able to make decisions and be critical thinkers," trustee Natalie Blasingame said on June 17.
Emily Witt, senior communications and media strategist at public education advocacy group Texas Freedom Network, said many policies passed by local school boards start at the state level.
"[If] school boards see it at the [Texas] Legislature, they certainly know that they have allies above them," Witt said.
Since Blasingame, Scott Henry, and Lucas Scanlon were elected in 2021, the board has changed the way meetings are run, selected a new superintendent, and altered several district policies.
Campaign finance reports show that 2021 and 2023 elections featured tens of thousands of donation dollars from political action committees, including both local nonpartisan groups as well as conservative groups such as CyFair4Liberty, Conservative Republicans of Harris County and Texans for Educational Freedom.
Conservative Republicans of Harris County endorsed Blasingame, Henry, and Scanlon in 2021 and spent nearly $25,000 on advertising for them.
PAC support grew in 2023, with CyFair4Liberty pouring more than $78,000 into the election, supporting candidates including Todd LeCompte, Justin Ray, and Christine Kalmbach.
The organization is focused on "[taking] back our republic and [preserving] our liberty ... [by fighting] to win every election from MUDs and HOAs to school boards, Texas House and U.S. Congressional districts," according to the website.
Harris County GOP Chair Cindy Siegel said she believes more conservative candidates being elected is a result of conservative parents feeling their perspective isn't being considered. The Harris County GOP has endorsed all current CFISD board members except Hinaman.
"The concern-[for] a lack of better words, it's overused-but [the] more woke agenda," Siegel said. "That their children are being exposed to things that they haven't wanted them to be exposed to; that ... their viewpoints should be heavily weighted in how their kid is educated."
This spring, Blasingame led the effort to omit "controversial" chapters from science textbooks for the 2024-25 school year.
"When we teach our children ideas like uncontrolled human population growth can deplete resources, ... it's important that we make sure that we look at what do we know and what is the evidence before us," Blasingame said June 17.
The board heard from dozens of parents, educators, and students during the meetings in which these efforts were discussed. None vocalized support for this motion, but the board voted 6-1 with Hinaman opposed.
Megan Costello, a former Cypress Lakes High School teacher, served on the curriculum writing and instructional material committees that approved the textbooks. She said she felt the board did not value her expertise and resigned from the district just weeks after the board awarded her a "Bringing out the Best" award-a monthly recognition a handful of employees received this year.
Public schools did not receive an increase in state funding last legislative session as Republican leaders, including Gov. Greg Abbott, pushed for a voucher bill that would allow taxpayer dollars to cover private school tuition, effectively taking funds away from public schools, officials said.
The sidebar story claims
Cy-Fair ISD board approves Bible courses for next school year
https://abc13.com/post/cypress-fairba...
CYPRESS, Texas (KTRK) -- Some Cypress-Fairbanks ISD parents are raising concerns about a new course that'll soon be offered.
Two courses coming to Cy-Fair ISD high school classrooms caught parents' attention this week. Several of them addressed school board members at Monday's meeting.
"As a Bible-believing Christian, I would not want my child to take the course or the textbook," Mary Ann Jackson said.
"With understaffing and overburdened teams, how exactly is it going to be carried off?" Dave Mahon asked school board members.
"Cy-Fair's a diverse district with more than 100 languages, I believe, and dialects spoken," Jenn Chenette also chimed in. "I think that needs to be respected."
The concerns raised by parents are about two courses the school board approved on Monday night. Literature and the Bible, and Western civilization and the Bible will be elective courses starting next school year.
No new teachers will be hired, and the district plans to use current staff.
Students aren't handed a Bible but a textbook looking at the Bible's influence on public policy and literature. The superintendent said he wanted to give students more Texas Education Agency-approved optional courses. They say classes are also offered in Klein and Conroe ISD, but to parents like Chenette, it's too far.
Recently, Cy-Fair ISD also discussed adding chaplains to campus.
"That's technically against the First Amendment," Chenette explained. "You can't show preface for one religion over another, and that's what's happening."
University of Houston law professor Seth Chandler said right now, he doesn't see anything wrong.
"So long as these days as they are presenting it in a neutral way where they're not trying to convert anyone, and it's taught historically, and it's voluntary, I think it's going to be OK under Supreme Court precedent," Chandler explained.
However, experts said that if more courses, signs, and religious personnel are added to schools, it could become an issue.
"At some point, you do not want public schools crossing the line and becoming a taxpayer-funded instrument in religious conversion," Chandler said.
The district offers more than 200 other electives, including newly added African-American and Mexican-American studies, according to the superintendent. However, some parents would like to see more religious diversity.
"If it was the Quran, a course on the Quran, or a class on the Torah, I think a lot of people would be outraged," Chenette said. "But because it's Christianity, I think it's just kind of accepted, and I have a big issue with that."
IndianaSome Carmel school board members want to tighten book review policy
https://www.youarecurrent.com/2024/08...
School board members in Carmel are split on whether the district’s policy for reviewing and removing books from campus libraries is adequate or should be tightened up.
The Carmel Clay Schools board of trustees spent the final 45 minutes of its Aug. 12 meeting discussing Policy 5522, which governs selection, review and removal of school library materials. The board updated the policy in December 2023 to comply with changes to state law, including a new requirement that school boards have the final say on whether a book in question is removed.
In June, the board voted 3-2 to keep the memoir “All Boys Aren’t Blue” in the Carmel High School library after a community member requested it be removed. At that meeting, school board member Greg Brown, who voted in favor of removing the book along with school board member Louise Jackson, requested the board discuss the policy and how it is implemented at a future meeting.
During the Aug. 12 meeting, Brown described the existing policy as “polarizing” and said he would prefer to see controversial books moved to a separate area where they could be viewed by children with parental permission instead of being removed entirely. He suggested the board form a committee to review the policy and examine how controversial books are handled in other school districts. He also suggested controversial books be rated or identified as such.
“I’m looking at it from the parent perspective that wants a little more control over their child,” he said. “They know their child better than anyone else and know what they’re struggling with, and I think we need to honor their rights, as well.”
Parents can view a list of materials available at school libraries online and can request their child not be permitted to check out certain titles. But Jackson shared Brown’s concern that any student can pull any book off a library shelf and read it there without checking it out, including material some parents would not want their children to view.
“Even with our s---ual education program, we send a permission slip home to parents, because we want them to know what we’re going to be teaching. And there is nobody on this board that would say – in the books that we’ve talked about that have a se---al nature – that that’s not graphic content,” Jackson said. “So, if we would not share that content in a s---al education class, if we would not share that content in a language arts book, in a math book, no way should we allow students to be able to walk into a library and pull that scene off the shelf.”
Jackson requested that school librarians increase screening for s----ally graphic content before books are placed in school libraries and asked the board to consider implementing a process to keep students from accessing those types of books within a library without parental permission.
School board member Jennifer Nelson-Williams said she doesn’t feel books should be removed because they include content that is difficult or upsetting to some, a measure she said is subjective and can turn into a “slippery slope.”
...
School board member Katie Browning said the review of “All Boys Aren’t Blue” showed that the district’s policy worked as intended. She said the review of the policy is “reinventing the wheel” and that the board has “bigger fish to fry.” In addition, she said she believes the district’s highly trained teachers and media specialists “would never compromise our students’ learning.”
“There is a level of trust that Carmel Clay Schools are hiring media specialists to pick things, and if we feel that what they selected is not appropriate, then that’s where the policy comes in,” Browning said. “And of course, we send our kids off into the day and we’re not standing there and we’re not following them. I feel like at a certain point we have to trust our district, we have to trust the media specialists, and if we don’t, if we feel a book has been selected we don’t agree with, there has to be a path to remove that, and that’s what I feel like we have.”
Jackson and Nelson-Williams, the board’s policy liaisons, will work with Amy Dudley, CCS assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction, to review suggestions made during the discussion.
https://athensindependent.com/athens-...Athens County library admin encouraged paring back Pride Month displays
In communications with patrons, the library director pinned less colorful displays on decision-making by local branches.
Idaho where the libraries are open on Sunday! Lucky! I wish my libraries were open on Sunday!https://cdapress.com/news/2024/aug/09...
The board propos[ed] for Community Library Network sites to be closed Sundays and other budget cuts that could mean a reduction in the purchase of new materials.
Deborah Rose said the board also attempted to close local libraries on Sundays last year, citing religion as their reason — this resulted in the threat of a civil rights lawsuit from Americans United for Separation of Church and State. Now, the board is citing budget cuts as the reason for the proposed Sunday closure, and many community members are crying foul.”
“This board is implementing ‘Plan B’ justified by the misappropriation of public funds, irresponsibly overspending on legal fees and avoidable higher insurance costs, so now closing our libraries on Sundays can be rationalized. It’s possible this new stunt will incite yet another potential civil rights lawsuit,” Rose said.
“Why not close on Monday?” someone else asked.
“If you’re going to do it, then state it with honesty and integrity,” said Ed DePriest.
MissouriCommunity members in St. Joseph, Missouri, are still putting pressure on the school district after they banned ten titles.
https://www.newspressnow.com/news/loc...
School board meets to discuss books, long range plan
Currently, the district has ten challenged books including “The Bluest Eye” by Toni Morrison, “Looking for Alaska” by John Green, “All Boys Aren’t Blue” by George M. Johnson, “If I Was Your Girl” by Meredith Russo, “Crank” by Ellen Hopkins, “Tricks” by Ellen Hopkins, “Thirteen Reasons Why” by Jay Asher, “Tango Makes Three” by Justin Richardson, “The ABCs of LGBTQ+” by Ash Hardell and “This Book is Anti-Racist” by Tiffany Jewell.
SJSD board president, LaTonya Williams, says many are concerned with parental choice.
“There is parental choice. I mean, every individual parent or guardian is able to make the choice on their own kids and the board upheld that tonight,” she said.
Book bans have sparked much controversy in recent years not just in Missouri but nationally. Williams says oftentimes it’s not about the actual books, but control.
“It's not about the books. It's not about school safety or the children at all,” Williams said. “It's about the message that the banning of books is able to show.”
Australia has these ridiculous groups tooKeeping Children Safe Albany calls for electors meeting to discuss ‘s----alizing children’ in library books
https://www.albanyadvertiser.com.au/n...
A petition signed by 362 people has successfully called for a special electors meeting to discuss “the promotion of s----alising children” in Albany.
The special electors meeting, called for by Keeping Children Safe Albany, will take place on August 26.
The group, which was formed in May, is asking the City of Albany to investigate “the promotion of sexualizing children in the City of Albany through unrestricted books in the Town Library and events held during the month of February 2024.”
The two specific books in question are Welcome to S-- by Dr Melissa Kang and Yumi Stynes, and S--: A Book for Teens by Nikol Hasler.
KCSA group representative Michelle Kinsella first brought the books to the council’s attention at its May meeting.
“These sex guides are not education material, they’re ‘guides’ that promote se--al activities,” she said.
“It is illegal for anyone to engage in s--ual activity under the age of 16 in WA.” [Good luck enforcing that one!]
Albany-born author Kate Larsen said she was disappointed to see the community gain a reputation for intolerance.
“It’s devastating to witness Albany’s growing national reputation for intolerance, censorship ... as demonstrated by ... the dangerous and prejudicial fear-mongering to be tabled ... at a Special Elector’s Meeting later this month,” she said.
“Keeping children safe doesn’t come from removing access to information or connections, nor from censorship of libraries, social groups or activities.
“We need councillors to continue to protect the right of all Albany voters and children to express themselves fully, safely and with pride, to stand against censorship of libraries, social groups and activities, and focus on the real challenges facing Western Australians instead.”
Ms Kinsella said the group has received “overwhelming” support from across the country.
How a regional library in Virginia is being dismantled while debating 's---ally explicit' themesthanks to Kelly Jensen of Book Riot for breaking the paywall
https://12ft.io/proxy
Aregional library system serving rural counties north of Richmond has come under fire over the past year and a half.
What was once a consistent pillar in those counties has faced a nearly total turnover on its board as well as the resignation of its director and is in danger of losing a second county, after it recently voted to leave the system.
The Pamunkey Regional Library system has operated consistently for most of its 80-year history without too much controversy or concern about its decisions. That all changed after a display at the Atlee Branch library in September 2022 during Banned Books Week.
The display in the young adult section of the library was meant to educate children about books that had been challenged across the country. It displayed those books with such labels as “s--/nudity,” “anti-police” and “LGBTQ+,” with an informational sheet explaining why the books had been challenged or banned.
Some parents were outraged that books with “s----ally explicit” themes could be marked for teenagers. Those parents began showing up to trustee meetings in protest of the way librarians categorize and place books on shelves.
Until recently, the Pamunkey system served the counties of Hanover, Goochland, King William and King and Queen. King and Queen has since left the system, and King William’s Board of Supervisors recently voted to do the same.
King William will officially leave two years after the recent vote. Hanover and Goochland can move that exit up one year if both bodies vote to allow it.
Community critics said the Pamunkey system had allowed their children to access “p----” by leaving some of these books on shelves marked for teenagers. They also said the American Library Association, which creates policy guidelines for libraries across the country, is a “woke" organization. Others called trustees “p---n pushers” and “groomers” for the selection of books.
The Pamunkey board of trustees voted 5-2 for a new policy around library collections, programs and displays in March 2022. It added signage to more clearly delineate sections and created an advisory board to review s-----lly explicit materials, but it did not directly change how books are shelved.
...
In a series of emails obtained by the Richmond Times-Dispatch, then-library director Tom Shepley defended the way books were displayed. He said that parents have the “right and responsibility” to know what their children are reading and that moving books away from the teen section is a form of censorship, creating a barrier for the audience to read those books.
Publishers have marked those books for the young adult audience, and they are largely written in a style for teenagers.
Since trustees voted to leave books where they were, most of the appointed trustees have either left or been replaced by Hanover, Goochland and King William supervisors.
Two of the appointed replacements were once community advocates who fought against the board. Hanover’s Christen Schumacher, now vice chair, previously criticized the selection criteria librarians use to place books with s----- content in the library. King William’s Sharon Landrum, now secretary, previously said the board’s actions only served to “s----lize and groom our children.”
Officially, critics have all said they are not in favor of “banning” books by removing them from the library altogether but placing questionable materials into the adult section.
New trustees have explored ways to change library policies over the past year. A draft policy for addressing s----lly explicit material in areas designated for minors was introduced in April. It would move books with six specific s-x acts into the adult section.
The draft policy also prevents the library director from adding books with s----ally suggestive nudity or conduct, s---al excitement, (view spoiler) to areas for minors.
Hanover Supervisor Ryan Hudson spoke to the trustees earlier this year. Hudson ran on a platform that included removing Hanover from the Pamunkey Regional Library system. He said the direction of the current board had changed his opinion.
“I meant what I said. I am at a point now where, because of the things this board, and the other policy boards are doing to help, you all have a better understanding of your role. I believe we are headed in the proper direction,” Hudson said.
He said there are now zero discussions of removing Hanover County from the library system.
In King William supervisors voted to withdraw from the Pamunkey system on July 8.
The county’s Board of Supervisors said it would instead run its libraries on its own, independent from the regional system.
Some of the public reasons were monetary.
A second rationale was about control. Since King and Queen County left the library system, the number of seats on the board has diminished. Hanover asked King William to sign an agreement that would leave it with two seats, compared to Hanover’s six. Goochland would also have two seats, giving Hanover a clear majority.
At a town hall in King William on Thursday, Supervisor Mary Sue Bancroft, an advocate for an independent King William library, and Supervisor Ben Edwards addressed a room of around 70 residents. Most wanted to remain in the Pamunkey system.
Bancroft said the decision to leave the system was due to the regional library's failure.
“They refused to cooperate with us,” she said.
Bancroft reiterated concerns about children picking up books that are se----lly explicit in nature.
Details about the exact rationale for leaving are still somewhat unclear. The final decision was made during a closed session, after which the supervisors came to a unanimous vote.
Anytime a student borrows a book from school libraries in the Fauquier School District (VA), their parents will be notified.https://northernvirginiamag.com/cultu...
Huh. THIS didn't make the big newspaper! OR the TV news outlets NOR did I know there were local chapters of you know who. AND they didn't advertise the meeting off the island. It's too far for me to travel but I will listen to the video soon and write to the big newspaper to run the story!https://whatsupnewp.com/2024/08/trans...
Rhode Island
Transgender rights and book banning dominate the public forum portion of Newport School Committee meeting
Residents express strong opinions on LGBTQ+ student policies, with some threatening legal action against the district
https://whatsupnewp.com/2024/08/trans...
The public forum portion of Newport’s School Committee meeting this evening drew a large crowd as supporters and opponents of current LGBTQ+ student policies voiced their opinions. The debate centered around transgender rights, book banning, and potential legal challenges.
The public comment section of the meeting saw 15 speakers address the committee, including several members from local chapters of Moms for Liberty
The debate also touched on the issue of book banning, with multiple speakers arguing against censorship in schools.
William Kimes said, “Books are portals to infinite universes. Books ignite imaginations, and they challenge beliefs, even those we disagree with.”
Gene Thompson Grove, newly approved member of the policy subcommittee, said, “I can see now that we’ve gone down a little bit of a different path, a hateful one, in which we not only talk about censoring books and ideas, but people and who they are.”
During the public comment period, 15 speakers voiced opinions on issues such as transgender student policies and book banning. Some expressed support for the district’s current policies protecting LGBTQIA students, while others argued for changes to policies regarding transgender students’ use of bathrooms and participation in sports.
TexasFort Bend ISD trustees debate proposed policy revisions for instructional materials
[The Superintendent alone can decide what books are against the law.]
https://communityimpact.com/houston/s...
The Fort Bend ISD board of trustees will soon vote on policy revisions that could allow the superintendent to determine whether library books should be removed from campus shelves.
The district’s policy committee revised the instructional resources policy to allow district administration more authority over book selection, trustee David Hamilton said at FBISD's Aug. 12 workshop board meeting.
Hamilton, who is chair of the policy committee, said he has found a high level of “egregious content” in library books since January, which spurred the policy revision discussions earlier this year.
Under the district’s policy, community members must file a formal challenge requesting instructional materials be reconsidered. The book is then read and reviewed by the reconsideration committee before the committee makes a determination, Hamilton said.
The FBISD website also recommends those concerned with materials to first schedule an informal discussion with school staff to go over concerns. If the complainant is unsatisfied with the committee’s decision, they can appeal to the board of trustees, and the board will make the final decision on the book’s status in the library, according to the FBISD website.
Hamilton said the proposed policy would allow the superintendent to:
Choose books to review without a formal challenge
Convene an internal committee to make a decision
If the revised policy is approved, Superintendent Marc Smith or someone designated by Smith—in addition to the reconsideration committee—would be able to determine if a book violates law and should be removed from the district, Hamilton said.
The board was divided on next steps for the policy, with some advocating for retaining the original policy and others disagreeing on whether the superintendent should gain this authority.
Trustee Rick Garcia said he believes trustees are “roadblocked by [their] own policy” in its current form. The policy doesn't allow administrators and trustees to pull books that violate FBISD's policy without going through a challenge process, and challenged books remain on the shelf during the reconsideration period, he said.
Trustee Angie Hanan, who also serves on the policy committee, said the policy “fails to recognize staff for their expertise in the selection of materials.” She also said she believed parents have the right to allow their children “freedom of choice” and access to library materials.
“I don’t want our library collections to become sterile because of the opinions of a board member or board members versus what parents think is good and right for their own kid,” she said.
Trustee Shirley Rose-Gilliam said she didn’t believe the superintendent should be in charge of removing books from shelves.
Pennsylvaniahttps://web.archive.org/web/202408140...
South Western School Board's conservative majority closely scrutinized a high school elective class whose curriculum includes works by Colson Whitehead and other authors of color.
The issue, which recalls recent book bans in schools across York County, is expected to be considered at Wednesday night's meeting, where members will discuss redeveloping the class instead of outright eliminating it.
Literary Awards Winners, an elective course, focuses on what it feels like to be “marginalized or ignored by society,” according to the course overview. Some classes focus on novels about the Underground Railroad, the Trail of Tears and migrant farm workers.
Last year, board President Matthew Gelazela requested the board remove two English classes. The Literary Awards Winners was one of them.
“This is just rife with political race hate, anti-white whiteness, exclusionary power, right-wing authoritarian thinking that this is a curriculum, that frankly, as a conservative, I find offensive,” he said of the class.
Gelazela said the class encourages students to “go to the YWCA and become social activists for migrant workers, which we all know refers to illegal immigrants and it legitimizes their being here as well.” Gelazela said there are other topics the class could cover and avoid the “highly politicized topic in our schools.”
When Gelazela became board president in December 2023, he gave a lengthy speech outlining a litany of policy proposals he would pursue as the new board president.
Gelazela also advocated for a policy that would categorize teaching materials and give parents the ability to prohibit student access based on “sexual orientation, transgenderism, communist Marxist support, specific religious or political ideologies and racial divides.”
In July 2023, then-board member Vanessa Berger questioned Gelazela’s definition of “politically charged” and informed him his definition of “migrant workers’ was wrong because many were born in America. Then-Board Vice President Amanda Yiengst cut off the conversation and Gelazela’s request to add the classes to the discussion at the next agenda did not pass.
The discussion came back up during a September meeting when the South Western Education Association President Matthew Lawhead corrected some ideas. At the time, he said the truth is important.
He questioned Superintendent Jay Burkhart and Assistant Superintendent Rob Friel on whether they had seen any classes or subject areas that promoted “anti-white, race hate, communist or Marxist ideas.” Both men replied no.
Lawhead asked if there is a pipeline to the YWCA for students to become social activists for migrant workers. Burkhart said he’s not aware of any.
"And it’s because those statements are not true,” Lawhead said.
Lawhead added the class is a college-level, elective class and that there needs to be more similar classes that prepare students to be critical thinkers and analytical writers.
Kelly Jensen of BookRiot also reportsBook crisis actors in Mount Pleasant, Texas, think there is inappropriate material in the teen section of the public library and put on their performances this week. This story is paywalled.
https://www.tribnow.com/news/parent-c...
During a special agenda meeting with the Mount Pleasant city council, the concerns of multiple parents were brought to the council about several books in the Mount Pleasant Public Library’s teen room.It was during public comments that Dave Ruff, a resident of Titus County, brought the worries of the anonymous parents to the podium, as well as three of the books that were brought into question.
Alaska Mat-Su committee recommends removal of library book despite attorney’s advice about the book’s legality
Board member advocates burning books!
https://www.adn.com/alaska-news/mat-s...
A Mat-Su library advisory panel tasked with examining challenged books voted Monday to recommend that “Identical” by Ellen Hopkins be removed from borough public library shelves, even as the borough’s attorney told the panel that his office does not consider the book illegal.
The committee voted 5-2 to recommend that “Identical” be removed from circulation. Two members voted to move it from the “young adult” section to the “adult” section. One member said she chose both “remove the book” and an option of “other” included on the borough-created book review scorecard issued to panelists, and said she wanted the book burned.
“I put ‘remove the book from the library,’ but it gives you an option of ‘other,’ and I said, ‘burn it,’” committee member Sally Pollen said during Monday’s vote.
The board also unanimously agreed that the book contains indecent material as defined by Alaska state law because it depicts certain s---al acts and “appeals to the prurient interest in s-x of persons under 16 years of age.”
A final decision on whether the book will remain in Mat-Su libraries will be made by the borough’s community development director, according to borough law.
Borough Attorney Nick Spiropoulos told the committee that his office does not consider the book illegal under state law because placing a book with indecent material on shelves is not identified as a crime under the statute. Instead, it’s how the book is distributed that matters, he said during Monday’s meeting.
“You have to possess it and intentionally deliver it to someone, or intentionally attempt to deliver it to someone,” Spiropoulos said. “If the position of the board is, ‘Well, it’s illegal, so we can just stop talking about it,’ you can make that recommendation. My office has not determined that.”
Alaska Attorney General Treg Taylor sent a letter to librarians last year warning against giving obscene material to minors, but state prosecutors have not yet charged anyone with a related crime, Spiropoulos said.
“If this book violated Alaska law to the point where it was so clear, I don’t have an explanation for why somebody hasn’t been charged, arrested, and convicted,” he said.
Committee Chairman Chad Scott said his biggest issues with the content of “Identical” are the criminal behavior it details and a lack of what he characterized as “healthy coping mechanisms” in the story.
“One of the biggest lies that we’ve heard in the process of this is that, ‘Well, if only I would have had this book when I went through this, this would have really helped me,’” he said of some individuals who support the book. “And other than commiserating with your misery, this shows no actual statements or principles to guide into healing. There’s no healthy coping mechanism.”
Other members agreed.
“This book isn’t trying to give any resource,” said committee member Michelle Dempsey. “It’s pure entertainment; it’s basically smut for young people.”
A final decision on the book by the borough’s community development department is pending, officials said. Spiropoulos said he could not comment on whether his team advises that office on the legality of books.
“Identical” is currently available at 13 libraries in the Alaska Library Network, including five in Mat-Su, according to an online library catalog. It is also available as an e-book through the Alaska Library Network and is on the shelves of all nine high schools, four middle schools and one correspondence program in the Mat-Su school district, according to borough officials.
The next meeting of the library advisory committee is scheduled for Sept. 9 at 5 p.m. The committee is slated to review “Red Hood” by Elana K. Arnold. Four other books are scheduled for review at future meetings, including “Forever” by Judy Blume.
Mod
It's nice when there are more weekend options for people. I will say that we live in the most populated Idaho county and none of the county libraries are open on Sunday (nothing to do with new laws, has always been this way). However, Mon-Th they are open later (7pm) so patrons could come after work/school if needed. Only one of the five big city libraries is open Sundays and one of the larger neighboring cities has a library open Sundays reduced hours. Actually some retail stores here are closed on Sundays (big change from when we lived in California) so it amazed me any libraries were open on Sundays here!
It's simply unconsocible to try to tell parents in other countries what books their children can and can not read! It's bad enough in your own country. Will they stop at nothing less than world domination? This story comes from the UK!
Dozens of UK school librarians asked to remove LGBTQ+ books, survey finds
Index on Censorship said 53% of librarians polled had been asked to remove books – and that in more than half of those cases books were taken off shelves
https://www.theguardian.com/books/art...
More than two dozen school librarians in the UK have been asked to remove books – many of which are LGBTQ+ titles – from school library shelves, according to new survey data.
The Index on Censorship survey found that 28 of 53 librarians polled – 53% – said that they had been asked to remove books. In more than half of those cases books were taken off shelves.
Among the titles complained about were This Book Is Gay by Juno Dawson, Julián is a Mermaid by Jessica Love, and ABC Pride by Louie Stowell, Elly Barnes and Amy Phelps. More than 50% of the requests to remove books came from parents.
Censorship is “definitely something that there’s quite a lot of concern about from some of our members”, said Alison Tarrant, chief executive of the School Library Association (SLA), which helped administer the survey along with the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals. The survey was also distributed via a school librarians’ Facebook page.
These UK bans may be influenced by book censorship in the US, which reached record highs last year. “We’ve seen a couple of cases where things have been stirred up or initiated by groups or people in America – it’s no one actually in the school community itself,” said Tarrant.
The SLA suggests that school libraries have collection development policies laying out the kinds of complaints that will be acted on, the types of books that will be stocked, and the aim of the school library. Sometimes, school senior leaders don’t understand the need for that paperwork, said Tarrant. “Therefore, when these situations come about, there’s no one in school who knows how to deal with it.” School library staff may not be trained or properly supported, and senior leaders might not “understand the role or the pressures” of a school librarian, she added.
he school library is the “only place that deals with every single year group, every single subject and every single cohort, so by the very definition, you’re going to have some books in a school library which aren’t appropriate for some children – whether that’s GCSE curriculum textbooks [not being] suitable for a year seven, or whether it’s about personal development – so I think there needs to be an understanding of that,” Tarrant added.
“If a pupil is wanting to know more about sex or sexuality, I would much rather they went to their school library and explored the resources there than they went to the internet and explored what’s there, because that isn’t written with children in mind, and it’s not written with an educational purpose,” said Tarrant.
If LGBTQ+ books are not “visible”, it is “exclusion and otherness by a more subtle means”, she added, and may affect the extent to which pupils looking for LGBTQ+ books see themselves as readers.
QNPoohBear wrote: "Interestingly, religious leaders in Texas are speaking out AGAINST book bans. ..."
A South Texas school district received a request to remove 676 books from its libraries
https://www.texastribune.org/2024/08/...
On May 17, with just one week to go until the end of the school year, the superintendent of the South Texas Mission school district received an email with a list of 676 books a group of local pastors believed were “filthy and evil.”
The email came from the personal assistant of Pastor Luis Cabrera, who leads a church in Harlingen, about 30 miles east of the Mission school district.
The email was clear. Cabrera and “the community” wanted them removed.
The email cited state law, House Bill 900, that requires vendors to rate their books and materials for appropriateness, based on the presence of s-x depictions or references, before selling them to school libraries.
Despite that law being blocked by a federal appeals court, then-superintendent of the Mission school district, Carol G. Perez, replied within five minutes that the district would check to see if they had the books to remove them.
Later that evening, Deputy Superintendent Sharon A. Roberts asked the district's director for instructional technology and library services, Marissa I. Saenz, to look into removing them.
...
Prior to the May 17 email, Cabrera had made similar requests to other school districts in the Rio Grande Valley. He spoke during public comment at several school board meetings last spring. Cabrera was following, in part, the lead of an organization called Citizens Defending Freedom.
Now at the dawn of a new school year, a coalition of Rio Grande Valley faith leaders are denouncing the effort to remove books from South Texas school libraries.
The McAllen Faith Leaders Network, a group of religious leaders in the upper Rio Grande Valley, wrote a letter to local school districts after hearing about the Mission school district’s “knee jerk response” to the Christian conservative group’s request.
The local faith leaders' open letter had specifically taken issue with the inclusion of "Anne Frank’s Diary" on the book list. A spokesperson for Citizens Defending Freedom, Dan Thomas, clarified that that title referred to the graphic novel, an adaptation of "The Diary of Anne Frank."
This month, seven members of the McAllen Faith Leaders Network signed the letter, which called for a separation between religious organizations and public entities.
"We don’t believe that a religious organization should exert decision making power over our public schools or any public body," the religious leaders said.
Rabbi Nathan Farb of Temple Emanuel in McAllen said in an interview with The Texas Tribune that this coalition does not have a political agenda and members of the group often disagree politically and on other topics.
"We thought it was important as faith leaders to speak up and let our educators know that this individual was not speaking on behalf of all faiths, not speaking on behalf of all Christians, was not representing the religious voice of the entire Valley."
Rev. Joe Tognetti of St. Mark United Methodist Church in McAllen said limits on what is accessible to schoolchildren can be appropriate. However, the process to determine which books are appropriate should be determined among parents, students and teachers — not a national conservative nonprofit.
Ultimately, the Mission school district did not remove any books, the district told the Tribune late last week.
LCS takes back donated 'inappropriate' book given to 4th, 5th grade studentshttps://wset.com/news/crisis-in-the-c...
Ostensibly because the book contained adult satire inappropriate for children. As I have not read the book in question, I can not say for certain, but I know from experience that that kind of stuff goes over kids' heads.
Watch out for more book bans and education bans in Florida.DeSantis is on the cusp of reshaping Florida’s school boards — again
https://www.politico.com/news/2024/08...
Florida’s Republican governor endorsed a slate of 23 candidates — targeting eight incumbents — as he seeks to reshape more school boards on the heels of big wins in 2022.
They “pledged to serve with a focus on student success, parental rights, and curriculum transparency,” DeSantis said last month of his endorsees on social media. “We want the best for our children and I’m confident all 23 candidates will build upon the success we’ve had here in Florida.”
...
Some of these school board races in the state’s biggest counties are being fought over now-familiar culture war lines. A recent attack ad put out by the local Democratic Party in Duval County slammed four candidates — including three endorsed by DeSantis — for their ties to Moms for Liberty. Democrats labeled the candidates as “dangerous” and claimed they “attack teachers” and “target books” in local schools.
But Duval Republicans have also been active, backing candidates through donations and scores of mailers. In one case, a mailer supporting a candidate endorsed by DeSantis, Rebecca Nathanson, attempted to grab the attention of GOP voters by rebuking Democrats for viewing her “as a threat to their woke education agenda.”
“I think it speaks volumes to people who appreciate and support the governor’s education agenda to know that he’s backing me,” said Nathanson, a member and former head of Duval’s Moms for Liberty chapter.
...
This year’s school board races could prove to be the last officially nonpartisan campaigns in Florida depending on how voters decide on the proposed constitutional amendment in November. If the amendment passes, school board candidates starting in 2026 would be nominated in partisan primaries ahead of the general election.
Lots of news coming through today as the school year begins in many places.Another story about Florida school boards voting today
Hillsborough School Board races hinge on 'parental rights,' banned books and Moms For Liberty
https://floridapolitics.com/archives/...
Hillsborough was one of 10 counties to resist DeSantis’ Parental Rights in Education Act, dubbed “Don’t Say Gay,” in 2022 — making its more liberal board members and candidates a target this election.
DeSantis placed his bets on Layla Collins to represent Northwest Hillsborough and parts of West Tampa. The wife of Republican state Sen. Jay Collins challenges Democratic Party-backed incumbent Nadia Combs. Candidate Julie Magill, while a registered Republican and believer in DeSantis’ parental rights platform, is not GOP-endorsed.
Collins, an Army veteran, has more than doubled Combs’ fundraising, with more than $136,000 raised, and has backing from many of her husband’s supporters, including Marco Rubio. Parental control in education is one of her top issues.
Democrats have endorsed incumbent Jessica Vaughn for District 3 after DeSantis backed her challenger, Myosha Powell. Vaughn is the other Hillsborough School Board member DeSantis and Moms For Liberty have targeted this year.
Powell, a self-described parents’ ally, is also endorsed by Jay Collins and state Rep. Danny Alvarez.
Her main priorities are addressing low literacy rates and keeping books deemed explicit off school shelves.
“I’ve often worried that the activism happening in the New York school systems would happen here in Tampa,” she wrote on her campaign website. “I don’t want that for my future family or any other. After attending several school board meetings and seeing the disregard, antagonization, and condescension parents were met with by school board members, it was clear that parents had few allies on the board.”
District 7 challenger Karen Bendorf is endorsed by Republican state Rep. Lawrence McClure and lists “empowering parents” as her top priority. Another, Jen Flebotte, is adamant about getting “explicit books” out of schools and criticized the School Board as being dominated by “raging liberals.”
Teachers ask for more clarification about SC’s new school book rulehttps://www.live5news.com/2024/08/19/...
Starting this school year, a new rule is in place across South Carolina that regulates which books are allowed in public schools.
Some teachers believe the rule is being interpreted in some districts in ways that put an unnecessary amount of work on their plates.
This new regulation, which went into effect in June, requires school books and learning materials to be age- and developmentally appropriate, specifically concerning those depicting sexual conduct, and it outlines a process for someone to challenge them all the way up to the State Board of Education.
But teachers claim some districts’ implementation goes unreasonably beyond what is now required.
“This is going too far,” Patrick Kelly with the Palmetto State Teachers Association said.
Kelly, a high-school government teacher in Richland County, recently brought a request to the State Board of Education, asking it or the Department of Education to send further clarification to districts on what is and is not required under the new, statewide regulation.
Among its provisions, the rule mandates districts maintain a list of all books and materials in their libraries and media centers.
Beyond that, it says districts need to provide a list of instructional materials in classes upon reasonable request from a parent or guardian.
But some districts are now implementing policies past that scope — for example, requiring teachers post all instructional material they could use for the year, including PowerPoints and video clips, within the first few weeks of classes, or mandating teachers receive administrative approval before teaching any supplemental materials.
Lexington-Richland School District Five, where the supplemental materials policy is in effect, claimed at a recent school board meeting that it was compelled to enforce it because of the new statewide regulation.
“Teachers, over the years, collect a lot of supplemental — I mean, if you’ve been teaching for 25 years, you’ve got file drawers full. They have to get all that approved?” board member Mike Satterfield asked during the Aug. 5 meeting.
“According to the law, yes, they do,” Tina McCaskill, the district’s Chief of Academics, responded.
According to a memo the South Carolina Department of Education sent to districts in late June, “no district or school board is required to review existing instructional materials preemptively,” though it added districts can do this if they choose.
“It certainly doesn’t say you need to have an administrative preapproval process,” Kelly said. “Let’s trust teachers. Let’s let them exercise their professional judgment.”
A local school board also has the authority to adopt a local policy that goes beyond what is required in the regulation.
But Kelly argues some of these steps districts are taking and attributing to the regulation are not what the rule requires.
Watch out, Brave Books "Meet me at the library" event is returning. Alabama Political Reporter: Moms for Liberty again hosting story hour that created controversy last year
https://www.alreporter.com/2024/08/16...
Susquehanna Valley Pa.: Lancaster County school board urged to vote against working with Independence Law Centerhttps://www.wgal.com/article/lancaste...
his is the second time Penn Manor will take a vote about entering a contract with the firm.
In June, the board voted 5-4 not to retain the ILC as special counsel.
Since then, board member Matthew Beakes reconsidered his "no" vote and asked the board to put the issue back on the agenda. At a meeting earlier this month, the board held another discussion and decided to proceed with a second vote.
However, some community members are concerned about the Harrisburg-based law firm's history of helping area districts write policies about student access to library books and issues related to the LGBTQ+ community.
WisconsinDiscrimination complaint filed over book bans in Menomonee Falls School District
https://www.wpr.org/news/discriminati...
Menomonee Falls parents have filed a discrimination complaint against the school district after more than 30 books were removed from the library including one for preschoolers depicting same-sex families.
Michelle and Jesse Cramer, who have two young children in the district, said the books’ removal means Menomonee Falls children aren’t getting the same education as students in neighboring districts.
In October 2023, The School District of Menomonee Falls pulled 33 books from the shelves after deeming them too “s--ually explicit” for students.
Michelle Cramer said that was bad enough.
But when she found out “Love Makes a Family,” by Sophie Beer was pulled from the supplemental materials offered to 4K parents at Shady Lane Elementary School last month, she decided to act.
Cramer’s complaint was filed July 21. The district has 30 school days to respond.
The Cramers and Grassroots of Menomonee Falls Area, a community organization dedicated to promoting transparent, democratic, and inclusive governance in Menomonee Falls, have hired an attorney and are also working with ACLU of Wisconsin on the matter.
If they don’t hear back from the school district, they plan to send the complaint to the Department of Public Instruction.
According to school district policy, a parent or district resident can challenge supplemental educational material if they feel that the materials are not age appropriate.
Parents Katrina and Paul Moldenhauer challenged “Love Makes a Family” during a July 8 school board committee meeting.
The couple said the book had no educational value and believed the illustrations showed transgender couples and “grooming.”
“If you, in your own home, want to support alternative lifestyles like the one clearly illustrated in the book, go for it. That’s on you, and it’s also your right, but don’t do it on the taxpayer dime and with my children,” Paul Moldenhauer said, adding that he is not asking the district to give away bibles or books on how to “assemble and disassemble firearms.”
During that same meeting, Shady Lane school principal Brad Hoffman told the school board “Love Makes a Family,” is part of a traveling library and a supplemental material that parents can choose to read with their children.
“There are several simple statements, the first page says, ‘love is waking up bright and early. Love is baking a cake,’” Hoffman said. “The subject is that love is what makes a family.
The committee voted unanimously to remove the book.
After the decision, School Board President Christensen posted the decision on her Facebook page.
She said the decision was based on the fact that the Human Growth and Development Curriculum doesn’t begin until third grade.
“The board is respectful of all families, their family structures and their autonomy to teach their children personal, value and social systems they see fit,” she wrote. “That is everyone’s right. It is not the place and position for a school system to usurp parental rights.”
In her complaint, Cramer questions how one family can make that decision for the entire school.
Cramer also questions why religion was brought up several times in the July 8 meeting, including a suggestion that the book “God Makes a Family” replace “Love Makes a Family.”
Andrew Guss, co-leader of Grassroots of Menomonee Falls Area, said the ongoing book banning in the school district is not preparing students for the future. It’s also perpetuating stereotypes, Guss said.
More on the UK story above. Here's the full report.Banned: school librarians shushed over LGBT+ books
https://www.indexoncensorship.org/202...
Ozark Library reopening after policy change, book reviewhttps://www.alreporter.com/2024/08/19...
The Ozark-Dale has closed its doors for the last month while staff have been poring over books in the children and young adult sections to ensure they comply with new policies.
The library board passed new policies in July in an attempt to align with new state aid requirements from the Alabama Public Library Service that went into effect on July 15. Although the code is now in effect, libraries have until the end of September to update policy to get state aid on their regular schedule, and until June 2025 to align policies to still get the entirety of their 2024-2025 state aid.
The Ozark-Dale Library has been one of the libraries that has faced controversy over books in its children and youth sections, with Mayor Mark Blankenship ordering library director Karen Speck to remove all LGBTQ+ content from the youth sections or potentially face having the library defunded.
That threat led to an explosive library board meeting on whether LGBTQ+ books are appropriate for those sections, while members of the city council said they would not defund the library.
With about 90 percent of the books in the section reviewed, Speck said Friday that no books have been moved due to being “obscene, s---ally explicit, or (otherwise) deemed inappropriate for minors.”
Speck and administrative assistant Joni Wood are reviewing 70 books in the section due to a lack of online resources including reviews to help determine the content.
During the review process, some books were removed due to irreparable damages or being unnecessary duplicates. Books missing or overdue for more than six months were also deleted from the catalog.
Some books were also moved from children to teen or teen to children based on cataloging errors, the library said in a statement.
And some books were moved from teen to adult if they were “high school required reading and belonged in the adult section.”
Texas, gee what a surprise!Katy ISD board of trustees to consider banning books on gender fluidity
https://www.houstonchronicle.com/neig...
PAYWALLED
Unpaywalled
https://www.houstonpress.com/news/kat...
On Monday, Katy ISD trustees discussed a revision to the district’s library book policy that would ban titles that feature “gender fluidity” at the elementary and junior high school levels.
Under the proposed changes, high school parents would have the choice to decide whether or not they want their children to have access to books that feature such subjects through an “opt-in” process.
However, one of the main issues addressed during the workshop meeting was not the actual content of the changes but how they were initially presented to the public.
Trustee Dawn Champagne referenced the social media post shared by Board President Victor Perez’s wife to a public Facebook group entitled “Katy Area Conservatives,” which outlined details of the revision before the board agenda was published on the district’s website.
Perez’s wife, Karen Fosdick Perez, encouraged those in support of the changes to sign up to speak on Monday night, writing on the post, “We need you!”
“If anyone else would have done that, their head would’ve been on a platter,” Champagne said. “I see that it was corrected, but I’m just trying to find out what your motivation was to have that go public in the first place.”
Champagne added that she had a conversation with Perez, during which he confirmed that it was his intention for it to go public on Friday instead of Monday when the district routinely posts board agendas and related documents.
Perez said the board policy committee wanted it to be available on Friday, but there was a miscommunication. Champagne doubled down, asking what made this revision different from those that garnered a lot of attention in the past.
“But when we did other policies — like a big one — like that gender policy over last summer,” Champagne said. “That one was kept behind closed doors.”
“Well, that’s why we wanted it to be in public view from the beginning,” Perez asserted.
..
Eleanor Stoddart, a district parent, spoke out against another part of the proposed revision that would enforce the same grade-related content requirements on vendors and fundraising partners.
“Is this a way to replace the dangerous Scholastic Book Fairs with a more Christian Nationalist vendor that is anti-LGBTQ and fits in with the views of certain board members?” Stoddart asked during public comments.
The board’s request that companies participating in the district’s book fairs abide by its policy comes amid a growing presence of SkyTree Book Fairs, a nonprofit organization with ties to Kirk Cameron, an actor turned Christian evangelist and author of conservative children's books.
The nonprofit, operated by a group of parents and school officials, markets itself as a “wholesome” and “trustworthy” alternative to Scholastic. According to its website, the organization believes book fairs should not contain “hidden, explicit” content targeted at kids.
It ensures that the titles it provides to children are free from LGBTQ content — which it deems as inherently s--ual — critical race theory and “dark magic.”
Fox requested that a line be added to this section specifying that only the materials that vendors and fundraising partners bring to the district, not the companies’ entire inventory, must align with the revised policy.
Fox said she wanted it to be clear to avoid Scholastic being written off as a vendor. Trustee Morgan Calhoun interjected to confirm that the district had a lengthy list of approved companies besides the one.
"We would still be having book fairs. We would still be having fundraising initiatives. We would still be having books coming into our schools,” Calhoun said. “It’s not preventing any books. We’re just telling a vendor if you’re not going to comply, that’s fine. We’ll choose someone else. It’s a free market.”
Champagne questioned the need for updating the library policy when the instructional materials policy has language about removing access to titles that “adopt, support or promote” gender fluidity.
Perez clarified that text covered books in instructors’ classroom libraries and curriculum but not campus libraries.
“It just seems to me like we keep talking about this a lot,” Champagne said. “I realize you’re just trying to fine-tune it, I guess, but it seems to be a lot.”
Champagne compared the 11 books the district had removed — or banned — in the 2021-2022 school year to the dozen it has pulled off the shelves within the past month. Since the start of this school year, 16 books have been retained, and 20 books are currently under review.
“This is 48 books that we’ve already asked to be reviewed [in August],” Champagne said. ”I can look and see the resources that people can use to make a formal complaint about that, but I don’t know what they’re basing it on and who’s doing it.”
“I want to see what kind of criteria that people are using and why it’s not more clear to them that these are books that should not be asked to be reviewed when there’s more than twice the number of books being reviewed and retained rather than being removed,” she added.
Perez said the district applies the library materials policy during its routine internal review processes. This policy was last updated last August when it passed a revision to remove books containing “s---ally explicit” material.
According to the Texas Freedom To Read Project — an anti-censorship group fighting to protect students’ rights to read — 11 of the dozen recently banned books are featured in a list of nearly 700 titles being circulated by a group of pastor activists and individuals affiliated with Remnant Alliance and Citizens Defending Freedom.
Remnant Alliance is a collective of Christian nationalist groups in partnership with Citizens Defending Freedom that is educating, training and mobilizing conservative Christian congregations to impact the outcomes of local elections, particularly schoolboard races.
Citizen Defending Freedom, a multi-state conservative political organization, is also known to have dipped its political fingers into the crosshairs of the ongoing book-banning battles by sending similar lists to other nearby districts.
These pastor activists attended one of Katy ISD’s April board meetings, where they took turns reading excerpts from their targeted titles.
"Are we done? The policy committee has looked through policy since [it] was created last year. Have you looked through it all,” Fox said. “Can we be done with library books? Can we move on to academics, anyone?
“We’ve been talking about library books for three or four years. It stirs a hornet’s nest when you put something out there like this,” she added. “It's political in nature. It’s political season. It’s making people angry on both sides, Mr. Perez.”
Community members both for and against the changes expressed their support or disapproval of the proposed revision on Monday night. Those who showed up to encourage trustees to pass the updated version of the policy said it would protect against indoctrination.
Advocates against the changes argued it would allow removals to further target titles that feature LGBTQ characters — a trend already displayed in recent and past book bannings. Actions taken against this community of students are not new in the district after it passed a “gender fluidity” policy last year.
The policy prohibits instruction related to gender identity and sexuality and forces faculty to out students who choose to go by different names or pronouns, including in cases where there is parental approval for the child to be identified as they’ve requested.
Jarred Burton, a senior at Tompkins High School and president of the school’s sexuality and gender alliance, described the proposed revision as the board going “full mask off.”
“In the past, the excuse around banning these books was that they're s---ally explicit, so they’re inappropriate for children,” Burton said. “But now it’s like, okay, they’re explicitly coming after trans representation.”
“I mean requiring that they have a parental opt-in when parents can already ask librarians to not let their children check out specific kinds of books — it just doesn’t really make sense to a normal person at least,” he added. “It makes sense to them because this is what they want, effectively, to just ban as much as they can.”
Burton said if the revision passes, he is also concerned about fellow students’ access to books that indirectly include LGBTQ characters or content but don’t make it the focal point of the titles’ narratives.
He noted that it would place a burden on students who would have to go to their parents, who may not be accepting of such themes in books, to request their permission for these titles to be checked out.
Scary news in SCKelly Jensen from BookRiot reports:
Greenville County Library (SC) Wants to Remove Trans Books from YA Section
If passed by the library board next week, no one under the age of 17 in the county would be able to borrow books by or about trans people.
Greenville County Library, which has 12 locations in and around the Greenville, South Carolina, metropolitan area, is giving serious consideration to removing all books featuring trans characters from their young adult sections.
The public library system has been among one of the most prolific in the realm of censorship since the rise of the moral panic over books in 2021. They’ve attempted to persuade the city council to take over library collection decisions, a resolution that did not pass, but they have seen success through utilizing recommendations from the Materials Review Committee to move LGBTQ+ themed books into new sections of the library, as well as move entire sections of the library in and of itself.
Notably, books in the “parenting” and “early childhood” collections have been moved from near juvenile areas to adult nonfiction sections. At least three LGBTQ+-themed books were also moved from the sections of the library meeting the needs of their target readership to less accessible spaces.
The chair of the county library board has contributed to a hostile work environment in the system as well. The Greenville County Library system has received complaints about Pride displays, leading them to be removed and outright banned. In October 2023, the board voted to remove any and all displays from county libraries unless they were paid holidays observed by the library and city government.
Last March, the library board voted to remove all transgender-themed books from the juvenile areas. They were relocated to the above-mentioned parenting shelves and accessible only by adult patrons or those juveniles whose parents have given them explicit access. In the libraries where such sections did not exist, the books were moved to a facility that has it, making them inaccessible without either visiting a different branch of the library or seeking an interlibrary loan.
Now the Materials Review Committee recommended to the board that all transgender books in their teen areas be removed, too. Any books that include a character who has transitioned or is in the process of transitioning from a gender that corresponds to their biological sex to another will be moved to the adult section. This applies to both written texts and illustrations and will likely include books that cover topics such as pronouns or drag, as it did with the ban on trans books for those under 12.
The recommendation will go on to the full library board, which has been receptive to the changes presented previously. At least one library board member believes that the change would be fine under the new South Carolina budget proviso which states no public libraries can receive state funding if they provide materials to those under 17 that appeal to prurient interests. What of all YA books featuring transgender characters falls under the category of prurient interests is a question best left to the individuals who have been fixated on a weird and incorrect narrative about what gender means.
If the board passes the recommendation, all of the YA books which fall into the “trans” category would be moved to the adult section. This would make them completely off limits to anyone under the age of 18, unless they have a library card that gives them permission to borrow material from any section of the library. That requires parental/guardian permission in the library card application.
If passed, no so-called transgender books would be available to browse or borrow in any YA or juvenile section of the entire county library system.
The Greenville County Library board meets Monday, August 26 at 12 pm in Meeting Room C at the Hughes Main Library. A full timeline of events related to the public library’s ongoing censorship is available here, compiled by the local organization Freedom in Libraries Advocacy Group working to push back against the discriminatory changes.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/...
https://www.facebook.com/gvlflag/
More on the Ozark Library in AlabamaThis Alabama library had to review 8,000 books. Here’s what happened
https://www.al.com/news/2024/08/this-...
It took a month for library staff to review about 8,000 children’s and young adult books and make sure they complied with new guidelines from the Alabama Public Library Service. During that time, the library was closed to the public, save for one room left available as a cooling station.
Ozark Dale County Library was one of about 10 libraries caught up in a yearlong controversy about Alabama libraries. In 2023, Mayor Mark Blankenship called for the removal of all LGBTQ books from the library, calling them “terrible.” At a subsequent local meeting, community members on both sides of the issue were in an uproar.
Across the state, people pored over library shelves or reviewed online lists and complained about books they deemed inappropriate – mainly books with LGBTQ characters or people of color. Gov. Kay Ivey mandated that libraries ensure that no books with “inappropriate content” are available to minors or risk losing state funding.
During the closure, each work day, staffers had a sheet with different sections: young adult or juvenile fiction, nonfiction, biography and Easy Reader books.
One by one, librarians removed books from the shelf, placed them on a cart and checked up to eight different websites. They looked for online reviews or complaints about s--ually explicit or inappropriate content for each book’s age range.
Once a staffer completed a book review, the book was stamped and marked for reshelving.
library director Karen Speck’s staff found no books in the library’s collection with obscene, s---ally explicit or other materials deemed inappropriate for minors.
“I just think that this whole process has been very stressful though,” Speck said. “The overall stress level is pretty bad.”
Approximately 70 books lacked sufficient reviews online that would allow staff to assess their content. Speck and her administrative assistant, Joni Wood, will conduct an additional review process.
Some books were removed or deleted from the system due to damage or because they had been missing or overdue for six months or more. Librarians and staff reclassified “young adult” books as “teen” to remove confusion about the appropriate age for specific books.
Speck said her patrons and community members expressed mixed feelings about the closure. She heard from the mayor recently, who said citizens were wondering when the library would reopen. At one point, county commission members stopped by to see how the process was going.
“Some people are not happy because they do rely on the library,” Speck said. “Then there are others who feel bad that we have to go through this.” She said patrons’ emotions ranged from saddened to upset about the “nightmare” library staff endured.
Speck’s biggest concern was that someone would come across a book and wonder why it was on the shelf. She wanted the opportunity to go through the books to ensure compliance.
Speck said she is “ready to reopen and get back to normal.”
Most Americans do NOT support book restrictions in schools new study showshttps://knightfoundation.org/reports/...
DOJ, 17 states and DC file interest in lawsuit by former Cobb teacher fired over LGBTQ+ book lessonhttps://www.wsbtv.com/news/local/cobb...
A former Cobb County teacher filed a lawsuit against the school district after she was fired for teaching a lesson about gender identity and LGBTQ topics to fifth graders.
Now, multiple states and the U.S. Department of Justice have filed in court to show their interest and concerns in her lawsuit.
Katie Rinderle was fired in August 2023 after the Cobb County School Board said her conduct had violated two state laws when she taught a lesson using a book called “My Shadow is Purple.”
Despite a large group of supporters urging the district to keep Rinderle on the payroll, the board voted 4-3 to fire her. That decision is what prompted Rinderle’s lawsuit in February.
[DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks]
Now, the USDOJ has signed an amicus brief, or “friend of the court” letter, expressing interest in the case, though the federal government did not say they had an opinion on the merits of the case itself.
Separately, a group of more than a dozen states and the District of Columbia filed amici curiae, expressing concerns over allegations of censorship and violations of the First Amendment when it comes to educational pedagogy and curriculum decisions.
The states that signed on with concerns over censorship include California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Vermont and the District of Columbia, all in support of Rinderle’s lawsuit.
The group of states and Washington all directly accuse the Cobb County School District of having “censorship policies” and using them to restrict speech and “stigmatize LGBTQ Youth in Georgia,” and the larger LGBTQ community, to the point that the “stigmatic harms extend” to the states filing in support of the fired Cobb County teacher.
“Amici States’ experiences make clear that the recent actions plaintiffs allege were taken by defendant Cobb County School District (CCSD) are far outside the bounds of ordinary educational decision-making,” the states said in their brief to the court.
Citing Georgia’s Protect Students First Act and the Parents’ Bill of Rights, the states said the two laws prohibit advocating for what are defined by Georgia’s statutes as “divisive concepts.”
When the laws were implemented, the court brief said “CCSD incorporated these new state laws into local administrative rules,” that banned employees from using classroom lessons to “espouse personal political beliefs” about the so-called divisive concepts.
The result of this, according to the brief, was a tacit ban on discussion of s----al orientation and gender identity, even though the policies themselves do not explicitly mention them. Instead, the policies prevent employees from “improperly infringing upon” parental rights to “direct the upbringing and moral or religious training of their children.”
When Rinderle used “My Shadow is Purple” in what was described as a lesson about bullying at school, the book’s main character’s status as a transgender child was said to violate the school board’s policies on “controversial issues,” according to the amici curiae brief.
On the USDOJ side of the court briefings, the government said its interest lies in ensuring a proper interpretation of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 added to the Civil Rights Act.
A recent U.S. Supreme Court case that began in Clayton County, Ga., the Bostock decision, further expanded Title IX’s protections to cover discrimination over s---al orientation.
Under this ruling’s precedent, USDOJ filed its own expression of interest in Rinderle’s case, saying the actions of CCSD and its school board had potentially illegally retaliated against the fifth-grade teacher by terminating her over reading the “My Shadow is Purple” book to her class.
USDOJ said “for purposes of Plaintiff Rinderle’s Title IX retaliation claim, this Court must assess whether the Complaint plausibly alleges that she had a reasonable, good faith belief that a hostile environment based on s-x existed for LGBTQ and gender nonconforming students” in Cobb County schools as a result of how their board interpreted Georgia’s newer education laws.
Still, the Justice Department notes that they are not taking a position on the merits of Rinderle’s case, or the district’s defense in court.
Greenville County Schools will not host in-person book fairs this year: Here's whyOne guess.
https://www.wyff4.com/article/greenvi...
Effective August 1, 2024, South Carolina’s State Board of Education passed SC Regulation 43-170, which outlines new requirements for how instructional materials provided by schools or made available to students in school are selected. As a result, Greenville County Schools finds it necessary to pause all book fairs for this school year while it works with vendors to find a solution that ensures compliance and avoids a circumstance that may place employees in jeopardy of violating provisions of the regulation. The logistics of book fairs involve large containers of books and other material being delivered to schools, set out, packed up, picked up, restocked, and sent to the next school on a short turnaround time. It is not possible for school personnel to vet all book fair content after it arrives, nor can vendors provide accurate content information far enough in advance for it to be vetted through the District prior to the start of fall book fairs.
Yoo hoo people, there's this new invention called the internet that allows you to visit Scholastic and see which books they publish and offer for book fairs! Even I can see it. I guarantee you the teachers and librarians have read most of these already.
witches? GASP! Pass the smelling salts. Kitty who thinks she's a unicorn? Faint! Ok the middle school books are scary and commercial but kids that age love that stuff.
https://bookfairs.scholastic.com/cont...
Interview: Amanda Jones, Author of “That Librarian: The Fight Against Book Banning in America.” - The New York TimesPaywalled but I already have her book on hold
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/22/bo...
She's in Time as well.
https://time.com/7011430/libraries-el...
This Election Will Determine the Fate of Libraries | TIME
A surprise from Texas (gee book banning leads to lack of student success? Who knew?! Try asking the teachers and students what they think about the books and not the crisis actors online_.‘Unintended consequences’: Conroe ISD board to alter book review policy after 25 A.P. books pulled
https://www.click2houston.com/news/lo...
Several Conroe ISD librarians requested a level three hearing with members of the school board. Board President Skeeter Hubert, who attended the meeting, said the librarians asked for additional guidance out of concern.
“We have administrators, we have librarians, we have teachers that are going through and combing through books, and they remove them because they’re they are implementing the to the letter of the law, the policy that we put in place,” Hubert said. “But that also includes books that are AP (Advance Placement) exams that, that, you know, books that don’t really break the penal code at all. But our librarians are saying, I don’t want to take a chance.”
The district passed a measure updating its book review policy to include “s----lly explicit material.”
This is the first full school year where the policy is in place and Hubert said they’ve noticed a significant problem.
“Some of those books are that would be considered would be books that talk about, (view spoiler) Right. So that’s not a p______graphic book that is not necessarily s----ally explicit,” Hubert said.
Some of the books pulled were advancement place books required for exams for students seeking college credit, including Alice Walker’s 1983 Pulitzer Prize ‘The Color Purple.’
“That is a book that was on the AP test and a AP exam that we have removed from our school,” he said. “So, once again, we want to put a mechanism that says, well, if some of the librarians are saying, ‘hey, this book shouldn’t have been removed,’ then we want to create a mechanism that book can go through a formal review to be considered available for our students.”
“No, I’m not going to necessarily disagree or agree with that statement. I believe that what we wanted to do as a district was put safeguards in place for our students and for our library,” he said. “We’ve got over a million books in our libraries. And unfortunately, there are some books that don’t belong. They flat out don’t belong. So, in the process of putting those safeguards in, we created a little bit too much of an overreach.”
The board president said there’s a movement of “mama bears” who “are putting their foot down” on books that have anything to do with s----al content.
“The mama bears have put so much fear into administrators and teachers and librarians that librarians, they don’t want to take a chance,” he said. “So, they’re saying it’s got to go and unfortunately, the classics are being removed… and our students are certainly, suffering from it.”
They meet again next month and we shall see what happens.Conroe ISD trustees discuss but don't change book policy
https://communityimpact.com/houston/c...
Trustees Theresa Wagaman and Stacey Chase requested the discussion because they said some books removed from school library shelves are used for AP classes and the AP exam.
“When it came to looking at our current policy, we saw that it hits a snag in the sense that [in] our AP and college board courses as well as some of our college courses, because of the books that we have removed ... we are limiting our students' access to some of those books,” Wagaman said.
The district has procedures in place for parents requesting a book for their child that is not on the shelves. CISD Superintendent Curtis Null said the district does provide students with the materials if requested, and if a student wants any additional materials to study for the exam they would be able to work with the county library or former students who have the book.
“That's a bit odd, right, when we would have this policy but we would contact the community to provide these books," Chase said. "Either [the books] shouldn't be here or they should."
“It doesn't matter that a book doesn't jump off the shelf into your backpack and force you to read it. It doesn't change your morals if your parents or you don't believe in whatever is in the context of the book. The beauty of books is that you can close them and put them back on the shelf and find something else,” Wagaman said.
“I believe there is a difference between p---n ... and discussing sensitive issues like in [the book] .... It might be hard discussion items but those are the type of things that Ms. Chase is touching on. Nobody is talking about putting p--------y in the hands of children or students,” board President Skeeter Hubert said.
“There are three things laid out in [the policy]; if the material is harmful, pervasively vulgar or s----ally explicit, and I have seen these books,” trustee Tiffany Nelson said. [Seen but have you actually READ them>]
Good news in North DakotaGrand Forks Library Board votes to keep six children's books on s-x ed, puberty in place
https://www.grandforksherald.com/news...
Grand Forks Library Board members voted to keep six books about s-x education and puberty in the children’s section after residents and a representative from the American Civil Liberties Union spoke out against moving more books.
Last month, board members elected to move three books to a revived “young adult nonfiction” section after a resident appealed to the board to remove three books with similar subject material either from the children’s section or from the library outright.
The board took a different tack Wednesday after several community members raised concerns the board’s previous decision had imposed a form of “soft censorship” on library users.
John Fick, a retired pastor at Sharon Lutheran Church, expressed concern the board had created a precedent that was a “dangerous, slippery slope.”
“Because you accepted those challenges from a couple of people regarding books on sexuality, and that was very public, you will not be obligated to accept those challenges from anyone regarding any topic, whether its politics, religion, whatever,” he said.
North Dakota ACLU Advocacy Manager Cody Schuler, who criticized the board's July decision in a letter published in the Herald, also invoked censorship concerns, pointing to the nationwide surge in book challenges.
He also said the board has an obligation to support its staff’s decision-making amid political rhetoric alleging librarians are distributing p_____graphy to children or were “groomers” – a colloquialism for s-----al abusers.
A current Grand Forks County Commission candidate, Ron Barta, leveled both those attacks against Grand Forks Public Library staff in January.
The six books challenged were “Bunk 9’s Guide to Growing Up”, “Ready, Set, Grow!”, “100% Me”, “Who Has What”, and “Will Puberty Last My Whole Life?”
The complainant, Sara Ellenwood, is a homeschool parent who previously filed complaints against several books including “Who Has What” and “Will Puberty Last My Whole Life?”
Library staff would have reviewed Ellenwood's claim prior to her appeal to the board.
Board member Paul Traynor compared the books' materials to the “Responsible Living” course he’d taken in the seventh grade in 1976.
The board also debated whether they’d erred in creating the young adult nonfiction section entirely.
Library Board President Brad Sherwood, who was among the proponents of the new section, reiterated the point of the young adult nonfiction section was to bring attention to these books, which have generally low circulation numbers, rather than suppress them.
“We looked at it more as stewardship and advocacy than soft censorship,” he said.
He'd noted earlier this was only the second time the library board had been asked to review books over the past 44 years.
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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You can't shield your kids from reality. Don't protect them from things that are "controversial" because they're going to hear about it at school, from friends, online, on TV. Talk to your kids! Let them read and explore the world around them. yes some of the books are shocking but also not for 5 year olds!!! Yes this is a ban! Gee I wonder where they got the list from?
Elizabeth School District pulls 19 books, adopts ‘sensitive topic protocol’
https://kdvr.com/news/local/elizabeth...
In approving a list of around 138 books for public review, the Board of Education on Monday also unanimously adopted a protocol to notify parents when their child checks out such texts — books like “Anne Frank: Diary of a Young Girl” for s---al content, “The Color Purple” by Alice Walker for racism and violence or “1984” by George Orwell for graphic violence.
“We need to be sure that we are protecting our students from things that are controversial,” said Board Secretary Mary Powell, who took part in a book review committee that started work last school year.
Powell said in a review of the district’s library collection, materials that veered “farther into the egregious category” have already been pulled from the shelves. That includes 19 texts like “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” by Stephen Chbosky and “The Kite Runner” by Khaled Hosseini.
“This is not book banning. This is — they are not on our shelf because we do not feel they fulfill the educational protocols that we believe in for this district,” Powell said before a vote on Monday night.
...
Elizabeth School District parents are invited to review the list of books identified as having sensitive material to help decide whether they should be pulled from shelves. Parents can also fill out a form if they think a book should be labeled with sensitive content or pulled from the collection.
Superintendent Dan Snowberger said district librarians were “appreciative” of the work and “support this process.”
Powell said the hope is that parents will be notified when their child explores some of the material so they can open a conversation about it, whether it’s the Quran or “Gay Power!: The Stonewall Riots and the Gay Rights Movement, 1969” — both included on the “sensitive” list.
Powell said whether suspended or labeled as sensitive, books will be added and removed from the lists as the district takes in feedback. She encouraged families to get involved in the process.
“We are doing this for the protection of our children,” Powell said.