Children's Books discussion
Banned Books: discussions, lists
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Discussion of censorship, equity, and other concerns.
Florida Freedom To Read Project reportsFlorida removed details from public schools' s-x ed curriculum. A coalition seeks to ensure the changes don't affect school libraries.
Over the past year, the Florida Department of Education has taken several steps to remove detailed content from public schools' s-x education curriculum.
Districts including Orange and Hillsborough counties did not teach the material while waiting for the department to approve their curriculum. State officials excised a number of concepts, including drawings of reproductive organs, before OK’ing the lessons.
Now a coalition of anti-censorship groups wants to make sure schools don’t take what some see as the next anticipated step — removing library books that make reference to the same topics taken out of the curriculum.
They note students aren’t required to read library books, and as such those books should be better protected.
“Florida has been winning the race to ban books for far too long, and the cuts to s-x education are not only dangerous, but ripe for over-application and likely to lead to more books being ripped from the shelves,” said Katie Blankenship, PEN America’s Florida senior director and counsel.
https://www.tampabay.com/news/educati...
Florida Freedom to Read Project @flfreedomread.bsky.socialVolusia County reported 53 removals to the state during the 23/24 SY, yet no committee reviews.
Locals rightfully accused the district of dodging a transparent and thorough review process.
Now they are updating the policy to allow for more of these removals without public/parent involvement.
Literary advocates fear Florida curriculum transparency site could lead to ‘mass removals’ of bookshttps://www.actionnewsjax.com/news/lo...
The Florida Department of Education has approved a $15.6 million contract to create and maintain a new statewide curriculum transparency website.
The site could launch before the start of the next school year and will allow Floridians to monitor, review, and even challenge school instructional materials like textbooks and library books.
The four-year contract requires the vendor to build the website, which according to contract documents, would have to allow districts to upload instructional materials.
State law currently requires districts to post those materials online already.
The website would also have to allow users to view those materials and file objections to them.
“These people could keyword search books, take things completely out of context, and then, you know, submit comments away, that result in mass removals,” Stefana Ferrell with the Florida Freedom to Read Project said.
Ferrell worries the launch of the one-stop-shop for complaints will make serial book challengers’ efforts easier, more efficient, and even more effective, as complaints could be submitted to districts and the state at the same time.
“It definitely will cloud the judgment of those that are supposed to be representing the needs and interests of everyone in the community and not just a small portion,” Ferrell said.
Ferrell is also concerned about the cost to local districts as they will be responsible for picking up the tab associated with scanning and uploading their materials to the new site.
“These laws are asking for our districts to spend local resources of efforts that are going to limit access to educational materials, not expand access,” Ferrell said.
According to the contract, the system is supposed to be up and running by the end of the fiscal year, which concludes on June 30, 2025.
FloridaGroups urge school officials to keep anatomy, other health-info-related books in school libraries
School districts have been grappling over which books to keep on shelves
https://floridaphoenix.com/2024/12/13...
Several organizations critical of Florida’s restrictions on education materials are warning school officials against removing books that contain health information — even if that information has been removed from the health curriculum for middle school students.
Four groups — the Florida Freedom to Read Project (FFTRP), PEN America, EveryLibrary, and the National Coalition Against Censorship (NCA) — sent a letter to school superintendents and attorneys representing Florida’s school boards urging restraint when it comes to books that include topics such as anatomy, teen pregnancy, and s---al assault.
The letter noted that the Florida Department of Education has imposed restrictions on such topics being taught in schools. But the groups argue this does not mean students should not be able to research the topics in the school library.
From Kelly Jensen at BookRiot:"A local Houston pastor was given airtime on the Fox affiliate to complain about inappropriate digital books in Houston Independent School District (TX). Recall that many Houston ISD libraries aren’t even libraries anymore but disciplinary centers."
https://www.fox26houston.com/video/15...
The School Board of Alachua County (FL) is potentially adding a new piece to their book review process, which is that people who aren’t residents of the county can only file one book complaint a monthhttps://www.mainstreetdailynews.com/e...
Goodish news in Michigan‘Graphic’ book won’t be banned from Portage curriculum, district decides
[However, the banner isn't happy with the results and is still trying to get the book removed from 5th grade curriculum. ]
https://www.mlive.com/news/kalamazoo/...
- Some parents at Portage Public Schools want a novel removed from the fifth grade curriculum because of its “graphic” content.
But after consideration, the district has decided to keep it.
The novel is called “The Breadwinner,” by Deborah Ellis, and it’s a primary text in the fifth grade curriculum. The PPS Board of Education switched to the Fishtank Curriculum for kindergarten through eighth grade last year.
A meeting was held to discuss whether the novel should stay. The Portage school board ultimately said they trust the curriculum team who chose the book.
The novel follows the story of a young girl in war-torn Afghanistan who has to support her family by selling bones dug up from a mass grave.
The unit has students compare and contrast characters and their viewpoints, according to the Fishtank website. The goal is to help students develop a “more nuanced understanding of characters and events.”
The unit has students compare and contrast characters and their viewpoints, according to the Fishtank website. The goal is to help students develop a “more nuanced understanding of characters and events.”
Lindsay Zerber, a parent of a PPS fifth grader who started a petition to remove the book from the curriculum, said she wants students to be exposed to diverse backgrounds without the violence.
Zerber learned her son was reading “The Breadwinner” when he came home one day and said they were reading an “inappropriate book” in the classroom.
When Zerber read the book, she found it to be more graphic than she thought it would be. She had multiple discussions with her son’s teacher and the school district.
PPS’ reconsideration committee held a meeting in October after parent Katrina Schreuder requested the book be removed from the main curriculum.
Schreuder questioned why students were reading the book when the movie based on the book is rated PG-13, and the district needs permission slips from parents to show PG-rated movies, per the committee minutes. Schreuder also said she doesn’t want the book to be “banned” and should be included in school libraries and fifth grade classroom libraries.
The committee has nine members, eight of whom are employed by the district, according to PPS documents. The individual not employed by PPS was a former Portage Northern High School student who lived in Afghanistan for 15 years, the documents said.
Six of the nine members have students enrolled in Portage schools, the committee documents said.
All nine voted to retain the novel.
The committee was established to “evaluate the use of the book ... considering its suitability and instructional goals,” according to the committee report.
But that’s not what parents wanted the committee to review, Zerber said.
“They went through and they were saying, ‘Well, it fits all of our pillars and it has great educational value,’” Zerber said. “We never said it didn’t.”
Now the parents want the reconsideration committee to be redone with more input from the community.
“It is not ethical to have a review of a book with all of the admin who brought the curriculum in,” Zerber said.
Schreuder appealed the committee’s decision to the school board, alleging the committee was “biased,” according to the appeal.
The board voted 5-2 in favor of upholding the committee’s decision at its Dec. 9 meeting.
The board has never been asked to weigh in on reconsidering curriculum materials before, PPS Board President Randy Van Antwerp said.
Trustees Emily Crawford and Kimberly Larson voted to appeal the committee’s decision. Crawford said some material inside the novel is “disturbing.”
Crawford said she saw some “missteps” in the process.
Trustee Terri Novaria countered concerns about the book, recalling a talk with her child about the 9/11 terrorist attacks when her child was in second grade.
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Larson said the content may not be “developmentally appropriate” for fifth graders. Larson questioned if there was a way students could be exposed to the material without the graphic, violent portions.
“Just because 9- and 10-year-olds are going through this doesn’t mean 9- and 10-year-olds should be reading the details about this,” Larson said.
Trustee Bo Snyder said the district will have another round of feedback after the novel is taught next year. He encouraged the administrative team to “keep an open mind” and be willing to second guess themselves.
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Zerber said they’re planning to file a grievance with the district and appeal to the state’s Department of Education.
AlabamaFairhope library hires new director amid controversy over books
The board voted to hire Robert Gourlay, assistant director since 2022, to replace outgoing director Tamara Dean.
https://www.alreporter.com/2024/12/16...
The change in leadership comes as certain groups are challenging the leadership of the Fairhope library board and calling on the Fairhope City Council to make changes in hopes new board members would carry out their agenda.
Gourlay has been with the Fairhope Library for the majority of his career, starting in 2015.
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The library has adopted policies to align with new state aid requirements from the Alabama Public Library Service, but that hasn’t satisfied Clean Up Alabama, Moms for Liberty and like-minded individuals who have criticized Dean and the board, particularly board chair Anne Johnson, for deciding to keep certain books available in youth sections of the library.
The groups have identified two books specifically, “Grown” by Tiffany Jackson and “Parts and Hearts” by Jenson Hillebrand as examples of what they say are inappropriate books for minors that have been kept in place.
While changes could come at the board level, Gourlay said he plans on continuing to operate under the policies as Dean has.
“We are guided by our board of trustees who approve our policies,” Gourlay said. “We have a framework that we operate within … As things stand we’ll continue to go through each of those situations as they come up. If things change down the road, we would have to adapt as it comes. My plan is to continue the same policies that Tamara has as far as how as we handle those situations. “
Scary news coming from OhioBill to charge Ohio teachers would combat ‘obscene’ classroom books, lawmaker says
https://www.nbc4i.com/news/politics/b...
The legislation, House Bill 556, received a Ohio House Criminal Justice Committee hearing on Dec. 3 and would establish “criminal liability for certain teachers and librarians for the offense of pandering obscenity.” The bill would charge teachers and school librarians with fifth-degree felonies — punishable by a sentence of six to 12 months in jail and a fine of up to $2,500 — for creating, reproducing, publishing, promoting or advertising “obscene material.”
“We’ve had people reach out from my district and throughout the state … saying, ‘I came in as a substitute teacher, we saw there were things graphically depicting actions that students don’t need to be seeing sitting there on bookshelves,'” said Rep. Adam Mathews (R-Lebanon), the bill’s primary sponsor, during the hearing.
Vice-chair of the committee, Rep. Josh Williams (R-Sylvania Twp.), said he had considered introducing a similar measure given he agrees “with the idea behind the bill when it comes to obscenity.” Williams said he has “seen the books that have depictions, that have stories, that have narratives that are directly related to s-x that we’re starting to see pop-up in classrooms and in libraries in our schools.”
The Ohio Federation of Teachers announced it opposed H.B. 556 when it was introduced earlier this year and noted the legislation defines “school librarian” to include those at “school district public libraries,” which are not libraries in schools but rather refers to a classification of public libraries in Ohio. Nearly 150 of Ohio’s 251 public library systems are classified as school district public libraries.
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Mathews noted H.B. 556’s definition of obscene is already in use by courts and legal experts and is only meant to include “material on the most extreme end of the spectrum.” This means material (view spoiler)
H.B. 556 would allow for such depictions to be shown in certain context during select courses, such as in art, biology and health classes. Mathews said those exceptions are “limited to where you really need that, rather than grammar, English, math, social studies and the like.”
The bill’s hearing came shortly after an Ohio public school teacher was suspended for three days without pay for having four books with LGBTQ+ characters in her third-grade classroom. The teacher has since sued the district, arguing she “maintained these books in her classroom in furtherance of her sincerely held moral and religious beliefs.”
Given H.B. 556 needs to undergo additional review and votes in the Ohio House and Senate, it is unlikely to be sent to Gov. Mike DeWine’s desk for signature before the end of the General Assembly’s two-year session this week. Lawmakers could reintroduce the bill next session, which starts in January.
House Bill 8, a similar school-related legislation known as the “Parents’ Bill of Rights,” could receive Statehouse approval this week. The bill would allow parents to opt their students out of “sexuality content,” require educators to notify parents of various changes in their children, and require school districts to implement religious release policies.
TexasDenton City Council approves library board nominee amid book ban concerns
https://www.keranews.org/news/2024-12...
The Denton City Council voted 5-2 on Tuesday to approve a controversial nominee to the Denton Library Board.
Ellen Quinn Sullivan will serve a two-year term on the city’s library board, an advisory group that provides leadership for the library system and its three locations.
“I’m honored to get the chance to serve my community through the library board,” Sullivan said in a text message after the vote. “And I, for one, look forward to getting to know and working with people on the board who might not have the same worldview that I do. That’s how we all learn and grow! It’s time for people to be civil again.”
Over the weekend, a couple of social media posts warned Denton residents that Sullivan might ban books. Her critics couldn’t provide any public comments by the nominee that indicated she would remove materials from the library. Instead, they pointed to her son, Michael Quinn Sullivan, a conservative activist and publisher of Texas Scorecard, a right-leaning publication. He was also a key player in the now-dissolved Empower Texans, an advocacy group that endorsed and funded a number of Republican campaigns across the state.
Other critics said they questioned the nomination because Mayor Gerard Hudspeth, who nominated Ellen Sullivan after she applied for the post, had previously nominated another candidate who has challenged books in Denton ISD.
Sullivan told the Denton Record-Chronicle on Monday that she doesn’t believe in banning books, and wouldn’t be confrontational with her conservative point of view if she won a nomination to the board.
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Mayor Pro Tem Paul Meltzer ... talked to her and asked her pointed questions.
“We spoke specifically about a hypothetical situation of a gay young person wanting their identity affirmed in books that are in the library,” Meltzer said Tuesday. “We found common ground on that. We found common ground on seeing our libraries as mostly on the right track.”
Council member Jill Jester said she would vote yes, adding that she wouldn’t make assumptions about Sullivan based on the political opinions and activities of her relatives. Hudspeth and council member Brandon Chase McGee also voted in favor of the nomination.
Council members Brian Beck and Vicki Byrd cast the dissenting votes against Sullivan’s nomination. Byrd said the “chatter” around Sullivan gave her pause. Beck said he talked with the nominee and reviewed the materials submitted for the nomination. He told the council he had received feedback from the community about the nomination and wouldn’t support it.
By the beginning of the meeting, four people had left electronic comments on the nomination provided on the council agenda, and all asked the council to vote against it.
As children’s book bans soar, sales are down and librarians are afraid. Even in Californiahttps://www.latimes.com/california/st...
AlabamaLocal newsPrattville council makes controversial library board appointments
The council reappointed Doug Darr, whose initial appointment set off a chain of consequential events at the library.
https://www.alreporter.com/2024/12/18...
The Prattville City Council ultimately voted 5-2 Tuesday night to reappoint Doug Darr and to newly appoint Don Bethel to the Autauga-Prattville Public Library board.
The votes came after a back-and-forth among council members after hearing from both sides of the aisle during a public comment session. Read Freely Alabama members and like-minded citizens called on the council not to appoint the two men; Clean Up Alabama members and like-minded citizens voiced their support.
Part of the discussion between council members came down to how the council has traditionally made these picks.
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It was Darr’s appointment to the APPL board one year ago by the Autauga County Commission that set in motion all of the events to come. The Autauga County Commission itself broke the tradition of appointing a nominee recommended by the library board. That decision led the remainder of the old board to resign, opening the door for the commission to stack the board with a four-member majority that aligned with the values of Clean Up Alabama.
The city’s own picks, Gloria Kuykendall and Quincy Minor, have also mostly fallen in line with the county members’ agenda. The county appointed Darr to the board seat that rotates annually between the two county governments that share control of the library, a process that allows the two governing bodies to trade majority control on a yearly basis.
In less controversial times, the tradition of the governing bodies to appoint members nominated by the board has served to fill needs recommended by longstanding board members, and to give deference to the board members involved in the decisions of the library system.
Councilors Marcus Jackson made a motion to delay the appointments once again after successfully delaying the appointments at the previous council meeting, and Councilor Robert Strichik seconded, but the motion failed. Jackson and Strichik ultimately voted against both appointments.
“The commission has made some appointments, but it’s at our feet right now,” Jackson said. “We cannot afford to be a part of any more litigation. We need to thoroughly vet candidates, and have conversations maybe with the (library board) chairman (Ray Boles) and say we need somebody neutral.”
Strichik said the board has “lost the neutrality” when it comes to opinion on the books and that most patrons are not wrapped up in the politics of the library.
“I believe that 90 percent of the people who go to our public library want to go check out a book, or listen to a book and go home,” Strichik said. “They don’t want to get into the politics of all of this.”
Lacie Sutherland, the former cataloging and acquisitions librarian at APPL, told APR that Bethel is one of the individuals that filled out multiple challenge forms for reconsideration of materials at the library.
Sutherland, whom the board fired for locking the library in protest of the termination of director Andrew Foster, addressed the council Tuesday and pleaded for them not to appoint Bethel and Darr. She pointed to Darr’s service on the board during the upheaval at the library.
“On March 14, 2024, this current board unethically fired our director, Andrew Foster,” Sutherland said. “Most of my co-workers and I closed the library in protest, then we were fired too. Mine and other positions have never been replaced, and it’s been nine months.
“But why did we protest, despite knowing that we were risking termination? We did it because what they did to Andrew was wrong. Andrew and Lindsay Milam before him were great directors … When Boles and (APPL board Vice Chair Rachel) Daniels demanded we reopen the library, they stood on the other side of the circulation desk from us like it was a Wild West standoff. When the dust settled, we knew that we were going to be the losers, not with our lives, but our livelihoods.”
Members of Clean Up Alabama said that the character of the appointees had been unfairly maligned, and continued the argument that the library’s actions have been in the interest of protecting children and the false claim that the library offered p----graphic material to children.
The majority of books challenged by the group have had no s--ual content but do have LGBTQ+ content, and the group has specifically focused on rooting out books that discuss gender identity.
Back in October, in the Xenia Community Schools in Ohio, Jeremy Cox requested that critical race theory (CRT) be placed on the agenda for the Monday, Oct. 14 meeting, during which he is asking the board to consider a proposal for an additional curriculum audit.https://www.xeniagazette.com/2024/10/...
An audit was recently completed by Curriculum Management Solutions, but in an email to the Gazette, Cox cited the audit itself, which suggested a new one should be performed....
Superintendent Dr. Gabe Lofton is adamant that CRT is not in Xenia Community Schools.
“First and foremost, I would like to once again state that Xenia Community Schools solely utilizes curriculum that is age appropriate and is in alignment with Ohio state standards, and that critical race theory is not taught in our classrooms,” Lofton wrote.
Lofton said he has had conversations with Cox during the last year to assure him CRT has no place in the district.
“To be entirely clear, critical race theory is not being taught now, and has not been taught in the past,” Lofton said. “Given his ongoing and persistent inquiry around this issue over many months, including his questions about the professionalism and integrity of our teaching staff, I understand that Mr. Cox is not convinced of the truth of that statement. This is in spite of the fact that there have been no student or parent complaints that CRT is being taught in our schools, or any evidence whatsoever that this is the case. It is also regardless of the fact that we successfully completed a curriculum audit with a respected company earlier this year.”
According to Lofton, the district has provided Cox with access to every textbook and digital resource, along with thousands of curriculum documents used in classrooms for his review.
“We have answered numerous questions about the curriculum through presentations and email requests, offered to have him talk to teachers, provided him with tours through every school and classroom in the district, and offered additional support for him through the Ohio School Boards Association,” Lofton said. “Quite frankly, at this point, I am at a loss as to what would convince Mr. Cox that CRT is not being taught in Xenia Community Schools or what to do next.”
The proposal Cox is presenting Monday is for an audit by Jordan C. Adams, a K-12 education consultant. Adams can do an issue-specific audit of either social studies or all subjects for “specific instances of items and qualities as determined by the school board prior to the audit.” A full curriculum audit of social studies can also be completed. The price range tops out at $16,320.
Lofton called another CRT discussion “a distraction that siphons limited time, energy, and valuable resources away from critical areas where we could work to see real change for our students.”
Cox said he wants to “impart real education reforms in the district so that our students can someday be successful.”
“I remain concerned that Xenia schools keeps hiring firms that simply use our communities (sic) hard earned money to parrot what our leadership wants them to say,” Cox said. “I simply want to put our students’ academic outcomes and safety first while being transparent with our community.”
Then this happened..
School board meeting gets heated after critical race theory concerns raised
https://www.whio.com/news/local/schoo...
“CRT is going on there,” one speaker said during the public comment portion of the meeting. “They’ve had parents that have complained and said, ‘What’s going on?’ I’m sure that alarms you. It may not be in every room and we’re glad for that. But we don’t want a dangerous or divisive curriculum in any of our classes.”
Those attendees who voiced support for Cox’s concern do not have students that attend Xenia schools, a district spokesperson told News Center 7.
Next, School board says no to another audit
https://www.xeniagazette.com/2024/10/...
After more than two hours of public comments, debate, name calling, and an abrupt recess, the Xenia board of education voted against a curriculum audit to see if critical race theory is being taught in the district.
After Cox explained his rationale for requesting another audit — including why he submitted a proposal from a specific auditor, Jordan Adams — his fellow board members spoke with candor.
“I have kids that are in the district,” Joshua Day said. “Every decision you make impacts my children. You don’t want to piss me off. You have no skin in the game. You barely went to Xenia schools. This circus is something you alone caused. There’s only one clown in this show.”
Board President Mary Grech said she ran for a board spot because she disagreed with the way a request for proposal (RFP) was handled with the Educational Services Center a few years ago.
Grech said Cox brought one proposal and no others.
“As a business person, that is not the way … it’s done,” she said. “I’m not sure that is the way we need to do this.”
Later, Cox asked how much Superintendent Dr. Gabe Lofton was paid and how long has he been in the district.
“What’s that got to do with it,” Grech asked, adding a few minutes later, “He has done what he was hired to do and he’s done it well.”
Grech said not one parent has brought evidence of CRT but then said Cox brought “fear and division.”
At one point the meeting was brought to a halt when Darbi Boddy, a former Lakota school district board member in West Chester accused the board and Lofton of not believing in transparency and verbally attacking Lofton. Grech attempted to cut her off, but Bodie continued, causing Grech to ask for a recess. All board members but Cox voted to go into recess. Bodie continued to speak without a microphone while citizens in the audience tried to drown out her voice.
Prior to an executive session, Cox said the outcome was “disappointing.”
NOW
Anti-Critical Race Theory crisis actor in Ohio suing Xenia Community Schools, claims school board president took microphone from her.
https://www.whio.com/news/local/woman...
A woman is suing a Greene County school district claiming it violated her First Amendment rights.
Darbi Boddy claims the president of the school board Mary Grech ripped the microphone away from her while she was speaking at a board of education meeting in October, according to court documents.
As previously reported by News Center 7, Xenia Community Schools held a board meeting back in October after the district put the top of Critical Race Theory (CRT) on the agenda.
Boddy is a former member of the Lakota Board of Education.
They voted to declare her seat vacant after a 90-day absence in March,
And Texas... I'm sure the book banners are going to fight this, proving their agenda is not about protecting the kids or bad books- only ideas they disagree with.Texas Public School District Bans Bible In Libraries
https://www.dailywire.com/news/texas-...
A Texas public school district superintendent informed parents that the Bible was removed from the district’s libraries because it violated a state House bill requiring library books to be expunged if they contained “s---ally explicit material.”
Canyon Independent School District Superintendent Darryl Flusche stated: “There are 30 titles available in the Canyon Junior High library that are Bible stories or portions of the Bible,” he pointed out. “Additionally, if any student would like to have a Bible, we have strong connections with local churches that are happy to donate a Bible upon request. We are more than willing to assist a student who would like access to a Bible by arranging this from one of our partnering churches.”
[And the WT heck moment of the day comes from "a concerned mother" of two children in the school district] who states:
On December 9, “seems absurd to me that the Good Book was thrown out with the bad books. … In a day when we are needing security guards and bulletproof windows and doors, I think having the Word of God available to our children cannot only be preventative to violence, but also provide comfort and a sense of security in a chaotic world.”
“It just makes sense to have the Word of God in our school library,” she continued. “After all, it is the book of wisdom. It is the bestselling book of all time; it is historically accurate, scientifically sound, and most importantly, life-changing.”
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My jaw just dropped at this final statement!
Saydel Community School District (IA) has pulled 21 books for review under the state’s book ban law. The list is the usual suspects.https://www.aol.com/books-were-pulled...
Twenty-one books appeared on a list of titles to be removed from Saydel Community School District shelves for review to make sure they don't violate a new state law.
The Des Moines Register has requested information from Iowa's 325 school districts about their response to Senate File 496, which bans books with descriptions or depictions of s-x acts from schools and prohibits instruction about sexual orientation and gender identity through the sixth grade.
The Register has documented lists of pulled books from 44 districts as of Friday and plans to publish articles about lists in Des Moines metro area school districts, when available. Not every district in the state will have a list of removed books: So far, many districts have not responded, some have declined to provide a list and some have not removed any books at all.
Gov. Kim Reynolds signed Senate File 496 into law in May. Starting Jan. 1, educators and districts could face state discipline for not complying. The Iowa Board of Education has proposed rules that could offer more guidance about the law. The public hearing process for the proposed rules will run through early January.
The Saydel district provided a list on Oct. 9 of 21 books that were pulled and placed in a secure location so a committee could review them to make sure they don't violate Senate File 496. Superintendent Todd Martin told the Register in an email Friday that there have been no changes.
Very scary news from PennsylvaniaA new bill being proposed in Pennsylvania would criminalize librarians and require that all students be opted-in to books
https://www.wtaj.com/news/regional-ne...
The bill, authored by Representative Barbara Gleim (R-Cumberland County), looks to amend a current criminal law that states no one may publicly exhibit or provide to a minor “legally obscene materials.” Current law includes an exemption allowing any library in the state to possess, list and exhibit them, according to Gleim.
According to Pennsylvania Senate Bill 7, passed on Oct. 4, 2023, schools must list any “s--ually explicit” books or instructional materials in every school library and classroom. The bill’s definition of “s--ually explicit” excludes biology and health books, however, has been otherwise criticized as vague and subjective.
The Senate Bill also requires parents to “opt-in” by signing a form that states:
“By signing this document I am giving permission for my child to be provided books, handouts and instructional material that may include written or visual depictions of s--ual conduct. S--ual conduct is defined in law as (view spoiler)
Gliem’s bill, which has not been passed yet, argues that current law does not prohibit all s--ual content, only obscene content as labeled under the Pennsylvania Constitution. The Representative noted in her memorandum that her bill would remove all exemptions for schools and libraries and require the current law to not allow the possession of any explicit or obscene materials.
One legislator in Missouri proposed a bill for the coming session that would require disclosures about potential pr0n in library materials.Repeat after me: "There. Is. No. [THAT P world] in libraries. Period. Full stop. End of story."
This bill doesn't make sense. Parents can always opt their kids out of books they disagree with. It won't stop access to graphic content. Just ask any kid with a phone, access to YouTube or video games with ads.
https://www.missourinet.com/2024/12/1...
A state Senator said she wants tighter restrictions on access to p----graphic materials in Missouri charter schools and digital library catalogs. Sen. Mary Elizabeth Coleman, R-Arnold, said public schools and libraries are already required to take preventative measures.
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She said that her bill proposes a disclosure agreement for minors.
“So that librarians are having to let parents know, ‘Hey here’s the material that is and isn’t being provided,'” she said. “Then, there’s a process that is put in place for people to make a determination about this is or is not actually going to be a p----graphic material.”
Another provision of the bill states that public and charter schools would be required to post the names of all the required books on their websites and provide parents access to the digital library catalog. The bill would also allow parents to file lawsuits for alleged violations.
“If it is deemed to be p----graphic and maintains access to students, it creates a private right of action for parents to actually be able to sue with a fine to make sure that this is actually stopping,” she explained.
Moms For Liberty is happy about new book ban challenge policies in Volusia County Schools (FL).Volusia School Board talks wage adjustments, book review policy, rezoning
https://www.news-journalonline.com/st...
The board unanimously agreed to advertise the proposed amendments to School Board Policy 320, Media Selection of Print and Non-Print Materials.
According to Desirée Rybinski, the district’s coordinator of instructional materials and media services, the advertised changes seek to update definitions and terminology while also clarifying the district’s procedures for selecting, managing and challenging material in school libraries.
Some of the suggested changes include, but are not limited to, the following:
The principal of a school no longer needs to consult with the media specialist for overseeing compliance with school district procedures for selecting school library media materials.
[That's literally the librarian's JOB! Are they going to get rid of all the school media specialists?]
Materials will now need to be evaluated and considered for removal from school libraries regularly based on the material’s physical condition, rate of circulation in recent years, lack of alignment to state academic standards and curriculum, and timeliness.
Florida principals may direct removals of reviewed material he or she deems in violation of Florida law.
The procedure for school-level appeals has been expedited. The review committee only has 10 school days – previously 15 – to read and re-evaluate the challenged material. The principal then must inform the complaint of the committee’s decision within 10 – previously 30 – school days.
“This is something that I can definitely work with and move forward with,” said Moms for Liberty – Volusia Chair Jenifer Kelly. “ The definitions put out here – thank you. It's very clear. Consolidating everything that was repetitive in the last time we went through this – very helpful.”
Deltona mayor calls for Volusia School Board chair's removal after disparaging remarkshttps://www.news-journalonline.com/st...
During a session at the Moms for Liberty 2024 Joyful Warriors Summit in Washington, D.C., Jessie Thompson—the new Volusia County School Board chair made a disparaging remark about Deltona High School students, admitted to feeding false data to the board to get agenda items passed, and spoke at length about her poor relationships with fellow board members.”
Thompson spoke Aug. 30 at a session titled, “How to Work With Your School Board,” alongside Bryce Fiedler, the director of Carolinas Academic Leadership Network. She spoke on behalf of the Florida Conservative Coalition of School Board Members, a group she heads that’s based out of her home.
“We have one high school, and I don't mean to take anything away from students or parents, and it is a Title One school, so high-five for doing this, they had a 100% graduation rate last year — 100%,” she said. “Now, I've walked that school multiple times. I've met some bright students, and I've met some students that I wouldn't trust filling up my tank of gas, so I find it really hard to believe that they graduate, and graduation is now turned into basically just handing out participation ribbons.”
Deltona Mayor Santiago Avila Jr. issued a public call on Facebook Monday, urging Deltona residents to contact Volusia County School Board members and ask for Thompson’s removal as chair.
“I am deeply appalled by the recent disparaging remarks made by Volusia County School Board Chair Jessie Thompson about the students of Deltona High School,” Avila said on Facebook. “Her offensive comments, including the suggestion she ‘wouldn’t trust some students to fill up her gas tank,’ are unacceptable and is also an insult to the hard-working students and staff of this A-rated school.
"Additionally, her derogatory remarks about our District 5 representative, including calling him a 'tan man,' are unprofessional and unbefitting of someone in her position," Avila added to his post.
Avila believes Thompson was referring to board member Ruben Colón as a "tan gentleman" when discussing how he and other "super liberal school board members" respond to public comments from "liberal wackadoodles."
"We have a tan gentleman who just, like, gets all puffy," Thompson said. "He gets filled with pride because he is supported, and then that encourages him to do some more crazy nonsense."
Avila also requested Deltona residents to contact Thompson directly and ask for a public apology.
In discussing how parents and school board members can work collaboratively, Thompson said it is helpful to board members when parents provide them with “information or extra ammo,” specifically, “statistics, data, background information” that they can use to better their case in getting agenda items passed.
She continued, admitting that she personally has provided other board members with data — “false data,” that is — in order to get certain board items passed.
“Fun fact, if you really want to mess up someone's day on a school board and you don't like them, you can feed them false data, and I guarantee that they are going to Ron Burgundy it and not research it,” she said, referring to the movie "Anchor Man."
“Trust me, I've done it to a couple people," she continued. "That's how I got some safety and security things passed. I knew the other board members didn't read long contracts, and so I worked with our sheriff's department to get something put into that contract, and then they voted to pass it without reading it through. It was magical. They still don't know what's in there. It's going to be great, though. It's great for safety and security.”
But that wasn’t the first time Thompson deviated from the truth. At the summit, she also admitted to fabricating health conditions for her children so that they wouldn’t have to wear masks at school during the pandemic.
...
Thompson also added that during this time, she wasn’t a Volusia County School Board member, but she attended school board meetings regularly as part of the local Moms for Liberty chapter.
Jenifer Kelly, Volusia’s Moms for Liberty chair was "astonished" when she first watched the recording of Thompson's summit session.
...
Kelly confirmed that Thompson's disparaging comments about students were in regards to those attending Deltona High because that was the only Title-One high school with a 100% graduation rate.
She also commented on a Facebook post in the Volusia County School Parents Forum noting that Moms for Liberty-Volusia, “does not support or agree with many things she (Thompson) said in this video. Most of it is false.”
“Moms for Liberty-Volusia is absolutely disgusted and disturbed by her inappropriate comments about students and other board members,” Kelly said on social media. “We disavow any affiliation with school board member Jessie Thompson.”
Additionally, Kelly noted that the organizer of the national conference did not consult her prior to scheduling Thompson and also that the local organization did not endorse Thompson as a candidate.
She told The News-Journal that after initially seeing the video, she contacted the national Moms for Liberty co-founder. Kelly said the Moms for Liberty representative she spoke with agreed the content was "concerning" and said this will likely change how they vet speakers and assign people to future breakout sessions.
"That's the exact opposite of how you should engage and work with your school board," Kelly said about Thompson fabricating data to sway fellow board members' votes. "I was very appalled in hearing that statement because she was addressing Moms for Liberty chapter members and some chapter chairs of new chapters across the country, so I was ... literally mortified that she said that to them."
Thompson made it clear that she and her fellow board members weren't exactly the best of friends.
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At 20 minutes and 20 seconds, she said, “The chairman of the board, at least in our county and many counties in Florida, sits with the superintendent, her cabinet. They put together the agenda. Guess what? If your chairman doesn't like you or like what you have to say, it's not going on the agenda, which looks terrible because then people come to the meetings and they're like, ‘You're not very effective.’ I'm like, ‘Well, she hates me and he hates me and she hates me, and no one listens to what I say. I can talk till I'm blue in the face.’”
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Jenifer Kelly, Volusia’s Moms for Liberty chair was "astonished" when she first watched the recording of Thompson's summit session.
"I couldn't find how that pertained with the topic of that breakout session of how to engage and interact ... ." she said. "I didn't think what she was speaking about pertained very much to that."
Additionally, she told The News-Journal it was especially "shocking" to hear Thompson refer to a board member as a "tan gentleman," comment on the Deltona High School students and admit to giving other board members false information.
Kelly confirmed that Thompson's disparaging comments about students were in regards to those attending Deltona High because that was the only Title-One high school with a 100% graduation rate.
She also commented on a Facebook post in the Volusia County School Parents Forum noting that Moms for Liberty-Volusia, “does not support or agree with many things she (Thompson) said in this video. Most of it is false.”
“Moms for Liberty-Volusia is absolutely disgusted and disturbed by her inappropriate comments about students and other board members,” Kelly said on social media. “We disavow any affiliation with school board member Jessie Thompson.”
Additionally, Kelly noted that the organizer of the national conference did not consult her prior to scheduling Thompson and also that the local organization did not endorse Thompson as a candidate.
She told The News-Journal that after initially seeing the video, she contacted the national Moms for Liberty co-founder. Kelly said the Moms for Liberty representative she spoke with agreed the content was "concerning" and said this will likely change how they vet speakers and assign people to future breakout sessions.
"That's the exact opposite of how you should engage and work with your school board," Kelly said about Thompson fabricating data to sway fellow board members' votes. "I was very appalled in hearing that statement because she was addressing Moms for Liberty chapter members and some chapter chairs of new chapters across the country, so I was ... literally mortified that she said that to them."
Thompson: The rest of the board hates me
Thompson made it clear that she and her fellow board members weren't exactly the best of friends.
At 9 minutes, 20 seconds into the recording, Thompson said, “I'm on a minority school board, just in case we weren't aware, like I'm hated by the rest of my board, and I can deal with that emotionally. They're not nice people.”
At 20 minutes and 20 seconds, she said, “The chairman of the board, at least in our county and many counties in Florida, sits with the superintendent, her cabinet. They put together the agenda. Guess what? If your chairman doesn't like you or like what you have to say, it's not going on the agenda, which looks terrible because then people come to the meetings and they're like, ‘You're not very effective.’ I'm like, ‘Well, she hates me and he hates me and she hates me, and no one listens to what I say. I can talk till I'm blue in the face.’”
And at 21 minutes and 30 seconds, Thompson said, “My chair (former chair Jamie Haynes) just started talking to me again. We don’t agree on anything.”
Current board members Haynes and Ruben Colón, as well as former board member Carl Persis, did not immediately respond to The News-Journal’s request for comment.
Former board member Anita Burnette acknowledged The News-Journal’s request but did not comment further by time of publication because she had not seen the entire video.
When discussing the board's newest members, Krista Goodrich and Donna Brosemer,....One I've started to feed her some of the things that are important to me,,, “And then the other one — I like the word ‘wackadoodle’ — She's a little bit of a wackadoodle, not politically speaking, just like her own personal things. And she's a, she's a very power hungry young lady, but she's not that young. But anyway, so I'm reaching out to her, too.”
Read Freely Alabama talks about the state’s banning of books related to sexual education in libraries and schools.https://www.alreporter.com/2024/12/13...
[A] book that has come under fire is “Yes! No! A first conversation about consent.”
The book could be implied to regard s--ual contact, but the book itself tells children the can set boundaries about being hugged or giving high fives.
“We’re not really sure where that book falls into why it’s inappropriate,” Frey said. “I’m very unclear and I’m very concerned with the books that they’re choosing for this.”
Challengers of the book have argued that the book teaches children that they can consent to contact, including s--ual contact with an adult. The book barely references s--ual contact, much less present the idea that children can give consent to s--ual contact. The tone of the book implies children’s ability to withhold consent even when adults want them to make unwanted physical contact.
As one of Alabama’s comprehensive s-x education providers, ACASH has found itself challenged recently as well. Rep. Susan Dubose, R-Hoover, introduced a bill last year to prohibit comprehensive s-x ed in schools and instead use “s--ual risk avoidance” programs, a rebrand of abstinence-only s-x ed.
The organization has also been challenged for providing LGBTQ+ inclusive materials in events.
It’s still not clear yet what Bellaire Public Library (MI) will do following the challenge of the Heartstopper books. But the info in this piece that made it worth sharing is that the library already moved their YA section to the adult section to avoid this problem.https://bleedingcool.com/comics/michi...
Bellaire Public Library debates placing Heartstopper graphic novels in their YA section.
Local residents are divided, with petitions both for and against Heartstopper's YA placement.
Library director emphasizes parental responsibility in children's reading choices.
Heartstopper faces challenges in other libraries and book fairs post-TV adaptation.
Library board members of Bellaire Public Library in Michigan have been hearing both criticism and defence of the Heartstopper graphic novel series by Alice Osman and its place in their Young Adult collection. Tom Shilts, the library's director, told the Traverse City Record-Eagle that the board is considering what to do with the series, that the three-member subcommittee left it up to the entire board to decide what to do with the book but recommended against restricting access to the series. And that Shilts has already moved the young adult collection farther from the library's children's section after some patrons complained about its placement." We're not a huge library. The new young adult book display consists of anywhere from a half-dozen to 10 titles, so it's not a lot of books. So moving that was not an undue stress."
Local resident Jennie McCormick-Killian started a petition on Change.org stating that it "originates from a deeply personal concern about the graphic content in the book series, "Heartstopper", on shelves at the Bellaire library. Like many in our community, I am alarmed that these books openly show s--ual scenes in a manner accessible to children. These books have the potential to expose young, innocent minds to mature content they may not yet be ready to understand. This potentially infringes upon a parent's right to control the information their child is exposed to, and may influence their development in unhealthy ways. The Bellaire library should be a safe place for children to nurture their love for reading, we must ensure this library helps the developmental needs of our children. Join me and help protect our children by signing this petition and urging our library to not have books like "Heartstopper" in our children's reading choices under the age of 16."
While an opposing petition has been started by Kalico Casady, who writes that "there is a petition by a group to remove the "Heartstopper" series from the library in Bellaire, Michigan. This petition seems to be an attempt to get the library board's attention after their first challenge was denied. There are fraudulent claims by members of this group that claim the book portrays graphic se- aimed at minors when, in actuality, it is a young adult book with pertinent themes in the YA section, and nothing graphic is shown. I have read the entire series and am encouraged by the themes of anti-bullying, coming out, identity, and how to help a struggling friend. I understand that as parents, we want to keep our children safe. However, it is our responsibility to monitor what our kids read. The library is not there for only the straight, white, Christian community, it is there for every community. The library is a safe space for all. Let's keep it that way. Keep the bans off our books. Show your support for the wonderful librarians by signing and sharing this petition to keep "Heartstopper" in the Bellaire library!"
And it was Casady who spoke to the library board at the previous hearing, defending topics addressed by Heartstopper, such as bullying, friendship and eating disorders. While others objected to the book's depiction of gay relationships,.
Library board President Mary Edens says, "There may be a question of whether the book stays in 'Young Adult' or moves … on an 'Adult' shelf, but they're not that far apart in our small library."
Kelly Jensen of BookRiot reports: "ONE parent complained about Lily & Duncan by Donna Gephardt in Johnson County Schools (KS), so the book is being removed. This is despite a review committee voting overwhelmingly to keep it."
TexasKelly Jensen reports: "Right wing book banners have huge power on the Conroe Independent School District (TX) board, and they plan on wielding it ."
https://www.houstonchronicle.com/neig...
School Boards Tied Up By Book Bans Face Harassment, Struggle to Address Other Issueshttps://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/...
People come to the meetings and say the district should not be “exposing the children to these books,” and then read aloud sexual excerpts from books that aren’t in the district’s libraries, while children are at the meetings, he says.
“They are absolutely doing the very thing they are accusing us of doing, which we are not,” says Hubert, who will be stepping down from the board when his term ends. “It’s the most bizarre thing.”
In the North Hunterdon-Voorhees (NJ) Regional High School District, book challenges became “a very high-level distraction” from the work of the board, according to the board’s former president Robert Kirchberger.
Skeeter Hubert, who served on the Conroe ISD board for 10 years and as president for four, says that most of the people challenging books at meetings don’t have students in the district and don’t know whether the district even carries the books. “We’re having to fact-check them as they read,” he says.
When Skeeter Hubert, board of education president of Conroe ISD in Houston, didn’t decide in favor of the book challengers, he got death threats.
School Boards Tied Up By Book Bans Face Harassment, Struggle to Address Other Issues
by Marlaina Cockcroft
Dec 13, 2024 | Filed in News & Features
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AdrianHillman/Getty Images
Book challenges don’t just prevent librarians and teachers from doing their jobs. They’re also an obstacle for school board members, who can find themselves at odds with colleagues and the community as they try to uphold their district’s policies—sometimes losing elections in the process.
Board members and literacy advocates describe harassment, insults, and even death threats over districts’ attempts to review and retain books on library shelves. They say that the book-challenge movement prevents boards from conducting business and may discourage people from running for seats.
“We have all the hysteria,” says Skeeter Hubert, board of education president of Conroe ISD in Houston.
People come to the meetings and say the district should not be “exposing the children to these books,” and then read aloud sexual excerpts from books that aren’t in the district’s libraries, while children are at the meetings, he says.
“They are absolutely doing the very thing they are accusing us of doing, which we are not,” says Hubert, who will be stepping down from the board when his term ends. “It’s the most bizarre thing.”
In the North Hunterdon-Voorhees (NJ) Regional High School District, book challenges became “a very high-level distraction” from the work of the board, according to the board’s former president Robert Kirchberger.
Hubert, who served on the Conroe ISD board for 10 years and as president for four, says that most of the people challenging books at meetings don’t have students in the district and don’t know whether the district even carries the books. “We’re having to fact-check them as they read,” he says.
When Hubert didn’t decide in favor of the book challengers, he got death threats.
“I’ve had people show up to public meetings and physically try to fight me. I’ve had all kinds of names being called,” he says.
Anne Russey, codirector of the Texas Freedom to Read Project, says that it’s hard to watch the same accusations that teachers and librarians receive—of “giving pornography” to kids—being aimed at board members.
“Just like it weighs on librarians, and it weighs on educators, and it weighs on parents that are advocating against these book bans, it weighs on the board members, too,” she says. School board members have been attacked by Libs of TikTok and boards have received bomb threats, according to Russey.
“It’s just really discouraging, and it’s dangerous,” she says.
Many school boards rely on a committee of community members to review a book and recommend it for retention or removal. Hubert says that in following this policy with its community review committee, Conroe ISD has moved some books to upper grades or removed them altogether. For instance, Fun Home by Alison Bechdel was removed because of the illustrations of sexual activity.
Through a voluntary audit, the board also determined that some donated books or substitutions on book orders were inappropriate. Now all books are vetted before going into circulation.
Sometimes, a board will prioritize complaints from people who are reading passages out of context, “shocking school boards into reaction versus considering a book in its entirety,” says Russey.
Stephana Ferrell thinks fear is a factor as well. The director of research and insight at the Florida Freedom to Read Project says that some school board members might be afraid to voice their opinions on a book.
Board members reading the book can make a difference. Ferrell recalls when a board member in Flagler County, FL, who was reviewing Sold by Patricia McCormick—about child trafficking—had intended to vote to remove the book. Instead, she read it, and voted to retain it. She also told those at the board meeting that she gave it to her 15-year-old daughter. She wanted her to read it before she left for college to better protect herself and so she would understand the power and control people can have over you.
Kirchberger, in New Jersey, says that the five books challenged in his district, including Lawn Boy by Jonathan Evison, This Book Is Gay by Juno Dawson, and Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe, all featured LGBTQIA+ themes and characters. When he read them, he decided the books were “relevant to the readers who would be interested in taking them out.”
In the end, the North Hunterdon-Voorhees board voted to retain the books. But even after the vote, the issue wasn’t settled. People spent months criticizing the decision during meetings. The challenges pulled the board into a never-ending back-and-forth with the public, taking time away from more consequential actions, says Kirchberger.
He doesn’t think that the book-challenging movement is organic. Arguments over COVID-19 mask requirements and virtual school morphed into book challenges and fights over bathroom and locker room access for transgender students, he says. “I think it was a playbook rather than the heartfelt concerns of the community.”
After the North Hunterdon-Voorhees, NJ board voted to retain the five books, candidates ran on a “parental rights” platform. They won two seats.
In Texas, Hubert says, three board members won seats by campaigning against “p--n” in school libraries.
“We never had one book challenge before they came on the board,” he says.
Those board members also opposed returning other books to the shelves, according to Hubert. “Any kind of book that has anything to do with a gay character or transgender character, they want it removed.”
He adds, “Whether I agree or disagree with that lifestyle, it doesn’t matter. We have a slogan in Conroe ISD, ‘All means all.’ All kids should be represented, and all kids should have access to age-appropriate reading material.”
BookRiot's Literary Activism newsletter editor Kelly Jensen reports: "The Lehighton Area School District Board of Directors (PA) is readying a form that allows parents to opt-in to letting their kids access 33 books in the district that the board things are not appropriate. The books are the usual suspects from BookLooks and other book-banning “review” websites."
https://www.easternprogress.com/schoo...
School board to review draft policy for controversial library books
The school board revealed Monday night that the solicitors provided the board with a draft policy regarding the library books, but that it was received too late to make the agenda for the meeting.
"In the seriousness of this issue, it was determined that it was received too late to make the agenda for tonight's meeting," said Jeremy Glaush, board president.
Sean Gleaves, the school board treasurer who proposed the idea of putting together a committee to conduct a book audit, was not present for the meeting Monday night.
While Gleaves was not present for the Monday night meeting, he was still the topic of many comments from the public.
Many public commenters said were concerned about the potential negative impact that banning books could have for the LGBTQ+ community.
"It seems evident that Mr. Gleaves views the LGBTQ+ community as a problem, rather than recognizing their rights and their humanity," said public commenter Stephanie.
Another individual claimed to have exchanged emails with Gleaves, saying he was open to the idea of potential alternatives and a town hall discussion.
Stephanie went on to raise concerns about the lack of impartiality that could come with the auditing.
"How can we trust that all students' needs will be fairly represented?" she asked.
Other comments from the public pointed out the heightened suicide rate among LGBTQ+ teens and how that may be increased from a lack of education material.
The board confirmed that the draft policy will be reviewed and will appear on the agenda for the October workshop meeting.
Officials said that will include some back-and-forth questions and possible changes made with the guidance of the solicitor.
How Christian nationalists are shaping Texas’s public education.https://truthout.org/articles/christi...
The Texas State Board of Education will pay districts $60 a student to use a curriculum infused with Christian content.
hen Texas elementary school students return to the classroom next fall, they may be studying from textbooks with messages about patriotism, American exceptionalism and the superiority of the free enterprise system. Some of these textbooks will likely also offer a hefty dose of Christian content, with Bible-infused lessons in their English and language arts classes.
“The flag evokes feelings of pride and respect, reminding us of the freedoms and rights that we cherish as Americans,” one lesson in a State Board of Education- approved textbook begins.
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Other textbooks tout different messages.
Some minimize the foundational impact of slavery in the United States, while others celebrate the architectural splendor of Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello plantation without mentioning that enslaved people built it. Similarly, a state-sanctioned 5th-grade textbook cites Abraham Lincoln’s “deep Christian faith” and credits Jim Crow laws with encouraging the development of numerous Black businesses. [???? HOW?]
Others focus on creationism.
And still others ignore climate change, environmental degradation and the many social movements that shaped the 20th and early 21st centuries.
All told, the approved textbooks include a great deal of questionable content and represents the fruit of a six-and-a-half-decade campaign to change what public school students are taught in Texas and beyond.
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in May 2024 the Cypress Fairbanks Independent School District in Houston — the third-largest district in the state — removed 13 “controversial” chapters from five science textbooks that covered vaccines, epidemics and climate change.
A variety of restrictive measures, passed by the Texas legislature, have reinforced these omissions and distortions of fact.
In 2010, for example, the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) standards developed by the State Board of Education mandated that social studies classes inform students that Moses and King Solomon inspired U.S. democracy; that segregated schools did not always lead to inferior instruction for Black children; and that the framers of the Constitution were influenced by ideas generated during the Protestant reformation regarding individual responsibility, freedom to worship and self-governance.
A decade later, in December 2021, the Texas statehouse passed Senate Bill 3. That bill banned the teaching of the 1619 Project (a history of slavery’s impact on the U.S. created by Nikole Hannah-Jones and The New York Times) and critical race theory, and required instruction on American exceptionalism, patriotism, free markets and entrepreneurship in all Texas schools. Then, HB 900, the Restricting Explicit and Adult Designated Educational Resources Act — now partially enjoined — was passed to restrict “s--ually explicit” materials from being stocked by school libraries or sold to school districts. It also required students who want to read books deemed “s--ually relevant” to get parental permission.
In November 2024, the state board went one further, voting to approve a Bible-infused curriculum for the state’s 2.3 million kindergarten to 5th grade students. Included are lessons about the golden rule and Jesus’s sermon on the mount. The plan was developed by a state-created entity called Bluebonnet Learning, which has deep ties to the evangelical community. According to the education news outlet The74million.org, the Bluebonnet curriculum utilizes materials developed by eSpired, a company co-founded by Christian nationalist and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, Trump’s nominee to become ambassador to Israel.
The state board of education has stressed that local school districts do not have to use this curriculum. Nonetheless, those that opt in will receive an extra $60 per student. This “incentive,” says Alejandra Lopez, president of the San Antonio Alliance of Teachers and Support Personnel, Local 67, “puts districts in a difficult position, forcing them to ask themselves if $60 per student is worth blurring the lines between church and state.”
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Texas currently spends $9,871 a year on each student enrolled in Texas public schools, an amount that has remained stagnant since 2019; this is far below the $12,612 national per pupil average. Moreover, while a small segment of Texas teachers and school staff are organized, public workers in the Lone Star State are barred from bargaining collectively.
Clay Robison, a spokesperson for the Texas State Teachers Association, an affiliate of the National Education Association, says that this means that while the union can advocate for policies it supports, its 68,000 members are limited in the scope of what they can do.
Robison told Truthout that 60 percent of the 5 million kids enrolled in Texas public schools are economically disadvantaged. “They do not respond well to books that say hard work will lead to success since their experience often tells them something different. They need to learn the truth, which is why we believe teachers should be able to teach history lessons that include the negative parts.”
Similarly, Capo of the AFT told Truthout that teachers are becoming increasingly disheartened by the state’s indoctrination of kids. “We have a code of ethics for educators that says that we will not provide preferential treatment to any group of students. We’re now asking ourselves if the curriculum created by Bluebonnet runs afoul of this by prioritizing Christian students over Jewish, Muslim or nonreligious ones. We’re working to see if this will give us leverage.”
Advocates and educators are using other tactics to push back against the curricular changes as well.
Caro Achar, engagement coordinator at the ACLU of Texas, acknowledges that unions are facing an uphill battle but adds that there is an “active network of people who are fighting for the right to speak out and defend the freedom to learn.” The most important thing for advocates of free speech and religious freedom to do right now, Achar says, is testify at local school board meetings and make their opposition to adoption of the curriculum known before it takes effect next fall. “
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Teachers Try to Mediate But Often Lack the Resources to Help
Many teachers and school workers, of course, try to be there for their students — but union activists report that many of their colleagues are fearful of reprisals. Some self-censor, knowing that they are walking a hard to navigate line.
“Our legislature meets every two years,” Alejandra Lopez of the San Antonio Alliance of Teachers and Support Personnel told Truthout. During the next session, which begins in January, she expects one of the biggest issues will be universal school vouchers, a benefit that is purportedly meant to give every parent the financial support to send their kids to parochial or private schools but which instead undermines public education. “This is the war Gov. Greg Abbott has been fighting,” she says. “We’re concerned that there may be some trading, getting lawmakers to vote for vouchers in exchange for a per pupil increase in state funding for those who remain in the public schools.”
Unsurprisingly, this is not what most parents want. Ailen Arreaza, director of the national advocacy group Parents Together, told Truthout that, “What we consistently hear from parents is that they want safe, fully funded schools with the resources they need to give their children a clear pathway to work or college when they graduate. They trust teachers and want their kids to be able to make a good life for themselves however they define that. They know that if only one worldview is presented in class, it makes the schools feel unsafe for students who are not part of that group. No one we work with is worried about the lack of Biblical instruction in their child’s classroom.”
South DakotaAnd so it begins...
https://southdakotasearchlight.com/20...
State Library budget cut would hamstring local libraries, opponents say
Databases, training, resources for citizens and librarians on chopping block
A cut to the South Dakota State Library’s budget would be devastating to local libraries and the citizens who rely on them – including homeschool families – local librarians and library advocates say.
Republican Gov. Kristi Noem proposed a $1 million cut to the State Library during her budget address on Dec. 3, among other cuts in response to the depletion of federal pandemic relief funding and declining sales tax revenue.
Trimming the State Library’s budget would eliminate the vast majority of funding for the organization, which is an arm of the state Department of Education. The library currently has 21 employees; the budget cut would lay off a dozen of them, according to the governor’s proposal.
Nancy Van Der Weide, spokesperson for the department, said via email that the cuts will reduce database access and interlibrary loan support.
The office “will continue to support South Dakota Accessible Library Services (Braille and Talking Books) and professional development programming for public and school libraries” with the remaining nine employees, she wrote.
Seven State Library employees work in accessibility services. The budget cut would keep them but leave just two people to handle everything else. Opponents doubt the state will be able to afford to continue training or professional development if only two people remain on staff to service the entire state.
Elizabeth Fox, president of the South Dakota Library Association and librarian for the H.M. Briggs Library at South Dakota State University, cannot envision the state offering anything that intensive with a dozen fewer people.
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“With two people, they cannot do the training,” Fox said.
Fox and others in the library community say Noem’s proposal endangers public access to information and could leave local librarians floundering as they work to serve their communities without an adequately funded State Library to guide them.
“I’d say it would be like chopping them off at the knees, but it’s not even that,” said Jane Norling, vice president of the State Library Board and director of the Beresford Public Library. “It’s chopping off at the head, because three-fourths of the staff will be gone.”
Librarians are concerned not just by the proposed $1 million state funding cut, but by the loss of another $1.3 million in grant funding through the federal Institute for Museum and Library Sciences. States are expected to match their grant funding at a 34% rate. Noem’s proposed budget wouldn’t leave enough money to do that, and notes that the budget cuts include a $1.3 million loss of federal funding.
The State Library uses grants to pay for a wide range of educational databases and resources like study guides and practice tests for the Law School Admission Test (LSAT) and Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT).
Other databases accessible through the State Library include ancestry.com and Swank K-12 Streaming, which allows schools to stream films for educational purposes without paying licensing fees.
“Without this statewide subscription, schools would need to pursue individual licenses in order to legally stream movies,” Doris Ann Mertz, library coordinator at Custer School District, wrote in an email to Searchlight. “This is so cost-prohibitive.”
Norling noted that homeschooling families in the Beresford area rely heavily on local libraries, ordering books through interlibrary loans and using the databases funded by the State Library.
The State Library offers a courier service for interlibrary loan materials.
The professionally curated databases and information sources like World Book Encyclopedia for general information or PubMed for scholarly publications are important for students and the public, Fox said.
There are other options like Wikipedia or Google Scholar, the library association president said, but those free resources can be manipulated and don’t have the reliability of an encyclopedia. Anyone can edit Wikipedia entries, she said, and Google Scholar ingests scientific research without filtering out questionably sourced materials.
It’s unclear what database resources might remain if the State Library were to be stripped to a bare bones budget. A single three-year state contract with a company called ProQuest that pays for citizen access to databases like the ProQuest Research Library, U.S. Newstream and Heritage Quest has a $512,000 price tag.
...
Hohl said state libraries are in the best position to make sure citizens have access to the most valuable information to local audiences, through database subscriptions or otherwise offering guidance to locals on content curation.
“Whether it’s helping a small business owner research the market or helping our homeschool parents find resources that are designed for children and their special learning needs, that’s what a state library does,” Hohl said.
The State Library acts as facilitator for a consortium of local libraries that offer e-books and other materials through an app called Libby.
Local libraries pay a population-based fee to join the “South Dakota Titles To Go” consortium, with the state librarian facilitating the program and serving as the contact point for OverDrive, the company that owns Libby.
That’s a big concern for Ashia Gustafson, director of the Brookings Public Library. Libby has grown incredibly popular since 2020, she said.
Fox, who works across town at SDSU, suspects the Libby consortium will ultimately survive, but she also expects it’ll take a few messy years for the group to find its bearings without a state-level coordinator.
“The State Library has the expertise to negotiate contracts and to run the sort of behind-the-scenes, techie stuff that many of the librarians involved in this don’t have that expertise in,” Fox said.
Tom Nelson, president of the State Library Board and a former legislator, told South Dakota Searchlight “there’s going to be a fight, or at least a very, very good discussion” on the State Library cut.
The personnel at the library now do more for the state than most citizens realize, he said.
“Each one of those employees has a face, name and a job to do,” Nelson said. “I just think that the people who made these recommendations to the governor either didn’t do the research, or they ignored it.”
Examining Noem’s budget cuts
South Dakota Searchlight coverage of Gov. Kristi Noem’s proposed budget:
Noem budget includes cuts, but also new school choice program and more prison money
Noem proposes school choice program to ‘prioritize education.’ Critics say it’ll undermine it.
Proposed funding cut could sink network in as little as two years, SDPB director says
Commentary: Noem threatens government transparency with cuts to public broadcasting
Noem’s plan to cut $17 million from maintenance and repairs is ‘shortsighted,’ regent says
South CarolinaCharleston County School District (SC) South Carolina Superintendent Ellen Weaver got her book banning regulation passedand now it is no longer allowing anyone in 12th grade or younger to access ebooks or audiobooks via the digital Sora app that is rated above juvenile.
https://bsky.app/profile/paulbowers.b...
Well this is super disappointing and I can't believe a super liberal someone I know moved there!The nominee for New Hampshire’s State Librarian has had that nomination revoked because she opposes book bans.
https://www.nhpr.org/nh-news/2024-12-...
Gov. Chris Sununu has withdrawn his choice for state librarian over concerns about the nominee’s public opposition to book censorship.
In arguing against library restrictions, nominee Mindy Atwood was advocating a mainstream position held by many in her field, including the New Hampshire Library Association and American Library Association.
...
Sununu, who leaves office next month, said he will leave the nomination to Gov.-elect Kelly Ayotte, who is likely to face similar pressures to choose someone who can earn the support of the Republican-led Executive Council.
Atwood did not return a message seeking comment for this story. She served as a library director in Sunapee and Salisbury for 15 years before joining the New Hampshire State Library two years ago as administrator of library operations.
When Atwood applied for the job in October, she wrote, “I believe deeply in the mission of public libraries to provide free and equal access to information for everyone.”
Several state and local officials wrote letters supporting Atwood, including the state archivist, the Manchester’s library director and Sunapee's police chief, who worked with Atwood during her time there.
Retiring state librarian Michael York, who held the position for 25 years, backed the choice too, calling Atwood “highly qualified.” He called concerns raised by her critics “nonsense.”
In an interview with NHPR, York also noted that under state law, the state librarian has no authority over what materials schools and public libraries provide. Nor is the state librarian required to follow the positions of the American Library Association, which the state belonged to until York decided this year the yearly dues were not worth what the association provided.
“The 234 public libraries in the state of New Hampshire all have a board of trustees, and more than 90% of those libraries have elected library trustees," York said. “They decide what goes on in the library.” He added, “I defy anybody to show where libraries have ignored the will of their trustees.”
Sununu avoided a vote by pulling Atwood’s name after councilors voiced their own concerns to him,.
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Executive Councilor David Wheeler, a Milford Republican, self-identified as one of Atwood’s critics. In an interview Monday, Wheeler cited presentations Atwood has given on behalf of New England and national library associations challenging censorship of library materials.
One of those was a 2023 “Unite Against Book Bans” panel discussion hosted by the New England Library Association, Atwood and other New England librarians reviewed the latest efforts to restrict library books and offered guidance on challenging book bans, according to slides of the presentation.
The slides aligned with positions advocated by not just the New England association but by the New Hampshire Library Association and American Library Association as well. But Wheeler saw it as a disregard of parental rights.
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That argument was echoed by RebuildNH, a group that launched in opposition to COVID-19 restrictions but now lobbies on a range of issues, including on behalf of parents seeking more oversight of library books. They urged followers to contact the Executive Council about Atwood’s nomination, and claimed credit when the governor rescinded her name....
Those opposing Atwood’s nomination did not focus on particular materials at the state library, but rather her role in advocating against censorship of library materials and recommendations on how to handle restrictions.
To that end, they cited the program for a June conference of the New Hampshire School Administrators Association, which included a presentation by Atwood titled, “The Challenge of the Book Challenges: How to Talk your Boards about Book Challenges.” The discussion addressed the importance of offering diverse library materials and provided information about the legal considerations of book challenges, according to the program.
Executive Councilor Cinde Warmington, a Concord Democrat who said she would have voted for Atwood, called Sununu’s decision to pull her name under pressure “outrageous.” She described receiving a “deluge” of emails urging her to reject Atwood’s nomination.
“It’s very disturbing to think that a dedicated, hard-working, capable person who is highly qualified to do the job and is committed to our state library would be taken down and removed because of extremist and unsubstantiated ideological objections from political extremists,” Warmington said in an interview Monday. “I’m sorry that this happened.”
Two other Republican councilors, Janet Stevens of Rye and Joe Kenney of Wakefield, said Monday that they had not reached a decision about Atwood’s nomination but were aware of the opposition. Stevens said she requested a public hearing before the council voted.
“There were a lot of red flags but I think a hearing would have been more appropriate, and you know, it's an opportunity for folks to get their questions out,” Stevens said. “It’s one thing for me to have a discussion with someone and another for them to share their feelings. I felt there was so much controversy that we needed to have a hearing.”
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York said the controversy over Atwood’s nomination reminded him of challenges libraries nationwide have faced in the past, including backlash to materials about same-sex parents or to Madonna’s book “S-x” in 1992. The fight to limit access to library books reminds him of the National Rifle Association’s fierce opposition to limiting Second Amendment rights, he said.
“Librarians tend to push the envelope in terms of not wanting to limit what anybody is able to say,” York said. “And that tends to rile people up. You have to have guardrails. You can't just be putting p----graphy on the, on the shelves, and any institution worthy of (identifying as a library) has what's known as a collection development policy.”
That policy, York said, is decided by local library directors and trustees, he said, not the state library.
Kelly Jensen warns "Watch for the next list of dozens of books to be removed from Blount County Schools (TN) soon. This is in part because of the state’s new law and part because of a local soon-to-be Moms For Liberty chapter who believes they are “making progress.”"Paywalled
https://www.thedailytimes.com/news/bl...
Mod
https://truthout.org/articles/christi......"
So if non Christian students complain and rebel against Christian content (or if liberal Christian students complain), will they be expelled? I know I would rather be expelled etc. than accepting this UTTER garbage.
The Derby school district near Wichita [KS] has rejected a proposed social studies curriculum for high school students over concerns that some materials are biased against Republican President-elect Donald Trump.” https://www.hppr.org/2024-12-17/derby...
Derby administrators pushed for a new high school social studies curriculum because teachers have been working without textbooks and other common materials for several years. Teachers recommended a curriculum by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, but the school board voted it down.
The Derby school district near Wichita has rejected a proposed social studies curriculum for high school students over concerns that some materials are biased against Republican President-elect Donald Trump.
A new conservative majority on the Derby Board of Education voted down a proposed contract with Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for the high school curriculum, which would have cost about $400,000.
The curriculum was recommended by Derby High School teachers, who reviewed six social studies programs over the past year.
Some board members voiced concerns about anti-racism statements on the publisher’s website, as well as the company’s statements about diversity, equity and inclusion. They also said parts of a textbook and online materials do not fairly reflect Trump’s first presidency.
“My biggest concern … involved what I would define as bias of omission,” board member Cathy Boote said.
Boote listed several examples of material she said did not accurately reflect Trump’s actions during his presidency, including his stance on Cuba, trade deals with China, relationships with allies and the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
“Then there was the ‘Muslim ban,’” Boote said, making air quotes with her fingers. “With no mention of the fact it wasn’t aimed at all Muslim countries, just those that have no ability to vet.
“Safety was the top priority, but they leave it sit there, with no explanation, to make you think he was xenophobic,” she said.
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Derby board member Michael Blankenship said he was concerned about some of the points Boote mentioned. He also opposed the new curriculum because of a statement Houghton Mifflin Harcourt made in the aftermath of the murder of George Floyd, who was Black, by a white police officer in 2020.
“We believe Black Lives Matter. We believe in social justice. We believe learning is a fundamental right,” the company said in a June 2020 message posted on its website. “We believe the education system needs to change, and we will continue to use our platform to make that change.”
“That’s a pretty bold statement,” Blankenship said. “Wouldn’t anybody want to know, ‘What do you mean?’ I still don’t have that answer.”
Two years ago, after Derby school board members voiced similar concerns about an elementary social studies curriculum, a company representative said it stood by its statement and continues to support efforts toward diversity.
“This statement was not a political one. Rather, the intent was to express our care and support for Black members of our community — teachers, students, families and employees,” company spokeswoman Leah Riviere said at the time.
“HMH does not advocate for any ideology, political organization or agenda. … Our aim is simply to help teachers teach and students learn.”
The Derby school board approved the Houghton Mifflin Harcourt elementary curriculum in 2022. Since then, four new members were elected to the board, and conservatives have a 4-3 majority.
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Kendall Warkentine, a Derby High School social studies teacher who favored the Houghton Mifflin Harcourt curriculum. Warkentine said few high school history classes focus on events more recent than the 2000 presidential election of George W. Bush, and that historians “don’t really consider the last 20 years to be history.”
Holly Putnam-Jackson, Derby’s assistant superintendent of teaching and learning, said the proposed curriculum aligns with Kansas academic standards for history, government and social studies.
“Our students develop that critical thinking piece, so they don’t see something on Facebook or a news media channel or from a friend and accept it blindly, without … researching it and going back and finding sources,” she told board members.
“Our social studies teachers aim to teach our students … how to think, and not necessarily what to think.”
Three Derby board members — Mark Boline, Tanya Jacobucci and Melanie Turner — voted to approve the proposed high school curriculum. But a majority — Boote, Blankenship, Jennifer Neel and Robyn Pearman — rejected the proposal.
Jacobucci said she trusts teachers who tested the curriculum to know what works in the classroom.
“We are telling our teachers … ‘You’re bringing us your best choice and the one that you think will do the best job, but we want you to find a different choice,’ and I’m not OK with that,” she said.
Boline also urged the board to accept the teachers’ recommendation.
“It seems a little paternalistic this evening, this decision on curriculum, and I can’t imagine that playing well with the teachers who put that work in,” Boline said.
South CarolinaLawmakers are discussing which books should be placed in the children, youth, or teen book sections of South Carolina libraries.
https://www.wjbf.com/news/south-carol...
Sen. Rex Rice has pre-filed the library funding bill. In July 2024, a new mandate was put in place that restricts books that are sexual in nature from being on certain shelves in public libraries. The current proviso was only set into law for a year.
Senator Rice said he needed to file this bill to make the law permanent.
“It’s necessary to pass this bill in order to make sure that we protect our children from the state taxpayer dollars being used to provide something to children that shouldn’t be provided to children,” he said.
The bill states if libraries do not follow the law and recertify quarterly, they will not receive state funding.
“It’s unfortunate that we have to pass bills like this, but we have to do it because sometimes the people around us do not follow the same thought patterns and guidelines that personally, those of us raising children do feel like we need to follow,” Rice continued.
Senator Tameika Isaac Devine said she has multiple concerns about this bill, including limiting content for research projects for kids and teens.
“I think that we need to be looking at ways that we encourage education and support education, not try and threaten them and hold a heavy stick if they’re doing something that we don’t particularly approve of.”
Another concern Senator Devine had was making it difficult for librarians.
“I think that we should be encouraging more people to read especially literary works of art, than discouraging them and making it harder for them to access these kinds of materials,” she said.
Manybooks wrote: "So if non Christian students complain and rebel against Christian content (or if liberal Christian students complain), will they be expelled? I know I would rather be expelled etc. than accepting this UTTER garbage."
No, the students are not punished by the school. The Christian parents have complained about teaching the Bible in schools too. That's personal and actually is NOT parental rights. It's the nationalist stuff that's garbage. I don't even know how they come up with positives for Jim Crow or even where they came up with this idea "Credits Jim Crow laws with encouraging the development of numerous Black businesses." Maybe in the North because they got run out of the South or were killed! I'm guessing they don't allow No Ordinary Sound: A Melody Classic and Never Stop Singing: A Melody Classic Volume 2 or Adventures with Claudie in the school libraries. Melody's grandfather picked more cotton than the White guy, was told the White guy's sack weighed more and therefore White guy got paid more and if Grandpa protested, there would be h to pay. He took the message, packed up the family and moved to Detroit where yes he became a business owner! Melody and her family experience racism in Detroit as well.
Claudie, a girl of the Harlem Renaissance, travels South to the family farm with her mother and learns about lynching, the scare tactics of the KKK and also the positive parts of living in Georgia vs. New York. In New York City they experience redlining and in impossible increase in rent. In Georgia they may have the KKK but they own their own farm, have grass to run around barefoot in and can climb the trees.
They probably don't have Corinne either because she's Chinese-American and experiences Asian hate. She also is keenly aware of the economic differences between her family of origin and new stepdad, a kind and generous but clueless Swedish businessman.
I know they don't have Kira Down Under because she has two aunties. It's mentioned only once or twice they are married. It also mentions pandemic and wearing a mask on the airplane. Kira's Animal Rescue mentions climate change and is about wildfires and animal rescue so that one is out too.
This should not be necessary.Victors in Crawford County book-ban lawsuit raise funds to defend library from budget cuts | Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
https://www.nwaonline.com/news/2024/d...
PAYWALLED
It seems to be a follow-up to this story
Crawford County infighting over library case fees may involve ‘shenanigans,’ says Little Rock law firm
Attorneys assert ‘shenanigans’ in response to library lawsuit legal fees
https://www.nwaonline.com/news/2024/d...
The Little Rock law firm that has represented Crawford County for more than a year in two separate federal court cases is firing back at accusations from the attorney of the local library director.
The PPGMR law firm hints in court documents that attorneys for the plaintiffs and for one of the defendants, Charlene McDonnough, director of the Crawford County Library System, may be working in tandem.
... Attorney Joshua Bugeja of Bugeja Law Firm, represent[ing] McDonnough ... [filed] court documents early this month [to] ask the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Arkansas to protect the library system from having to pay any legal fees related to the case from its coffers.
The filings by Bugeja allege "reckless and irresponsible actions by the county judge and quorum court in their insistence on promoting and, ultimately, prolonging the indefensible and blatantly constitutional violation in this case," according to court documents.
"Mr. Bugeja is essentially using an official capacity of defendant to advocate for the plaintiffs' position on amending the judgment and to enrich their counsel, both of which are opposed by Crawford County," the law firm stated in its Monday filing.
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"PPGMR law firm never represented conflicting interests," the firm also states in court documents. "Factually, PPGMR never represented or advocated for one official capacity defendant over another.
"Ms. McDonnough does not oppose plaintiffs' full request for their attorney fees, all while the plaintiffs' fundraising efforts are funding Ms. McDonnough's attorney," PPGMR states in court documents. "Given the overlap of positions with the Plaintiffs, Ms. McDonnough, and their respective counsel, this court should inquire whether shenanigans are afoot."
This case is Virden v. Crawford County and is one of two federal court lawsuits that stem from complaints by some residents in late 2022 and early 2023 about displays of LGBTQ-related materials in the library system.
In the First Amendment-based case, a trio of mothers claimed the county violated their rights by placing LGBTQ-related books into a separate section of the library. That section was established at the behest of the Quorum Court, court documents note, after its members heard concerns from some residents.
On Sept. 30, a federal judge ruled for the plaintiffs: Rebecka Virden, Samantha Rowlett and Nina Prater.
Subsequently, the plaintiffs asked that the county, as defendants, be ordered to pay their legal fees.
The second case related to the separate section of LGBTQ-themed books in the county libraries involves the Fayetteville library, other libraries and book sellers in Arkansas.
Defendants are Crawford County and Keith and the prosecuting attorneys in Arkansas' 28 judicial districts.
The lawsuit challenges two sections of Act 372, the new Arkansas law on school and library materials.
On Oct. 29, a federal judge canceled all future hearings on the matter. No further events have been set in that lawsuit.
On Tuesday, Van Buren attorney Gentry Wahlmeier filed the county's latest response to the plaintiffs' request that the defendants pay their legal fees in the Virden case.
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The Dec. 2 filings by Bugeja on behalf of McDonnough ask that the court relieve the library of responsibility for fees from PPGMR Law.
The court document asserts library leaders might have hired separate legal counsel except for indications from county leaders that Crawford County would foot the legal bill in the case.
Since county officials hired PPGMR, according to court documents, representatives for the library, at least at times, were uninformed before actions on the case. Bugeja also stated on McDonnough's behalf that PPGMR had a conflict of interest in representing both the county and the library.
Responding to that argument Monday in court papers, PPGMR states there could not be any conflict of interest because the library system is part of the county government, making all the defendants one party.
The Virden plaintiffs could not sue the library system because it is part of the Crawford County government, PPGMR argues.
This week's bad news is brought to you by the cancel culture idiots in the UK. Niece #2 just read Of Mice and Men at her school in Massachusetts! Not sure there are Black kids in her class though. Even so, yes this IS censorship! teach the teachers how to teach the book sensitively and other classics. Don't ban every book written before 2020 because of "harmful language." That's just plain dumb.Wales exam board removes Steinbeck book from curriculum
https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/w...
The Welsh Joint Education Committee (WJEC) has banned John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men from being studied at GCSE level in Wales. The news comes amid concerns about the use of racist language in the novel, with the move to come into force from next September.
Critics, including Wales’ Children’s Commissioner Rocio Cifuentes, have slammed Steinbeck’s novel for being ‘psychologically and emotionally’ harmful to black children who have been reading it in schools. Cifuentes herself has insisted that the move is ‘not censorship’, adding:
This is safeguarding the wellbeing of children who have told us how awful those discussions have made them feel in those classrooms.
For its part, the WJEC exam board revealed it had employed an anti-racism consultant ‘to help us ensure our qualifications reflect a modern and inclusive Wales’, with the organisation noting that: ‘This is a new qualification, and as such, our starting point for selecting texts was not the existing English literature qualification.’
The rest is paywalled
This one is flabbergasting! https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024...
https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/t...
Theatre slaps trigger warning on Charles Dickens play over ‘Dickensian slurs’
Audience members also advised that production of Nicholas Nickleby featured ‘murder, s--ual assault, kidnap, mental illness [and] sexism’
The book features several Victorian-era slurs including the words “hussy”, “ass” and “queer”.
Sir John Hayes, a Tory MP, told The Sun: “Dickens is full of, by definition, Victorian slurs, because it was reflecting the language of working people at the time. Dickens’s novels were an exploration of the human condition in all of its glory and all of its horrors. It was full of wit and social commentary.
“To produce a vanilla-flavoured version of Charles Dickens’s work is to contradict the meaning of the writer’s work.”
Sir John added: “Anyone who sees this is fully entitled to ask what the Dickens is going on.”
The theatre also previously warned prospective audiences that a performance of Jane Eyre contained themes including “arson”, in an apparent reference to the moment when Bertha Mason sets fire to Thornfield Hall in the story.
It comes after the English National Opera warned theatregoers that a production of Gilbert and Sullivan’s Pirates of Penzance featured “alcohol misuse”.
Audiences at the London Coliseum were greeted with a sign saying: “Please note this production contains references to alcohol misuse and mild violence” at a show last week.
Colorado-The ACLU has sued Elizabeth School District for banning books because those books primarily feature people of color and LGBTQ+ people.
https://www.cpr.org/2024/12/19/aclu-s...
The ACLU of Colorado filed a federal lawsuit Thursday against the Elizabeth School District over banning books, alleging that the district's actions violated federal and state free speech protections.
The district, which is in Elbert County east of Douglas County, banned 19 books from school libraries in August after a curriculum committee reviewed the books for things like graphic violence, racism/discrimination, ideations of self-harm or mental illness, and sexual content.
Plaintiffs argue the removal of these books violates both the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and the Free Speech Clause of the Colorado Constitution. The lawsuit said the ban deprives students of access to a diversity of information and viewpoints. It said the book removals deny authors their right to share their books with students free from viewpoint-based censorship.
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The ACLU of Colorado is representing C.C., a student at Elizabeth High School, E.S., a student in the district, the Rocky Mountain NAACP, and Authors Guild, a nationwide professional organization for writers that advocates for free expression and copyright protection.
The district received the lawsuit Thursday afternoon.
“We are disappointed that the district is being tied up in a political attack,” said Superintendent Dan Snowberger. “It intends to vigorously defend itself and decisions made in the best interest of our children."
Board meetings in Elizabeth were calm and business-like up until the 2021 board election when ideological and religious influences began amplifying and dividing the tiny district. Some board members resigned while remaining board members vowed to instill “conservative values” into the district. The lawsuit alleges that many parents are afraid they will be bullied or harassed if they publicly express views that don’t align with the board’s.
At an August board meeting, board member Mary Powell said the board's actions were not book banning.
“They are not on our shelf because we do not feel that they fulfill the educational protocols that we believe in for this district,” she said.
In the process of identifying so-called “sensitive” books earlier this year, the committee identified 19 books that the school board believed were “highly sensitive” and should be “suspended” from school libraries. It placed them outside the boardroom from the public to give feedback. The board announced in September that the “suspended” books would be permanently removed from school libraries.
The lawsuit said the board didn’t return the books to the library because they contained same-sex relationships, included LGBTQ+ characters, discussed racism, involved police violence or otherwise struck board members as “disgusting.”
Macdonald said the ban disproportionately targets books by and about Black and Brown people and LGBTQ+ people.
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He said while the district has discretion over certain circular matters, it can’t block students’ access to information in their school libraries based on the board’s political preferences or viewpoints the authors express.
The lawsuit also includes the Rocky Mountain chapter of the NAACP. The lawsuit states that members include parents of students who were attending Elizabeth schools but who left because of restrictions on students’ access to books. A Black fifth grader is an avid reader who enjoys exploring different perspectives and cultures through books.
The board also voted to place 100 additional books on a “sensitive topics” list. If a student checks out one of those books, a parent can opt to be notified when their child checks out a “sensitive” book, according to the district.
The lawsuit claims that there is no way for a parent to opt out of receiving notifications about their children checking out sensitive books.
“It’s their right to know what their child is checking out,” said school board director Mary Powell during a summer board meeting. “We need to be sure that we are protecting our students from things that are controversial.”
Books on the “sensitive” list include “The Catcher in the Rye,” "The Hunger Games," “To Kill a Mockingbird,” “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” and several books about religion including the Bible and the Koran. Powell deemed the books on the list as being “beyond any educational value.”
Some of the books on the “sensitive” list are books about the Holocaust that have been used by Elizabeth teachers.
Additionally, the district bans students from sharing books.
The lawsuit also alleges that a teacher was threatened with dismissal and quit his job because he was not willing to remove books from his classroom library including “To Be a Slave” and “The Giver.”
Colorado-Garfield County commissioners appoint two new library trustees amid book restriction controversy
https://www.aspenpublicradio.org/soci...
Garfield County commissioners Tom Jankovsky and Mike Samson this week appointed two new public library trustees to represent Carbondale and New Castle, but they couldn’t agree on a Glenwood Springs appointee and will reopen applications for the position, pushing a decision into the new year.
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Amid ongoing controversy over Garfield County’s library board appointment process and whether book restrictions should be considered at the county’s six county’s six libraries, officials received 27 applications for three seats that were open or up for reappointment by the end of this year. Of those, 11 were for the seat representing New Castle, seven applied for the Carbondale seat, and nine for the Glenwood Springs seat.
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Of the two new appointees, commissioners were in alignment with one of the library board’s recommended candidates, Brit McLin of New Castle, but they chose Stephanie Pierucci Hirsch of Carbondale over the board’s request to reappoint current trustee Jocelyn Durrance.
The commissioners ended in a stalemate over the Glenwood Springs seat — Samson nominated former teacher Jacqui Edelmann, while Jankovsky pushed to reappoint incumbent library trustee Susan Use. No compromise was reached, and the commissioners will reopen applications for the position with a decision expected next month, after Commissioner-elect Perry Will takes his seat on the board.
The Garfield County Public Library District has seven positions on its board of trustees — one for each municipality in the county, plus an additional at-large seat.
The county commissioners have historically had the final say in approving library trustees that were first vetted, interviewed and then recommended to them by the library board. But elected officials started taking a more active role last year after receiving a citizens petition led by a Rifle resident requesting the restriction, or removal, of two adult graphic novel series and all books with parental advisory warnings.
The commissioners have since received a counter-petition from the citizen-led group, Protect Our Garfield County Libraries. In its petition, the group posits that the local controversy has been fueled by a national book-banning effort and calls for the county commissioners to once again allow the library board more control over selecting its own members.
During Monday’s meeting, Jankovsky pointed out that each petition now has about 1,400 signatures.
“I would say there's strong support both ways,” Jankovsky said. “It's probably similar to how our county is: We're a purple county and it’s almost 50/50 on how voting goes.”
According to LaRue, library staff have never had a problem with kids trying to check out the books in question or fielded complaints from parents whose kids have read them in the library, and the library district has so far declined to restrict access to any of the books.
Last fall, the commissioners denied the library board’s request to appoint local parent Hanna Arauza as a trustee representing Rifle, and instead passed a resolution last spring reinstating their authority to oversee the appointment process. In May, they chose Rifle resident Myrna Fletchall to fill the open seat.
In a special public meeting Nov. 21, county commissioners met with the library board to discuss a draft intergovernmental agreement (IGA) to formalize how the appointment process will work in the future. During the meeting, Samson expressed concern over a provision proposed by the library district that would prevent commissioners from declining to reappoint current trustees “without good cause.”
“I think that binds us as a board, and I do not think that is good government,” Samson said. “I think it's good that we have new blood in things from time to time.”
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For the open New Castle trustee position, Garfield County commissioners chose McLin, a local parent and former chief of Burning Mountains Fire Protection District who was also the library board’s recommended candidate.
McLin will finish the final year of former trustee Crystal Mariscal’s board term after she resigned last month.
During the applicant interviews Dec. 5, two commissioners and three members of the library board asked McLin and other applicants a series of questions ranging from their vision for the future of local libraries to their thoughts on the American Library Association’s Library Bill of Rights and state Senate Bill 24-216. The bill, which was passed by the state legislature in May, requires libraries in Colorado to establish written policies for situations such as requests to remove certain books.
In his interview, McLin emphasized his experience as a fire chief bringing together agencies with differing views on how best to serve the public and shared his stance on whether libraries should take specific measures to prevent kids from accessing certain adult books.
McLin said censorship is a “slippery slope” and shared a conversation he had with his 12-year-old grandson about the effort by some residents to restrict, or remove, certain adult graphic novels.
“And I asked, ‘Well, Alex, how do you feel about that?’ And he said, ‘Well, you know, the Bible’s got kind of a lot of violence and bloodshed and mature content,’” McLin said. “You’ve got to be a little careful when you get into censorship.”
But asked about whether the libraries should enact a policy for books similar to the rules they have to protect children from material on the internet that is deemed harmful to their beneficial development, McLin said he supports the idea.
“I guess I'm kind of surprised that that doesn't exist currently, at least in practice, if not policy,” McLin said. “With that term ‘reasonable,’ somebody gets to decide what's reasonable, and I think that as far as the Board of Trustees goes, that is reflected by the person they hire to manage their library district for them.”
McLin added that when he was growing up, his local library was set up to discourage young kids from accessing mature content.
“My first experience with the public library was in Long Beach, California, in 1955, and right next to the librarian's desk was a section labeled ‘Young Adults,’ and you all learned that that meant not before your 12th birthday,” McLin said. “And I remember being really excited about turning 12 and being able to find out what was in that part.”
...
For the Carbondale seat, the commissioners did not take the library board’s recommendation to reappoint current trustee Durrance, instead choosing Hirsch, a local parent and author. She will serve a five-year term starting next month.
... In addition to writing true crime novels and founding the local group Roaring Fork Valley Moms, Hirsch runs her own publishing company and started a program for young people to write and publish books.
“The future of all humanity depends on the ideas that we're reading and the ideas that we're writing,” Hirsch said. “So, giving the community this form of personal expression, this connection with human spirit through character building, there's nothing that builds more empathy and understanding than reading and writing books, in my opinion.”
During her interview this month, Hirsch also answered questions about whether she supports restricting kids’ access to books with parental advisory warnings.
“When I was in my younger developmental years, some of the mature audience selections were in a special area,” Hirsch said. “That said, I also resonate with some of the other applicants that parents need to be responsible to educate their children with the opportunity to make decisions based on what they understand as the family's moral compass.”
Hirsch recalled being an avid librarygoer who sometimes read books beyond her age, especially in her teenage years, and said she appreciates that state Senate Bill 24-216 protects access to information without discrimination based on age and a range of other protected statuses.
At the same time, she emphasized reasonable solutions to ensure that the library remains a safe place.
“If there’s something clearly inappropriate for a 3-year-old, for instance, by pictures, it just goes on a high shelf,” Hirsch said. “And so I think this is an issue where very practical solutions can be made to make the entire community feel safe.”
When it comes to the future of the Garfield County Libraries, Hirsch said she wants to see the library district grow its role as a community connector, especially for those who might be feeling isolated or lonely.
During Monday’s meeting, Samson and Jankovsky each had different top choices for the Glenwood Springs library board position.
Samson nominated Edelmann, a recently retired Liberty Classical Academy teacher, for a five-year term, but Jankovsky did not second his nomination, instead expressing his preference to reappoint Use, the current library trustee, in what would be her last three-year term. Library trustees are limited to serving three terms, with the first term being five years and reappointments being three years.
“I felt that it would be important to have some consistency on the board and have that depth of her being there, and she has her master's degree in library science,” Jankovsky said. “Talking to her through our work session with the library and also through her interview, I felt that she was open to listen and to accommodate if necessary.”
Jankovsky also shared his second choice, former Glenwood Springs City Council member Tony Hershey, and his third, local parent and school board member Maureen Biermann.
Efforts to ban books in Oregon libraries are on the rise; library patrons and supporters are pushing backThe most common reasons for book challenges include unsuited to age group; LGBTQ content; depicts sex, nudity, abuse; or contains profanity, according to the State Library of Oregon's 2024 report.
arlier this month, the Grants Pass School District approved removing two books from the Grants Pass High School Library: All Boys Aren’t Blue – George M. Johnson’s celebrated memoir about the author’s black and queer identity, which is among the most frequently challenged and banned books in the country – and Lucky, Alice Sebold’s 1999 memoir about being sexually assaulted.
The residents who submitted challenges did not have children attending schools in the Grant Pass district. They also had not read the books.
https://www.orartswatch.org/efforts-t...
Book bans, like the recent one in Grants Pass, and the attempts to do so are at an all-time high in public and school libraries, both nationally and in Oregon. Numbers began skyrocketing in 2020, due to various factors, including the COVID-19 shutdown that forced children to attend school virtually, increasing parents’ exposure to what their children were reading.
...
“Promoted cutting off little boys’ p---ses” and “promoting homosexuality” were two reasons a library patron gave to the Salem Public Library’s deputy director in December 2022, shortly after the patron threw three books — all about the LGBTQ movement and pride-related themes — in the trash.
Here's a new one...
"“The information was only posted in a foreign language,” a patron of the Josephine Community Library District, in Grants Pass, wrote in challenging a Spanish-language job posting on a bulletin board. In 2023, the same patron challenged the library’s Spanish-language section, called “Libros en Espanol.” The patron objected, “Not available to all Americans … Equal access. Patronize funds [for] one ethnicity.”"
...
In April, Cindy Allen, a McMinnville resident who does not have children attending McMinnville schools, requested that the McMinnville High School library remove seven books. The books included Beyond Magenta, Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, Looking for Alaska, and four books by Ellen Hopkins. All the books frequently appear on banned books list.
Allen called the books “p-----graphic,” “obscene,” “s---ally explicit,” and include scenes of underage drinking and “glorified in inappropriate behavior.”
Most challenges are motivated by conservative political beliefs. Some, though, are from a liberal perspective. “Public money being spent to buy advertising material from arms manufacturers” was the stated reason of a Multnomah County Library patron who, in February 2023, filed a formal Request for Reconsideration to remove Guns & Ammo magazine.
All the challenges were denied. When it comes to determining which books libraries shelve, and why, there are rigorous standards based in library science and free-speech law. Oregon law requires libraries to create policies that follow the American Library Association’s guidelines, on everything from cataloging to collection development to patron confidentiality.
That includes how libraries determine the books it carries. Librarians consider a plethora of criteria: Has the book received critical and positive reviews? Is it on a best-sellers list? Has a patron specifically asked for it?
“There is a lot that goes into what to purchase,” said Marisa Ely, the librarian at Canby Public Library. “It’s not like we put things in carts and click ‘purchase.’”
The legal threshold to ban a book is also very high. Federal courts have repeatedly ruled in favor of free speech and intellectual freedom.
A book, or any form of written information, can be censored if it is labeled “obscene.” That requires passing what is known as “the Miller test.”
...
Don Allgeier, the director of Tillamook County Library, thinks of book challenges as a “pro forma” part of his job. In the past two-and-a-half years, he has responded to nine challenges, five of which were submitted by the same person.
“It’s important for us to have that space for people to be able to say ‘hey, is this book an appropriate book in the library setting?’” he said. “That part, to me, is normal.”
Librarians, trained in information science — essentially, how information is organized, stored, and made accessible for use — and stereotypically thought of as quiet, bespectacled bookworms, embrace such conversations. They want to explain why a library carries the book, its collection development policies, and to hear a patron’s concerns, finding out whether a patron genuinely finds a book offensive, or if another solution can be found. “We want to know if there is a different material that would balance out that viewpoint,” Canby library’s Ely said.
What is not “so normal,” Allgeier said, is “to get so many requests from one group or one individual.” He also said that once decisions on challenges are made — often not in the requesting patron’s favor — people are “willing to go to secondary tactics,” including intimidation and verbal attacks.
“There is this mentality of getting really aggressive and personal about local issues,” VanHoose said. “There’s been a cultural shift in how we behave politically.”
In 2022, VanHoose oversaw a rancorous year-long challenge to Gender Queer, a 2019 critically acclaimed graphic coming-of-age memoir by Maia Kobabe about gender, identity, and living outside the gender binary. The library ended up keeping the book in its collection.
“I was called — to my face — a ‘child groomer,’ a ‘p---phile,’ [and told] that I am supporting p---hiles,” VanHoose said.
She received a death threat, via Facebook, threatening to hang her. “Someone [wrote] ‘I’ll build the gallows,’” she remembered. “By that point, I was already pretty numb. I was worried about my staff. I had a couple employees who were very worried about coming to work.”
In Seaside, two people submitted two challenges each, dating their requests for reconsideration Oct. 23, 2023. (Their names, per state public records law, were redacted in copies given to Oregon ArtsWatch, as were many other challenge reports.) They challenged the same two books: And Tango Makes Three and When Aidan Became a Brother.
...
One challenger objected to And Tango Makes Three due to “the automatic assumption that two male penguins would act as parents,” the challenger wrote. “It goes against the natural order of nature. Showing children this is natural.”
The second challenger wrote that both books were “not appropriate for children.”
It turns out that the two challengers got the forms, via email, from a member of Seaside’s city council, Steve Dillard.
Dillard, elected in 2022, had raised concerns that the library was “incentivizing reading s--ually explicit materials.” The issue arose after Banned Books Week, in late September, the weeklong celebration of books that public libraries often observe.
..
On Nov. 30, 2023, Reading sat down for a meeting with Dillard and Spencer Kyle, Seaside’s city manager, to discuss Dillard’s concerns.
Beforehand, Reading and her colleagues spent “an intense day” assembling information detailing the library’s policies, including its collection-development policy and an electronic version of the library’s Request for Reconsideration form. “It was time consuming,” she said.
In Kyle’s view, “the policy that Dillard had some issue with is that the entire collection is available for everyone.” During city council meetings and elsewhere, Dillard argued that children under 18 should not be able to check out s---ally explicit books. He never identified specific books he considered to be s---ally explicit.
Kyle said Dillard’s concerns were unusual. “In the history of the library, we’ve never had a parent raise that complaint,” he said, adding that the Seaside Public Library “is highly regarded. The community over many years and many decades has been a very strong supporter of the library.”
On Jan. 2, 2024, the Seaside Library Board held a special work session to review the requests for reconsideration. The board voted not to restrict or remove either book.
Around the same time, Dillard asked the Seaside City Council to review the library’s policies, seeking to change the policy regarding the books children under 18 could check out.
“He had ideas that he proposed,” Kyle said. “As a city manager, I deal with practical policy implementation. How would you physically do that? I never received an answer from the council or Dillard on that.”
In Kyle’s mind, the only way to restrict children’s access would have required “some sort of ID process” allowing children to enter “the children’s section but not the young adult section.” Another option included renovating the library, which Kyle said was not financially feasible.
Kyle never supported changing the library’s policies. “I did not see a practical or objective way for the city to decide which books should and shouldn’t be on a certain list,” he said, adding, “we thought this is a parental responsibility. Right now, a child must get their parent’s consent to get a library card.”
On April 22, the Seaside City Council met in a work session to discuss the library’s policies. Dillard read a prepared statement. Afterward, one city councilor criticized him for not listing the books Dillard considered s--ually explicit. “You’ve never given titles of those books. It’s important for us to know what your belief of s---ally explicit titles are. The library is a long-held bastion of free speech for everyone,” the councilor said.
After nearly an hour-long discussion, the city council dropped the issue from further discussion. During a council meeting later that evening, 15 people gave public testimony in support of the library.
Indiana-An update on the ongoing fight to ban books at the Middlebury Public Library.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/elkhart-co...
The books of Middlebury Public Library continue to be the biggest topic in Elkhart County legislative meetings. Residents, mostly of Middlebury, attended November's Elkhart County Council meeting to address grievances toward certain controversial books in the library and request of the council that they withdraw their library board appointees in favor of more conservative ones. Others are adamant, though, that the library's acceptance of the books is more than OK — it's a legal right.
On Thursday, the Elkhart County Council reappointed Dennis Badke to the Bristol Library Board. Badke's term will expire in October 2028.
Councilman Steven Clark said in the last year and a half the council has only received four applications among the three library board positions they've appointed. For two of them, the appointee was the only applicant, and for Thursday's Bristol library appointment, only two applications were received. The comment was part of a statement to the public marking his stance on the library controversy.
"I have lines and believe that the government should censor certain information — easy examples are state secrets, nuclear launch codes, or Social Security numbers," Clark said. "Other, more relevant examples are books that provide active means to commit violence such as the 'Anarchists Cookbook,' or books that are simply meant for s--ual gratification. However, the books that have been cited and are consistently discussed at council meetings are typically s-x and education books."
Clark said the argument he hears too often is that people disagree with the message sent in the books and therefore the books should be removed from libraries.
"While I personally would not use these books to teach my children, I'm also not a single mother struggling to teach her preteen son about m------tion before he learns about it on the playground," Clark continued. "I've been asked, 'Would you want your kids to read these books?' The answer is 'no,' and this is also irrelevant. What I want my children to read is not the standard for what should or should not be restricted.
"Parents are ultimately responsible, and government should not be a substitute for parents," Clark said.
In addition, Clark argues that the books in question don't meet the legal definition of obscenity.
"If they are obscene, when this vocal group passed out the information to the council, they were distributing obscene material in violation of Indiana law, but we know they weren't distributing obscene material and this word is simply used as a red herring argument to incorrectly invoke legal definitions and distract from the logical argument."
Clark said he knows his opinions might be unpopular with some conservatives, but his responses are based on what he feels is right.
"I don't care what anyone else would do. I care what we should do," Clark said. "If I ever make decisions based on what is politically popular or might help me get re-elected rather than what I believe is right, I hope I lose the next election. I would rather lose standing on principle rather than win doing something I do not agree with."
Clark also said there's a difference between books in public schools and public libraries. Unlike school libraries, children cannot check out books at a public library unless a parent allows them to get a library card.
"When people spew such nonsense, it can sometimes be difficult to truly hear them and I would not be surprised if library boards feel the same way," he said.
Clark added that he would be open to discussions of the books being removed from the children's section, but he's been told they already are.
"It is claimed this isn't censorship because this information is still available, just not through taxpayer-funded libraries," he said. "However, providing information to the public but not all information is a form of censorship. Censorship does not only mean a complete ban; suppression suffices as well. And as a conservative, any time the government is going to suppress, stifle, restrict the free flow of information, or promote certain information over other information, we must be very careful because the government has a long history of making poor decisions in this regard."
Library board member Desirée Beauchamp-Boucher spoke during public comment on her own behalf. Beauchamp-Boucher said she watched the council meeting last month and felt she needed to share another view as a mother and community member.
"It was stated in the last meeting that we should use past laws in America as proof of why these are important values. It was stated that until 1962, same-sex relations was punishable by law with imprisonment and hard labor in America. This is true. It was also stated that same-sex marriage is still punishable by law in many countries. This is also true. ... I wonder if the people who said these comments took into consideration the laws they were referring to in other countries that outlaw same-sex relations because those countries are mostly places like Nigeria, Pakistan, Iran, Sudan, Saudia Arabia, more places. These are places where, yes, same sex relations are punishable by stoning, life in imprisonment, death; also women can be punished in the same way. I do not in any way disparage any faith. I think all faiths when practiced with love are important but I think that we would agree that those areas are not areas that we are looking to mirror as a society when it comes to what we recognize."
Former Middlebury Public Library director Terry Rheinhemer said the library is for sharing experiences and ideas.
MichiganAs ‘The Hate U Give’ draws Manchester parents' ire, teacher defends 8th grade assignment
https://www.mlive.com/news/ann-arbor/...
Some Manchester parents have raised concerns over the planned use of the sometimes controversial young adult novel “The Hate U Give” in an eighth-grade class next spring because of its profanity and themes surrounding race and police brutality.
But the teacher whose social justice lesson will include the book said her plan follows state English-language arts standards and doesn’t contradict any major age guidance.
Multiple community members spoke up during the Manchester School Board’s Monday, Dec. 16 meeting, citing this as the second year “The Hate U Give,” which is not banned by the district, has been an issue for them.
Teacher Julie Brilliant said she wants to emphasize she isn’t looking to push a specific anti-police agenda, but rather trying to educate students about racism, police brutality and activism as experienced by those whose backgrounds differ from their own.
“The point of the book is to expose the students and prepare them for a world outside these four walls,” Brilliant said Tuesday, Dec. 17. It’s meant to teach them not what to think, she said, but how to think.
“That doesn’t mean all police officers are bad,” Brilliant said. “The misconceptions that parents have is that I’m trying to push my beliefs on students.”
...
Michigan’s education standards establish “culturally response practices” for language arts classes, including selecting classic and contemporary materials that represent experiences of a range of cultures, genders, ethnicities and social classes.
Manchester School Board President Brandon Woods on Monday questioned whether it was truly a young adult book.
He was also critical of Brilliant’s three choices now cited as alternative books after “The Hate U Give” went home as part of the year’s curriculum with students to parents earlier this year.
The others are “Ghost Boy” by Martin Pistorius, “All American Boys” by Jason Reynolds and “Dear Martin” by Nic Stone — all similarly exploring race and interactions with police, though Brilliant said they feature less profanity.
“I just have a hard time with these books, and I’m going to have to agree with the parents,” Woods said. “Again, this is the second time this has happened. The first time, parents left the district.”
Parent Megan Davis said she thought “The Hate U Give,” as well as the alternatives, highlighted negative stereotypes about Black people, and the book’s references to s---ally explicit circumstances aren’t appropriate for her 13-year-old.
Prior to speaking Monday, she’d emailed school board members a request to formally eliminate the book from the curriculum with the support of a dozen parents, plus those of other community members and future eighth-grade parents. She’d also collected a detailed assembly of passages deemed objectionable.
“I agree with the subject matter. I think our kids need to be educated on what’s really going on. We have somewhat of a sheltered life around here,” said Mike Tindall, school board secretary. “But it sure would be nice if they would use language that we are allowed to use in this building.”
School board officials said they aren’t advocating to ban any books. Instead, they want different alternatives and more communication with parents about curriculum plans.
Manchester Superintendent Brad Bezeau said they needed to look further into that process.
“I’m committed getting to the right book. The families get to choose this,” he said. “And that’s like anything with an opt-out or an alternative.”
Roughly 60 students read “The Hate U Give” last year, Brilliant said.
Soon after, she said, she informally surveyed them for feedback, finding more than half enjoyed it or would recommend it. She said she’s also heard from parents supporting use of the book.
Woods later said parents were not surveyed.
School board members questioned why an alternative allowed for a student last year wasn’t on the list again this year. That book, Christopher Paul Curtis’ “Bud, Not Buddy,” covers a more historical story about race in Michigan.
Brilliant said it wasn’t entirely age-appropriate and didn’t cover all the material for the social justice unit. One family that opted out of “The Hate U Give” last year got that assignment, she said.
The only other student to opt out, she said, read a book picked by the student’s family.
Washington stateConcern grows over fate of Liberty Lake Library after board member not reappointed
https://www.kxly.com/news/future-of-l...
Concern is rising over the future of the Liberty Lake Library.
Earlier this month, the city council decided to not reappoint a board member, This along with changes to developments on the new library building and funding have sparked controversy.
"I was hoping that we would not be in this situation again and bringing attention to our library in the way it has," said Brad Hamblet, the library board chair.
y a year ago, Liberty Lake City Council approved a contentious ordinance giving the council more authority over the library. Although community members have raised concerns over the future implications it could have, Mayor Kris Kaminskas feels it has had a minimal impact.
"It has been a year since that has been put in place," Kaminskas said. "There haven't been any book reconsiderations even brought to the library director."
The council approved two new members to the Board of Trustees Tuesday. However, a recent vote to remove Kim Girard from the board has sparked backlash with many saying there's a lack of transparency.
"This particular action by the council kind of opened up some wounds," Hamblet said. "I think about what had happened previously.
Mayor Kaminskas says the process used to appoint board members has been consistent for more than two decades, but she acknowledges this decision was abrupt.
"There was no discussion before the vote," she said. "Usually when there's no votes, you find out why. Usually the council will come forward and say for the vote why. That's one of the reasons I'm considering bringing Kim back in January."
South CarolinaFive books are still sitting in limbo as to whether or not they’ll be banned from Boiling Springs High School
PAYWALLED
https://cumberlink.com/news/local/edu...
School is still on break but there's some news coming through.Minnesota-goodish news
St. Francis school board gets pushback on controversial book buying plan
https://www.mprnews.org/story/2024/12...
Board members with St. Francis Area Schools are under pressure to reconsider their plan to use a conservative website to help choose books to buy for school libraries after the district’s attorney and superintendent objected, warning it would violate state law.
In November, the board in a 4-3 vote approved a measure to require all new school library materials purchased by the district be filtered through the conservative rating site, Book Looks, an organization recommended by Moms for Liberty.
The policy would mean libraries in the north Twin Cities district could not purchase or accept books including “Night,” Elie Wiesel’s memoir of surviving Nazi death camps and the terror of the Holocaust, or “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” by Maya Angelou.
Board chair Mike Starr, who voted against the policy, told MPR News that the district has been contacted by the ACLU of Minnesota about the changes and that the civil liberties group may enter the fight. He said the superintendent also spoke Friday with Minnesota Department of Education officials who are now looking into the matter.
...
Earlier this year, state lawmakers approved a law referred to as the “ban on book bans” that prohibits “banning, removing, or restricting access to otherwise age-appropriate books from libraries based solely on the viewpoint, content, message, idea or opinion conveyed.” It also requires decisions on library materials to be overseen by a licensed library media specialist.
Asked about St. Francis’ plan to use Book Looks, a Minnesota Department of Education spokesperson pointed to the new law, adding in a statement: “MDE is committed to protecting students’ freedom to access information and will continue to be in contact with the St. Francis School District about the recent changes to their library policies.”
...
After meeting with state education officials, Starr canceled a special board meeting he’d called for next week to reconsider the policy before new board members take their seats, citing legal advice.
“I’m just going to cancel,” he said Friday. “The next board is going to have to pick up the dirty laundry and run with it.”
MichiganSounds sensible but that mom is going to keep whining until she gets her own way.
How Portage schools handle requests to remove books from curriculums
https://www.mlive.com/news/kalamazoo/...
- A new book in the fifth-grade curriculum has irked some Portage Public Schools parents who find the book to be too “graphic.”
The novel, “The Breadwinner,” tells the story of a a young girl in war-torn Afghanistan who has to support her family by selling bones dug up from a mass grave.
While the school board ultimately decided to keep using the book, the complaints shed light on the PPS book removal process.
The district’s policy outlines how parents should approach requesting a book removed from the curriculum.
1. a family member should reach out to the building administrator.
2. If concerns continue, the family member can review instructional materials and texts at the PPS Administration Building, 8107 Mustang Drive, alongside a curriculum director.
3. If concerns still aren’t resolved, parents can submit a formal reconsideration request. The request is reviewed by a district committee made up of educators, administrators, family members and students.
The committee conducts a thorough evaluation of the material, guided by established criteria and open discussion.
After deliberation, the committee votes on whether the material should remain in the curriculum.
The Portage school board has the final say. In the case of “The Breadwinner,” it followed the recommendation of the committee, voting 5-2 to keep the book.
A group of district parents, including Lindsay Zerber, want the reconsideration committee to reconsider again — but this time with more input from parents.
The committee had nine members, eight of whom are employed by the district, according to PPS documents. The individual not employed by PPS was a former Portage Northern High School student who lived in Afghanistan for 15 years, the documents said.
Six of the nine members have students enrolled in Portage schools, the committee documents said.
“The Breadwinner” is part of the new Fishtank Curriculum, which the district approved with controversy in 2023.
The district is currently collecting feedback on the Fishtank Curriculum. A survey is being distributed to teachers, students and families to gather thoughts on the first semester of it.
Anddd... I know I'm preaching to the choir but this new story from Syria sure sounds like a preview of coming education from Texas, Oklahoma, Alabama and the right wing Christian Nationalists! https://www.cnn.com/2025/01/02/middle...
Syria’s new government is facing backlash after announcing changes to the school curriculum, including introducing what some critics say is an Islamist slant to teaching.
The changes, published in a list of amendments on the education ministry’s official Facebook page, include changing the phrases “path of goodness” to “Islamic path,” and “those who have are damned and have gone astray” to “Jews and Christians” – which pertains to an ultra-conservative interpretation of a verse in Islam’s holy book, the Quran.
The modifications also redefine the word “martyr,” from someone who died for the homeland to someone who sacrificed themselves “for the sake of God.”
Some chapters were removed entirely, the list shows, including a chapter on “the origins and evolution of life.”
..
The new amdenements would apply to all students from ages 6 to 18.
While some changes renouncing former President Bashar al-Assad’s regime were welcome to those reacting online, the religious chapter modifications sparked outrage on social media.
Some social media users questioned why an interim government is making amendments to the curriculum, while others rejected what they perceived as attempts to “erase” parts of the country’s history.
“The current government is a caretaker government that does not have the right to make these amendments to the curricula,” one user commented on the ministry’s Facebook post. “The curricula must be amended in accordance with the new constitution.”
Others criticized what they viewed as an Islamist slant to some of the language.
Amid the backlash, the ministry sought to play down the changes saying, “the curricula in all schools across Syria remain unchanged until specialized committees are formed to review and audit them.”
A statement issued on behalf of education minister Nazir Mohammad al-Qadri said that the ministry “only instructed the removal of content glorifying the deposed Assad regime and replaced images of the regime’s flag with those of the Syrian revolution’s flag in all textbooks.”
The ministry said its announcement pertained to the correction of certain “inaccuracies” that were present during the Assad regime in the Islamic education curriculum, “such as the misinterpretation of some Quranic verses.”
The new education minister has previously said that Syria’s school curricula will not change beyond the removal of references to the former ruling Baath party.
In an interview with Reuters last month, al-Qadri said that both the Islamic and Christian religion will continue to be taught as subjects in school, and that primary schools will remain mixed between boys and girls. Secondary education will stay largely segregated, he told Reuters, as they were during the Assad era.
What possible objection can you have to The Breadwinner? That the author's message is that women and girls should be treated as people?
Ivonne wrote: "What possible objection can you have to The Breadwinner? That the author's message is that women and girls should be treated as people?"Digging up bones of the dead, apparently. Once again I have NO memory of that! That's usually the case when these snowflake parents cherry pick one thing they choose to object to. Me: "Huh? Did we read the same book?"
Children's Books
Books mentioned in this topic
Out of the Blue (other topics)The Princess in Black and the Prince in Pink (other topics)
My Rainbow (other topics)
Butt or Face? Volume 3: Super Gross Butts (other topics)
The Day the Books Disappeared (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Jodi Picoult (other topics)Sarah J. Maas (other topics)
Ellen Hopkins (other topics)
Jodi Picoult (other topics)
Scott Stuart (other topics)
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Kelly Jensen of BookRiot reports:
"Despite their book review committee recommending keeping these books on shelves, the Hernando County School Board of Education (FL) decided to ban The House on Mango Street, Graceling, and Real Live Boyfriends. For context, the average publication date is 2001, meaning these are even older than the “average” banned book age of 18 . In other words, it’s a moral panic that, were a real issue, would’ve been brought up in 1984 or 2008 or 2010 when the books were actually new.
https://bsky.app/profile/flfreedomrea...
Last night the Hernando School Board voted against their review committees to remove The House on Mango Street, Graceling, and Real Live Boyfriends.
No discussion, just a full rejection of the committee recommendations to retain the books with limits.
During the regular meeting, all three were condemned as inappropriate for students at any level and could cause psychological damage to readers, with public commenters reading explicit passages after asking parents to remove young children from the chambers.
A committee had recommended to keep “The House on Mango Street,” by Sandra Cisneros, though access should be limited to students in grades 6 to 12, on a 5-0 committee vote.
Julie Thomas entered the objections for all three books.
The summary of concerns says, “the book contains violence involving child abuse and domestic violence and s--ual abuse.”
The School Board vote against the book was 3-1, with board member Susan Duval dissenting.
The book “Graceling,” by Kristen Cashore, also was recommended for keeping, with access limited.
The summary of concerns reports that “this book contains inexplicit sexual activities; violence; and mild/infrequent profanity.”
The committee voted 5-0 that the book be kept in the schools but limited to grades nine to 12.
The School Board vote against the book was 3-1, with Susan Duval dissenting.
The final book was titled “Real Live Boyfriends,” by E. Lockhart, also recommended for limited access.
“This book contains inexplicit s----al nudity and s---ual activities,” the summary of concerns said.
The committee vote to limit the book to the high school level was 4-1.
The School Board vote against the book was 4-0.
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Hernando Chair admits she wants to stack review committees with people that hold the same viewpoints she does.
School Board Chairwoman Shannon Rodriguez, in an earlier workshop, said she wants to change the book review committees because they aren’t working.
Hernando School Board Chair only wants book banners on book review committee.
Duval asked if Rodriguez wanted different people serving on the committees after a term.
“Let me break it down in a nutshell,” Rodriguez said. “The people who chose to leave the p---graphic books in that were on that committee, that they were explicit, s---ually charged, horrible, nasty, nothing but filth. Those people I want to make sure are not sitting on our committees to continue the same problems we’ve had.”
She doesn’t believe in the past committees and doesn’t have a lot of faith in them, she said. It was always a battle to get the books off the shelves, and she doesn’t want it to continue.
“Any human being, any adult that’s sitting on that board that says, ‘Leave it on the shelf,’ that’s the people I’m having a problem with,” Rodriguez said.
Duval said you can’t always have people on a committee that you agree with, but Rodriguez said it was about having people with common sense.
Duval said it’s hard to find people to serve on the committees because their name is out there. You want thoughtful discussions on committees, she said.
“I don’t want to micromanage these committees,” Duval said.
Rodriguez said she doesn’t want to go through what happened for the past two years.
There was no common sense then, she said.
Superintendent Ray Pinder said the issue will be brought back to a workshop.
https://www.suncoastnews.com/news/her...
Also in Florida
The Hate U Give” was first removed from school library shelves in Nassau County, FL in Sept of 2023 after a bulk objection was submitted by ironically named, Citizens Defending Freedom.
This removal of over 2 dozen books resulted in a lawsuit and settlement agreement.
Florida Freedom to Read Project @flfreedomread.bsky.social
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While many of the titles returned to shelves as part of the settlement, “The Hate U Give” was one of twelve held for additional review.
Students over the age of 18 or with written parental consent are allowed access while it awaits its review on 5/29/25 at 5pm.
Nineteen Minutes was given a review date of 4/28/25 which means it remains inaccessible to students under 18 and without written parental consent until at least that date.
Florida Freedom to Read Project @flfreedomread.bsky.social
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CDF has continued to threaten the district by filing complaints against its leaders to the County Sheriff, in addition to calling on Governor DeSantis to remove the duly-elected Board for agreeing to the settlement terms.
They also keep adding to the objections, costing district time & resources.
https://bsky.app/profile/flfreedomrea...