The Rutherford County School Board voted Jan. 23 to keep seven previously removed books off all library shelves. Board members voted to return two additional titles to circulation, but only for 11th and 12th graders with parental permission. Most of these decisions defied the recommendations of RCS librarians who were asked to review the books.
After 150 titles were removed from RCS library shelves in November, the board asked librarians to review the books thoroughly and make recommendations regarding their appropriateness.
Some removed, some restricted
The following books will not return to school libraries in Rutherford County:
“Forever” by Judy Blume
“Glass” by Ellen Hopkins
“Grown” by Tiffany Jackson
“Ready Player One” by Ernest Cline
“The Female of the Species” by Mindy McGinnis
“The Kite Runner (Graphic Novel)” by Khaled Hosseini
“Thirteen Reasons Why” by Jay Asher
Two books will return to library shelves with certain stipulations. “Smoke” by Ellen Hopkins was approved for 11th and 12th graders with parental consent.
Board vice-chair Frances Rosales, who initially proposed the removal of these books, recommended retaining “Speak” by Laurie Halse Anderson in high school libraries for checkout, only with parental permission.
“(Date rape) is something that is very prevalent and that happens,” Rosales said. “And so I believe this is a topic that should be discussed in high school because of the severity of it. And so I would like to make a motion to keep this book in high schools with parental consent.”
This initial motion failed, but a second motion limiting the book to 11th and 12th graders with parental consent passed.
Rosales also suggested further discussion about “Thirteen Reasons Why” but then voted yes on a motion to remove it.
Board member Stan Vaught, who has voted both for and against book removals in the past, was not present at this meeting.
The public speaks
As in most recent meetings, people with strong feelings about what belongs in school libraries filled the public comment roster.
“We should not be asking our librarians for their recommendations for whether they think content is explicit or not,” Bryan Schuster said. “We should direct them to inspect the books in our libraries, and where explicit content is found as defined by law, those books are removed.”
Schuster said this process should be conducted for every book in school libraries.
Matthew Fee of the Rutherford County Library Alliance disagreed.
“It has become abundantly clear that the majority of this board has zero respect or trust for the professionals that have worked so hard on these reviews to produce recommendations,” Fee said.
“This is where we are right now in Rutherford County. A very loud minority of the community, brandishing Bibles claiming to protect children and banishing people they consider their enemy, even though we are actually neighbors, have come with their torches to ban books and threaten anyone on the school board who dares to stand in their way.”
Heather Cook came to the meeting to stand up for future generations of children, she said.
“As we are all very well aware, evil is running rampant in our schools,” Cook said. “This is a spiritual battle for the souls of our children, when libraries welcome drag queen study hour to teach children sexual immorality, but oppose having godly young women teach them biblical values. We are in a spiritual battle when schools and organizations encourage children to come to their after-school Satan clubs.”
Rosales later clarified that RCS libraries have no drag queens or satanic programming.
New review process
After the vote, Chief Academic Officer Kelly Chastain suggested adjusting the review process so each recommendation would require the review of only one librarian instead of two.
“I support our librarians, and they’re doing so much,” Chastain said. “I cannot, in good conscience, continue to have two readers on every single title when we’ve only agreed on one [book decision]. Would it be okay as we move forward to get through this more quickly and just do one reader?”
Over 90 books have already been reviewed by one librarian. Chastain said she believes she could present at least that many to the board at the next meeting.
“I mean, it could be closer to the entire list by the time we meet again,” Chastain said. “It’s time to move on. Our librarians have too many other important things to do that involve our students.”
Jan. 9 vote
At the Jan. 9 board meeting, five other books were kept off shelves. The books in question were:
“I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter” by Erika L. Sanchez
“Looking for Alaska” by John Green
“Concrete Rose” by Angie Thomas
“Vampire Academy” by Richelle Mead
“Eleanor and Park” by Rainbow Rowell
“Heroine” by Mindy McGuinness, “Shiver” by Maggie Stiefvater, “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before” by Jenny Han and “Monday’s Not Coming” by Tiffany D. Jackson were all returned to shelves with a variety of stipulations.
The board also removed 16 books from the review process because they were never actually in RCS libraries.
The next Rutherford County School Board meeting is Thursday, Feb. 6.
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