- Book-banning board member: ‘Maybe I’m just too old fashioned’
- Board allows 4 pulled books to return
- Advocate says parent consent opt in for 3 returned books violates law
- Student gives board lesson on First Amendment
- School librarian upset by board ignoring her recommendation
- Those with obscenity concerns also speak to the board
Free speech advocates stood with their backs to a Rutherford County Board of Education after the officials banned six more books from school libraries recently.
Most of the advocates on Jan. 9 wore purple Rutherford County Library Alliance T-shirts with the image of a stack of books and the message: “WE ARE THE BANISHED. LIBERTY DIES WHERE BOOKS ARE BANNED.”
The protesters included Lindsay Schultz, who questioned the majority book-banning decisions by elected board members after she read the books facing obscenity challenges.
“When banning these books, they’re telling people that Black people don’t matter and autistic people don’t matter and gay people don’t matter and people with mental illnesses don’t matter,” said Schultz, the owner of The Spine Bookshop in Smyrna.
“They (school officials) should be ashamed of themselves because they’re on this board to represent everyone − not just a handful of people.”
The six banned books were among the 10 books facing obscenity challenges that school librarians reviewed and recommended for return to libraries. The majority of the board decided to return four of the books, including requirements that parents provide opt-in permission for three.
The 10 reviewed books are among 160 the school board decided to pull from libraries in November for the pending reviews from librarians to determine if the books violate obscenity laws.
The November decision pushed the total of pulled or banned books to 196, which are perceived to be in violation of the Tennessee obscenity law for being sexually explicit in at least a part of each book. The count came down to 192 with the board’s decision to allow four books to return.
The district removed 30 books the previous school year.
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One of banned books has word, ‘masturbation’
The most recent majority decisions of the board decided against the recommendations from librarians that the six banned books did not violate obscenity laws by the U.S. Supreme Court and the Tennessee General Assembly.
One of the banned books, “Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe,” by author Benjamin Alaire Saenz, included a word that caught the board’s attention.
“The word, ‘masturbate’ is used once on page 219, but is not describing the act nor does it occur,” a librarian review states.
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Book-banning board member: ‘Maybe I’m just too old fashioned’
The majority of the board banned the following five other books rather than follow the recommendations of librarians to return them to school libraries for grades 9-12 or 8-12:
- “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
Only board members Stan Vaught and Claire Maxwell opposed the book banning and favored following the librarians’ recommendations.
Vaught said he understands parents wanting to ban a book for their kid, “but don’t make a decision for the other 52,000 kids in this county.”
“We’re creating a false narrative that we’re protecting them,” Vaught said.
District educators, Vaught said, “have to prepare kids for the world.”
“The world is a cruel place,” Vaught said.
Board member Butch Vaughn voted to ban all the books and described them as being “trash” and “a drop of poison in a cup of water” that didn’t exist in school libraries when he was growing up.
“We’ve got a responsibility from a moral standpoint,” said Vaughn, a retired district educator who served as principal at Central Middle (now Central Magnet School), Blackman Middle and Oakland High.
Vaughn after the meeting said he supports the school librarians in looking at books from a literary standpoint but based his book-banning votes on a moral standpoint. He also noted during the meeting that he’s earned a graduate degree in education that goes beyond a master’s degree.
“I don’t see the educational benefit (of the 10 books in question Jan. 9),” said Vaughn, adding he was uncomfortable reading the excerpts of the books in question. “Maybe I’m just too old fashioned.”
Free speech issues:Rutherford schools removal of 160 more books draws opposition from 1st Amendment advocates
Advocate says parent consent opt in for books violates law
Fellow board members Caleb Tidwell, Katie Darby, Tammy Sharp and Frances Rosales each voted to either ban or return books to school libraries.
The majority of the board agreed to allow four books to return to school libraries:
- “Heroine:”: by Mindy McGuinness (be retained for high school grades only with parent opt in consent)
- “Shiver”: by Maggie Stiefvater (be retained for eight-graders and up)
- “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before”: by Jenny Han (be retained for middle schools and High schools with parent consent for children 13 and under )
- “Monday’s Not Coming”: by Tiffany D. Jackson (be retained for 11th- and 12th-grades only with parent consent).
Book freedom advocate Keri Lambert said district policy should allow freedom to browse libraries rather than the parent consent opt in policy she said is unconstitutional.
The U.S. Supreme Court has rulings, such as Denver Area Educational Telecommunications Consortium v. Federal Communications Commission, that say the government “can’t restrict access to information,” Lambert said.
The school board, however, could establish an opt out policy for parents wanting to restrict access to books for only their children, Lambert said.
Library free press challenges:‘Beloved’ & ‘Wicked’ & other books face obscenity complaints seeking to pull from schools
Student gives board lesson on First Amendment
Board members also have been warned about violating the First Amendment freedom of speech and press issues through a letter from the American Civil Liberties Union.
The ACLU recommends school officials follow the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in 1973 that requires obscenity decisions on a book to be “taken as a whole” rather than only part of the book to determine if any of the author’s work “lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.”
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The board during the public comment part of the meeting heard Central Magnet School junior Daphne Gamble speak about the 1973 court ruling that established the “Miller” test to determine obscenity.
“The Tennessee Age −Appropriate Materials Act is a direct violation of this ruling, and thus unconstitutional and invalid since federal law is above state law,” Daphne told the elected school officials. “The act is similar to the Murfreesboro Decency Ordinance, which was struck down in courts and resulted in the city paying a ($500,000) settlement.”
Daphne urged the elected school officials to follow the recommendations of librarians, “trained professionals who are more qualified to determine whether or not a book should remain on shelves than the board.”
First Amendment expert:Free speech scholar Nadine Strossen says Rutherford County school board violates law by removing books
School librarian upset by board ignoring her recommendation
The board’s recent decisions also upset and brought tears to La Vergne High School librarian Carissa Benton after she had reviewed one of the books in question while maintaining the confidentiality of the review process and recommended the book be returned to school libraries.
“There’s no sex in the book at all,” said Benton, noting that she chose to review a book she’d never read before to be impartial. “Every voice matters.”
The board decisions to ignore the recommendations from the librarians also offended book freedom advocate Matt Fee.
“The success of Rutherford County Schools is not because of this board,” Fee said. “It’s in spite of this board.”
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Those with obscenity concerns also speak to the board
The board during the public comment part of the meeting also heard Bryan Schuster share his concerns about books in the school libraries after starting his speech with a prayer and thanking school librarians.
“Please take a stand to protect our children from content that is harmful to them,” Schuster told the board.
Schuster asked fellow audience members who agreed with him to stand, and about 20 stood up, including some wearing white shirts, showing solidarity in blocking the books.
“This is not about intimidation,” Schuster said. “This is about representation. We are watching. We are listening. We will remember how you cast your vote here when we go to cast ours.”
Another book challenge disrupts meeting:Speaker complaint on transgender book ends with Murfreesboro school board taking recess from meeting
Reach reporter Scott Broden with news tips or questions by emailing him at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @ScottBroden. To support his work with The Daily News Journal, sign up for a digital subscription.
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