- Board hears speeches on booth sides of book removal issue
- ACLU opposes the book removals
- Central Magnet School student asks board will ‘Shakespeare’ be what’s removed next
- ACLU sends letter to board warning them about violating the First Amendment by removing the books in question
- Book freedom advocate responds
“Beloved” and five other books will be removed from Rutherford County Schools libraries, officials decided Thursday at a packed meeting.
After hearing speeches on both sides about whether the books were obscene, the majority of the elected Board of Education voted 4-3 in agreement with elected school official Caleb Tidwell’s call to remove the following six books for being what he described as “sexually explicit.”
- “Beloved,” a 1988 Pulitzer Prize winning novel by Toni Morrison, who in 1993 won the Nobel Prize in Literature
- “Queen of Shadows” by Sarah J. Maas
- “Tower of Dawn” by Sarah J. Maas
- “Homegoing” by Yaa Gyasi
- “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” by Stephen Chbosky
- “Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West” by Gregory Maguire
The majority of the board opposed pulling the book, “Skin and Bones,” by Sherry Shahan.
The Rutherford district previously pulled 30 books last school year by April 24, 2024.
Divided board removes 6 books, keeps one
Other board members joining Tidwell in deciding to remove six of the books are Katie Darby, Tammy Sharp and Butch Vaughn.
Fellow board members Stan Vaught, Vice Chairwoman Frances Rosales and Chairwoman Claire Maxwell opposed the book removals.
Vaughn was part of the majority that opposed the removal of “Skin and Bones.”
Vaught and Vaughn wanted the seven books to be placed in a mature reading area, requiring parental consent for students to access, but they lacked the majority of votes for approval. Maxwell backed the mature reading area idea. Tidwell, Darby and Sharp opposed. Rosales abstained.
First Amendment issue:ACLU warns Rutherford school board about removing ‘Beloved,’ other books from libraries
Board hears speeches on both sides of book removal issue
An overflow Board of Education meeting room with over 100 people included a majority wearing white shirts to encourage the book removing decisions.
About 15 to 20 book freedom advocates wore purple shirts.
Both sides spoke during the public comment part of the meeting, including Daphne Gamble, a Central Magnet School junior who questioned why the books would be removed.
“Is Shakespeare next?” Gamble asked.
Board members also heard 17-year-old Hannah Faulkner tell them that she was disgusted by the sexually explicit books she contends should not be in schools.
‘Not OK to limit books for my kid’Rutherford Schools remove 30 books deemed obscene
ACLU opposes the book removals
Those in purple shirts included Kathy Sinback, the executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee.
The ACLU on Monday sent a letter to board members telling them they’d be violating the law if they remove the books in question.
“The school board of Rutherford County tonight ignored their own policies and the First Amendment of the Constitution, and banned books like ‘Beloved’ that have extraordinary literary value without considering the works as a whole,” Sinback said after the meeting.
Sinback also sent the following statement to The Daily News Journal after the meeting:
“A vocal minority of people are speaking for all Rutherford County parents by banning books that address LGBTQ+ rights, race and racism, and other marginalized identities as part of a coordinated attack on inclusive education.
“Rutherford County students will pay the price and be at a significant disadvantage compared to their peers across the state and the U.S. who have access to these materials and are developing the critical thinking skills needed for college and beyond.
“We know that the right to free expression includes the freedom to read free from viewpoint-based censorship, and we will continue to push for a state where all students have the freedom to learn without bias.”
First Amendment issues:‘Beloved’ & ‘Wicked’ & other books face obscenity complaints seeking to pull from schools
Book freedom advocate responds
Rutherford County Library Alliance President Tiffany Fee also sent a statement to The Daily News Journal about her advocacy group’s disappointment about the board’s decision to remove six books.
“We were saddened to see so many in our community whipped into a religious frenzy over political posturing and saddened to see several of these same men overtly attempt to intimidate many of us tonight,” Fee said.
“We have been fighting to protect our community’s intellectual freedom and First Amendment rights for over a year … .
“Tonight was just a part of a drawn-out issue that will ultimately play out in court at the taxpayers’ expense. Nobody will win from this except lawyers and politicians. Our children certainly won’t benefit from this.”
Library book freedom challenged:Library supporters upset by board pulling 4 books say they’re ‘fighting against censorship’
ACLU sends letter to board to warn about book removals
ACLU Foundation Tennessee Legal Director Stella Yarbrough wrote a letter dated Sept. 16 to the elected school officials urging them to adhere to the board’s policy that “supports principles of intellectual freedom inherent in theFirst Amendment of the United States.”
“I write to emphasize to you that the First Amendment does not permit school board members to remove books from school library shelves simply because they dislike the ideas contained within those books,” Yarbrough’s letter said.
The ACLU urged Rutherford County school officials to not remove “Beloved” and other books from campus libraries.
The board also could face a legal challenge from the ACLU. The letter notes that the national First Amendment advocacy organization teamed with the BoroPride LGBTQ+ festival organizers to win a $500,000 federal lawsuit settlement from the Murfreesboro government.
The Murfreesboro case challenged the city’s position attempting to prohibit the annual BoroPride and adopting in 2023 a now repealed community decency standards ordinance.
The ordinance prior to getting repealed as part of the settlement led to the Rutherford County Library System Board deciding to pull four books. The system includes the Linebaugh Library that’s by Murfreesboro City Hall.
Vaught prior to voting against the majority of his fellow school board members to remove the books in question suggested the district will be spending tax dollars to defend a lawsuit for violating the First Amendment.
Tidwell responded by saying the board would be defending a lawsuit by keeping “those books in our schools.”
‘Is that what we want?’:Library book freedom may be issue with Murfreesboro decency law
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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