COBB COUNTY, Ga. — Six more books have been removed from Cobb County Schools because, according to the superintendent, they “contain sexually explicit or graphic content inappropriate for children.”
Cobb County Schools Superintendent Chris Ragsdale announced the removal of the books during a Board of Education meeting on Thursday.
Channel 2 Action News reported on the last instance of removals, when six other titles were removed on Sept. 19, taking another set of six books out of libraries at Cobb County schools.
During Thursday’s board meeting, Ragsdale said he was simply doing as directed.
“Once again, as you have directed me to do previously, I am informing the Board that we are withdrawing six more books from general circulation in our District’s media centers. After review, it has been determined these books contain sexually explicit and graphic content unsuitable for children to access in public schools,” he said.
Additionally, Ragsdale referred to criticism of the removals as political in nature while associating it, in part, with the coming presidential election.
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“I know that it is election season, and during such times, the truth is often considered an acceptable casualty if it gets more votes. For the most part, like with most things political, I ignore it. But in the last month, it has reached a fever pitch, and a number of individuals are saying things that are not only untruthful but they know are untruthful. I want to set it straight,” the superintendent said at the meeting. “This is not a ‘book ban.’ Those spreading that lie do not want me to remind you that this is an incredibly focused removal based entirely on not providing children with unrestricted access to sexually explicit and graphic material.”
He said suggesting the differences of opinion did not “entitle you to your own facts” and that certain opinions critical of the removals were equivalent to dismissing “deeply held concerns of a tremendous number of Cobb County citizens.”
Ragsdale also pushed back on what he said were comments made in the past week by a local politician who said the district was targeting books by gay authors, books with gay characters, or books by authors of certain ethnicities.
“This is not ‘the Board of Education going in after LGBTQ kids and teachers and families,’ as was claimed by a Cobb politician this week. People who say that are lying to you,” Ragsdale said. “In total, even with the titles I will mention tonight, this is a grand total of thirty-two books out of more than a million. Those million-plus works are incredibly broad and represent an array of experiences and individuals. However, they do not contain sexually explicit and graphic content inappropriate for children.”
Channel 2 Action News has reported on this particular angle of criticism extensively, with parents and political figures opposing the removals and saying they were related to the books’ natures as including LGBTQ characters and experiences. Critics of the removals have repeatedly claimed the district is banning books with LGBTQ+ themes.
The superintendent did not name the politician before moving on to a fourth criticism he sought to push back on, saying it was not true that removing sexually explicit materials was the same as removing books like “To Kill a Mockingbird,” and that those who “who compare this to restrictions of works widely considered to be literature are lying to you.”
As he’s done previously, Ragsdale urged those who did not want the books removed from the school system’s circulation to read excerpts, research the books and to go online to learn more about them.
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The six books that were removed on Oct. 17 include:
- Summer of Owen Todd by Tony Abbott
- More Happy Than Not by Adam Silvera
- This Book Is Gay by Juno Dawson
- We Know It Was You by Maggie Thrash
- The Sun and Her Flowers by Rupi Kaur
- City of Saints and Thieves by Natalie C. Anderson
Those six join a list that previously contained 26 others, including:
- A Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J. Maas
- A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas
- A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas
- A Court of Frost and Starlight by Sarah J. Maas
- A Court of Silver Flames by Sarah J. Maas
- Ironfire by David Ball
- Laid edited by Shannon Teresa Boodram
- Crank by Ellen Hopkins
- Tricks by Ellen Hopkins
- Push by Sapphire
- Milk and Honey by Rupi Kaur
- It Starts with Us by Colleen Hoover
- It Ends with Us by Colleen Hoover
- The Infinite Moment of Us by Lauren Myracle
- The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling
- Identical by Ellen Hopkins
- All Boys Aren’t Blue by George M. Johnson
- Juliet Takes a Breath by Gabby Rivera
- Monday’s Not Coming by Tiffany D. Jackson
- City of Thieves by David Benioff
- Me, Earl, and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews
- Flamer by Mike Curato
- Blankets by Craig Thompson
- The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
- Lucky by Alice Sebold
- Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher
Channel 2 Action News has reached out to the Cobb County School District for information about how many people had requested the books be removed from circulation, in light of the superintendent’s commentary on how many citizens held concerns over the titles in question.
You can watch the superintendent’s remarks in the video below:
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