Last night, the literary landscape of Rutherford County's education system was indelibly altered following a school board meeting which culminated in the banishment of four books from school libraries, as reported by WTVF. The titles now prohibited are "Beloved" by Toni Morrison, "Queen of Shadows" by Sara J. Maas, "Tower of Dawn" by Sara J. Maas, and "Homegoing" by Yaa Gyasi. Yet, the board saw fit to permit "Skin and Bones" by Sherry Shahan, "The Perks of Being a Wallflower" by Stephen Chbosky, and "Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West" by Gregory Maguire to remain accessible to students.
Describing the session as a difficult undertaking akin to previous mask controversies, board chair Claire Maxwell acknowledged the division this decision sowed within the community. Her sentiments echo the larger, fraught deliberations on the navigation between protecting the innocence of the youth and preserving intellectual freedom — having assured earlier in a work session that each next will be reviewed thoroughly, board members grappled with the creation of a mature reading list that could alter existing district policies, a task deferred to a future policy committee meeting owing to procedural requirements, as reported by WTVF.
Critical of the ban, the ACLU of Tennessee preemptively penned a cautionary missive on September 16, urging board members against the prohibition of books, elucidating the revered status of libraries as sanctuaries for a diverse marketplace of ideas, and lamenting a future where students might face barren shelves. "Libraries are revered, protected places where students should be able to encounter a marketplace of ideas. If you continue banning books at this pace, RCS students will be shopping in a marketplace with nothing but empty shelves," the ACLU professed in a letter obtained by WTVF.
A lengthy hour of debate at the meeting revolved around issues of content deemed "sexually explicit" and a state law that decries materials referencing sexual content and excess violence in school libraries. The school board strived to maintain adherence to state mandates while also being caught in the center of criticisms invoking students' First Amendment rights. In the end, individual voice votes determined the fate of the seven scrutinized books, whereby books such as "Beloved" by Toni Morrison received five votes for removal, signifying both an acknowledgment of being "sexually explicit" and warranting their exclusion from the hallowed grounds of school libraries, as WKRN highlighted.
The decision, steeped in controversy and convoluted by legal and moral implications, has garnered both support and distress. Board member Caleb Tidwell, an initiator of this and previous year's book challenges, defended the removals by insisting books crossed a discernible line and were readily available elsewhere, thereby not infringing on rights, a sentiment documented during a previous work session by WSMV. In stark contrast, Kathy Sinback, Executive Director for the ACLU of Tennessee, decried the move as alarming, warning of potential First Amendment federal litigation that school districts should not disregard, a serious contemplation that could have financial ramifications far beyond the shelves of a library, as reported by WSMV.
