A proposal to specifically ban books depicting sexual imagery failed by a 4-2 vote at Thursday’s Knox County Board of Education meeting.
Board members Steven Triplett, Susan Horn, Travis Wright and Kristi Kristy voted yes, while Katherine Bike and Jennifer Owen voted no. Board members Daniel Watson and John Butler voted to pass, ensuring the proposal would not have the necessary majority. Board member Betsy Henderson was not present at the meeting.
The vote followed Tuesday’s work session meeting, where Horn suggested that the district should update local school policies to specifically address materials that contain images of sexual activity to make sure the school system is in line with a new state law set to take effect in July 1.
“To me, this is something we ought to do, in my view, so I feel like we should do it now. We have to do it in July anyway,” Horn said.
The proposed change would have added language to the district’s policies regarding inappropriate material in school libraries, which has been a major topic of discussion at recent Knox County school board meetings. Triplett was among the board members who voiced his support for Horn’s proposal to be proactive about the new state law soon to take effect. He implored his colleagues to vote yes on the change, adding that he believes it’s the “right thing to do” regardless of state law.
“We’ve tried since October, for a long time, to have this discussion to develop some sort of standard by which folks can review books and we have not got anywhere with it,” he said. “But this [proposal] is very clear, very plain, very simple and very well-defined.”
The discussion has been revisited several times by the board in recent months, as right-wing advocacy groups like Moms for Liberty continue working on the local and national levels to ban books that they consider age inappropriate. This often includes books on racial inclusivity and LGBTQ topics. Moms for Liberty in particular is considered an extremist group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. In April, the district began forming school library councils and title review committees to review and potentially ban books like “Gender Queer” by Maia Kobabe, which follows the author’s exploration of gender identity and sexuality from adolescence.
Several community members spoke to the board during public comments about the proposal, amid the often-heated national discussion about banning certain books in public school libraries.
Knox County Schools English teacher Stacey Reece said that in about 30 years of working as an educator, she’s never heard of another educator promoting sexual activity to students or not doing their diligence to keep inappropriate material away from students.
“To me, saying a sex scene in a book ‘promotes sex,’ is akin to saying, ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ promotes racism,” she said, noting that educators and librarians are already trained and motivated to review and ban books for inappropriate material.
Several attendees came to the meeting wearing “Moms for Liberty” shirts and voiced their support for Horn’s proposal. Reveling in the controversy around the group, Knox County Moms for Liberty Chair Sheri Super introduced herself as leader of the “dreaded” organization before pressuring the board to take up Horn’s proposal.
“Sumner, Rutherford, Williamson and Wilson County school boards have all removed inappropriate materials, while Knox County fiddles,” she said.
