The Knox County Board of Education voted Thursday to revise district policies regarding the removal of books containing sexual or age-inappropriate content from school libraries, as required by a new state law that went into effect July 1.¶
According to Superintendent Jon Rycewyk, the district has been behind schedule in efforts to ensure compliance with the new law going into the coming school year. He said the district will begin identifying and removing books when librarians and other staff return to work next month.¶
“This will be a process,” he said during Thursday’s regular meeting. “We won't be [fully] compliant with the law the day the kids come into school.”¶
Rycewyk noted that the district will initially focus on banning any “obvious” violations of the state law following the return of staff, adding that officials expect more guidance from the state about certain books or themes considered inappropriate under state law.¶
“We'll start with obvious ones,” he said. “We’ll work on those and prioritize those first.”¶
The vote comes after several discussions in recent months about how to make sure district policies are in line with the language in the state law, which specifically addresses the need for schools to ban materials that contain images of sexual activity. The proposal to revise district policy language to ensure compliance was brought up last month by board member Susan Horn but initially failed by a 4-2 vote.¶
The Knox County decision also comes amid similar discussions in other Tennessee school districts, such as in Williamson County, where the controversy recently led to a lawsuit filed by Rep. Gino Bulso against the Williamson County Board of Education for its alleged failure to comply with the legislation.¶
The issue of book bans in general has sparked debate at school board meetings as right-wing advocacy groups like Moms for Liberty continue working on the local and national levels to encourage school boards to ban books that they consider age inappropriate, which often includes books on racial inclusivity and LGBTQ topics.¶
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, among other titles that have been targeted by groups like Moms for Liberty. Knox County board members did not discuss specific titles at Thursday’s meeting, however.¶
