Rutherford County School Board moves to pull even more titles from school libraries

Book cover of a Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess (Photo by Amazon)

Rutherford County Schools (RCS) Board Members voted Thursday to pull more than a dozen titles from library shelves, despite receiving a report that the district’s libraries aren’t meeting state standards when it comes to the number of books available.

 During the meeting, board members considered the last of the recommendations from a panel of librarians and media materials experts regarding more than 150 book titles flagged earlier in the year for complaint. They voted to remove more than a dozen books, including “A Clockwork Orange” by Anthony Burgess, “Adjustment Day” by Chuck Palahnuik, “All Boys Aren’t Blue” by George M. Johnson, “Fade” by Lisa McMann, “Fire Force: Book 1” by Atsushi Ohkubo, “Juliet Takes a Breath” by Gabby Rivera, “Lexicon” by Max Barry, “Maybe Now” by Colleen Hoover, “Me, Earl, and the Dying Girl” by Jesse Andrews, “Plan A” by Deb Caletti, “The Testaments” by Margaret Atwood, “This is Kind of an Epic Love Story” by Kacen Callender, “You Know, Sex: Bodies, Gender, Puberty, and Other Things” by Cory Silverberg, and “You Too?: 25 Voices Share Their #MeToo Stories” by Janet Gurtler.

Thursday’s vote was the latest in a series of moves by the school board to pull books from school libraries in an effort to comply with state laws like the Age-Appropriate Materials Act of 2022. Prior to the vote, board members heard from RCS Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction Dr. Kelly Chastain who told members that the district is significantly below the state library standard of titles per student. The state standard is about 14 book titles per student, but right now the RCS ratio is less than half that, at five per student. She said the district’s goal is to get to 12 titles per student and says when it comes to book content, parents are encouraged to get involved.

 “So that is a goal for us to make sure we are up to par to make sure our students have access to intellectually rigorous material as well as reading for leisure,” said Dr. Chastain. “Always, always, parents are encouraged to reach out directly to their school librarians, principals, teachers.”

Zone 2 Board Member Stan Vaught asked about the process for bringing new media materials in, pointing out that during his time as an RCS high school student, books on things such as coding were added at the request of students.

“This whole dialogue has been around taking books out. Do students or parents ever request?” asked Vaught. “I’m thinking about AI right now, I’m thinking about the change in our demographics, the change in society, the movement toward technology. Do you have students who ask those questions or ask for books like that?”

Dr. Chastain told Vaught student requests are heard and that librarians work hand in hand with teachers to build collections. She also told board members librarians could potentially create wish lists for parents who might like to help stock library shelves by purchasing books and materials for schools and hoped to have an update during their next meeting.

The low number of available books was addressed by several members of the public who spoke during the meeting to voice their opposition to banning books in schools. Elizabeth Shepherd is a school librarian and the parent of a Blackman High School student. She said the board’s focus on book banning has impacted academics and wasted valuable tax dollars. She also took issue with board members repeatedly going against the recommendations of the media experts.

“What has this cost us? Countless hours lost out of their workdays for librarians to track down and remove challenged books, thousands of dollars in books removed from middle and high school libraries, lowering the book to student ratio even further than it currently is,” said Shepherd. “Tens of thousands of dollars spent in stipends to our library experts for their book evaluations, evaluations which the majority of the board ignored over 95 percent of the time.”

Angela Fredrick is a Smyrna resident and told board members that the removal of some books is costing students valuable opportunities. She said the board needs to spend less time on book banning, and more time on working to improve student outcomes.

“You have violated policy by removing several books that are featured on the AP college board exams which puts RCS students at a disadvantage,” she said. “You haven’t been focused on issues that really matter to the residents of Rutherford County like school safety, academic excellence, teacher retention, and many more. We as your constituents are asking you to move on from wasting our time and get back to work of making RCS the best public school district in the state of Tennessee.”