The Williamson County Board of Education voted Monday to ban three books and restrict access to two others at Monday’s school board meeting, following months of debate between parents and educators about K-12 book bans throughout the state.

Several local residents spoke to Rutherford County Schools (RCS) Board of Education members Thursday to continue voicing opposition to recent book bans within the Middle Tennessee school district, after district librarians received an email instructing them to pull 150 “sexually explicit” books from school library shelves.

Knox County Schools (KCS) Board of Education members unanimously approved proposed revisions to district guidelines on discrimination and harassment at Thursday’s board meeting.

A handful of local residents spoke to the Rutherford County Board of Education Thursday to express their support and opposition to a recent decision by the board to ban six books from school libraries.

Over 400 titles have been pulled from Wilson County Schools library shelves since July 1, in response to a state law that restricts access to books with sexual or obscene material.

The Rutherford County Schools Board of Education voted to remove six literary classics from school libraries at Thursday’s regular school board meeting including “Beloved,” A Pulitzer-Prize winning novel from Toni Morrison about the horrors of slavery, “The Perks of Being a Wallflower,” a coming-of-age novel by Stephen Chbosky, and “Wicked” by Gregory Maguire, a novel which retells the “Wizard of Oz.” In addition, the board also banned “Homegoing” by Yaa Gyasi, “Queen of Shadows” by Sara J. Maas, and “Tower of Dawn, also by Sara J. Maas.

The Rutherford County Schools Board of Education is expected to decide if it will ban seven books next month to comply with a new state law instructing school libraries to remove books with sexual or otherwise inappropriate content.

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.

A proposal to ban books depicting sexual imagery in Knox County Schools failed in a 4-2 vote. The board discussed compliance with a new state law set to take effect in July.

Knox County Board of Education officials discussed banning books that depict sex at Monday’s school board work session.