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.

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.

Rutherford County Schools leaders are expected to make a decision on whether to ban seven books Thursday in order to comply with state laws instructing school libraries to remove books with sexual or obscene material.

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.