State lawmakers respond to S.C. book ban decision in schools
According to Pen America, the state now leads the nation for statewide book bans.
'This means that people have lost the freedom to read. As a state that prides itself on giving people freedom, this is quite contrary to who we say we are,' Chaundra Dillard, member of the South Carolina House of Representatives.
The South Carolina Board of Education said the books that were banned are in violation of the state's new regulation.
The state's new regulation deems any book depicting sexual conduct on the page to be inappropriate for all public school students in grades K-12.
Republican State Senator, Josh Kimbrell, supports the regulation.
'The point of the regulation is to have some parental consent,' Kimbrell said. 'We want to be sure that parents are involved in their child's education and to be sure that parents get a say at this – that you don't have books on the shelves in the public school library where mom and dad don't know what their kids are being given to read.'
Some parents said books are a bridge to understanding. The South Carolina Board of Education is potentially cutting off those bridges by banning certain books.
'All parents like me have a right to opt their kids out of reading a book if it's something that they don't think their kids should read,' said Paul Bowers, American Civil Liberties Union S.C. 'That right exists in every school district and within your rights as a parent. What crosses the line is when one parent makes that decision on behalf of all parents in South Carolina.'
The majority of challenges being made are by one woman from the low country.
'We have a population of 5 million people. For one person to be able to take books off the shelf, primarily? That does not sit well with me and that should not sit well with the citizens of South Carolina,' said Dillard.
People told us that they would have liked for the Board of Education to read through the books before coming to a decision.
'At the state level under Regulation 4-3 170, the board is not required to read the books at all. We see little evidence that they have,' said Bowers. 'Instead, they're handed a list of passages that one lawyer at the Department of Education has said are 'illegal under this ordinance' and they ban the books. It's not thoughtful. It doesn't take into consideration literary merit or educational value.'
Democratic State Representative, Chaundra Dillard, believes the list and the process of banning books need to be reviewed.
'We have educators who are trained, from librarians to teachers to people, who it is their job to look at curriculum, to look at what is the age appropriate,' Dillard said. 'If those folks are not making the decisions, then we have failed our students.'
'No one's saying you can't go to Barnes & Noble [and] nobody's saying [that] we're sending the swat team out to come get them (books) from your house,' Kimbrell said. 'We're saying that we want the Board of Education to take a look at what's appropriate and [to] make sure moms and dads are informed of what their kids are reading, and make sure that there's age appropriate materials.'
As of now, the American Civil Liberties Union said they do not plan on taking legal action against the Board of Education.
7NEWS has reached out to the Board of Education several times for comment. We have yet to hear back.
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