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Yahoo
6 days ago
- Yahoo
Under fire from state, Hillsborough's Ayres pledges to pull more books
Hillsborough County schools Superintendent Van Ayres pledged to remove more books from district shelves during a heated state Board of Education meeting on Wednesday, as board members suggested firing all county media specialists or exploring criminal charges as possible alternatives. The meeting in Miami followed letters from Education Commissioner Manny Diaz and Attorney General James Uthmeier sharing concerns about the content of six books including 'pornographic materials' in school shelves. Ayres told the state board he would immediately order the removal of another 57 titles identified by the state as objectionable. 'I expect and hope that these books will be removed in the next two weeks,' board Chairperson Ben Gibson told Ayres. 'If they're not removed, then I'm going to ask the department and I'll ask the attorney general to use every tool within their disposal to make sure that pornographic materials are not in our schools.' Ayres and the district's attorney, James Porter, said the district had already permanently removed the six books listed by Diaz and Uthmeier, and had pulled for review 600 additional books that had been challenged in any other Florida county. That decision put Ayres at odds with members his of own school board, who said that while they supported the idea of removing inappropriate materials, they felt they should have been consulted. Board members also said his plan to offer a $1,500 stipend to eligible employees to help review books could cost the district more than the $345,000 he estimated. The state board also did not appear to be satisfied with Ayres' move. They pressed for the immediate removal of a subset list of 57 titles they deemed patently pornographic, which includes 'All Boys Aren't Blue' by George Johnson and 'A Stolen Life: A Memoir' by Jaycee Lee Dugard. 'These are nasty, disgusting books that have no place in a school in Florida or even California,' board Vice Chairperson Richard Petty said. 'Please help me understand what your review process is. ... 'Process' sounds complicated. 'Process' sounds like it takes time. 'Process' sounds like there's some ambiguity to the outcome.' Ayres said there is no process needed 'if the material is inappropriate for our students.' In 2022, the state passed a law requiring trained media specialists to approve all materials in school libraries, and in 2023, they passed a law expanding the definition of unsuitable material. This year, a proposal to further define what is unsuitable failed to become law. But at Wednesday's meeting, the state board questioned the existing processes in Hillsborough County. Currently, if a parent has a concern with a book that a media specialist has allowed into a school's collections, they can raise it to a school-level committee. The committee would then read the book in its entirety and weigh the objectionable passages against the whole to determine if it should meet the criteria for selection, calling on outside professionals when necessary. If a book is deemed inappropriate, it can either be referred to a different age level or removed from that school and elevated to be considered for district-wide removal. The district said more than 389,000 books out of more than 2 million had been removed as a result of these processes, but no concerns had previously come up about the specific titles the state identified. Still, the board urged Ayres to go further. 'Have you considered firing all your media specialists and starting from scratch with women and men who can read?' board member Grazie Pozo Christie asked. 'These people that you trust to review these materials are abusing the children of your county. They're child abusers.' The words they had allowed were 'too dirty and gross' for her to look at, she said. Ayres said he did trust the media specialists and that 95 percent were certified. Petty then asked Ayres to read out loud an excerpt from the memoir by Dugard, who was a kidnapping victim at age 11. 'I'm not going to — this material is not appropriate,' Ayres said. 'I'm not going to read that out loud, and that's why it was made unavailable for our students.' 'But you trust your media specialists, who obviously read this?' Petty followed. 'I think this is a moment where we need to see some courage from you to say this is inappropriate. I don't care what the rules say. I don't care what the current process is. This garbage should not be in schools in Hillsborough County schools, because it serves absolutely no educational purpose.' Board member Daniel Foganholi said he believed accountability should fall on more than just Ayres. 'You have activist board members that put superintendents in a tough place, force them to do things, keep things in their libraries,' he said. 'What are we going to do to hold them accountable?' Diaz pointed to the 'teeth in the law' and said the attorney general's office could explore repercussions for anyone who tries to prevent the removal of controversial books — including board members. 'I want to provide caution to those individuals that are either on a board and trying to put pressure on a superintendent, or those individuals that are directly placing these items in the library: they could face penalty under law and prosecution,' Diaz said. This is a developing story and may be updated.
Yahoo
29-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Moms for Liberty goes to war with New York school over five library books
Moms for Liberty, an ultra-conservative parental rights outfit the Southern Poverty Law Center considers an extremist organization, is fighting to immediately remove five 'obscene' library books from an Upstate New York public school, insisting they are simply too dangerous to keep on the shelves. The body of work being challenged supposedly 'normalizes violence and abuse of women and children, depicts rape, equates violence and pain with pleasure, [and] encourages and normalizes early sexual activity among minors,' according to a petition filed this week in Wayne County Supreme Court by Moms for Liberty and an area evangelical pastor. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is set to appear Friday evening at an event hosted by the group. In their petition, the ardent culture warriors claim the books expose kids to 'obscene depictions of sexually explicit acts.' The books in question include People Kill People, a YA novel by bestselling author Ellen Hopkins about the deleterious effects of gun violence; It Ends With Us, a romance novel by Colleen Hoover that was made into a Hollywood film starring Blake Lively; All Boys Aren't Blue, a 'memoir-manifesto' by journalist and LGBTQ activist George M. Johnson about his struggles growing up as a gay Black man; Red Hood by Elana K. Arnold, a retelling of Little Red Riding Hood centered on female empowerment; and Julia Scheeres' Jesus Land: A Memoir, a New York Times bestseller about the author's unpleasant childhood experience at a fundamentalist church camp. Jonathan Burman, a spokesman for the New York State Education Department, told The Independent that leadership 'stands 100 percent behind' state education commissioner Betty Rosa for keeping the five books on the shelves in the face of past challenges. In April, Rosa ruled that Moms for Liberty had 'failed to demonstrate that the challenged books here lack 'literary, artistic, political, or scientific value,' and suggested they had not even read the books they said they found so objectionable. To that end, some of the passages Moms for Liberty claimed were sexually explicit in fact had 'nothing to do with sexuality,' Rosa wrote in her ruling. But Moms for Liberty now argues that Rosa's decision was 'arbitrary, an abuse of discretion, and based on a misapplication of the First Amendment,' and are seeking an injunction to rid the library of the books while a lawsuit to ban them permanently winds its way through the courts. Attorney Abigail Southerland, who is representing Moms for Liberty and serves as senior litigtation counsel at the American Center for Law and Justice, a Christian nonprofit run by former Trump impeachment lawyer Jay Sekulow, did not respond to a request for comment on Friday. The case was first reported locally by the Finger Lakes Times. Local chapter head Jennifer Williams told the outlet she would not comment until the case had been fully adjudicated. Moms for Liberty's attempts to remove books from school libraries have spurred vehement backlash across the nation. The battle began in early 2023, when Rev. Jacob Marchitell, who heads up the Christ Community Church in Clyde, New York, filed a formal request with the school board to have the books removed from the Clyde-Savannah Junior/Senior High School library. A committee appointed by the board reviewed the books and found them to be perfectly acceptable, according to the petition. But when Marchitell increased the pressure, the board yanked the books anyway. The school librarian and a teacher there filed an appeal, but the board reversed itself before a decision was handed down, the petition explains. Marchitell, now with Moms for Liberty on board, appealed the move, unsuccessfully, and in April 2024, Rosa ordered the books to remain on the shelves. Moms for Liberty became involved because, according to the petition, 'at least' five registered members of Moms for Liberty have children enrolled in the district and 'will be exposed and/or have access to these lewd and sexually explicit materials when they visit the District's Jr./Sr. High School Library.' A dozen or so more parents are members of the private Moms for Liberty page on Facebook, the petition states. This week's petition, which initiated what is known as an Article 78 proceeding, runs a whopping 165 pages and includes specific examples of what Moms for Liberty and Marchitell find objectionable. In addition to sex, Moms for Liberty's petition says People Kill People 'contains at least 137 profanities,' It Ends With Us 'contains at least 105 profanities,' and All Boys Aren't Blue 'contains numerous profanities.' The petition flags no problematic profanity in Red Hood , but says it contains 'numerous' instances of pornography, and that Jesus Land contains 'several examples of sexually explicit content and profanities.' '[T]he sexual content contained within these books is excessive and severely undermines any asserted literary value for the students given access to the school library,' the petition alleges. Moms for Liberty, which last year helped ban a book about book bans, has come out in favor of Project 2025, a right-wing blueprint for a potential Trump administration that has been accused of veering into authoritarianism. In a statement issued following Rosa's April decision against Moms for Liberty, New York Library Association President Lisa Kropp said, 'The intimidation tactics used here are being repeated in classrooms and public libraries across the state and the country. As the voice of the library community in New York, NYLA will not allow this tactic to go unnoticed, unremarked, or unchallenged.' Trump, who has vowed to eliminate the US Department of Education if reelected, is making his appearance Friday evening with Moms for Liberty co-founder Tiffany Justice at the group's yearly meeting in Washington, D.C. It will be the second time in two years he has shown up at the annual confab.
Yahoo
01-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Colorado bill meant to limit school library book bans signed into law
Gov. Jared Polis signs Senate Bill 25-63 into law at his office in the Colorado Capitol on Thursday. (Sara Wilson/Colorado Newsline) Colorado school districts will need to adopt policies by this fall about when and why library books can be taken from the shelves under a new law signed by Gov. Jared Polis on Thursday. The goal is to safeguard public school libraries from the growing trend that targets certain books, often about diverse topics or by diverse authors, for removal. 'Books are so important because names, experiences, identities — these things are being erased. To be able to experience how others are feeling, to learn empathy, to be able to see yourself in books if there's no one else in your world like you — these things are so critical to developing an empathetic society,' bill sponsor Sen. Lisa Cutter, a Littleton Democrat, said ahead of the signing. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX Senate Bill 25-63 requires school districts to create policies about the acquisition, retention and display of library books and other materials by September. The policy will also need to govern book challenges and consider the process for removing any books for circulation. Only parents of students in the school district will be allowed to challenge books, and reviews of individual books will be limited to once every two years. The bill passed the Legislature on party-line votes, with Republicans opposed to it. 'We are able to have policies in place that will reduce discriminatory censorship and ensure that the books on the shelves and the literature available to our students open their minds, allow for exploration and really foster a growth,' Rep. Lorena Garcia, an Adams County Democrat and bill sponsor, said. Book removal standards will need to comply with a 1982 U.S. Supreme Court case that determined school boards cannot restrict library materials simply because they disagree with their content. In 2024, there were seven attempts to ban 137 books in public schools and libraries in Colorado, according to the American Library Association. The most challenged book in the country that year was 'All Boys Aren't Blue,' a memoir written for young adults by queer Black author George Johnson. In Colorado, people have tried to remove books including 'Beloved' by Toni Morrison, 'The Kite Runner' by Khaled Hosseini and 'The Hate U Give' by Angie Thomas. Many of the challenged books include LGBTQ+ themes, accounts of violence, and descriptions of discrimination and sexual activity. They are often by or about people of color or LGBTQ+ people. The bill signing comes as a federal judge ordered Elizabeth School District to return 19 removed books, deemed inappropriate by the school board, back to the shelves. The law now requires school districts to follow a clear and consistent process to remove any books. 'This bill is about trusting the experience of school librarians, trusting local communities to make decisions based on the needs of their students and trusting young people to explore, wonder and to think critically,' bill sponsor Rep. Jenny Willford, a Northglenn Democrat, said. Republicans, particularly Rep. Ken DeGraaf of Colorado Springs, argued during the legislative process that certain books are too mature for school students or contain what he deems pornographic material, and therefore should be subject to removal requests from parents and community members. They attempted to amend the bill to widen who can challenge a book to include anyone who lives in the school district, parent or otherwise. They also unsuccessfully tried to shield the name of challengers from open records requests. A similar school library bill died during the 2024 legislative session, though one focused on public libraries was signed into law. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
The Guardian
08-04-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Majority of attempts to ban books in US come from organised groups not parents
A large majority of attempts to ban books in the US last year came from organised groups rather than parents. 72% of demands to censor books were initiated by pressure groups, government entities and elected officials, board members and administrators, reported the American Library Association (ALA). Just 16% of ban attempts were made by parents, while 5% were brought forward by individual library users. 'These demands to remove and restrict books and other library materials are not the result of any grassroots or popular sentiment,' read the ALA's 2025 State of America's Libraries report, published on Monday. 'The majority of book censorship attempts are now originating from well-funded, organised groups and movements long dedicated to curbing access to information and ideas.' Many of the organisations leading the book censorship movement are so-called 'parental rights' groups – most prominently Moms for Liberty. This group has strong ties to the Republican Party and has been labelled 'extremist'. 'They aren't always moms, they don't always have kids, and they definitely don't care about 'liberty' for everyone else,' wrote the American Civil Liberties Union's Paul Bowers in late 2023. The share of censorship attempts made by organised campaigns has risen drastically in recent years. Between 2001 and 2020, pressure groups, board members, administrators and elected officials challenged an average of 46 titles per year. In 2024, these groups challenged 4,190 titles. The most common reasons for challenges were claims of obscenity, the inclusion of LGBTQ+ themes or characters, and the discussion of race, racism and social justice. 'The movement to ban books is not a movement of parents, but a movement of partisans who seek to limit our freedom to read,' said Deborah Caldwell-Stone, director of the ALA's office for intellectual freedom. Sign up to Bookmarks Discover new books and learn more about your favourite authors with our expert reviews, interviews and news stories. Literary delights delivered direct to you after newsletter promotion In its report, the ALA also published a list of the 10 most challenged books of 2024, which included books by Toni Morrison and John Green. The most-challenged book was All Boys Aren't Blue: A Memoir Manifesto by George M Johnson, about the author's experience as a queer Black man growing up in New Jersey and Virginia. Last August, Moms for Liberty filed a petition to a court in New York seeking an injunction to remove All Boys Aren't Blue from a school library. The book 'contains numerous profanities and lewd content' and 'several instances of pornography including sexual molestation', read the petition. The second most-challenged title was Gender Queer: A Memoir by Maia Kobabe, while the tied third most-challenged were The Bluest Eye by Morrison and The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky. Other books on the top 10 list include Looking for Alaska by Green, Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews and Sold by Patricia McCormick. The number of attempts to censor library books and other materials fell between 2023 and 2024, from 1,247 to 821, resulting in a fall in the total number of books challenged from 9,021 to 5,813. The ALA said that the fall in documented censorship could be due to under-reporting or cases of 'censorship by exclusion' which occurs when, for example, library workers place books in less accessible areas of the library due to fear of controversy. Documented censorship attempts may also have fallen because recent legislative restrictions on books containing 'controversial themes' have resulted in those titles being removed from libraries, according to the ALA.
Yahoo
07-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
New report shows it's largely officials and organizations demanding books be banned
A new report reveals the vast majority of those demanding book bans are organizations or officials — not individual parents. Seventy-two percent of demands to censor books in schools have come from organizations that include elected officials, board members and administrators, according to the American Library Association. Parents only accounted for 16 percent of book ban demands, while individual library users made up five percent. 'The movement to ban books is not a movement of parents, but a movement of partisans who seek to limit our freedom to read and make different choices about things that matter,' Deborah Caldwell-Stone, director of the organization's office of intellectual freedom, said in a statement. The American Library Association can 'trace many of the challenges to lists of books that have been distributed by Moms for Liberty and other groups," Caldwell-Stone told ABC News. Moms for Liberty is a far-right group considered an extremist organization by the Southern Poverty Law Center. The most common reasons cited for challenges include 'false claims of illegal obscenity for minors,' 'inclusion of LGBTQIA+ characters or themes,' and 'topics of race, racism, equity and social justice,' according to the American Library Association. 'As the organized attempts to censor materials in libraries persist, we must continue to unite and protect the freedom to read and support our library workers, especially at a time when our nation's libraries are facing threats to funding and library professionals are facing threats to their livelihood,' American Library Association President Cindy Hohl said in a statement. More than 5,000 books were challenged in the U.S. last year, a sharp drop from 2023's 9,021 books. However, the American Library Association attributes this drop to underreporting, rules prohibiting library workers from purchasing certain books requiring them to be placed in a certain area and legislative restrictions. Several states — including Florida, Iowa, Texas, and Utah — have passed laws restricting what school librarians can acquire and provide to students in recent years. The most challenged books last year included All Boys Aren't Blue by George M. Johnson, Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe and The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison.
