BRENHAM ISD PULLS 32 BOOKS FROM HIGH SCHOOL LIBRARY FOR REVIEW AFTER COMPLAINTS
Brenham ISD is in the process of reviewing 32 books at the high school library following complaints brought forth at last week’s school board meeting that they were not age-appropriate.
Brenham ISD Communications Director Brooke Trahan said the 32 books have been pulled from the library while they are individually evaluated to determine whether they are suitable. Per the school district’s library policy, the books are removed if there is a complaint.
During the October 16th trustee meeting, two residents, Brit and Eddie Colanter, came forward to express disapproval of books at the high school library that they said contained “sexually explicit” material. The two, who Brenham ISD stated do not have children in the school district, read book excerpts before later providing the district with a list of the books they were concerned about.
One of the books read at the meeting was “A Clash of Kings”, which served as the basis for a portion of the events of the HBO series “Game of Thrones”. According to Trahan, the book was listed on the library’s online catalog, but the catalog had not been updated to reflect that the book was not available and has not been in any Brenham ISD library for several years. Trahan said the couple did not reach out with their complaints prior to the school board meeting.
Brenham ISD’s lead librarian and the high school campus librarian, Charlotte Polk and Gwen Waller, are working in conjunction with the district’s Executive Director of Leading and Learning, Christine Johnson, and a reconsideration committee to review the material of the books.
According to the library policy, the committee is comprised of the school library media specialist, a teacher, a school administrator and a member of the community. The committee will review the concerns presented and inform the librarians of its decision.
Individuals requesting book reconsideration are notified once the process is completed. If the committee’s decision is considered unsatisfactory, an appeal can be submitted to the district administration. If necessary, the decision will go before the school board for review.
Trahan said Johnson and Peggy Still, Brenham ISD’s Director of Continuous Learning, met on Wednesday with the couple who spoke at the board meeting to explain where the district was at in reviewing the books at the high school and go over library policy and procedure.
No timeline was provided for how long the review process may take.
Last week, a couple who recently moved here from California visited the Brenham ISD Board Meeting. By their appearance, it looked like pair was there to talk about something constructive. After all, the husband is a teacher at a local Christian school, and the wife is a retired epidemiologist who won praise from her former employer, San Diego County, for her COVID-19 research. Unfortunately, this couple didn’t.
The trouble began when the wife spoke. She wasn’t there to talk about school taxes or their children’s education. Instead, spun a yarn about about finding sexually explicit books in the “teen room” at the Brenham Public Library while on a school field trip with her kids. There is no “teen room” at the library, and her kids were on a field trip sponsored by the private school husband teaches at – not BISD. After this deception, she read aloud a VERY graphic sexually explicit passage from the book she found in the room that doesn’t exist. All while every man, woman, and child was forced to listen.
When it was her husband’s turn to comment, he doubled down on offending the families and children he claimed he was trying to protect. I didn’t think it was possible to get more graphic than the passage his wife read, but he managed. He even included curse words that would make a sailor blush with shame. When one official had enough and implored him to think of the children in the room, he continued. He also continued after parents tried to shout him down.
Why would anyone, much less a Christian school teacher, do this? These two said it was to “protect the children.” They said the sexually explicit material they read from is in BISD libraries. More hogwash. The book they read from was briefly in the BHS library six years ago but was removed after a review found it wasn’t appropriate for our kids.
Anyone at BISD could have told them this if they’d just asked. While our librarians try to catch all inappropriate material, they are human, and sometimes things slip through the cracks. BISD has a process in place for that though. A community member can object to materials for any reason – simply by filling out a one page form.
That triggers a process that immediately removes the material from BISD libraries and starts a review by a committee of our neighbors: a teacher, an administrator, a librarian, and a non-staff community member. If the objector doesn’t agree with the committee’s decision, they can appeal to central administration and the school board.
Instead of doing that though, these folks took the low road. Their actions harmed our children, offended parents, and reeked of California-style “gotcha” politics. Their actions show they are clearly out of step with our values. But what do they care? He teaches at, and their children attend, a private school.
A side note: I question the judgement of any school that lets a teacher continue to teach after he violated families and children at a public forum by forcing them to listen to him drop f bombs and read sexually graphic material that would offend even the most jaded adults.
This isn’t San Diego or San Francisco. We’re blessed to live in the Birthplace of Texas. We know and trust our neighbors – especially the neighbors who pour their hearts into educating our children. If we have a problem, we stay respectful and try to settle the matter without making a fuss because we know our neighbors will work together with us to solve any problem. Our state motto may be “Friendship,” but it’s hard to become friends with Californians who would harm our children in an attempt to score cheap political points.
Don’t California my Brenham.
Oh NOW we hear the rest of the story. Thank you Sir, I appreciate it very much. Half truths and word twisting to make a name for themselves in our small town. That’s really the name of the game. We have enough teachers, most of us DO have small town religious thinking and they wanted their name and faces ‘out there’ how do I know? Because I’ve seen it done over and over in the past 46 years I’ve lived on Brenham. Instead of being constructive, these newcomers try to point out everything wrong we’re doing instead of praise for everything we’re doing right. Do we get everything right? No, but we surely don’t get everything wrong either.
It seems the part you have wrong is that California is as woke as it gets. It sounds like this mom is trying to un-California our Texas. This is unacceptable to have this type of material in our children’s school parading around as literature. I’m glad it’s being removed and I hope that books as well as curriculum with have a higher standard of scrutiny before being placed on the shelves or in our children’s hands.
Indeed, there is a teen room @ the Nancy Carol Roberts Memorial Library. It’s the last door on the right past the circulation desk.
Has the district provided a list of the books? I’m interested in the other titles – I only saw one title mentioned specifically.
Schools should not be in the business of sexualizing minors! How can some of you defend adults providing sexual material to minors? And to top it off, doing it with our tax dollars when the district is already in financial shambles.
Wow, this blows my mind that so many people are ok with R rated books available in a public SCHOOL library. If you are a minor you can not see an R rated movie without a parent, yet, our tax dollars are being used to furnish age inappropriate books to minors WITHOUT their parents permission. How does this prepare them for the ACT? Does this help them master math, English, History and other important subjects, NO it doesn’t. Brenham has had a terrible bullying problem for decades, we had to pull our daughter out of the school because of it. Brenham schools are running a HUGE deficit, yet, our tax dollars are being used to supply R rated and worse material to our kids without our permission? Morality is he PARENTS responsibility, NOT THE SCHOOLS.
Sorry that your child had to endure a bullying problem. I agree that “morality” is not the business of schools. Education is and education involves a knowledge of subjects that some think should be off limits. Age appropriate should be the concern. If society takes into account everyone’s self perceived biases, religion, traditions and cultural values … what could be taught in school that wouldn’t offend someone? What the children of today cannot find on library shelves can be easily accessed on their cell phones or computers. Are you aware of the lyrics to songs played at sporting events in this traditional town? Give it up. Censoring or trying to personally define “morality” is a fight you have already lost. Perhaps the churches of our fair town should do a better job of emulating JESUS rather than bowing the knee to political entities. Education just might include a knowledge of things and subjects some consider “woke”. My advice is we all had better “wake up”.
It used to be that you could expect that a children’s library would not have sexually explicit material while also having plenty of implicit material. This was acceptable to most it appeared. Now its not. Now it seems a good portion of our voting population is perfectly fine with exposure of all kinds to children in public schools. Why? The short answer is that it creates a common corrupted culture that splits from its cleaner roots. Essentially, they are saying if I am spoilt and indulgent I want to your children to have every opportunity to join me and infringing on that right violets my rights and my right to force my decadence into your life, vision and listening range.
School choice and the Texas voucher system denies the common corruption of children for all. Its a decent start to freedom of consciousness in an increasingly wayward people. We will never agree again on what is common good. Selflessness over identity, sex over gender, playing a game over sports idolization, healthy living over obesity, content control over proliferation of porn and social media, the list goes on. Our differences are not bridgeable because our morality differences are not bridgeable.
Best thing we can do is start with programs like the voucher system and expand them to other areas of tax payer funding as they offer the freedom conscience to all. Anything else just forces views on others while taking their tax money and creates hostility, just like what books are good for children to read.
It stuns me that it to someone who doesn’t have children in the school district that addressed the issue. What are all the parents who do have kids in the school district doing? That is concerning.
Propaganda
School choice already exists in Texas already exists and has for decades. The voucher scam will merely redirect taxpayer dollars into greedy pockets at the expense of students
Perfectly stated! Amen!!!
Including a list in the article of the 32 books being reviewed, would definitely seem to be pertinent information for the public to know.
Brenham becoming woke
Exactly the opposite of woke.
How long have these books been around without complaints. Books are NOT the issue, it is the parents or lack of that always seem to know “best” people get a life. Concern yourself with what’s going on around you!
It is the parents responsibility to teach morality to their kids, it is inexcusable that r rated books are being provided to our kids with our tax dollars WITHOUT our consent, this is NOT the schools job Brenham schools need to stop the bullying, teach the three R’s, prepare the kids for their ACT’s and so on, these books do NOTHING to to further the actual purpose of schools. The Brenham schools need to get their spending under control and STOP SPENDING TAX DOLLARS on age inappropriate materials.
Public school districts in Texas are mandated constitutionally to be nonpartisan, but instead have become highly politicized. The 88th Texas Legislature opened the session with circus sideshow issues regarding gender equity, critical race theory, banning of library materials, drag shows, diversity, equity, and inclusion. The 88th Texas Legislature whipped up the population into a cultural frenzy and this was intentional.
The main event for this legislative circus is bills in support of school vouchers, and limited interest from the Legislature to sufficiently fund the Texas public school system as mandated by the state constitution. Sounds like political blackmail, especially when the governor threatens to primary any majority party member not supporting school vouchers. Please don’t allow the public school system, to be held hostage by political pressure from any political party.
A fondness for clowns usually includes a circus, just don’t want the clowns to be political or religious charlatans.
Some of you people want books you don’t approve of removed from public libraries as well. That is not your right. I agree that you need to be more concerned about banning fire arms and not books. Books don’t kill!! So many turn their heads the other way because they say owning firearms is their right and criticize others not respecting their rights. We have such a hypocritical society. Too many people try to rule other people with their ideas and opinions and demanding their rights. People just moving in to a community trying to stir things up. We don’t need that!
Fire arms don’t kill either…it’s the evil one holding it that kills. So the problem is a complete reversal of morals that’s the problem…including having inappropriate books in school libraries.
And inappropriate books, movies, music and other content freely available from the Internet does not in any way contribute to the corruption of morals in this insane society of ours??? Kids do not have to beg for their parent’s permission to see R rated movies. They can easily find any genre of materials from the Internet on their cell phones … while sitting in the library! At least “woke” people did “wake up”. The school system cannot fix dysfunctional morality created by a godless and lawless society. Define inappropriate and when you do, get movie and music producers to agree. When does vulgar song lyrics become an art form? Should a movie in which the actors curse, shoot and kill, lie in bed naked or simulate sex acts be allowed on the tube? Get a “free” society where each person has individual Constitutional rights TO AGREE to your definition of “inappropriate”. This nation fell apart over whether or not our government has the authority to impose a mask mandate or mandate citizens get vaccinated during the COVID pandemic. It is a waste of time to keep preaching to the choir! I agree that some content SHOULD NOT be made available to students. That is my moral judgement. The legality of the law is quite different. When you pray for rain you have to deal with the mud too. Welcome to the good ole USA!
Yes, children may be able to hunt down a certain book, since a few do not have the authority to outright ban books entirely (thank goodness). But, as adults flexing restrictive powers we are creating a closed minded, ignorant society. “Removing books has a negative impact because it is censorship. When you censor certain ideas and beliefs, you create a more xenophobic and ignorant society. This is teaching students that it is okay to stop an idea or viewpoint from being heard because they don’t agree with it. ” When you actually parent you don’t need to worry about your children “learning”, their moral compass will swing back to what they have been taught and role modeled from you. I want my kids to learn about everything, yes, even sex.
Reading these comments saddens me. So the majority think it’s ok to have sexually explicit materials available for our children? The morals of this country worry me. My kids are grown but I have grandkids who won’t attend public schools for reasons just like this. It seems anything goes at BISD. Drug sales, gambling, etc is the norm. You hear about it constantly but nothing is being done to stop it. Apparently parents and the school board think it’s ok.
The books were pulled through the HS library. Since most HS kids have cell phones in their pocket, and internet access at home, it seems that they already have access to sexually explicit information already. Not to mention, most of these “children” are probably already sexually active. The only thing pulling books from the school library does is give a false sense of security to those that have their head in the sand and believe this act will save their children’s sole.
What’s sad is that you think that none of these other issues exist in private schools. You and so many others have your head buried so far down in the sand it is unbelievable. I would also say that your grands have been exposed to sexually explicit content if they have a cell phone or any friends.
Schools should not be making books with pornographic material available to our children in school. If a librarian or other school official makes the decision to purchase and make sexually explicit material available to our children, we have a problem. Schools should not be in the business of sexualizing children. If parents want to purchase explicit materials for their children through other means, that is their right, but it’s not the place of schools. The disintegration of the family is the number one problem in our society. Schools should be part of the solution rather than further contributing to the problem.
There are bigger problems than this. Personally, I don’t really care if the books are there or not because students can get much more graphic sexually explicit content on their phones or computers at home. They are not searching out the high school library to find it. We now live in a world of easy access to any and all types of content/information. If it is desired, it can and will be found with minimal effort. These are “kids” who are already or only a couple years away from being 18 and considered adults to make their own decisions. The high school years should be spent having to let them learn how to think for themselves, moderate themselves, and how to make decisions for their own life. The world is not filtered this way. Helicopter parenting has always worked so well…
Two people complain about some books. They do not even have kids in the school. Yet the school board will bend over backward to protect their rights, yet all other parents and students have no rights. Appears the woke nation has arrived in Brenham. Want to turn your people into sheep take away books you do not like. So they may not learn about what really goes on in the world. Just another freedom taken away. one by one until there are none.
I do use my real name.
Hi David
You’ve confused awaken humans who believe in Choices with a Republican Party who wants to take away rights and without the years of Teaching and Library Education get to dictate great works like Samuel Clemmons.
You have to be educated to know he wrote under the Pen Name Mark Twain. Yes he was a Racist. Great place for a teaching moment.
What Is the Most Banned Book in America? For all time, the most frequently banned book is 1984 by George Orwell. (How very Orwellian!) The most banned and challenged book for 2020 was George by Alex Gino.
When my daughter was six in 1992 I bought all 100 banned classic books 📚 This way they would be available of her to read. Every child, when old enough, should have the choices.
I’ve taken the “Oath” to Support and Defend the Constitution of The United States Against All Enemies Foreign and Domestic, three times. USAF, Colorado Air National Guard and a 2020 Census Taker.
We Defend Freedoms not Take Them Away.
Maybe if all of you “anonymous commenters” would parent your child others wouldn’t feel the need to speak for all children. The high school is full of bullies and below grade level students who the teachers have no control of. Maybe worry about your children and quit attacking people who are trying to make the public school system better. After we pulled our kids out of public school, we realized they were below grade level making A’s at BISD last year. So live in denial that your children are getting a good education in BISD. I hope school choice passes so BISD is held accountable. If you haven’t noticed, anyone with any resources or ability are pulling their kids out of BISD. Go to a school board meeting instead of being a keyboard warrior. Save your bless your hearts and torches talk for those who want to hear it. Also, how many of these commenters are actually from Brenham? Or are they just bringing their bad politics and “drag shows”from the cities they ruined? Remember Austin is just down the road and I think you would all be better suited there.
Launching a baseless attack against the schools in a fit of fascist rage against books is in no way attempting to help improve BISD. If anything, it HURTS the district by further stirring up animosity against educators; perhaps the exact goal of such instigators.
Control of information is the attempt at control of thought, which soo many Religious and Ideological Extreme groups, and others, have done for thousands of years.
The amount of garbage “entertainment” that is available for all of us on the TV or on ALL of our cell phones is just fine though.
It is everywhere.
A book is one of the last sources of information that doesn’t change. It can not be censored, erased, changed, or otherwise ruined by the digital age. It is written, then printed. You either read it or not.
This is not the Middle East, or Germany/Italy during WWII. This is AMERICA! FREEDOM OF THOUGHT AND EXPRESSION!
I have children in Burton ISD, and I also pay taxes to the Brenham ISD.
Books are just that, books.
The internet, and the real world, are much worse. Knowledge is power.
I have read many things in my life, and it gave me great information.
It did not turn me into a Greek God, Hobbit, or a Cat in a Hat. These are High Scool Students, not 2nd graders.
More information is the best answer, not information selected by a privileged few!
Keep Austin Weird!
Thank you. Well said !!!
I wish this much attention was put onto what these kids actually do in school. I have viewed many videos on my childs phone that have been taken at Brenham High School and kids are crusing the parking lot or hallways making and uploading tiktok videos, sleeping in class, fighting in the parking lot, restroom, and/or hallway of the school, and acutally vaping in class. This doesn’t even mention videos of things happening outside of school. Let’s fix these problems before we spend time on books that aren’t even being read most likely. All of the previous comments are 100% accurate. These people seem to be on a witch hunt. As a previous commenter stated….Let’s try to get students into the library first before we start knocking books off the shelves.
🙄🙄🙄
Just wake up and take the time to check out Sen John Kennedy reads aloud sexual graphic books. Texas also ranks #1 in use of foul lanuage, are we peoud of this?
Books don’t kill children. Firearms are the number one cause of death among those under 18 years old. Why someone would rather ban books than weapons is beyond me.
There are already plenty of restrictions on weapons. Instead of shifting the blame, let’s focus on the mental heath crisis in America. Our kids need help.
True; but, let’s get the adults in the room some help first!
This is ridiculous. I don’t know what books they want yanked from the shelves but seeing as they don’t have children in the school in question-what business of it, is theirs.? As parents it is our duty to expose thru discussion our children to a variety of things that will come in question at some point in their lives, the topics should be raised so that they may be discussed at home and so that our children can hear their parents view point. I would rather my children hear it from me instead of ‘hearing it on the street or from friends’ like most of us did not too long ago. I also feel if a child is mature enough to read and u derstand it, it should be made available to them. Not porn of course but thru literature. Good grief.
Books are a form of expression, just like music and art. When we pull books from a library that is equivalent to telling our students what music they can listen too or make, what composer they can admire, and what art they can draw. Parents who choose not to send their children to BISD are now in control of what BISD students can access? How is this right or fair?
Everyone who lives in the district pays taxes for the district regardless if they have children or not. That alone gives them the right to speak up. The point is not to remove access, but to remove access from within the school. I assume you hold the same position on allowing kids unfiltered access to the internet while on campus?
Perfectly put!!
Yeah but we also don’t play cardi b’s song “wet” over the intercom at school now do we. The students are there to learn parent are their to raise their children less is so that and stop indoctrinating our kids
Wrong. I have kids at the high school and you’d be surprised at what they tell me they play over the intercom.
Books are a form of expression, but sometimes the way people express themselves is not appropriate for high school-aged students. Frankly, parents and teachers SHOULD be talking to students about what they choose to read, listen to, and expose themselves to. Overly sexualized material can cause many long-term issues as these students continue to age. Removing books from a high school library that are not appropriate is not a book ban and it certainly is not as extreme as burning a book. As I read these ridiculous responses below it is obvious why we have so many young adults growing up unable to function as productive people. I applaud Mr. and Mrs. Colanter for caring enough to take a stand. More concerned citizens who love and care about our kids should be doing the same thing. The school should be held accountable for what it exposes our kids to.
What percentage of students are actually checking out library books? My high school aged younger sibling is not required to check out library books, so it’s obviously not mandatory. And if I had to guess a large majority of students aren’t spending a lot of time in the high school library based on Texas literacy rates and continuously declining exam scores. Much less, are students checking out a George R. R. Martin book that most adults can’t even decipher.
This whole topic is ridiculous and is creating a problem that doesn’t even exist. Has anyone stopped to wonder if bringing attention to this ridiculous subject encourages students to seek out these “concerning books” elsewhere? But why would they when they have direct access to way worse content on the phones you so willingly let them have access to.
I mean, how dare teenagers have the slightest bit of curiosity. The world they’re about to get thrust into does not care about what they will be exposed to once they’ve crossed the stage. Trying to hide the fact that these things exist isn’t going to protect teens just because parents are too scared to have uncomfortable conversations with them.
Let’s try to get students into the library first before we start knocking books off the shelves.
Someone come get their memaw and papaw as they are circling with their torches & burn barrels. This is pure spectacle. And I do mean spectacle. This was strictly to create discord and controversy, as you did not contact the school with your concerns before marching into a public meeting to create, yes, a spectacle. As your children do not attend that school, you should really mind your own business. My family is perfectly capable of “policing” our children and did not ask, nor do we want your input on their literary needs. Please keep your dirty fascist paws off of our libraries. Bless your hearts!
Agreed!
Agree
Thank you for this article. Though one of the two books read in the meeting had (thankfully) been removed from the library already (but the call numbers were still in their library catalog), the book I read a portion of was “Lucky” and this book was still in the library as well as over 30 other books containing graphic sexually explicit material.
It’s not known how long these books have been in the library and why they weren’t aware of their elicit content. Nevertheless, BISD’s new library policy adopted in Sept. of this year should be useful for weeding out these materials going forward- they are often unsolicited books sent by publishers.
I want to commend BISD and school board trustees Archer Archer, Kyle Haffner and others, as well as president Lange, the acting superintendent, the Principal of Brenham High School who all took immediate action to indeed protect our kids and support us parents in efforts to ensure that this type of literature is not in the school library.
For the record, we have had a child at BHS for the last 2 years until a few months ago, but think that regardless, all good citizens have the responsibility to protect children from harmful, graphic, sexually explicit materials.
Your kid is a sophomore in high school… probably 16? Did you know what sex was when you were 16? Hiding it because it’s “inappropriate” may be suitable for younger kids but yours is in highschool and almost an adult..
Unbelievable that people who do not even have children in our schools are hollering and complaining about books in our high school. I can understand elementary concerns but not at high school age levels!! Get real! They should be able to pick what they read at this age. If people are worried about what kids are exposed to, by all means prohibit them from computers and cell phones. Those are gateways to the world of knowledge, good and bad! You should be more worried that kids are exposed to them every day for hours!!! Hence www. com which of course is world wide web. Very dangerous! Some people need to find things to do with time on their hands. It is not up to you people to censor for everyone. If it bothers you, don’t read it. Don’t see r-rated movies. Don’t go to drag queen shows! You make the choice for you. Not your problem and not your business what other people see, read or do.
If speeding bothers you, don’t do it. If throwing trash on the ground bothers you, don’t do it. We as a society have decided that collectively we don’t have a clue on how to manage ourselves and ask someone else to do it for us. That’s why we have laws and committees and rating systems. Do you think our community’s youth would benefit from having access to sexually explicit material while on campus? School should be a safe place for all youth, an environment that fosters critical thinking. It should not be a place for children to find out what their kink is.
Most intelligent folk do agree that some “literary” materials should not be available in school libraries and made available to students. Not banned; but, NOT AVAILABLE. Now, here is a reality check for ya! With cell phones, Internet, Snap Chat, Tik Tok and the like … students ALREADY have access to sexually explicit, vulgar and inappropriate music, racist, dark web and otherwise insane materials! Wake up!
Sad but true, it is too late to censor these impressionable children. Removing and banning books is just a “feel good movement” that will do little to stop the mental and spiritual corruption of students. Society has already accomplished that. Besides, television shows and commercials pipe enough inappropriate and unwanted “trash” into our homes.
The books being bought and provided with our tax dollars in the public schools is the business of EVERYONE that pays school taxes.
These two people should be ashamed of themselves for what they did at the school board meeting. Go back and listen to it – it’s disgusting.
So, are you saying what they read was disgusting? If so, that is proof the books should NEVER have been in a public school. Yeah, yeah, I know, one book was already removed but still listed as being in the library and available according to the card catalogue, why in the world was it ever approved?
Banning books is not good.
Others have banned books, it is never good.
No one is forced to read these books.
If the book has more advanced content, then it should be classified as so, and put in a advanced section.
Books are good. Knowledge is good. Banning books is bad.
More books, not less.
Let the reader make their own decisions.
Agreed, and if it’s too “advanced” for high school aged kids, remove it from the high school library. No one is banning books, just suggesting better restrictions for the youth. If the children want to read that book so badly, for the sake of art, then they can access that book somewhere other than the school library.
They may be able to hunt a certain book down, but we as adults are setting a bad example. Creating a closed minded less intelligent society. “Removing books has a negative impact because it is censorship. When you censor certain ideas and beliefs, you create a more xenophobic and ignorant society. This is teaching students that it is okay to stop an idea or viewpoint from being heard because they don’t agree with it. ”
Restricting available books in the SCHOOL library is NOT banning books, it is no different than requiring a parent to be with a minor to get into an R rated movie. It is inexcusable that R rated books are available to our kids WITHOUT our permission. Schools need to concentrate on stopping bullying, teaching the required subjects, preparing kids for the ACT and so on, R rated books DO NOT belong in public school libraries.
Just exactly who says a book is R rated?
What does R rated even mean anymore.
When I was a kid, in the 80’s, rated R was nakedness, cuss words, and bloody murder. That is now the norm for PG-13.
Who decides these things? A preacher? An uptight Mom, or Grandparent?
Almost ever child that is in school, from elementary to high school has a cell phone. They can, and do, see far more explicit content on their personal computer weekly than they could by reading ALL of the banned books put together. The fact is, most kids are not reading anyway. It’s too late for all of this censorship anyhow.
Kids get all of their information from the cell phones, and the cell phones are full of BS nonsense, short video clip, moronic garbage daily!
Get a clue.
Books are not the problem.
Censorship, and all of it’s promoters are the problem, period.