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Post by librarylady on Aug 17, 2022 2:56:54 GMT
Texas district pulls the Bible, Anne Frank adaptation as schools face more book backlash
A day before kids return to class, Keller school officials instructed campuses to pull any book that was challenged last year from library shelves. This includes those that were flagged but later approved by a committee to remain in libraries and classrooms. Among the titles recently challenged by parents and community members: Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye, Anne Frank’s Diary (The Graphic Adaptation) and The Bible. Several of the other 41 books tell the stories of LGBT and Black characters. “Books that meet the new guidelines will be returned to the libraries as soon as it is confirmed they comply with the new policy,” associate superintendent John Allison wrote. “We hope to be able to expedite the process and return eligible books into circulation as soon as possible.” The Texas Education Agency opened an investigation into Keller ISD last year because of concerns that it had sexually explicit books available to children. Jennifer Price, the district’s curriculum director, emailed principals a set of instructions Tuesday morning, along with a spreadsheet of every challenged title. “By the end of today, I need all books pulled from the library and classrooms,” she wrote. “More information will be sent regarding action for these books. … Once this has been completed, please email me a confirmation. We need to ensure this action is taken by the end of today.” District spokesman Bryce Nieman said Keller school trustees recently approved a new policy that requires every book that was previously challenged to be reconsidered. He said he is unsure of the timeline for when the re-review process will be completed. Later in the day Tuesday, an email went out to Keller principals and librarians, acknowledging that many people had questions about the decision to remove books. The district was flooded with complaints about inappropriate books, part of a national fight that’s been egged-on by conservative Republican leaders targeting titles about race, gender and sexuality. So for months, Keller parents, community members and staff met behind closed doors to review the challenged books and determine whether they should remain in classrooms or libraries. The debate is so heated members of the district’s Book Challenge Committees were asked to sign confidentiality agreements. Keller officials argued that the district kept its book challenge committee deliberations secret in part because of fear of retribution from Gov. Greg Abbott’s office. The district maintains an evolving web page that lists every book challenged by parents or community members — along with the results of each committee’s deliberation. At this point, those decisions appear moot. The committee decided The Bluest Eye and The Bible would remain in their current locations. At least one person challenged the Bible due to its “sexual content, violence including rape, murder, human sacrifice, misogyny, homophobia, discrimination, and other inappropriate content,” according to documents obtained by The Dallas Morning News. The person who challenged Anne Frank’s Diary (The Graphic Adaptation) wrote to school officials that it should be viewed in the presence of an adult. Many of the books that were challenged center around gay or transgender characters. Those include I Am Jazz (the majority of the committee voted to leave the book in a campus library) and All Boys Aren’t Blue (the committee agreed the book should remain in high schools). Several of the books challenged in Keller appeared on a list circulated by Rep. Matt Krause last year. Related:Threats from Gov. Abbott are among reasons a Texas school district is keeping book challenges secret The Fort Worth Republican sent superintendents a letter listing more than 800 titles asking officials to identify whether those books were in schools, where they were located and how much money was spent on them. An analysis of Krause’s list by The News found that of the first 100 titles listed, 97 were written by women, people of color or LGBT authors. His request poured gasoline on the fight over books in Texas, which has continued to escalate. Keller was among North Texas districts where conservative PACS poured big money into local school board May elections. Other North Texas districts are similarly embroiled in fights over books. Also this week, Rep. Jared Patterson, R-Frisco, submitted challenges for nearly two dozen books in Frisco ISD. He labeled them “graphic and obscene” and said many of them had already been pulled in nearby districts. Among the titles he flagged were two also challenged in Keller: All Boys Aren’t Blue by George Johnson, which is about what it’s like growing up as a queer Black man, and Ashley Hope Pérez’s Out of Darkness, a doomed love story between a Mexican American girl and an African American boy, leading up to the 1937 New London school explosion. Patterson chastised Frisco’s leadership for not banning as many books as other local districts. Frisco has shown it is committed to ensuring libraries don’t have sexually explicit material, spokeswoman Meghan Cone said in a statement. Officials adopted new guidelines for book purchases and are reviewing their collections for age-appropriateness. “It will take some time for staff to work through more than 1 million books across 75 campuses,” she said. “We welcome and appreciate parents and community members who bring book concerns to our attention.” Patterson has continued to post criticism of Waldrip, including in a June post where he said he would not rest until “significant changes” are made both in Frisco and across the state. Free speech advocates have watched Texas districts’ actions with alarm. They say children need access to books with diverse characters and storylines so they can both see themselves reflected in literature as well as have their worldview widened by the experiences of others. In Keller, “the sweeping attempt to remove these titles from classrooms and libraries on the eve of a new school year is an appalling affront to students’ First Amendment rights,” Jonathan Friedman, director of free expression at the nonprofit advocacy organization PEN America, said in a statement. “It is virtually impossible to run a school or a library that purges books in response to any complaint from any corner.”
www.dallasnews.com/news/education/2022/08/16/texas-school-staff-told-to-pull-bible-anne-frank-adaptation-from-libraries/?Mary Croix Ludwick ludwick@swbell.net -- Membership management place: groups.google.com/forum/#!managemembers/stumpers-talk/members/active --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Stumpers-Talk" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to stumpers-talk+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com. |
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Post by lucyg on Aug 17, 2022 4:18:02 GMT
This just makes me sick. ugh
Thanks for posting.
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Post by miominmio on Aug 17, 2022 4:47:59 GMT
The Nazis banned books, too
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Post by epeanymous on Aug 17, 2022 10:08:48 GMT
People are the absolute worst.
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Post by Bridget in MD on Aug 17, 2022 11:24:54 GMT
The Nazis banned books, too exactly. do they not see History repeating? or just not care? Of course i saw the first word is "Texas" and thought, no surprise there... I read The Bluest Eye in college. That is a really difficult book and I am glad I was older when I read it. But my DD freaking read the Handmaids Tale as a Junior - I'm shocked they haven't removed that too. ironically, also how the world is shaping up these days.  |
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casii
Drama Llama
Posts: 5,588 
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Post by casii on Aug 17, 2022 11:57:09 GMT
First day of school in my county and all I can think is I surely wish people were as concerned about kids getting shot in school as they are worried about them reading a few books.
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Post by miominmio on Aug 17, 2022 11:57:48 GMT
The Nazis banned books, too exactly. do they not see History repeating? or just not care? Of course i saw the first word is "Texas" and thought, no surprise there... I read The Bluest Eye in college. That is a really difficult book and I am glad I was older when I read it. But my DD freaking read the Handmaids Tale as a Junior - I'm shocked they haven't removed that too. ironically, also how the world is shaping up these days. It’s not that they «just not care». It is the world they want. And if Trump wins the next election, we will have a fascist leader in Russia and another in the US, who seems to be on great terms (and with China, too). Will the three of them divide the rest of the world between them? |
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Post by monklady123 on Aug 17, 2022 12:03:05 GMT
Ugh. Although I'm kind of laughing at the Bible being removed... I mean, we know these wacko conservatives *want* the Bible in schools, along with prayer (their kind only, of course), etc. I wonder who it was who challenged it? Probably a progressive type trying to push back on book banning.  |
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Post by revirdsuba99 on Aug 17, 2022 15:29:10 GMT
A Jewish group took the Bible issue to court in Florida awhile ago.
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mimima
Drama Llama
Stay Gold, Ponyboy
Posts: 5,213
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Post by mimima on Aug 17, 2022 16:19:56 GMT
The leopards ate their face.
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Post by delila on Aug 17, 2022 17:34:13 GMT
They take away the Bible in one school district in Texas but very close by they add a shit ton of signs that say “In God We Trust”.
This happened in the Carol school district and it is all legal because of a law that was passed allowing this.
I’m sure the Jewish, Muslim, Atheist and others are feeling very welcome in their public schools right now.
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Post by littlemama on Aug 17, 2022 17:39:23 GMT
Im not sure how I feel about this. If there arent copies of the Torah and the Quran in the library, then the bible shouldnt be there either- having only a christian book in the library could be seen as the school (an arm of the government essentially) promoting one religion over others, which is prohibited by the constitution.
If there are other religious texts for the purpose of studying and comparing religions, i wouldnt have an issue with that.
I dont believe in banning books overall. If a parent doesnt want their child to read a particular book, it is up to them to impose their beliefs on their child- NOT other people's children.
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Post by birukitty on Aug 17, 2022 19:13:55 GMT
I don't believe in banning books period!
I do agree that if the Bible is in a school library, then other religious texts should be there too such as the Torah, the Quran and so on. If they aren't than the Bible shouldn't be either.
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Post by hop2 on Aug 17, 2022 19:19:07 GMT
The Nazis banned books, too It’s ok to act like Hitler or Nazis as long as you don’t actually mention Hitler or Nazis 😜. ( huge sarcasm if you can’t tell ) |
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Post by revirdsuba99 on Aug 17, 2022 19:20:06 GMT
The Bible was removed because of it's content, murder, sex, rape etc ...
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Post by hop2 on Aug 17, 2022 19:20:12 GMT
Im not sure how I feel about this. If there arent copies of the Torah and the Quran in the library, then the bible shouldnt be there either- having only a christian book in the library could be seen as the school (an arm of the government essentially) promoting one religion over others, which is prohibited by the constitution. If there are other religious texts for the purpose of studying and comparing religions, i wouldnt have an issue with that. I dont believe in banning books overall. If a parent doesnt want their child to read a particular book, it is up to them to impose their beliefs on their child- NOT other people's children. Which I’m sure is why someone complained - not to mention the murders & such in there might not be age appropriate |
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Post by librarylady on Aug 17, 2022 19:22:22 GMT
I do agree that if the Bible is in a school library, then other religious texts should be there too such as the Torah, the Quran and so on. If they aren't than the Bible shouldn't be either. A professional librarian would have ordered all for the library....
If I had to guess on who complained about the Bible, I would guess someone who was trying to make the point that a book considered OK by many in the community has many of the same topics that were on the list of complaints.
Many conservatives are outraged that books about gay couples (especially gay teenagers) are in school libraries.
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Post by birukitty on Aug 17, 2022 19:27:40 GMT
I do agree that if the Bible is in a school library, then other religious texts should be there too such as the Torah, the Quran and so on. If they aren't than the Bible shouldn't be either. A professional librarian would have ordered all for the library....
If I had to guess on who complained about the Bible, I would guess someone who was trying to make the point that a book considered OK by many in the community has many of the same topics that were on the list of complaints.
Many conservatives are outraged that books about gay couples (especially gay teenagers) are in school libraries.
Yes, I understand that many conservatives are outraged that books about gay couples are in school libraries. They have a right to their opinion. What they don't have a right to is deciding what everyone else's children and young adult's have access to read. They have NO right to that. If they are upset about what their own children might come across in those school libraries-well then fine-they can homeschool their own children or send them to Christian private schools. Their choice. |
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Post by melanell on Aug 17, 2022 19:35:38 GMT
Im not sure how I feel about this. If there arent copies of the Torah and the Quran in the library, then the bible shouldnt be there either- having only a christian book in the library could be seen as the school (an arm of the government essentially) promoting one religion over others, which is prohibited by the constitution. If there are other religious texts for the purpose of studying and comparing religions, i wouldnt have an issue with that. I dont believe in banning books overall. If a parent doesnt want their child to read a particular book, it is up to them to impose their beliefs on their child- NOT other people's children. I agree with you. I am 100% fine with books about religion being in schools, so long as there is a wide selection of religions covered in the books being offered. I'm also fine with that same information being taught in classes. In fact I think every district should have a class that teaches kids about major religions of the world. It need not be a required class, but at least make it available. Maybe if more people had an actual knowledge of the basic history & belief system of at least some of the major religions and how those religions have contributed to both culture & history, people would be less inclined to believe whatever nonsense floats across their social media. And I absolutely agree that there should NOT be bibles in public schools unless there are also other religious texts available. |
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Post by redshoes on Aug 18, 2022 17:17:19 GMT
FYI, the books have not been *banned*. They were pulled temporarily to undergo another review against new policies approved by the Board. They were recently reviewed under the prior policies in place.
I live in Keller ISD and my kids attend KISD schools and the level of miscommunication in the media about this topic is ridiculous (I shouldn’t be surprised, right?).
All of the books in question were in response to PARENT and COMMUNITY MEMBER requests for review. I’m happy to live within a district that takes input from Parents/Community seriously.
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Post by iamkristinl16 on Aug 18, 2022 17:59:59 GMT
I read articles earlier this week about a county in Florida and some schools in Tennessee where teachers are told they have to remove all books from their classrooms, can’t read aloud, etc this school year. Seems that schools are trying to reduce their risk of making some parents angry by removing reading altogether. That is really sad. And that parents support as just “a review process” is infuriating. redshoes Which parents are reviewing the contents of the books to decide if they are ok? Have the parents who have concern actually read all of these books or are they using a list that was handed out by far right groups? Who is coming up with the “new” criteria? Where does it stop? What you deem inappropriate might be different than what I deem inappropriate and vice versa. This is all in a response to outrage fueled by right wing media and is another sign of the demise of society. |
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Post by revirdsuba99 on Aug 18, 2022 18:39:12 GMT
Kayleigh McNany on removing Bibles. A "classic historical text". Really? The Bible, the most read book in human history," McEnany remarked, "Over the last 50 years, nearly 4 billion copies have been sold. Compare that to Harry Potter, which is number three at 400 million." Not only that, foundation of the world's largest religion," she continued. "A classic historical text. If you don't believe it in the religious context, at least it can be appreciated in that context. But that's the one we're removing!" "What's so difficult to digest here is that the whim of a few has such an impact on the many," co-host Emily Compagno said. "This is literature that this school should be exposed to. And yet because someone else said we're going to review it again, all of the sudden it's back under review." www.rawstory.com/fox-news-bibles-in-school/ |
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Post by iamkristinl16 on Aug 18, 2022 18:54:34 GMT
Kayleigh McNany on removing Bibles. A"classic historical text". Really? The Bible, the most read book in human history," McEnany remarked, "Over the last 50 years, nearly 4 billion copies have been sold. Compare that to Harry Potter, which is number three at 400 million." Not only that, foundation of the world's largest religion," she continued. "A classic historical text. If you don't believe it in the religious context, at least it can be appreciated in that context. But that's the one we're removing!" "What's so difficult to digest here is that the whim of a few has such an impact on the many," co-host Emily Compagno said. "This is literature that this school should be exposed to. And yet because someone else said we're going to review it again, all of the sudden it's back under review." www.rawstory.com/fox-news-bibles-in-school/I bet they can’t see the irony in their statements. |
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Post by librarylady on Aug 18, 2022 19:07:09 GMT
FYI, the books have not been *banned*. They were pulled temporarily to undergo another review against new policies approved by the Board. They were recently reviewed under the prior policies in place. I live in Keller ISD and my kids attend KISD schools and the level of miscommunication in the media about this topic is ridiculous (I shouldn’t be surprised, right?). All of the books in question were in response to PARENT and COMMUNITY MEMBER requests for review. I’m happy to live within a district that takes input from Parents/Community seriously. Complaints should be taken seriously, but since all the books were reviewed by the parent and community members last school year, why are they currently pulled off the shelf for another parent and community committee review?
That makes it sound like "We will keep reviewing these books until someone removes them." Will another committee be formed next year for another review?
How many parent and committee reviews are needed? That is what puzzles me (and apparently others in the community).
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Post by librarylady on Aug 18, 2022 19:41:34 GMT
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Post by myshelly on Aug 18, 2022 19:57:07 GMT
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Post by redshoes on Aug 18, 2022 20:21:30 GMT
I read articles earlier this week about a county in Florida and some schools in Tennessee where teachers are told they have to remove all books from their classrooms, can’t read aloud, etc this school year. Seems that schools are trying to reduce their risk of making some parents angry by removing reading altogether. That is really sad. And that parents support as just “a review process” is infuriating. redshoes Which parents are reviewing the contents of the books to decide if they are ok? Have the parents who have concern actually read all of these books or are they using a list that was handed out by far right groups? Who is coming up with the “new” criteria? Where does it stop? What you deem inappropriate might be different than what I deem inappropriate and vice versa. This is all in a response to outrage fueled by right wing media and is another sign of the demise of society. The district outlines the whole process from general complaint to formally filing a challenge for a book which would go to committee review. Committees include at least 2 parent volunteers (that have to formally apply and are randomly selected) as well as school/district staff. So far, they appear to meet monthly and if I’m interpreting it correctly, the committee is different each month. It’s set up to be an ongoing process as books are questioned and the responses are also formally documented/presented, etc. I don’t know what the specifics of the new policies were and how they were different from the original policies. |
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Post by redshoes on Aug 18, 2022 20:28:38 GMT
FYI, the books have not been *banned*. They were pulled temporarily to undergo another review against new policies approved by the Board. They were recently reviewed under the prior policies in place. I live in Keller ISD and my kids attend KISD schools and the level of miscommunication in the media about this topic is ridiculous (I shouldn’t be surprised, right?). All of the books in question were in response to PARENT and COMMUNITY MEMBER requests for review. I’m happy to live within a district that takes input from Parents/Community seriously. Complaints should be taken seriously, but since all the books were reviewed by the parent and community members last school year, why are they currently pulled off the shelf for another parent and community committee review?
That makes it sound like "We will keep reviewing these books until someone removes them." Will another committee be formed next year for another review?
How many parent and committee reviews are needed? That is what puzzles me (and apparently others in the community).
I understand what your saying but I don’t think they are looking for ways to ban books, simply double check books already reviewed against the newer policy-and I don’t know the details between old and new policies, could be minor wording or a whole new objective, I have no idea. |
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Post by workingclassdog on Aug 18, 2022 20:28:58 GMT
Let's pull out Nancy Drew and Little House on the Prairie as well.
This is such bull. Pull the Bible, then pull all religious publications.
I went to Catholic school and studied the Bible as a kid for 8 years. I really don't remember rape, murder, etc. I doubt most kids would. Most of it went right above my head (as still does to an extent). But whatever..
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Post by sabrinae on Aug 18, 2022 20:41:11 GMT
Let's pull out Nancy Drew and Little House on the Prairie as well. This is such bull. Pull the Bible, then pull all religious publications. I went to Catholic school and studied the Bible as a kid for 8 years. I really don't remember rape, murder, etc. I doubt most kids would. Most of it went right above my head (as still does to an extent). But whatever.. You do realize the challenge to the Bible was almost certainly in response to people challenging other religious books and/or books that include LGTBQ+ representation. The Bible does in fact include rape, murder, human sacrifice and other objectionable content of your actually concerned about the content. But largely these challenges are just another attempt by the right to control everyone else. |
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