The vast majority of the books targeted by these groups for removal feature LGBTQ+ characters or characters of color, and/or cover race and racism in American history, LGBTQ+ identities, or sex education. , a story about two male penguins making a family together, based on the true story of two male penguins who formed a pair bond in New Yorks Central Park Zoo. In 2019, nine of the ten books most often banned from or challenged in schools or libraries were those related to sex or gender almost all due to their LGBTQ+ characters and themes. The term obscenity holds particular meaning in the legal sense. The Texas standards follow state representative Matt Krauses October 2021, initiating an inquiry into Texas school district content, as well as a, to the Texas Association of School Boards (TASB) from Gov. In other cases, districts followed policies that failed to afford full protection for freedom of expressionfor example, by restricting student access to books while they are under review, by failing to convene a committee to review the complaint, or by not having the complainant complete the paperwork or read the whole book to which they were objecting as required by the stated policies. The Cooperative Childrens Book Center at the School of Education, University of WisconsinMadison, has compiled statistics on diversity in childrens literature since 1985. that although they personally did not have children in the district, they were picked after attending a meeting hosted by FLCA. Some of the groups espouse, political views, while many have mission statements oriented toward reforming public schools, in some cases to offer more religious education. By April 2022, the district had said the books were being placed in restricted circulation (requiring a parents permission to check out) while they were being reviewed. They have inverted the purpose of lists compiled for teachers and librarians interested in introducing a more diverse set of reading materials into the classroom or library. The law has already had an impact, for example, in, , an omnibus bill on sex crimes and crimes against minors, included an amendment that makes it a class A misdemeanor if a person affiliated with a public or private elementary or secondary school provides explicit sexual material to a student, defined in the bill as applying only to visual depictions of genitals or sexual intercourse, not written descriptions. In Florida, some schools have covered or removed books under a new law that requires an evaluation of reading materials and for districts to publish a searchable list of books where individuals can then challenge specific titles. PEN America reported in the first edition of Banned in the USA (April 2022) that book bans had occurred in 86 school districts in 26 states in the first nine months of the 2021-22 school year. Such efforts often include a drive to change the obscenity determination used to ban booksusually without regard for the, . MassResistancewhich claims the January 6 attack on the US Capitol was clearly a setup and alleges a Black Lives Matter and LGBT assault on schoolstook credit for bringing these restrictions about, declaring, MassResistance gets involvedthings start happening! and referencing groomer moms in the community who opposed the removal of the 22 books. Other preemptive bans were responses to actions at the state level or in neighboring districts. The majority of these groups appear to have formed in 2021, and many of the banned books counted by PEN America can be linked in some way to their activities. In so doing, the district ran afoul of NCAC guidelines to ensure practices that advance fundamental pedagogical goals and not subjective interests.. For more details, please see the first edition of Banned in the USA (April 2022). Under the plurality Supreme Court decision in Island Trees v. Pico, banning or restricting books in public schools for content- or viewpoint-specific reasons is unconstitutional. Frequently referred to as the Dont Say Gay law, this legislation, on sexual orientation and gender identity in kindergarten through third grade, and also in grades 412 unless age appropriate and developmentally appropriate according to state standards. The country saw a growing effort to ban books in schools and libraries nationwide in 2022, and researchers expect to see more efforts to challenge books in 2023 as some Republican-backed laws across the country aim to restrict LGBTQ and racial content in school books. Such efforts often include a drive to change the obscenity determination used to ban booksusually without regard for the relevant legal standard. This book-banning effort is continuing as the 202223 school year begins too, with at least 139 additional bans taking effect since July 2022. These districts represent 5,049 schools with a combined enrollment of nearly 4 million students. Book banning and educational gag orders are two fronts in an all-out war on education and the open discussion and debate of ideas in America. The Nampa school board voted last month to remove several books from its libraries. At that time the library was staffed only one or two days a week, and I . And the Patmos Library in Jamestown . In other cases, districts followed policies that failed to afford full protection for freedom of expressionfor example, by, while they are under review, by failing to convene a, to review the complaint, or by not having the complainant complete the. While the effort to constrain teachers has primarily progressed in state legislaturesas PEN America has documented, most recently in our August 2022 report Americas Censored Classroomsand the effort to ban books has erupted mostly within local school districts, the two have increasingly merged, with some state legislators proposing or supporting bills that directly impact the selection and removal of books in school classrooms and libraries. The ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom records attempts to remove books from libraries, schools, and universities. These range from local Facebook groups to the nonprofit organization Moms for Liberty, a national-level organization that now has over 200 chapters. The inevitable result of the Frisco ISD and similar changes will be increased. Given the rapid spread of book bans across the country, it seems inevitable that the resulting climate of caution and fear will result in a reluctance among teachers, administrators, and librarians to take risks that could affect their own employment, their budgets, their reputations, and even their personal safety. Some groups without significant national operations have also had far reach. PEN Americas concern is not with the use of such standard organizing and mobilization tactics but rather with the end goal of restricting or banning books. As the school year progressed, those demanding book removals increasingly turned their attention to books that depict LGBTQ+ individuals or touch on LGBTQ+ identities, as well as books they claimed featured sexual content, including titles on sexual and reproductive health and sex education. note to patrons If you know of a school system that has challenged or banned books and you would like to contribute to this collection, YOU CAN! While many of these groups use language in their mission statements about, , some also make explicit calls for the exclusion of materials that touch on race (sometimes explicitly, The impact and role of these groups has been noted in dozens of cases of book challenges around the country. who lobby for its removal, as have dozens of books with LGBTQ+ themes or characters. PEN America defines a school book ban as any action taken against a book based on its content and as a result of parent or community challenges, administrative decisions, or in response to direct or threatened action by lawmakers or other governmental officials, that leads to a previously accessible book being either completely removed from availability to students, or where access to a book is restricted or diminished. Simply declaring a book obscene does not make it so. The complaints said materials were too focused on the countrys segregationist past and might make children feel uncomfortable about race. Other groups, including Utah Parents United, SCC Parents Association, and Dare to Share OBX, have issued calls to action for individuals to file criminal complaints about books. These trends are unfortunately likely to continue, as the chilling effect of these legislative measures spreads. and the effort to ban books has erupted mostly within local school districts, the two have increasingly merged, with some state legislators proposing or supporting bills that directly impact the selection and removal of books in school classrooms and libraries. Although the channels of influence and coordination among these groups are not always clear, and the groups range in size and impact, their role in the book banning movement of the past year is a consistent theme. Although the group instructed participants to return your library books on time and to follow the letter of the law, so to speak,, was an attempt to remove library materials from availability and to limit students access to LGBTQ+-affirming books. Beyond formal book bans, there have also been efforts to keep books out of the hands of children even if they remain in circulation. Broadly, this movement is intertwined with political movements that grew throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, including fights against mask mandates and virtual school, as well as disputes over critical race theory that in some states fueled the introduction of educational gag orders prohibiting discussion of divisive concepts in classrooms. Ashley Hope Prez, author of Out of Darkness (24 bans), Copyright 2023 PEN America. In 2020 . and referencing groomer moms in the community who opposed the removal of the 22 books. Opponents say the policy is a de facto book ban for materials related to the LGBTQ community and . Mary Woodard, president of the Texas Library Association, and her team launched an anonymous hotline on December 2021 to offer support to school librarians facing book challenges in Texas. PEN America saw dozens of lists that circulated online during the 202122 school year, and these also occasionally morphed or grew in the process of being shared among groups. With a mailing of their Porn in Schools report and follow-up via their legal representative, the Pacific Justice Institute, the FLCA pushed for bans across the state. the Court noted the special characteristics of the school library, making it especially appropriate for the recognition of the First Amendment rights of students, including the right to access information and ideas. It is simply false that 2,532 books were removed from schools during the 2021-2022 school year. The Alpine School District in Utah responded to a new law, in July, but then opted to keep the books on shelves with some, after national pushback. From April to June 2022, a third of all book bans recorded in the Index feature LGBTQ+ identities (92 bans). Some of the groups espouse Christian nationalist political views, while many have mission statements oriented toward reforming public schools, in some cases to offer more religious education. A raft of changes are making it easier to ban more books more quickly, undermining educators and librarians work and ultimately students rights to access information. This bestselling. 2022 saw the largest-ever number of attempted book bans in the more than 20 years that the American Library Association has been keeping records nearly double the number reported in 2021. of Forest Hills Parents United, based in Michigan. Since March 2022, we have also seen for the first time educational gag orders passed that implicate restrictions on books, most notably in Florida, as well as a range of other new laws that have put pressure on schools to censor their libraries. Violation of the law could lead to jail or fines for teachers, librarians, and school administrators. Whereas traditional book challenges were one-off incidents, the current pattern of escalating, copycat banned book efforts across the country is a testament to the ability of campaigners to leverage tools and communications channels to push for censorship across the country. in which 97% said they always, often, or sometimes weigh how controversial subject matter might be when deciding on book purchases is pointing clearly to these alarming trends. Even where such laws and policy changes have not been enacted, their chilling effect has been broadly felt. In the fall of 2021 in Williamson County Schools, Tennessee, Moms for Liberty pushed for a review of the reading curriculum, stating that the curriculum violated, ). After the review, the district published a report that outlined the relationship of complainants to the school district, and only 14 of the 37 complainants had children enrolled and affected by the curriculum targeted by the complaint. We should heed this warning. 1. In a similar example, Duval County Public Schools in Florida opted not to distribute sets of the Essential Voices Classroom Libraries collection of books after they had been purchased, flagged for concern over their content. The most banned book titles include the groundbreaking work of Nobel laureate Toni Morrison, along with best-selling books that have inspired feature films, television series, and a Broadway show. Organizations and groups involved in pushing for book bans have sprung up rapidly at the local and national levels, particularly since 2021. In Clark County, Nevada, the group Power2Parent successfully got a book removed from a 10th grade honors English class reading list. Although parents rights is a powerful piece of political rhetoric, in most instances, it is being invoked to mean rights for a particular group of parents with distinct ideological views, rather than a neutral effort to engage all parents and students in ensuring that schools uphold free speech rights. Catalog Search. Groups that enjoy political ties and advocacy resources are able to marshal political support behind their censorious campaigns, putting local teachers, administrators, and school board officials under pressure. Over the summer, more books were reported being removed from districts across the state, including a plan to pause classroom libraries entirely in, passed in March 2022 and will change the way school libraries operate, removing some local control and consolidating power at the state level. These groups share lists of books to challenge, and they employ tactics such as swarming school board meetings, demanding newfangled rating systems for libraries, using inflammatory language about grooming and pornography, and even filing criminal complaints against school officials, teachers, and librarians. In another sign of the escalation of tactics to restrict books, criminal charges have been pursued against school officials and librarians in a number of cases in the past year. In these cases, the term obscenity is being stretched in unrecognizable ways because the concept itself is widely accepted as grounds for limiting access to content. Alex, Reeths-Puffer High School Reading the article and these comments just makes me think."Jeez,. Most of these groups (including chapters) appear to have formed since 2021 (73 percent, or 262). (Douglas R. Clifford/Tampa Bay Times via AP). Books in the collection include, Fry Bread: A Native American Family Story. Tying the consideration of material containing sexual content to the Texas Penal Code, point 3 of which states that a harmful material is defined as one utterly without redeeming social value for minors. If a book falls afoul of the states harmful materials standardswhich are not aligned with Supreme Court jurisprudence defining obscenity in such worksit cannot be part of a school library. In Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District, a 1969 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court held that students do not shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate. Thirteen years later, in Board of Education, Island Trees Union Free School District v. Pico, the Court noted the special characteristics of the school library, making it especially appropriate for the recognition of the First Amendment rights of students, including the right to access information and ideas. These subject areas have long been the targets of censorship and been controversial from the perspective of age appropriateness, with standards and approaches varying from community to community about what is seen as the right age level for such material, as well as the degree to which these topics should be addressed in school as opposed to in the home. . Altogether, this report paints a deeply concerning picture for access to literature, and diverse literature in particular, in schools in the coming school year. School boards in Carmel Clay, Indiana, and Sonoma Valley, California, are considering similar restrictions. Spotsylvania County has been a hotbed of book banning for a couple of years, ever since it passed and then rescinded a plan to remove "sexually explicit" books from school libraries. Glenn Youngkin, a Republican, made parental . In its 2021 report, the center states that of the 3,420 books received at the institution in 2021, 1,152 titles were books by and about Black, Indigenous and People of Color (34 percent). , sheriffs have received complaints of the distribution of pornography in schools, among other charges. , which covered the first nine months of the school year (July 2021 to March 2022). Instead, in numerous cases, school districts either ignored or circumvented their own policies when removing particular books. This was a striking departure from the norm, as up until this year, it was a generally accepted standard that school board policies concerning acquisitions management and curricular development would reference or otherwise incorporate principles put forth by the Office for Intellectual Freedom of the ALA. in July 2022 to reassign oversight of library collections from library and education professionals to a committee of the , politicizing a task previously performed by library and education professionals well versed in sound acquisition principles and policies. to a group of more than 100 books that disproportionately included stories featuring LGBTQ+ characters and characters of color. Even smaller, less formal groups have had an impact too. (It is worth noting that TASB has no power to change or even to recommend district policies.). Book bans occur when those choices are overridden by school boards, administrators, teachers, or even politicians, on the basis of a particular books content. From. Total States and Districts with Banned Books. While many of these groups use language in their mission statements about parents rights or religious or conservative views, some also make explicit calls for the exclusion of materials that touch on race (sometimes explicitly critical race theory) or LGBTQ+ themes. Given the rapid spread of book bans across the country, it seems inevitable that the resulting climate of caution and fear will result in a reluctance among teachers, administrators, and librarians to take risks that could affect. We know this is false because we examined online card catalogues and found that 74% of the. (Michelle Kondrich/The Washington Post) Librarians could face years of imprisonment and tens of thousands in fines for providing sexually . And attempts to ban books from libraries . Of the 13 most targeted books last year, seven were challenged on the basis of their LGBTQ+ content. In August, some school districts in St. Louis, Missouri began to pull books from shelves in response to a law that made it a class A misdemeanor to provide visually explicit sexual material to students. Other groups, including. By Hannah Natanson. One common trend is that many of these groups circulate to their audiences lists of books to target. 64 banned book titles (4 percent) include characters and stories that reflect religious minorities, such as Jewish, Muslim and other faith traditions. PEN America does not count these duplicate book bans in its unique title tally, but does acknowledge each separate ban in its overall count. The Alpine School District in Utah responded to a new law, HB 374 (Sensitive Materials in Schools), by announcing the removal of 52 titles in July, but then opted to keep the books on shelves with some restrictions after national pushback. Book bans in public schools have recurred throughout American history, with notable flare-ups in the McCarthy era and the early 1980s. For example, one group, the Idaho Freedom Foundation, referenced multiple lists celebrating books about equity, inclusion, and human rights under the header , Federal Agencies Are Sexualizing Idaho Libraries, , accused the federal government of using taxpayer dollars to promote a pernicious ideology to young children, and called on the Idaho legislature to reject federal funds for libraries. One prominent example of such activity was Hide the Pride, an initiative of CatholicVote.org in June 2022. As discussed at length in Banned in the USA, these guidelines are intended to ensure that challenges are addressed in consistent, reasoned, fact-based ways while protecting the First Amendment rights of students and citizens and guarding against censorship. These changes have taken place in nearly a dozen districts, such as Frisco ISD in Texas, which in June revised its book policies to remove the existing standards of obscenity for materials and replace them with more stringent standards taken from the Texas Penal Code.
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