Failure Of Tennessee’s Age Appropriate Materials Act On Clear Display In Williamson County

Image Credit: Williamson County Television / YouTube

Yesterday, a concerned Williamson County parent sent a letter to Speaker Cameron Sexton, Senate Republican Leader Jack Johnson and Governor Bill Lee outlining clear violations of Tennessee’s Age Appropriate Act of 2022 in her county’s schools.  Her letter is copied verbatim below.

By Trisha Lucente –

Good Afternoon Governor Lee, Speaker Sexton & Senator Johnson, 

I am writing to you regarding an alarming example of how schools are not following Tenn. Code § 49-6-3803, The Age Appropriate Materials Act of 2022. I am sending this to several legislators as a plea for your help here. 

In Williamson County we saw at a local board meeting the perfect example of a LEA failing to meet the criteria of this law. This is lengthy but please bear with me. 

Part a: In Williamson County they have provided a list of library books in each school library. They have not (and stated they will not) provided a list of the books contained in each “Classroom Library”. This has been confirmed & more details can be provided if you’d like.

Part b. 1-3: They have not developed either a procedure to 1) periodically review or 2) to determine if a library collection at each school, nor have they developed a procedure that is appropriate for the age and maturity levels of the students who may access the materials, and that is suitable for, and consistent with, the educational mission of the school. The Board of Education has justified their actions by stating that they have no guidance from the state to determine the definition of what is age appropriate or suitable content that either aligns (or does not) with the educational mission of the school. (More on this below.)  

Now, I’d like to share the most concerning portion of the book review and meeting discussion heard last night at the Williamson County School Board meeting. Two of our school board members defended these books being in our schools. One saying that statistically many people will experience sexual assault and books depicting rape will help readers cope and prepare for these situations. Another saying these books help students “experience these situations from the comfort of their home without the trauma and develop empathy.” Our school board members are openly advocating introducing violent assault and rape to children as young as 10 years old. How appalling to say the least.  

This BOE is not acting in the best interest of our children. This is what we are up against as parents, and what needs to be considered as legislators when writing or amending laws. Bills need teeth. Procedure without penalty is pointless. And where there is gray area, the LEA’s will exploit the situation by self-governing with no accountability.  

Please watch the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vz4h_txbbI At 1:22 the discussion begins – the law is discussed and it is imperative that you watch this real time failure of the age appropriate act of 2022. At minute mark 1:55, board member Eric Welch declares his support for books containing sexual assault. At minute 1:57:40, Jennifer Aprea makes her comment in support of books that include sexual assault. She also clearly states this is not their position to remove/restrict books from the library. The law says it is their responsibility. 

In this same school board meeting, Josh Brown proposed a system of parental permission being required for books with obscene content. So far, this is the first option we have seen supporting parents’ rights and attempting to protect children from obscene content. I highly doubt they will allow this to happen given their track record of “partnering with parents”. But, I am thankful for his questions that prompted legal advice from their general counsel (see below).

The BOE does offer a policy for students, teachers, and parents to call a library book into question and then assign a committee to review it, but with no clear guidelines on age appropriateness or content. 

Please see the attached committee review report where they base their opinions and book recommendations on Booklist, a book-review magazine that has been published by the American Library Association. 

From the report recommending the books remain in the libraries: “Without having clear guidance on how to determine the “level” of objectionable content or age appropriateness that would dictate the removal of a book from the library per State law; the committee recommendation is that all four books-Speak, Perks of Being a Wallflower ((Sex & Rape): Found in Fairview, Franklin, Indy, Nolensville, Page, Ravenwood, Summit, Alternative LC, Woodland, Green Hill, Lebanon, Mt Juliet & Wilson Central), The Field Guide to the North American Teenager (Sex, Misogyny and gay exploration), and Where the Crawdads Sing-should not be removed from our high school libraries.” 

I have attached copies of the parent review requests so you can see the excerpts they included. Several sexual in nature and rape/assault scenes.  I have also included links to excerpts from these books at the bottom of the email.

Dana Ausbrooks, General Counsel for WCS quoted case law (hour 2:00) (questioning Harry Potter), she claims that removal of a library book would be a violation of the student’s (minor child), 1st and 14th amendment rights. This is subjective and of course offers no unbiased legal opinion, only the opinion to oppose the removal of these books based on one case she mentions. The United States Supreme Court has long held that parental rights are “among those fundamental liberty interests protected by the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution.” According to numerous supreme court cases. To quote another case negating her opinion “The law’s concept of the family rests on a presumption that parents possess what a child lacks in maturity, experience, and capacity for judgment required for making life’s difficult decisions. More importantly, historically it has been recognized that natural bonds of affection lead parents to act in the best interests of their children. The statist notion that governmental power should supersede parental authority in all cases because some parents abuse and neglect children is repugnant to American tradition.  Simply because the decision of a parent is not agreeable to a child or because it involves risks does not automatically transfer the power to make that decision from the parents to some agency or officer of the state. – Parham v. J. R., 442 U.S. 584 (1979) 

I beg of you to fix The Age Appropriate Materials Act of 2022. This is a flawed law, and it is not protecting our children. In addition, I pray that HB0841 will pass and apply to library books. Perhaps the definitions of obscenity will provide guidelines that will be in your hands.  

Our taxpayer funded public school libraries should not contain explicit, violent and pornographic material that offers no educational value. Removing a book from a school library is not book banning, there are plenty of books absent from school libraries as it’s not possible to carry every book ever written, and parents and students are always free to purchase any of these books or check them out from the public library. Protecting young children from pornography, violence, trauma, suicidal ideation, gender ideology, political bias and indoctrination is of the utmost importance. I can also provide an example of a similar book challenge made by a parent in Sumner County, her 6 year old brought home a book about police brutality and BLM. When she challenged this book their reply was one page long with no formal review process of committee.

Thank you for taking the time to read this email.

Links to excerpts from the WCS books being reviewed and recommended to remain in school libraries:

https://perks-of-being-a-wallflower.weebly.com/molestation-and-rape.html

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1DJJ8xj7CQj9F2g7D23s3LhOt_HIbE52J/view

https://docs.google.com/file/d/1Wrv8huXQDHrWGba0yDiKOO3VQsXbM9Sx/edit?filetype=msexcel

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1HtLGZkFC0jyuTp–C0BO8-GF1CvGgoOp/view?usp=drivesdk

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1I7784Yz6jQQ3TSCb9cNaVXMwFxyaZ1J3RndqqSWlII0/mobilebasic