Lawsuit Threatened After Conservative School Board Votes To Remove Sexually Explicit Books

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The Tennessee Conservative [By Paula Gomes] –

A Wilson County resident, who addressed the school board on Monday night on the topic of LGBTQ+ “safe space” stickers, says there are issues with removing books already in school libraries.

After the board meeting, Sarah Moore said in a Facebook post that “lawsuits are coming” and also stated that she planned to reach out to the American Civil Liberty Union and American Library Association.

The Wilson County School Board voted on Monday night to remove two challenged books from school libraries within the school district. Tricks by Ellen Hopkins and Jack of Hearts (and Other Parts) by L.C. Rosen were evaluated by the Wilson County Book Review Committee who recommended that the books be added to the district’s Mature Reading List. The committee was split down the middle in its recommendation for Jack of Hearts, with half in favor of placing it on the Mature Reading List, and half in favor of removal.

The vote was 5-2 to remove Tricks with Carrie Pfeiffer (Zone 1) and Jamie Farough (Zone 7) voting to keep it. The vote was 6-1 to remove Jack of Hearts, with Pfeiffer voting alone in support of keeping it on school library shelves. 

In a Facebook post, Farough explained her thought process behind her votes on the two books, noting that the committee ought to be made up of an odd number of members to prevent a tie.

Parents in Wilson County must opt-in if they wish their high school students to have access to books in the school library deemed to be mature reading.

Several books that parents have called out for inappropriate sexual content have been reviewed by the committee so far this year.

No book has yet to be recommended for removal by the committee that is made up primarily of Wilson County Schools employees. Of the twelve members, eleven work for Wilson County Schools and one is a community member.

During the citizen comment portion of the board meeting, one resident – Ingrid Holmes – called for the present committee to be disbanded and a new review committee to be formed. Holmes proposed that the new committee be comprised of ten elected members from the community and one Wilson County Schools employee who would act as a “process consultant” and only be allowed to vote in case of a tie.

The Tennessee General Assembly passed the Age-Appropriate Materials Act of 2022 last year that requires LEAs to adopt policies to establish procedures for the development and review of school library collections. The law also requires that schools catalog all books in the school library and make that inventory available online for parents and other stakeholders.

Last legislative session, conservatives advocated to remove the exception to Title 39 Obscenity Laws so that schools would no longer be exempt from including sexually explicit content in their libraries. Teacher and library unions lobbied against a bill aimed at removing the exception and it was sent to summer study.

About the Author: Paula Gomes is a Tennessee resident and reporter for The Tennessee Conservative. You can reach Paula at paula@tennesseeconservativenews.com.