Sevier County Parents Raise Concerns Over Chromebook App

The Tennessee Conservative [By Paula Gomes] –

A reading app called Epic that was temporarily removed from Williamson County Schools Chromebooks over concerns that it violated new legislation was reinstated after a short review, according to a source in Williamson County.

The Age-Appropriate Materials Act of 2022  requires schools to maintain a list of electronic and physical materials found in their libraries starting with the 2022/2023 school year. School boards will create procedures to review materials for “inappropriate content.” 

School boards across Tennessee are currently doing just that as parents begin to object to questionable materials.

Parents in Sevier County are also alarmed that their students have access to the Epic app.

Sevier County resident Serenity Kelly  says, “This virtual library, known as Epic!, has been used for several years but it has only recently been realized that there is questionable content available to elementary and intermediate age students. This resource is not listed anywhere on the Sevier County schools website. The “supplemental resource”… is primarily used when students have free time to read in class but also at times used to assign specific books for class work.”

Epic is free to school systems, and according to company policy, students login only from 7am – 3pm, Monday thru Friday. Because a parent must pay $9.99 a month for access to all books and content, most do not know what their children have access to during the school day.

Sevier County school parents met with school officials last week, and voiced concern over the use of this virtual resource. The main concerns were:

– Parents can’t login after school to see the full content available to children.

– There is an age filter but it appears that the same books are available to all ages between 5 and 12.

– Inappropriate books are not blocked by the child’s security program that flags if a child searches for concerning topics.

School officials said that teachers assign specific books to read but school children can access everything that the app offers.

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In Williamson County, Tennessee, while the app was reinstated, parents can now ask their school to remove the app from their child’s computer.

According to Kelly, “While there are many books and not all are controversial, there are numerous books of concern. When searching for books within the app, we used the word, “rainbow.” We felt that this is a word many children may look up. The first book that appears is “Rainbow, A Book of Pride.” Other titles include “Rainbow Boys” and “Sewing the Rainbow: The Story of Gilbert Baker and the Rainbow Flag.”

Another book, “What is God?” discusses how God is many different things and can be anything you want.  Families of any religion may disagree with their child having access to content that goes against their personal professed beliefs.”

A source from Williamson County shared a screenshot of a book available in Epic! called When Aiden Became A Brother by trans author Kyle Lukoff. The story is about a transgender boy welcoming a new sibling into his family. According to the publisher’s website, the book is aimed at children in pre-K to 3rd grade, approximately 4- to 8-year-olds.

The beginning of the synopsis reads, “When Aidan was born, everyone thought he was a girl. His parents gave him a pretty name, his room looked like a girl’s room, and he wore clothes that other girls liked wearing. After he realized he was a trans boy, Aidan and his parents fixed the parts of life that didn’t fit anymore, and he settled happily into his new life.”

Kelly says, “Virtual resources like this remove the parental guidance that would normally be part of the experience of going to a physical library. Books that challenge a young child’s own religious, family and moral values should not be so easily accessible to children as young as 5 without parental knowledge. Most parents have parental controls set on their kids’ electronic devices at home that would prohibit them from seeing such content; however, they can access Epic at school without parental knowledge.”

Epic’s Help Center reassures parents that “every piece of content available on Epic – including books, read-to-me books, audiobooks, and videos – has been carefully and thoughtfully hand-picked by real people, including teachers and librarians.”

“This statement shows that the inclusion of such content is NOT a mistake,” says Kelly. “Parents, you need to ask, WHO is setting the standards for appropriate content for YOUR children? To the community, who are the gatekeepers for our children and protecting them from such “supplemental” content in our local schools?”

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