The titles are among at least 18 challenged since last year. Several members of the Board of Supervisors support banning them from the school libraries.
The King George School Board will decide next month whether the books Sold, by Patricia McCormick, and ttfn, by Lauren Myracle, should remain in the school libraries.
A community member has appealed superintendent Jesse Boyd’s decision that the books can stay in the libraries but must be kept behind the circulation desk and require parental permission before they are checked out.
Multiple members of the King George community attended last week’s School Board meeting to demand that the books be pulled entirely. Among them were two members of the County Board of Supervisors, who had strong words for the librarians and administrators they blame for allowing “smut” into school libraries.
“They started to kick God out of school, started teaching sex education. It’s growing. Where does this end?” questioned William Davis, the Dahlgren district representative to the Board of Supervisors, during public comments at the July 15 School Board meeting. “This is the beginning. Where will we be in 10-15 years if that smut’s allowed to stay in there right now?”
James Madison district representative Kenneth Stroud said he had “done some research on the internet” and learned the name of the King George Middle School librarian, whom he named and said is “leading our children to the war.”
“The librarian is the one that orders these books and makes them available,” Stroud said. “Everybody above her in a supervisory position that allows her to do that is a part of this. Anybody in a leadership position who puts these books in our kids’ hands is leading our children to the war and handing them over and is cowardly.”
School division spokeswoman Amanda Higgins said King George Middle School has two librarians on staff, and that the selection of materials is “based upon the evaluation and recommendation of the library media specialists through the consideration of available resources and curriculum needs, planning meetings with teachers, and the consultation of professionally prepared reviewing sources.”
The Advance reached out to Stroud about his choice to name the librarian.
“I got her name from the middle school website, where she is listed as the librarian,” Stroud said. “If it is incorrect, I only used public information available to anyone. Her name is public, she is a government employee, I spoke publicly as a citizen.”
‘Under lock and key’
The two titles are among at least 18 books that were challenged by a community member late last year.
Higgins said the division has been following the process established by School Board policy KLB to review the books. Sold and ttfn were both reviewed by committees, which made a recommendation to the school principal, who decided to retain both titles.
The principal’s decision was then appealed to Boyd, who restricted access to them and placed them behind the circulation desk.
Now, Boyd’s decision is being appealed to the School Board.
At the July 15 meeting, Boyd said the titles are “under lock and key.”
“As opposed to banning books—nobody wants to be a book banner—these books require the librarian to pick up the phone, call a parent, explain to them what is in the book, give them the ratings of what is in the book, and then get a response from the parent as to whether or not they are comfortable with their child looking at the book,” Boyd said. “Just so we are all clear, that’s where that stands right now.”
School Board Chair David Bush allowed Boyd to respond in real time to public comments, all of which were from residents—who identified their relationship to the school division as that of “taxpayer”—in favor of pulling the books from the library entirely.
“Why would you equip Satan in fulfilling his mission?” Stroud asked. “If you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem.”
Sherman Davis, pastor of Tabernacle Baptist Church, characterized the challenged books as “wicked” and “vile,” and Holly Roberts, the county citizen who initiated the 18 book challenges late last year, said she does not want “smut” or “pornographic instructional material” in the schools.
Responding to the public comments, Boyd said he appreciates community members being “involved in the process.”
He said that Gov. Glenn Youngkin ran and won on a promise to empower parents to make decisions regarding their child’s education and that the division is committed to that promise.
“If we continue to move forward in recognition of parents’ decisions as it pertains to their children—I think that’s a valuable concept and one that puts us in relatively safe ground moving forward,” Boyd said.
He continued, saying that opinions on what constitutes sexually explicit material differ and that the matter is not as black-and-white as some think it is.
“In our community and in this room we might all sit there and think that we define good and evil, sexually explicit and not sexually explicit, the same. I’m telling you right now that if we sit down and have that conversation, we all define it differently,” he said. “This conversation goes much deeper than what’s on the surface.”
Higgins said all books that are identified as “sexually explicit” using the definition in School Board policy IIA have restricted access to students and are kept behind the circulation desk at the middle school and high school libraries.
‘These hard calls are not yours to make’
School Board members, speaking during their comment time, said they believe it’s time for them to make difficult decisions about whether the books should stay in the library.
“I understand and appreciate the work Dr. Boyd has done and I know it’s very much the role of the superintendent to get everyone to harmonize and take the approach that is the least impactful,” School Board member Matthew Roles said. “But these hard calls are not yours to make. The School Board can do it and take the heat off you.”
Cathy Hoover said the Board “is trying to do the right thing and is grateful for the opportunity to be a leader,” and Colleen Davis said that “if these books were made into movies, they would be pornography.”
Bush said he believes most of the Board agrees with those who oppose the books, but continued to stress that the books have already been taken off shelves and restricted from students unless parents give permission.
He said that essentially, the Board’s decision next month will be whether to ban the books from King George County schools.
“That’s a pretty big decision,” Bush said. “What we’ve done so far is abide by the idea the governor had that allows the parents to make those decisions.”
“We’re all trying to parent the best we can”
Stephanie Marsich, a parent, told the Advance that was disappointed not to see School Board members speak out at last week’s meeting in support of the librarian.
“It wasn’t right. They should stand by their employee,” she said. “Her job is to provide a variety of books and if we are acting on the premise that all parents have a right to decide what is appropriate for their children—there are some who would like these books to be available to their kids.”
Marsich said she uses books “to have difficult conversations with my kids.”
“I use them so that they have the tools to deal with [difficult situations] in the future if they encounter them,” she said. “Education goes beyond learning math and science and how to write. Education is [learning] how to behave and act properly.”
Marsich said she hopes the King George community can accept that “other parents might choose to parent in a different way from them.”
“We’re all doing the best we can,” she said. “We’re all trying to parent the best we can.”
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