Tag Archives: book banning

Popular Science reports: Iowa educators are turning to ChatGPT to help decide which titles should be removed from their school library shelves in order to legally comply with recent Republican-backed state legislation, PopSci has learned. The Mason City Community School District recently removed 19 books from its collection. The ban attempts to comply with a new law requiring Iowa school …

Salon reports: School district officials in Hillsborough County, Fla., have implemented a newly designed curriculum guide for English teachers that will see students reading only selections from William Shakespeare plays. “There’s some raunchiness in Shakespeare. Because that’s what sold tickets during his time,” said Joseph Cool, a reading teacher at Gaither High School. “I think the rest of the nation …

Florida Politics reports: The Chair of the Florida Democratic Party and state legislators will be in Tallahassee Saturday as part of a “banned bookmobile” gambit. Nikki Fried will be joined by Reps. Angie Nixon and Michele Rayner-Goolsby, activist Thomas Kennedy, and Jen Cousins, founder of the Florida Freedom to Read Project. The event is part of MoveOn Political Action’s first …

Axios reports: Former President Barack Obama on Monday denounced the spread of book bans across the country as “profoundly misguided.” Book bans have become a political flashpoint between conservatives and liberals, with several Republicans using them as a rallying cry ahead of the 2024 election. In a letter to the nation’s librarians, Obama praised them for being “on the front …

“This poem hoax. And so what this is, this is some book of poems. I never heard of it. I had nothing to do with any of this, but it was a book of poems that was in an elementary school library. “And the school or the school district determined that was more appropriate to be in the middle school …

The Miami Herald reports: A K-8 school in Miami-Dade County last month issued restrictions for elementary-aged students on three books and one poem after a parent objected to five titles, claiming they included topics that were inappropriate for students and should be removed “from the total environment.” In March, Daily Salinas, a parent of two students at at Bob Graham …

Grand Rapids’ ABC affiliate reports: A school district in Ottawa County has voted to remove a bestselling memoir about one Marine’s time in the Persian Gulf War. The Hudsonville Public Schools (HPS) board narrowly decided to remove “Jarhead” from its school libraries by a vote of 4-3 last Monday. The decision came after two hours of public comment and discussion …

Politico reports: Illinois is poised to become the first state to punish public institutions that ban books. Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker has said he supports a House bill that would withhold state funding from any of the state’s 1,600 public or school libraries that remove books from their shelves. It passed in the Illinois Senate on Wednesday, and Pritzker is …

The Texas Tribune reports: The Texas House passed a bill Thursday that aims to ban sexually explicit materials from school libraries. But legal experts, librarians and some parents are concerned that the bill’s language is vague and broad enough to ensnare books that are not inappropriate. Under House Bill 900 — a priority for House Speaker Dade Phelan [photo] — …

The Texas Tribune reports: The Texas Senate on Thursday approved a bill that would significantly change the processes and procedures Texas’ school libraries have to follow. Senate Bill 13, from Sen. Angela Paxton, R-McKinney, would let parents receive notice each time their children obtain school library materials, prohibit the acquisition or retention of “harmful” and indecent materials, and create local …

St. Louis’s NBC affiliate reports: Public libraries are feeling the heat after the Missouri House perfected budget bills that would eliminate state funding for libraries across state, citing a controversial lawsuit as the reason. Rep. Cody Smith (R-Carthage), the House Budget Committee chairman, proposed to cut the entire $4.5 million budget slated for Missouri libraries last week after the American …

“How does a parental bill of rights become controversial, America? The Democrats call it racist, call it book-banning. Yeah, some books need to be banned. You know, books with explicit sexual photographs, books with explicit discussion about sexuality and gender and gender changing and transitioning – those books shouldn’t see a shelf in a public school system, period. “And for …

The Salt Lake Tribune reports: Frustrated by the books being removed from school libraries, a Utah parent says there’s one that hasn’t been challenged yet, but that they believe should be, for being “one of the most sex-ridden books around.” So they’ve submitted a request for their school district in Davis County to now review the Bible for any inappropriate …

Lexington’s NPR affiliate reports: Kentucky lawmakers sent a controversial bill criticized as a “book-banning” measure to the desk of Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear Wednesday night. After more than an hour of heated debate the measure cleared the GOP-controlled House 80-18. All Republicans supported the measure, joined by one Democrat, Rep. Ashley Tackett Laferty. Most of the titles targeted center LGBTQ …

Bridge Michigan reports: Lapeer County Prosecutor John Miller says he may file criminal charges against employees or officials of the Lapeer District Library if an LGBTQ-themed graphic novel isn’t removed from the shelves. Miller told Bridge Michigan on Monday the illustrations in the book “Gender Queer: A Memoir” could rise to the level of accosting, enticing or soliciting a child …

Tampa’s Fox affiliate reports: From inside the State Attorney’s Office building in Tampa, the governor of Florida took aim at some media outlets and individuals, saying they are falsely explaining the state education department’s stand on some books in schools. Before Gov. Ron DeSantis took the stage, a video played in the room, showing alleged examples of books that have …

Pensacola’s NBC affiliate reports: The Escambia County school board voted Monday night to remove three challenged books from school libraries. The removed books below all contain LGBTQ+ characters. “All Boys Aren’t Blue” is a novel about a boy growing up Black and queer in America. It was available in all high schools. “And Tango Makes Three” is a real story …

Miami’s ABC affiliate reports: Duval County schools recently removed a book about Puerto Rican baseball legend “Roberto Clemente: Pride of the Pittsburgh Pirates,” by Jonah Winter and Raúl Colón, as part of a “review” for age appropriateness. A blurb for the Clemente book describes the racism the outfielder endured. DeSantis responded to concerns over book banning by largely dismissing them. …

Jacksonville’s PBS station reports: Duval teachers say they are being instructed to “cover or store” classroom libraries they have used for years to supplement their students’ reading. In what appears to be an internal training video obtained by WJCT News, the district’s chief academic officer, Paula Renfro, tells teachers to temporarily pull books from classrooms. Duval Schools confirmed to WJCT …

The Bucks County Courier Times reports: Copies of the Central Bucks School District’s administrative regulations for a library policy critics say opens the door to banning LGBTQ books have been reviewed and possibly edited by a statewide conservative group. Metadata of a leaked copy of the regulations made multiple noteworthy changes to an earlier draft written by the district’s library …