WILLIAMSON COUNTY, Tenn. (WKRN) — The Williamson County school board called a special meeting Monday to vote on five titles in the library system.
In an agenda for the Dec. 9 meeting, Williamson County Schools (WCS) said that the board would determine whether the five titles were "appropriate for the age and maturity levels of the students who may access to books in WCS libraries." Further, the board members evaluated whether each book was "consistent with the educational mission of WCS."
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The five titles in question, and the decisions on them, were:
- "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close" by Jonathan Safran Foer, which was removed from schools
- "Field Guide to the American Teenager" by Ben Philippe, which was restricted to 11th- and 12th-grade students only
- "Speak" by Laurie Halse Anderson, which was restricted to high school students only
- "Perks of Being a Wallflower" by Stephen Chbosky, which was removed from schools
- "Where the Crawdads Sing" by Della Owens, which was removed from schools
The move comes after several Middle Tennessee school districts reviewed materials in their library systems due to a state law that went into effect in July. HB 843, dubbed the "Age Appropriate Materials Act of 2022" mandated that all materials in school libraries had to be "suitable for age and maturity levels of the students who may access the materials and must be suitable for, and consistent with, the educational mission of the school."
"Speak" was called into consideration for removal from libraries in Rutherford County Schools. Wilson County school libraries removed hundreds of titles due to the law as well. Similarly, "Perks of Being a Wallflower" was removed from Rutherford County Schools as well.
A September review from the Tennessee Association of Librarians found more than 1,100 books had been taken off library shelves since HB 843 went into effect.
WCS opened public comment on Thursday at noon and the board fielded 30 minutes of commentary ahead of the vote. One community member likened the proposed removal of books to the banning of cigarettes and alcohol on school campuses, calling the removal empowering for some parents.
"Removing these books does not ban them," he said. "Removing these books simply empowers those ultimately responsible for those responsible for a child's education."
"The law as written is extremely broad, and in my opinion, is unconstitutional," one community member said during the public comment period. "It covers way too many topics and if you remove books based on the law, we will be trampling on the rights of students."
Williamson County School Board member for district 7, Melissa Wyatt, said she found all titles called into question Monday night consistent and appropriate with the district's educational mission. Wyatt argued that parents did not want their children's reading options restricted.
