Knox County School Board votes on book ban policy

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WVLT) – The Knox County School Board is expected to vote Thursday on a policy banning “explicit” books from school libraries.

The vote comes after the Age-Appropriate Materials Act went into effect on July 1. Tennessee state law requires schools to restrict the publication of books deemed too explicit for students.

Specifically, the proposed directive proposes to ban books that “contain nudity or descriptions or depictions of sexual arousal, sexual conduct, excessive violence or sadomasochistic abuse.”

Lawmakers in Tennessee’s capital believe the law gives parents back their rights and gives them more options to opt their children out of classes that are inconsistent with their values.

Under existing state guidelines, parents have the opportunity to express requests and changes regarding the educational materials their children are exposed to in class.

On the other hand, the book ban policy is accused of restricting the voices of marginalized groups such as the LGBTQ+ community.

Many initiatives against book bans in libraries across the country are being driven by Moms For Liberty, a group that claims it is “fighting for America’s survival by uniting, educating and empowering parents to defend their parental rights at all levels of government.”

The group has been classified as an extremist group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, a civil rights organization of legal experts and activists founded in the 1970s.

Under Knox County’s policy, if passed, schools would be required to remove explicit content from both school and classroom libraries.

The policy also requires the Knox County school system to implement a system through which parents or school staff can file complaints about the books in the libraries and then decide whether to remove those books.

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