Cobb school board rejects proposed library book policy

By a 5-2 vote, the Cobb Board of Education on Thursday rejected a proposal by one of its members to change school district policy on books and materials in school libraries.

Last month Superintendent Chris Ragsdale ordered that three books with sexually explicit content be removed from several middle- and high school libraries, despite protests from some parents that the district was engaging in book banning.

That was in the wake of the district’s firing of a West Cobb elementary school teacher for reading a book to her class deemed to be in violation of the state’s divisive concepts in education law.

During a work session Thursday afternoon, Democrat Becky Sayler of Post 2 in South Cobb said she wanted to revise a policy last updated in 2012 that governs the evaluation of library books.

Her proposal would have created local media committees to provide feedback for library operations, with the district media committee having the final say.

She said content should be allowed that has won awards and is used in book fairs and other related competitions. Also to be permitted are materials related to major world religions, including the Bible, Torah and Koran.

If a book is recommended to be removed by a media committee, it could not be reconsidered (the agenda item did not include a copy of Sayler’s proposal; we will update it here when we get it).

Sayler said the changes are needed “to ensure that we take intellectual freedom seriously” and because “we don’t want to harm our students by denying their access to quality materials.”

One of the books removed from Cobb schools is “Flamer,” which won a Lambda Literary Award in 2021 in the young adult division. The district said that book was removed because it contains passages about sex acts and masturbation.

Sayler said existing policy, especially given what’s happened in Cobb schools recently, will continue to have a “chill effect” and “diversity in viewpoints would become limited.”

She wanted to have a discussion and a vote next month, but Republican member David Chastain of Post 4 in East Cobb quickly made a motion to reject her proposal.

He said he didn’t want unelected people making those decisions, and said the proposal amounted to “micromanaging the superintendent.”

When Sayler reminded him that Ragsdale is unelected, Chastain replied that “we don’t need a committee to do the superintendent’s job.”

Ragsdale reiterated parts of his lengthy remarks at the September board meeting defending his decision to remove the books, saying that “I have a duty to keep students safe.”

He said that materials deemed to be “vulgar, sexually explicit, lewd, obscene, or pornographic” will continue to be removed.

“If it is deemed to be inappropriate, as these three [books that were removed] are, it has no place in our schools at all.”

Democrat Nichelle Davis of Post 6 in Smyrna asked Ragsdale about the current process for reviewing books and he explained that there is a team of administrators that does the evaluation, with discussion in his executive cabinet.

He said he doesn’t make a decision without that but “the buck stops with me. It’s my decision.”

Davis later said she thought it was important for community stakeholders to have consistency and transparency in being informed about the process.

“It’s impossible to make everybody happy,” she said. “This will not be the last time that we will look at a policy update.”

Ragsdale mentioned that one of the books that was removed—“Me, Earl and the Dying Girl”—contained a depiction of oral sex.

“There is no middle ground,” he said, adding that Sayler’s proposal would not allow for the current review process to continue.

He said he would abide by whatever policy change the board would adopt, but not until then.

Sayler, who is in her first year on the board, said she’s not in favor of pornography, and said the board engaged in micromanagement when it banned the teaching of critical race theory in 2021.

Hutchins wanted to amend the motion to add that the final decision on removing a book should be up to the superintendent or a designee, but Ragsdale said that’s already in state law.

The amendment was withdrawn, and Hutchins voted with the board’s four Republican members against the proposal, with Sayler and Davis voting in favor.

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