Four more sexually explicit books have been removed from Cobb County School District library shelves.
Superintendent Chris Ragsdale made the announcement Thursday as he delivered lengthy prepared remarks similar to those he made with the removal of books last September that generated a noisy controversy.
As then, he said the books recently removed contained lewd, vulgar and sexually graphic content, and that “the sexualization of children can never be allowed to become normalized.”
He identified the four books by title (see below for more) and reiterated previous comments that the district would protect children from materials that are not age-appropriate and that this is “a battle between good and evil.”
Ragsdale didn’t say if the books were the subject of parental complaints or what schools had them in their libraries.
The four books removed are as follows:
- Novelist Alice Sebold’s 1999 memoir “Lucky” has won awards in the children’s literature category, but also was pulled by its publisher in 2021 after a man she accused in the book of raping her was exonerated in court. The book’s graphic depiction of the alleged assault prompted a number of school removals across the country.
- Best-selling author Colleen Hoover’s “It Ends With Us” is aimed at adult readers, and includes sexual content and depictions of an abusive relationship.
- “Thirteen Reasons Why” is a 2007 young adult novel by Jay Asher about a high school freshman who commits suicide, and includes sexually explicit content. It’s been widely challenged on the grounds of not being age-appropriate.
- “The Perks of Being a Wallflower,” by Stephen Chbosky, addresses themes like teen sex, drug use, sexual abuse and abortion, and has been subject to a number of school library removals.
Ragsdale has come under fire from critics alleging a book ban, but he took umbrage in his remarks Thursday.
“We are no more ‘banning books’ than we are banning rated R and NC17 movies,” he said. “What we are doing is not forcing taxpayers to fund students having unrestricted access to materials that are so sexually explicit and graphic they could not be read aloud in the board meeting without violating FCC regulations.
“What we are doing is giving parents peace of mind in knowing their children will not have unrestricted access to this content while at school.
“What we are doing is assuring Cobb County educators will not be forced to assume the heavy burden of incorporating lewd, vulgar, and sexually explicit materials into instruction and student conversations.
“What we are doing is refusing to force Cobb County taxpayers and educators to facilitate and advance the sexualization of children.”
(The Cobb school district later Thursday sent out a full release with a transcript and video of his comments that you can read and watch by clicking here.)
Micheal Garza of East Cobb, parent of a first-grader and a frequent critic of Ragsdale, issued a lengthy response on social media Friday, insisting that “not a single book has ever sexualized a child in Cobb schools,” nor has one endangered a student in school.
“You know what has? Guns. Weapons. Racism. Antisemitism. Islamophobia,” Garza wrote. “Yet the Superintendent spent more time last night talking about porn than he has talked about school safety or bigotry collectively in the past two years.”
Others on a Facebook group page devoted to school matters suggested starting a loose book club to read the books removed from Cobb schools, and discuss there.
Also on Friday, Cobb school board chairman Randy Scamihorn responsed to the latest book in his “Just the Facts” column, backing Ragsdale’s insistence that books aren’t being banned.
“The School Board doesn’t have the authority to decide what you and your family read, and the majority of us believe those are choices you should make at home,” he said. “On the other hand, the Board is responsible for doing everything we can to keep your children safe.”
The Cobb school district also sent out Scamihorn’s comments Friday afternoon in a separate press release.
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I appreciate the notation here. I wanted to add a continuation of that quote is that I referenced the inappropriate comments made by multiple district employees in private teams messages in which they joked about picking up children in the line at public comment. The district has yet to make a single statement on their employee behavior nor have they taken disciplinary action. This was done in a message string that involved practically the entire Communications team in Cobb County Schools.
I am delighted that the school superintendent is taking action to prevent unsupervised access to sexually explicit material. Like many parents in Cobb county I think that these matters are best dealt with at home.
I do wonder why some democrats are so determined to create easy access of sexually explicit material for children.
Open your Bible to Ezekiel 23:19-21 and read that passage of God’s Holy Word™ out loud to your kids. Let’s put this Bible reading in school every day! Glory!
The Bible needs to be removed too. It has lots of violence throughout it and suggests acts that are illegal today.
Fair is fair.
If the people deciding these things haven’t actually read the entire work before deciding, this is a huge mistake. Restricting access to knowledge, even fiction, isn’t something I’d want for my kids.
If you don’t want your kids to read some things, fine, but don’t penalize my kids for your stance. We already have to do so much to correct all the mistakes society has inflicted on our kids. Sometimes they get embarrassed asking questions that we encourage when other people are around and shocked to learn that we don’t hold information from our kids and we definitely don’t lie to them.
The bible has been “removed”. I have never taught in a public school that allowed the teaching of the bible. I’ve taught excerpts from it, alongside excerpts from other spiritual texts, but none of them were sexually explicit. I’m sure I could pull in a passage or chapter from one of these four novels if it made sense and was not an explicit scene.
I do understand the concern over limiting students’ access to knowledge. But there are plenty of time-tested novels that can be used to dive into just about any theme of importance and to address the other ELA standards. Everyone is still free to read whatever book they want outside of the classroom.
I do think, though, that the higher grade levels are fit for more mature content than younger students. I have not read any of the four titles above (though I probably will now), but maybe we need to consider rating them for appropriateness by grade level. I know that will open a can of worms, but I already consider the appropriateness of the material I use in class based on grade level. Some of the best books I’ve ever read I wouldn’t teach to a 9th grader, but I probably would use with my seniors.
Ezekiel 23:19-21. May it be a blessing to you.