Cobb County School District Superintendent Chris Ragsdale said Thursday that six more books have been removed from library shelves and curriculum lists because of sexually explicit content.
It’s the second month in a row that many titles have been removed as the district continues and ongoing process of flagging materials that are explicit, lewd, obscene, vulgar, or otherwise inappropriate for minors.
The count is up to 32 books that have been removed, out more than a million titles circulating within the Cobb school district.
The latest books that have been removed altogether are:
- “The Summer of Owen Todd,” by Tony Abbott
- “More Happy Than Not,” by Adam Silvera
- “This Book is Gay,” by Juno Dawson
- “We Know It Was You,” by Maggie Thrash
- “The Sun and Her Flowers,” by Rupi Kaur
- “City of Saints and Thieves,” by Natalie Anderson
“This is not a book ban,” Ragsdale said, referencing critics who have been making that claim since the removals began last year (his full remarks here).
He repeated concerns about parental rights and said that educators “do not want to be on the front lines of the culture wars and do not want to use their classrooms and instructional time to promote a social activists’ agenda that has not nothing to do with instruction.”
Ragsdale said that position is consistent with the Cobb school district’s deference to parents on COVID-19 matters, including masks and vaccines.
“Not only is protecting students from sexually explicit content the best—the only—decision, it also protects decisions which should be made at home by parents.”
Most of his broadsides were leveled at parents he said were claiming book bans for political reasons. Ragsdale urged those opposing the removals to read the books.
“No matter your decision, our board has and continues to hold me accountable to the teaching of your children while you raise your family.
“We will continue to focus on that education. A focus that ensures that the education we provide is the best in metro Atlanta, but is consistently recognized as one of the best in the nation.”
An independent group of parents has compiled a list of the removed books in Cobb and placed in the Books In Schools website.
“Our mission is to provide clear and comprehensive reviews of book content, focusing on areas of concern such as profanity, nudity, and sexual content,” the group claimed on its site, but didn’t identify any individuals.
“We aim to make these reviews accessible to all parents, empowering them to make informed decisions about the books their children read.”
At Thursday’s Cobb school board meetings, none of those critics spoke during public comment, but a local representative of Gays Against Groomers spoke in support of the book removals.
Related:
- Wheeler, Walton post best 2024 Cobb schools ACT scores
- Cobb school board candidate profile: John Cristadoro, Post 5
- Cobb school board candidate profile: Laura Judge, Post 5
- Lassiter leads Cobb in 2024 graduation rates
- Pope students named to Georgia schools advisory council
- 4 East Cobb high schools lead in 2024 SAT scores
- Cobb schools remove six more books from libraries
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