The bookburners have remained adamant(*), but the other board members have now voted to reverse the policy.
Virginia school board rescinds decision to remove ‘sexually explicit’ texts from libraries
The Spotsylvania County School Board voted 5 to 2 Tuesday to rescind its decision, a week after two parents complained about inappropriate content. At the Nov. 8 meeting, the board unanimously directed Schools Superintendent S. Scott Baker to reconsider whether every sexually explicit book in school libraries should be kept or permanently removed — forcing a team of about three dozen staffers, including all of the district’s librarians, to start poring through tens of thousands of titles.
Many Spotsylvanians spoke during a public comment period that stretched for more than four hours. A high-schooler
told the board that censorship is “contagious and leads to much worse,” according to the Free Lance-Star. A county librarian added, “If you have a worldview that can be undone by a novel, let me suggest that the problem is not the novel,”
the Free Lance-Star reported.
[Board member] Braswell said he wanted to rescind the book removal because the school district’s attorney had informed the board it was probably unconstitutional. The attorney argued in a memo to board members Thursday that the removals would prevent children from reading about certain political ideas and social viewpoints, violating the right to free speech.
Braswell added that
the school district already has procedures for dealing with parent complaints about books, and that he wants the books challenged at the Nov. 8 meeting to go through the established process. Braswell said he did not know about the existing system for challenged books last week — and if he had, would not have voted in favor of removing the sexually explicit texts.
(*) Actually, one of them denies saying he wanted to burn books, although it's all on tape. And the other says he "misspoke" in the heat of the moment.