
On Tuesday, at a meeting of the school board for Granbury, Texas just southwest of Fort Worth, students from the high school lined up to speak out against a controversial "book review" policy proposed by right-wing activists that would effectively let members of the board ban books in school even before a review.
"GISD Communications Director Jeff Meador stated: 'School library books have been under heavy scrutiny over the past several months as investigations are ongoing by the Texas House General Investigating Committee chaired by State Rep. Matt Krause as well as the Texas Education Agency as directed by Governor Greg Abbott,'" noted the Hood County News in a report last week. "Meador said that 'like every school district in the state,' the GISD is currently reviewing all books in the district’s schools to determine their educational value and age appropriateness."
But the students themselves were having none of it at the hearing.
"I feel this new book banning bill is irresponsible, ignorant, and even dangerous," said one sophomore. A junior agreed, saying, "I just want to emphasize who is upset about this book ban, and it's not just delinquents who want to read smut. It's honor students who want access to the full extent of their education."
"The job of the superintendent and the school board is not only to protect the students in this district, but to make them feel like they have a place in this community," said Kennedy Tackett, a senior who spearheaded the petition against the policy. "But I gotta tell you, from what I've seen so far, you are failing at your job."
Abbott has ordered schools to review books in their curriculum and library for supposed pornographic and politically controversial content, a move experts have warned is a backdoor way of forcing teachers to stop discussing racial and sexual orientation issues in class. He has followed this up with a proposed "Parental Bill of Rights" that would essentially force an audit of every teacher's curriculum and allow any parent to veto teaching anything.
Watch below:
Granbury ISD sophomore speaking out against books being pulled off of school library shelves. pic.twitter.com/MHPL8MNrAD— Christopher Tackett (@Christopher Tackett) 1643123067
Granbury ISD junior, speaking out against the school district looking to remove books from the shelves of school libraries pic.twitter.com/7zzhEr27CM— Christopher Tackett (@Christopher Tackett) 1643127376