School district removes over 100 books from libraries

Education Department says law misinterpreted

A central Kentucky school district has removed more than 100 books from its libraries in response to the state’s new anti-trans law, including a book about Anne Frank.

Boyle County Schools, a small district in Danville with about 2,700 students, confirmed the removal of the books in a statement from Superintendent Mark Wade on Wednesday that called library books “instructional resources.” It said the books were removed to comply with Senate Bill 150.

SB 150, which passed in the last legislative session despite a veto from Gov. Andy Beshear, bans schools from giving certain lessons on sexual orientation or gender identity and delays when students can be taught about reproductive body parts and about the social and emotional changes that occur during puberty, among other things.

The superintendent’s statement highlighted a portion of the bill that says children, regardless of grade level should not “receive any instruction or presentation that has a goal or purpose of students studying or exploring gender identity, gender expression or sexual orientation.”

The district removed 106 book titles from five libraries.

A list of the removed titles was first published by The Advocate-Messenger on Tuesday and confirmed to be accurate by district spokeswoman Susan Taylor.

Titles removed from the district’s elementary schools included a graphic biography on Anne Frank, a Jewish girl who documented her life in hiding under Nazi persecution and later died in a concentration camp.

This list also includes a book from the “Captain Underpants” series and four books from the “Dune” series, a science fiction series that made the New York Times bestsellers list in its first week of publishing.

Of the 17 books removed from Boyle County’s middle school, all but one featured LGBTQ+ characters, according to an analysis by The Courier Journal. The sole outlier discussed child sex abuse.

The highest number of books removed was at the high school level. Many of the titles are focused on sexuality, including “Sexual Consent” by Martin Gitlin, “Teenage Pregnancy and Parenting,” by Lisa Frick, “Unplanned Pregnancies,” by Alexis Burling and “Sex and Sexuality,” by the New York Times Editorial Staff.

There are several titles that are focused on LGBTQ+ issues as well.

In making its decisions, the district said it reviewed courses, programming, instructional resources and

learning experiences.

“Our school library books and programs are considered instructional resources, and are made available to support the grade-level standards being taught,” Wade said. “School libraries are instructional support entities within our school.”

The Kentucky Department of Education does not agree with the district’s interpretation of the law, though.

“SB 150 does not provide for the removal of library media resources from a school library,” KDE spokeswoman Toni Konz Tatman told The Courier Journal.

Library media resources that are used for a course, curriculum, or program on human sexuality could be impacted by the law, she said, but if not, they wouldn’t be.

The department “is not aware of other districts that have removed library books due to SB 150,” Konz Tatman added.

County joins book banning trend

Book bans have become increasingly popular across the country.

Nearly 1,700 different books were banned by districts in 32 states last school year, according to PEN America, a nonprofit focused on literature. Books with LGBTQ+ and/or non-white characters were banned the most, followed by those that contained sexual content, according to the nonprofit’s report.

Prior to the passage of SB 150, Kentucky’s LGBTQ students were already showing signs of danger, with significantly higher rates of negative experiences and negative thoughts than their peers. A survey of Kentucky high school students conducted by the Center for Controlled Diseases showed LGBTQ students reported higher rates of:

● Not going to school because they felt unsafe at school or on their way to or from school

● Being threatened or injured with a weapon on school property

● Sexual dating violence and physical dating violence

●Sadness and hopelessness Suicidal ideations and suicide attempts

● Purposely hurting themselves without wanting to die