Books Removed, Books Retained and Books Still in Question in Bartow County Schools.
Act Now with Email and Attendance at 3/18 Bartow School Board Meeting. Public needs to know which obscene books will be kept on the shelf and why.
Last fall, the Bartow County School Board and Superintendent were asked to provide a list of all library books in the schools. What followed was obfuscation and bureaucratic hurdles. Then, after navigating these waters, the goal posts seemed to keep moving. Books that were proven to be held in the school libraries were then labelled as “never” in the libraries. A complete list of library books in a spreadsheet could be provided only after weeks of requests and if a fee was paid. Then it would not be navigable with computerized tools. Nevertheless, the barriers were overcome and a list of obscene and pornographic books were produced for review by the School Superintendent.
Please see call to action below to email Superintendent Page and School Board to have obscene ad pornographic books removed.
Also, please come no later than 5:45 to sign up to speak at the 6 pm Bartow County School Board Meeting at 6 pm on Monday, 3/18 at 65 Gilreath Road.
The list of concerning books was presented to Superintendent Dr. Page and his staff by Dr. McKalip, author on this blog. From that some books were removed and some retained. Others were still under review. The initial list was provided at a 1/2/2024 meeting between Dr. David McKalip with Dr. Page and incoming Superintendent Clint Terza. A month later, on 2/7, Dr. Page and Mr. Terza met with Dr. McKalip for an update. Thankfully many books were removed (or “weeded” as they described it). Others were purposefully retained and many more were still under review. About 56 specific concerning titles were provided. About 13 were removed, 7 listed as “never shelved” or “lost” in prior years. 35 titles were “under review” to determine whether they would stay.
Since then, this blog has begun publishing books that are listed on the School library websites through the “Destiny Discover” websites as being still available for check out.
As of today, it is still not clear what books have been fully removed and what are being retained and why. Dr. Page has declined to respond to my specific requests to list what books are retained or removed. However, he does communicate to members of the school board and others that certain books shown to be present on “Destiny Discover” are actually removed. Why would he tell this to local elected officials and insiders, but not the public? Why are these hurdles being unnecessarily imposed and why?
The list of books removed, retained and still being evaluated as of 2/7/2024 are in the image at the top of this post. Read more about them below.
Please Email School Board Members and Superintendent Dr. Phillip Page to insist they remove obscene and pornographic books from the school libraries and the classrooms.Paste these email addresses in the “to” area.
To:tony.ross@bartow.k12.ga.us; darla.williams@bartow.k12.ga.us; matt.shultz@bartow.k12.ga.us; butch.emerson@bartow.k12.ga.us; anna.sullivan@bartow.k12.ga.us; bartowfreedom@proton.me; Phillip.page@bartow.k12.ga.us
Paste to “Subject”
Subject: Please remove obscene books now and establish objective standards
Paste to “Body” (or create your own message).
Dear Members of the School Board and Dr. Page,
We ask that you immediately remove obscene and pornographic books from the school libraries and the classroom. We ask for action to create objective standards so that no such books are ordered again. A list of books found so far have been provided by the Bartow Freedom Coalition to the each of you. There have been some removed, and we thank you. But many remain.
Thank you,
[name]
PRESS SEND! (note that the Bartow Freedom Coalition email is included to help keep track of the campaign).
Please come no later than 5:45 to sign up to speak at the 6 pm Bartow County School Board Meeting at 6 pm on Monday, 3/18 at 65 Gilreath Road.
Books Removed by Superintendent Page.
In the 2/7/2024 meeting. Superintendent Page advised Dr. McKalip of the books that school officials decided to remove from the shelf. That decision was made by the school. There was no requirement for a parent to submit an individual books for review as is possible under state law. It is rare for parents to routinely know what library books kids even have. The fact that Superintendent Page and staff removed books after being informed of their presence by a member of the community is a very important and necessary step. It demonstrates they are more than capable of doing so and that public exposure of such books works. Thanks should go to Superintendent Page for ensuring these books were removed. But much work remains to be done and he should also be much more responsive and less opaque to the public.
THANKS ALSO GOES TO SUBSCRIBERS OF THIS BLOG AND MEMBERS OF THIS GROUP WHO HAVE ACTED TO CONTACT THE SCHOOL BOARD ON THIS TOPIC!
One Set of books removed were from a fantasy novelist named Sara Maas from the Court of Thornes and Roses series. These books contained multiple steamy sex scenes with graphic detail. Clearly there is no place in the schools or school libraries for this sort of content. Links to excerpts of this obscene content are here (A Court of Thorn and Roses) and at “A Court of Wings and Ruin”, “A Court of Silver Flames”, “A Court of Mist and Fury”, and “A Court of Frost and Starlight”.
Several Game of Thrones Books were removed. It is not clear how many. The Superintendent indicated that his investigation revealed that these books were ordered for a teacher (not students) so that this teacher could read the books as they watched the Netflix Series. Is this school a private book store for the entertainment of teachers? Here is the link to the concerning excerpts from
”A Game of Thrones” and “A Game of Thrones: A Clash of Kings”. It is unclear how many were ordered for the personal entertainment of one teacher.
Thankfully, several others overtly pornographic and obscene books were removed. The question remains as to why they were ever ordered and made available to minors in the first place.
“Breathless” – “romance” by Niven
Collected Poems 1947-1980 (Ginsburg) - Very Explicit Sexual Material and homo-erotica
Books Never Shelved or “Lost”.
About six books were said to be never placed on a shelf or checked out and never returned or otherwise lost. However, for some reason, they were ordered by the school. Only one was never shelved, “Blankets”, a graphic novel with overt drawings of sexual activity. Thankfully at least one media specialist caught this book and did not shelf. However, that is easy to do when there are pictures. How many books with pornographic scenes are placed on shelves when librarians don’t actually review the full text for such content? Sadly, many. Unfortunately most of the “Lost” books were checked out and never returned. This means they were ordered, shelved and kids took them home to be damaged by their content.
This category included these:
Blankets* (never shelved due to graphic sexual content)
Boy Toy* - purchased in 2009, “Lost” in 2017. 8 years of damage to Bartow kids.
Tilt* Purchased 2012 and lost in 2015. Checked out several times. 3 years damage to Kids.
Perfect* (purchased 2013. Was “popular” and checked out several times but “lost in 2015) - at least two years of damage to Bartow kids.
Slaughterhouse Five* (Lost 2022: note Graphic novel still on shelf)
The Carnival at Bray* Lost. E-book.
Intentionally Retained Books as of 2/7/24
These books were intentionally kept on the shelves and in the classrooms. They were often described as “popular”, “classic”, “highly praised” and “post-modern literature”, or otherwise necessary or appropriate. However, each carries a 4/5 rating as “inappropriate for minors” by ratedbooks.org. Some books were retained with a suggestion to consider a “content” warning, but Superintendent Page would not commit to alerting PARENTS of the content warning (if given) upon checkout. Next to titles are justifications by school to keep on shelves!
Empire of Storms - By Sara Maas, author of the “Court of Thorns and Roses” Series that was removed. “incredibly popular”. Acknowledged “one scene” is “sexually explicit”. But keeping and suggesting a “content warning”.
Homegoing - In Library and also 5 copies purchased on request from AP Language Teacher.
Kingdom Of Ash- Another Sarah Maas book. “incredibly popular”. Recommended Content warning
Last Night at the Telegraph Club - “Beautifully Written” about a person discovering her “sexuality”. “I DO RECOMMEND IT TO STUDENTS WHO COME TO ME AND ASK FOR A REALLY GOOD BOOK””
The Bluest Eye - “Often part of the college curriculum”, Book on “list of choices for AP Literature”.
The Freedom Writers Diary (1 book and 1 DVD)- Would be “disservice to our students” to remove the book. Sexual scenes and drug use, and child abuse.
The Handmaid’s Tale - “Post-Modern Classic”. Part of List for AP Literature. See Blog review here
The Kite Runner (novel and Graphic Novel) - “difficult topics”, “highly praised” “post-modern Classic” “Reality based topics that fit within selection criteria”.
The Lovely Bones - Popular over the past two years. BCSS recommends considering “content warning”.
The Perks of Being a Wallflower - Checked out “several times”. Includes Sex, drugs, some mature language and some violence. Popular class novel too! See blog review here.
This is Kind of an Epic Love Story - “Romance” between “two gay characters”. LGBTQIA+
Still under review as of 2/7/2024
These titles are either on the shelf still or “under review”. Superintendent Page has so far declined to comment on whether these books will be removed or retained and why. However, he does talk to insiders to attempt to discount reporting on this topic here on this blog. Links of concerning excerpts will be provided later, but they can be found at RatedBooks.org. Search the title, and click the page (you are not being asked to buy the book, although it appears this way). Then click on the links provided with that book.
Breathless – (Topic: Fiction/Euthanasia)
Check Please: Book 1 Hockey!
Check Please: Book 2 Sticks and Scones
Homegoing
I wish you all the Best
Identical
Like a Love Story
Love Lies Beneath
Lucky
Man O War Blog review here
Milk and Honey - Rupi Kaur
Nineteen Minutes -
One Last Stop
Red Hood
Red, White and Royal Blue
Slaughterhouse Five, Graphic novel
The DUFF Designated Fat
Friend
The Gift
The Handmaid's Tale: A Graphic Novel - Margaret Atwood
The Haters - Jesse Andrews
The Infinite Moment of Us - Lauren Myracle
The Sun and Her Flowers
This is Kind of an Epic Love Story
Water for Elephants
The time has come to stand up to defend the innocence and virtue of all kids under 18. Will you take a stand? Here is how.
Please Email School Board Members and Superintendent Dr. Phillip Page to insist they remove obscene and pornographic books from the school libraries and the classrooms.
Paste these email addresses in the “to” area.
To:tony.ross@bartow.k12.ga.us; darla.williams@bartow.k12.ga.us; matt.shultz@bartow.k12.ga.us; butch.emerson@bartow.k12.ga.us; anna.sullivan@bartow.k12.ga.us; bartowfreedom@proton.me; Phillip.page@bartow.k12.ga.us
Paste to “Subject”
Subject: Please remove obscene books now and establish objective standards
Paste to “Body” (or create your own message).
Dear Members of the School Board and Dr. Page,
We ask that you immediately remove obscene and pornographic books from the school libraries and the classroom. We ask for action to create objective standards so that no such books are ordered again. A list of books found so far have been provided by the Bartow Freedom Coalition to the each of you. There have been some removed, and we thank you. But many remain.
Thank you,
[name]
PRESS SEND! (note that the Bartow Freedom Coalition email is included to help keep track of the campaign).
Please come no later than 5:45 to sign up to speak at the 6 pm Bartow County School Board Meeting at 6 pm on Monday, 3/18 at 65 Gilreath Road.
I will certainly be there. Further question...your posts deal only with Bartow County Schools. Has there been any similar effort with Cartersville City Schools?