Why Won't Bartow School Board Remove These Sexually Explicit Books? What is Their Agenda for Kids??

Come to School Board 5/13, 6 pm meeting, 65 Gilreath Rd. (Sign up by 5:45 to speak).

The Bartow County School System continues to proudly retain books that contain sexually explicit content. The reasons for this are unclear. It is clear however that the school is using no objective, concrete standard for what sexually explicit books to remove and which ones to retain.

It seems that the school staff has an agenda to push in keeping these books on the shelves and in the classroom. The agenda of teaching reading, writing and mathematics seems to be taking a backseat to goals of offering sexually explicit books and books extolling and normalizing alternative sexual lifestyles.

Thanks to God, about 80% of the books that this Bartow Freedom Coalition has exposed have been removed (of the 56 exposed)! That is not without a fight and there was great resistance to removing these outrageous books at every step. Many were intentionally retained only to be removed later after more public pressure was brought to bear. The Bartow school system does not like to acknowledge the fact that that citizen action made the difference, but it clearly was the only thing that did. Only one Board member has stood against these books: Darla Williams. Only One Board Member Candidate has spoken out publicly against sexually explicit books in schools: James Satterfield.

But much more works remains….

The School Board is defending the sexually explicit books in the library and the classroom (all but Darla Williams). Butch Emerson, Tony Ross, Matt Shultz and Anna Sullivan just don’t want them gone. Why?

Please come to the 6 pm Bartow County School Board Meeting at 6 pm on Monday, 5/13 at 65 Gilreath Road. You will not be alone.

Want to speak? Come no later than 5:45 to sign up to speak. You can also email a request to speak tonight by emailing this form BY NOON Monday 5/13 to tonya.poe@bartow.k12.ga.us.

Also, please email school board members¹ and the superintendent and rising superintendent to let them know that these books need to be removed.

The Bartow school system seems to have built a firewall around some books it refuses to remove from all school libraries. This figure shows the most recent accounting of books that are intentionally retained (right of image). Others were removed after they first intended to keep them (left of image).

Pridefully Retaining Sexually Explicit Books.

Some of the staff are quite proud of these books and work to get them read and into students hands. Why would there be so much pride and assertiveness in support of these books? Is there an agenda being pushed at the schools from the staff?

• The media specialist at Woodland High school likes the Lesbian sexual drama “Last Night at the Telegraph Club” and “Recommends it to students who come to me and ask for a ‘really good book’ ”! The Cass High Media Specialist shares this sentiment. This books remains on the shelves at both schools.

• Like a Love Story was on the shelves at Cass High School and allegedly was removed based on the 4/12 report obtained by our coalition from the school system.. However it is STILL listed as available at the Cass High Medias Center search engine as of 5/9/2024 (image below). The media center Specialist offered this as to why they felt it should be retained: “This book reflects teens of diverse backgrounds growing up in 1989 at the height of the AIDS epidemic. The book touches on themes of friendship, loss, and being true to oneself. The sexually-charged scenes in the book do not detract from the lessons of the novel…”

• Books with graphic sexual sketches and overt pornographic text from Rupi Kauer were also retained pridefully as “easy reads” for “reluctant readers”. Milk and Honey and the Sun and Her Flowers were allegedly removed on 4/12.

This book was allegedly removed (“Weeded” in the schools’ euphemistic language) But a search of the Library search engine shows it is still on the shelf as of 5/9/24. What is the truth?

Confusion and Lack of Consistency between Schools.

This blog has pointed out that the Bartow School System is refusing to apply objective standards. Such standards exists in state law indicating that no Georgian can give sexually explicit media to a minor - EXCEPT FOR LIBRARIES!!!

The Standards in State Law Chapter 16 spell out with great clarity what is unlawful for all non-librarians to give a minor. But Dr. Page, the School Superintendent, still claims to believe, or at least offers as a bogus political talking point, that no objective standard could possibly exist. Of course objective standards for sexually explicit books exist and they are spelled out in Georgia Law as spelled out in footnote two below ²)! The standards describe what media content that is unlawful to give a minor using words such as “intercourse”, “Turgid state”, “sexual acts”, and more even more graphic terms as in the footnote.

While rejecting these standards, the school has still removed many books. But these removals seem very political, and meant to pacify political opponents in hopes they will go away (hint: we are not going away).

So, they remove books with obvious sexual content in some places, but retain them in others. The fact that many books are retained while others are removed can only mean there is an agenda to make sure kids get this graphic sexual material.

For instance, even though some books are intentionally retained in one school, they are removed from another. Why would one or two libraries keep while another removes?

The school that seems most likely to be removing some, but not all, of the retained content is Adairsville High .What standard are they using that would not also apply at other schools?

Books removed from Adairsville High School since 4/12/24 that are STILL RETAINED at others:

The Freedom Writer’s Diary (still at CHS and WHS)

The Handmaid’s tale (still at CHS and WHS)

The Kite Runner (still at CHS and WHS)

The Perks of Being a Wallflower. (still at CHS and WHS)

It seems that the school system prefers playing politics, obfuscating and deceiving rather than doing the right thing to remove these books that would be illegal to hand a minor outside of the schools. What do they want the kids to know that would contradict what their parents are teaching them? Are they trying to groom kids to sexually alternate lifestyles? More to come.

Here are the books that need to go and why. More information will be coming for books not yet exposed in detail on this blog. For now, readers can go to RatedBooks.org to see what is concerning with most of these books.

•       Homegoing (graphic sexual scenes)

•       I Wish You All the Best  (Bisexual/non-binary/references to sexual activities and gay sex)

•       Last Night at the Telegraph Club (graphic Lesbian Sexual Scenes/ Recommended by School Staff as a “Good read”)

•       Slaughterhouse 5 (Bestiality/Christian Blasphemy/Sex Scenes

•       The Bluest Eye (Graphic sex scenes)

•      The Freedom Writer’s Diary (sexual activities; alternate sexualities; profanity and derogatory terms; child abuse/molestation)

•      The Handmaid’s Tale (Graphic sex scenes/pro-abortion message)

•      The Kite Runner (Graphic sodomite rape scene/brutal violence)

•      The Kite Runner Graphic Novel (Graphic sodomite rape scene/brutal violence)

•      The Perks of Being a Wallflower. (Graphic sex scenes)

•      This is Kind of An Epic Love Story. (Graphic Gay sex scenes)

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: 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).

1.

2. https://law.justia.com/codes/georgia/2022/title-16/chapter-12/article-3/

16-12-100

(a) As used in this Code section, the term:

(1) “Minor” means any person under the age of 18 years.

(2) “Performance” means any play, dance, or exhibit to be shown to or viewed by an audience.

(3) “Producing” means producing, directing, manufacturing, issuing, or publishing.

(4) “Sexually explicit conduct” means actual or simulated:

(A) Sexual intercourse, including genital-genital, oral-genital, anal-genital, or oral-anal, whether between persons of the same or opposite sex;

(B) Bestiality;

(C) Masturbation;

(D) Lewd exhibition of the genitals or pubic area of any person;

(E) Flagellation or torture by or upon a person who is nude;

(F) Condition of being fettered, bound, or otherwise physically restrained on the part of a person who is nude;

(G) Physical contact in an act of apparent sexual stimulation or gratification with any person’s unclothed genitals, pubic area, or buttocks or with a female’s nude breasts;

(H) Defecation or urination for the purpose of sexual stimulation of the viewer; or

(I) Penetration of the vagina or rectum by any object except when done as part of a recognized medical procedure.

(5) “Visual medium” means any film, photograph, negative, slide, magazine, or other visual medium.

16-12-102. Definitions.

As used in this part, the term:

(1) “Harmful to minors” means that quality of description or representation, in whatever form, of nudity, sexual conduct, sexual excitement, or sadomasochistic abuse, when it:

(A) Taken as a whole, predominantly appeals to the prurient, shameful, or morbid interest of minors;

(B) Is patently offensive to prevailing standards in the adult community as a whole with respect to what is suitable material for minors; and

(C) Is, when taken as a whole, lacking in serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value for minors.

(2) “Knowingly” means having a general knowledge of, or reason to know, or a belief or ground for belief which warrants further inspection or inquiry of both:

(A) The character and content of any material described in this part which is reasonably susceptible to examination by the defendant; and

(B) The age of the minor; provided, however, that an honest mistake shall constitute an excuse from liability in this part if the defendant made a reasonable, bona fide attempt to ascertain the true age of such minor.

(3) “Minor” means a person less than 18 years of age.

(4) “Sadomasochistic abuse” means actual or simulated flagellation or torture by or upon a person who is nude, clad in undergarments, a mask or bizarre costume, or the condition of being fettered, bound, or otherwise physically restrained by one so clothed or nude.

(5) “Sexual conduct” means actual or simulated acts of masturbation, homosexuality, sexual intercourse, or physical contact in an act of apparent sexual stimulation or gratification with a person’s clothed or unclothed genitals, pubic area, buttocks, or, if such person is female, breasts.

(6) “Sexual excitement” means the condition of human male or female genitals when in a state of sexual stimulation or arousal.

(7) “Sexually explicit nudity” means a state of undress so as to expose the human male or female genitals, pubic area, or buttocks with less than a full opaque covering, or the showing of the female breast with less than a fully opaque covering of any portion thereof below the top of the nipple, or the depiction of covered or uncovered male genitals in a discernibly turgid state.