Here’s Fort Worth ISD’s list of over 100 library books removed for sexual, violent content
As Fort Worth Independent School District reopened its libraries to students on Monday — after closing them for the first two weeks of school to review titles for sexual or violent content — officials have released the district’s list of more than 100 books that were pulled from shelves as a result of the state-mandated review.
The books will remain in the district’s professional library and unavailable to students as officials await further guidance from book vendors and the Texas Education Agency. Vendors will give certain books a “sexually relevant” or “sexually explicit” rating in accordance with a new state law that goes into effect Friday.
“As part of the inventory process, some books were selected for review to determine if they were developmentally appropriate. In addition, books are being reviewed to ensure that they meet current FWISD Collection Development requirements. .... Selected books will be reviewed by a committee of master-certified librarians,” Cesar Padilla, a spokesperson for the district, said in a statement Monday.
Gov. Greg Abbott signed House Bill 900 this summer, requiring “sexually relevant” books to have parental permission before being checked out by a student while removing “sexually explicit” books entirely from school libraries.
“According to the legislation, every odd-numbered year, beginning January 1, 2025, school districts must review the material in their collection rated sexually relevant by vendors and determine, based on the district’s collection development and reconsideration policies, if the material should remain in the collection,” Padilla said.
“By Jan. 1, 2024, the State Board of Education must approve the state mandatory collection development standards. By April 1, 2024, vendors will provide an initial list of materials that they rated sexually explicit to TEA. By Sept. 1, 2024, an updated list must be provided to TEA. Starting on Jan. 1, 2025, school districts must review the vendor-rated sexually relevant material in the current collection and post a report on the district website,” Padilla added.
District officials announced in July that Fort Worth ISD was removing three books from its elementary and middle school shelves after determining them to be inappropriate: “Gender Queer: A Memoir” by Maia Kobabe, “Flamer” by Mike Curato, and “Wait What? A Comic Book Guide to Relationships, Bodies, and Growing Up” by Heather Corinna.
Parents and community members have spoken out at recent school board meetings about what reading material should be accessible to school-age children. A speaker at last week’s Fort Worth school board meeting was escorted out of the building by law enforcement officers for attempting to read an excerpt from Curato’s “Flamer.” The speaker was warned beforehand that comments considered to be vulgar would not be allowed during public comment.
Some titles from the 100+ books pulled from shelves by the district are among the American Library Association’s list of the top 13 most-challenged books of 2022, which include LGBTQ+ themes and sexual content. Eleven of the 13 titles on the list were removed from Fort Worth ISD’s shelves, including “The Bluest Eye” by Toni Morrison and “Looking for Alaska” by John Green.
Texas removed 801 titles across 22 school districts during the 2021-22 school year, the most in the nation, according to a September report released by PEN America, a free speech advocacy organization. The report states that of the book bans seen nationwide, titles that included LGBTQ+ themes and main characters who are people of color were the most targeted.
This story was originally published August 28, 2023 at 1:27 PM.
