Texas Republicans commend Granbury superintendent for ‘leadership’ during book removals
State representative and Tarrant County Criminal District Attorney candidate Matt Krause penned a letter with nearly 20 GOP lawmakers Tuesday thanking Granbury superintendent Jeremy Glenn for his district’s work to remove “inappropriate” books from its library shelves.
Krause, of Fort Worth, in his authority as chairman of the House General Investigating Committee, requested information from school districts and the Texas Education Association on 849 books in October. The books covered topics that include the LGBT community, racism, abortion and sexuality.
The representative’s move at the time caught criticism from teachers’ groups, one of which called it a political overreach into classrooms.
Granbury formed a library committee to review the books and removed three, according to The Texas Tribune. The ACLU in February asked the school district to disband the committee and reinstate the removed books. The organization referenced school policy in its letter, which states the district can’t remove materials to deny access to ideas the district disagrees with.
“Simply put, Granbury ISD cannot remove or ban school library books because district leadership considers the community ‘conservative’ and wishes to keep students from encountering viewpoints that do not align with that ‘conservative’ viewpoint,” the ACLU wrote.
The letter from GOP lawmakers, titled “Granbury ISD’s Courageous Leadership,” commended Glenn for his comments on the district’s book investigation at a Jan. 24 school board meeting.
Lawmakers wrote that the ACLU’s letter was a bullying tactic and that they hoped all Texas school districts would follow suit.
“I think it’s important to praise individuals when they do the right thing,” Krause wrote in an accompanying Facebook post Tuesday. “Dr. Glenn and his district’s efforts have drawn the ire of the ACLU and other groups, and we wanted him to know he had a lot of support in the district and around the state.”
Krause told the Star-Telegram in November that it was the DA’s job to make sure there wasn’t inappropriate material in school libraries that could be criminally prosecuted.
Granbury is just one of many school districts across the state taking action. Soon after Krause’s request, Keller schools removed a book on gender identity — Maia Kobabe’s “Gender Queer — after its presence in a high school library caused social media uproar.
Gov. Greg Abbott later called for an investigation into pornography in public schools, and the Texas Education Agency began an investigation into Keller’s removal process.
In his comments during the January school board meeting, Glenn said students should not have access to vulgar or pornographic materials in schools.
“Those are exactly the type of books we removed,” he said. “The books I reviewed were vulgar, the writing was sexually explicit, and in my opinion pornographic. It has no place in the hands of 13-, 14-, or 15-year-old kids. And our school owes our community an apology for ever having allowed it into our schools.”
Neither Krause or Glenn could be immediately reached for comment Wednesday. A Granbury schools spokesperson said the district had no comment in an email to the Star-Telegram Wednesday afternoon.
This story was originally published March 30, 2022 at 1:08 PM.
