Sheila Hickman: Maury Co. schools and the Age Appropriate Materials Act
When the Tennessee General Assembly meets in Nashville, the representatives and senators are in session for 90 days from January until April or May. During that time, the members are charged with enacting, amending, and repealing the laws of Tennessee.
The General Assembly’s responsibilities extend to issues or problems, which seem to need attention according to their constituents. In the last session of the Tennessee General Assembly, our legislators passed the Age Appropriate Materials Act, which requires each public school to maintain, and post on the school’s website a list of the school’s library collection including periodicals, newspapers, films, prints, documents, cassettes, videotapes, videogames, etc.
The law also requires that each local board of education and public charter school governing body to establish procedures for developing and reviewing school library collections. (Chapter 744 of the Public Acts of 2022) (Amends TCA Title 49, Chapter 6). If a book is deemed unsuitable or controversial, there is a process by which the book may be removed not only from one school but from every school in Tennessee.
Maury County Public Schools has a Library Materials Manual, which covers all aspects of books from library collections to textbooks. There is a process in place for addressing objections to educational materials complete with a form to be submitted to the librarian.
Since the passage of that amendment, teachers and librarians, who are already over whelmed with too many responsibilities to list have found themselves facing extra work and added stress. Librarians and teachers who love teaching children and encouraging reading are not likely to choose books which would corrupt young minds.
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Lisa Ventura, Director of Schools in Maury County, wrote that parental involvement in their child’s education is absolutely essential. She added, “However, public schools teach the masses and should be a conduit for information, critical thinking, and a birth place for ideas. These things occur when a child has choices in texts and content to choose from. School libraries should never push an ideology. I have been blessed my entire life with the ability to escape and explore through text and that is what I want for every child in MCPS.”
The school libraries in the MCPS have had their collections available on line before the legislation was passed. The list is available at maurylib.mauryk12.org.
The librarians at two Maury County Schools shared what they have done to comply with the new law.
At Columbia Central High School, the librarians have a routine procedure for purging the shelves. Books that are out of date or have not been circulated are removed. When CHS moved into the new building, purging meant that the new library would be more contemporary. The collection at CHS addresses both diversity and the ages of the population served in grades nine through 12. While some of their ninth grade students are in their early teens, some 12th graders are 18. Obviously, the older students would have different interests than the younger ones. Another challenge for high school libraries is that despite their ages, some students are not reading on grade level, and books must be available for them.
Two of my former students are part of the English faculty at CHS. Both teachers are avid readers and have filled their rooms with copies of books, which students may read anytime. The prospect of spending fall break entering the classroom books into the system is not appealing to either teacher. The choice made by these teachers may be to pack their books and take them home. How sad that their students will not be able to choose a book because it looks interesting and read it on their own!
Whitthorne Middle School library, which serves students in grades five through eight requires a wide range of reading material. All young adult books have been moved into a separate section, and only seventh and eighth graders can check them out. Books suitable for the lower grades are in another section. The librarians’ policy is that if a child finds a book objectionable or unsuitable, he can turn it in and choose another book.
The Whitthorne teachers must create a list of their classroom collections and submit it to the librarians for review. The teachers will be notified if the books are approved. Teachers who do not have enough time in the day are called upon to do one more thing. Their books may be placed in boxes and taken home. Reading one of those books might have created such an interest that the student would become a life-long reader.
For 33 years, I taught English and literature in our school system. No one ever told me what to teach or when to teach it. Several of the books, which have been banned historically were among my reading assignments. Huckleberry Finn is actually more Jim’s story than it is Huckleberry’s. The growth that Huckleberry experiences with Jim as his best friend is a good lesson for everyone. The Scarlet Letter has nothing to do with sexual activities, but Hawthorne reminds us that our behavior may have long term consequences not just for ourselves but for everyone around us. To Kill a Mockingbird may well be the great American novel. The lessons that Scout learns from Atticus and from Boo Radley are those that everyone should incorporate into his life.
Suppose that all these wonderful books had been removed from the shelf because somebody decided that there was one word or idea that seemed offensive. That one word or idea was not more important than all the powerful messages from Mark Twain, Nathaniel Hawthorne and Harper Lee.
