Bartow County parents, community members ask for ‘sexually explicit’ books to be removed from schools

By Madeline Montgomery

Click here for updates on this story

    ATLANTA, Georgia (WANF) — Bartow County parents and community members asked school board members to remove books they have deemed “sexually explicit” from school libraries and reading lists during Monday’s board meeting.

“Y’all need to be down on your knees, praying for God to forgive you, that’s all I got to say, because these kids are going to grow up and they’re not going to know right from wrong. They’re going to be filthy people who don’t care what they do because of these books,” said Linda Stratten, who went to school in Bartow County.

“I caught wind that they were peddling this smut or allowing this smut inside of schools and it’s deeply disturbing,” said Andrew Blawat, a Bartow County resident who spoke during the meeting but does not have children in the school district.

The public comment portion of the meeting was full of pleas for certain books to come off school shelves and class reading lists.

“I want to make sure the kids in our school systems are protected. The kids aren’t subjected to material that’s sexually explicit and inappropriate. There’s plenty of good literature out there. There are plenty of good books. They don’t need books like that,” said Dr. David McKalib, who started the Bartow Freedom Coalition, a group that has been identifying books they say are “sexually explicit.”

Dr. David McKalib lives in Bartow County. He doesn’t have children in the school system but he’s made it his mission to get books he’s deemed inappropriate out of school libraries and classrooms.

“They’ve removed dozens of them, thank the lord. I came up with about 56 books so far and that’s all I could find right away and they removed a bunch on their own as a school system,” said Dr. McKalib.

Books on the list submitted by Dr. McKalib include The Handmaid’s Tale, Slaughterhouse-Five, The Lovely Bones, Perks of Being a Wallflower, and The Kite Runner.

“Taxpayers’ money is being used to buy these books. Some say they’re trying to ban books. This, that and the other. No, no. You can go and buy these books. I’m just complaining about the school system furnishing these books,” said Blawat.

Not all parents who spoke during public comment were on the same side.

“I would like to speak tonight to support the board on continuing a thorough examination and process and not act in a knee-jerk fashion simply because some people say some books need to be removed,” said Brian Johnston, whose daughter will be going to high school in the district. “I’m all for keeping kids engaged and reading at the appropriate reading level.”

School board members responded to the influx of public comment about book removal, despite it not being on Monday’s agenda.

“I’m totally opposed to sexually explicit books being in libraries. I want them out. I cannot walk into that library as a board member and remove one,” said Darla Williams, District One’s School Board member. “We get so bogged down in rules and regulations that we can’t get things done.”

“We have a policy in place, any parent has any objections, they can apply for those books to be removed. That’s what’s getting books out of here,” said Tony Ross, School Board Member for District 2.

The spokesperson for the district sent Atlanta News First this statement about book removal:

“Parents with reservations about the appropriateness of a specific resource on any grade level may lodge an informal objection or formally request reconsideration of the resource. Formal complaints on the high school level are made in writing and evaluated by a library advisory board, which consists of a history teacher, building level administrator, media specialist, reading specialist, language arts teacher, science teacher, and a parent or guardian of a current student within the school. All materials are fully reviewed before a decision is made.

ust two parents this academic year followed our process to have a book reviewed.

We support our board policy and the practices that our system put in place to ensure its effectiveness. We have collectively worked to establish consistency throughout all schools regarding criteria for which books are selected and challenged.”

Please note: This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.