Cobb County Schools removes more books for ‘sexually explicit’ content

COBB COUNTY, Ga. — Cobb County Schools superintendent announced that more books have been removed from school libraries over “inappropriate content.”

Channel 2 Action News first told you last year about the district reviewing and removing at least two books: ”Me, Earl, and the Dying Girl” and “Flamer.” The district later removed “Blankets” after it was pulled by Fulton County Schools.

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At Thursday’s school board meeting, Superintendent Chris Ragsdale gave an update on the review process. He confirmed four books have been removed: “It Ends with Us” by Collen Hoover, “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” by Stephen Chbosky, “Lucky” by Alice Sebold and “Thirteen Reasons Why” by Jay Asher.

“As long as I am the superintendent of the Cobb County School District, I will work tirelessly to ensure your children are not given unrestricted access to materials containing lewd, vulgar, and sexually explicit content, nor will your taxes be used to fund it,” Ragsdale said.

Channel 2′s Michael Seiden spoke with President of the Cobb County Association of Educators Jeff Hubbard about the decision.

“We expected it, to be very honest with you, because of the fact that Marietta City [Schools] had removed the same books, along with some other titles at their last board meeting last month,” Hubbard explained. “As long as process and policy is being followed, and any book that has been brought forth to discussion is given a fair shake, then we have no objection to it.”

RELATED STORIES:

• State school board upholds firing of Cobb teacher who read book about gender to class
• 23 books will remain banned by Marietta City School Board after 6-to-1 decision
• Fulton County removes 4 book titles from school libraries, calling them sexually explicit
• Forsyth County Schools bans 8 books they say are inappropriate for students

The four books removed by Cobb County Schools have also been removed from other districts. In December, Marietta City Schools superintendent recommended those four plus another 19 books should not be in school libraries moving forward.

There has been a mixed reaction to the decisions made by metro Atlanta districts. Critics of the move have claimed that the districts are banning books with LGBTQ+ themes.

At Thursday’s meeting, Ragsdale said he doesn’t see the process as book banning.

“I still very much encourage those who are opposing any material removals to personally review the materials before condemning action by the District,” Ragsdale said.

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IN RELATED NEWS:

23 books will remain banned by Marietta City School Board after 6-to-1 decision

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