Some parents upset some books are being removed from Marietta classrooms

COBB COUNTY, Ga. — A group of Marietta City School parents say some books are being removed from the curriculum because of Georgia’s Divisive Concepts Law.

But the district is firing back, saying the removal has nothing to do with the law.

Channel 2′s Candace McCowan was in Marietta Monday night getting some answers from the district.

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“It’s unconscionable to remove The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglas from our middle school curriculum, it’s simply unconscionable,” said parent Kayla Sargent, a mother of five who got her hands on the Marietta City Schools District Novel List that includes titles that are under a list of “Not Approved” for eight graders at Marietta Middle School.

The list has eight books four of which are race-related including The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, and others related to the Little Rock Nine.

It was a list discovered through an open records request that started when the district banned several books from their library.

This list is about books that can’t be used in classrooms.

“It seems very clear abundantly clear that the divisive concepts law that was passed in Georgia has detrimental unintended consequences the school system. So its undeniable that that particular law is causing a culture of fear which is related to the removal of some of these text,” said Sargent.

We went to Marietta City Schools, where Superintendent Grant Rivera confirmed the list is accurate.

But it’s not about the law passed in Georgia in 2022.

“These specific books are not about divisive concepts whatsoever,” said Rivera.

Instead, Rivera said the district has had a process in place for years.

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“We have a curriculum review process and in that process, we ask teachers as well as a committee and central office staff and others to look at novels who are age and developmentally-appropriate,” explained Rivera.

And when it came to The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglas, “Would that book potentially be invaluable resource for potentially students in ninth through twelfth grade? Absolutely. There was simply a concern about that text given the sex and the graphic violence for eighth graders.”

For Sargent who said her daughter learned about Frederick Douglass in middle school, she has her doubts about the reasoning.

“Why are we keeping other books with sex in them kind of is the question there,” said Sargent.

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