Parents, teachers and residents urge Guilford County Schools to restore removed children’s book

Public comment at the Guilford County Board of Education meeting on May 13 centered on the recent removal of the children’s book Tango Makes 3 from Summerfield Elementary’s classroom library and on how the district should apply North Carolina law when parents challenge materials.

Speakers told the board the book — a picture‑book account of two male penguins who raise a chick at New York’s Central Park Zoo — was removed after a complaint and outside pressure. Parents said the decision appeared to be made without a published district review process and pleaded with the board to restore the title and clarify how such decisions are reached.

The issue matters because speakers said it affects whether children see families like their own reflected in school materials and whether the district will follow a consistent, transparent review process going forward. Several speakers cited North Carolina’s Senate Bill 49 (commonly called SB 49) and said administrators had treated the law as a ban without explaining the district’s criteria.

Parent Emily Texeira told the board the letter that circulated in Summerfield praising the book’s removal came from an outside group and that the district has not provided “the criteria by which this book was deemed non‑compliant.” Brandon Daughtry, another parent, said removal was harming students who need to see their families in classroom books and argued the book simply tells a factual story about animal behavior.

Local educators also addressed the board.…