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Moms for Liberty speaker urges board to move certain titles to older grades
Summary
A Catawba County resident representing Moms for Liberty asked the school board to move approximately 20 books she considers age-inappropriate to older media centers and to secure some titles, citing publisher age ranges and library catalog listings.
Sandy Jarvis, speaking during public comment at the Catawba County Board of Education meeting on May 19, 2025, told trustees she represents North Carolina Moms for Liberty and asked the board to move about 20 books “to a more appropriate, age appropriate media centers.”
Jarvis said some titles listed in the district catalog are promoted by publishers for older readers but appear in elementary and middle school catalog entries. She cited Rainbow Rowell’s Eleanor and Park, which she said the publisher lists for ages 14 and the system catalog lists for grades 9–12 and that copies are cataloged at Jacobs Fork Middle, Riverbend Middle and Mill Creek Middle. She also named Shiver, Speak, Lexicon, Drama and A Boy Named It among titles she said were inappropriately located or inconsistently classified in the district catalog.
“Why is the book Shiver at Jacobs Fork Middle School? This is listed for grades 9 through 12,” Jarvis said. “If the adults are confused, then the children are gonna be confused.”
Jarvis acknowledged an existing challenge process and said she understands there is a cataloging and review procedure; she asked the board to act when a title’s publisher age recommendation and the district catalog listing conflict. She also asked whether those books “are on the shelf” and whether a child can look at them in the library; she said such titles should be “secured in a different location” if accessible to younger students.
Board Chair and staff did not take formal action at the meeting on Jarvis’s list; Jarvis said she would approach the board clerk with her list of 20 titles. The board’s public comment rules, read at the start of the period, allowed each speaker three minutes.
The comment occurred during the public-comment portion of the regular meeting and was not part of a formal agenda item. Jarvis told trustees she was not advocating “banning books” but for “age appropriate content.”
Trustees did not discuss specific next steps or schedule the list for review during the meeting.
