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Public commenter says school books are 'pornographic,' urges removal after parent complaint
Summary
A public commenter at a recent meeting said books available in schools expose children to "pornographic seeds," citing a fourth-grade child's report and urging officials to remove the material; the commenter criticized legal limits on removal and rejected a First Amendment defense for keeping such books in schools.
A public commenter said at a recent meeting that books available in school libraries expose children to “pornographic seeds” and urged school officials to remove the material after a parent reported a fourth-grade child brought one home and read parts of it aloud.
The commenter, identified in the record only as a resident and public commenter, said: “You're exposing kids. You're planting the seeds, pornographic seeds, in the heart and mind of a child because their imagination outtakes what they read and it plays it out. You know what I mean? To the best of their ability. And it opens the doors.”
The commenter said a parent had contacted them about a child in the fourth grade who “came home with this book and read me some of the book,” adding that complaints were filed “to the principal and complaints to the library.” They criticized what they described as legal limits on removing material, saying, “with the way the law is set up, you have to have so many schools that deem that as being sensitive material before it can actually be removed.”
The commenter addressed a common defense for keeping books in schools, saying, “School issue. And a lot of people are saying, well, that's freedom of speech, that you're your curtailment of first amendment. I'm like, no. That's not first amendment. Why does it why does it have to be in schools?” They also said parents who want such material can obtain it elsewhere: “We're not saying Order the tests online if you want it. You know what I mean? But don't If you as a parent want to expose your kids to that, that's your progress.” The speaker concluded the remarks by calling the presence of the material in schools “Child abuse.”
The transcript did not identify the specific title or titles the commenter referred to, and no school officials or other meeting participants are recorded responding in the provided excerpt. The commenter described complaints to a principal and to a library but did not specify how many schools would need to act under the law they referenced or which law that is. The meeting record excerpt contains no formal motions, votes or official direction tied to this comment.
