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Residents press board on book reviews, school lunches and separation of church and state during public comment
Summary
Three members of the public addressed the board: one urged formation of a committee to review library books under Tennessee's age-appropriate materials law, another read the First Amendment and commented on church-state separation, and a third criticized the nutrition content of grab-and-go student lunches.
Three community members spoke during the public comment portion of the Blount County Board of Education meeting, urging action on library materials, criticizing school meal nutrition, and discussing constitutional protections for religion and free expression.
Susan Wright, who identified herself as a resident and District 5 resident, urged the board to form a committee to review potentially inappropriate library books and to use the state law on age-appropriate materials as guidance. Wright referenced recent removals in other Tennessee districts and cited the relevant code section on the record. "The Tennessee conservative news today reported that the Knox County Scribe Board sent a list on Tuesday to schools in the district instructing them to remove close to 50 books from their libraries in order to comply with the state's age appropriate materials act. That is Tennessee code titled 49 chapter 6, and the whole section 3803 was changed," Wright said. She said her group began with 49 books and that 28 of those had already been removed, and she asked the board to consider forming a review committee that would include board members and residents.
Forrest Erickson, who identified himself as District 6, read and discussed the First Amendment and said he supported a strong separation between church and state. In his remarks he read the amendment language: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof or abridging the freedom of speech or of the press or of the rights of people to peaceably assemble and to petition the government for a redress of grievances." Erickson framed his remarks with references to Thomas Jefferson's letter to the Danbury Baptists and urged the board to respect constitutional protections.
Beth Myers Rees criticized the district's grab-and-go elementary lunches as high in sugar and sodium and said the meals were too processed. She walked the board through the components she found in a sample grab-and-go meal — a Smucker's Uncrustables peanut butter and jam sandwich, string cheese, apple juice, and a bag of Goldfish crackers — and gave calorie and sugar totals she had calculated. "This is what our kids are getting served, this plus a carton of milk," she said, and later added, "I think we can do better giving our kids whole, real food, not ultra processed and sodium laden stuff." The board did not provide an on-the-record response beyond thanking speakers for their comments during the meeting.
Wright also suggested that library staff provide lists of new materials periodically and that the board consider residents as partners in review. The speakers' statements referenced other districts' actions and state code changes; board members allowed extended time for Wright to finish her remarks.
