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Parents and state senator press Lubbock ISD over sexually explicit library books
Summary
Public commenters at the Lubbock ISD board meeting urged removal of books they called sexually explicit and criticized the district’s SLACK reconsideration process; State Sen. Charles Perry called for statutory fixes and suggested AI screening to speed removals.
Speakers at the public‑comment portion of Monday’s Lubbock ISD Board of Trustees meeting urged the board to remove books they described as sexually explicit from school libraries and to change the district’s reconsideration process.
“My name is Susan Pettis and I speak to you tonight about the sexually explicit material in our school libraries,” said Susan Pettis, who told trustees she and other patrons submitted hundreds of reconsideration forms and that a library advisory committee had flagged hundreds of titles as problematic. Pettis said the current process is difficult for parents to use and pressed the board to act to keep age‑inappropriate content away from students.
State Sen. Charles Perry, who addressed the board during the same public‑comment period, said he had reviewed pages from a book the SLACK committee voted 3–2 to leave on shelves and described excerpts as “trash” that “doesn’t belong” in a public school library. “I don’t want to read it out loud. I don’t want to give credit to the author that produces this trash,” Perry said, urging the board to consider process changes and statutory revisions and suggesting an AI search against a list of unacceptable words as a tool used elsewhere.
Other residents joined the appeals. Bonnie Wallace read from a title she said contained sexual violence and graphic material and asked trustees to be “bold” in protecting students from what she called explicit content.
Trustees and administrators responded by pointing to the district’s existing process. President Sharp and other board members reminded speakers that the SLACK (school library advisory council) and the statutorily defined reconsideration and appeal process under Senate Bill 13 are the starting point for challenges, and they encouraged patrons to file formal reconsideration forms so the committee can take action. Board members also agreed to pass specific examples through the SLACK process, rather than adjudicating individual titles directly in the public meeting.
Several trustees and the superintendent acknowledged the emotional intensity of the topic and said volunteers who serve on the SLACK committee are following the law and the set procedures; some trustees said the committee’s workload and legal constraints have led to delays and encouraged parents to use the formal pathways to trigger reviews.
Why it matters: The debate comes as the board votes later in the meeting on a district budget and compensation plan and as state lawmakers and local officials elsewhere weigh how to set criteria for school‑library materials. The speakers asked trustees to consider whether the current SLACK procedures and state statutes let districts remove material the community regards as inappropriate.
What’s next: Trustees and staff said they will accept formal reconsideration submissions through the SLACK process and that, if necessary, policy or statutory changes could be discussed at a later date.
