WILSON COUNTY, Tenn. (WKRN) — Two more books are being challenged at the Wilson County School Board on Wednesday night.
However, the school board is doing more than debating books, it’s also reviewing its Library Materials policy. This comes after a public records request exposed who is trying to remove books from library shelves.
“You have a very long and growing list of books that your constituents have shown you that you have explicit sexual content, drug use, child rape, and more,” Ingrid Holmes said during a school board meeting on June 5.
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Meeting after meeting, the Wilson County School Board continues to hear the same concerns over books.
“There is a concern that there is a very small group of people driving these small requests for review,” Carrie Pfeiffer, vice chair of the school board, said.
According to Pfeiffer, 18 books have been challenged this year, with 10 more on the docket. “Our policy was written to basically allow any citizen in Wilson County to challenge a book.”
On Wednesday night, school board members are taking a second look at their policy.
“I wanted to see who was doing all of the challenges, have they gone through all the proper channels and have they read the books?” said Kristi Dunn, Wilson County resident.
Dunn put in a public records request to see who exactly is behind the book challenges. News 2 is waiting to obtain the request.
“All of the book challenges except for one person are coming from people that don’t even have children or grandchildren in the school system,” Dunn said.
“I can confirm that what is being said by those who made the public records request is true,” Pfeiffer said.
With two more books on the agenda for Wednesday night and more debate expected, Dunn said she wishes the issue could be put to bed, so the school board can focus on other priorities.
“There are transportation issues, teacher pay, teacher retention, there are so many other things that we should spend time on,” Dunn said.
The book debate is being heard across the country, in fact, there has been a record number of book ban attempts this year.
According to the American Library Association, in Tennessee, there were 15 attempts to challenge about 181 book titles.
