In a major development that recently formed a debacle in the educational sector, Virginia’s Madison County School Board has removed 21 books from school libraries, citing adult content, including famous works by Stephen King and Margaret Atwood.
The development came after the state’s Republican governor, Glenn Youngkin, in April 2022 signed into law a requirement for schools to warn parents in advance if sexually explicit reading material is to be used in the classroom.
Reports have it that Schools were told to adopt new standards in line with the legislation by the New Year. However, the Virginia Department of Education isn’t actively monitoring compliance.
According to reports, the Madison County School Board’s new policy, dubbed “IIAD: Sexually Explicit Content in MCPS Library Materials,” goes further than this, removing books from public school libraries for their sexual content if the school board deems it fit. Interestingly, books can be reported to them by parents and taxpayers, the policy document shows.
The board spelt out that any description that falls foul of Virginia’s definition of sexually explicit content—”depicting sexual bestiality, a lewd exhibition of nudity, […] sexual excitement, sexual conduct or sadomasochistic abuse, […] coprophilia, urophilia, or fetishism”—can be considered for a ban.
Records have it that on January 12, the school board voted to remove nearly two dozen titles from the Madison County High School library, meeting minutes show.
The banned books included The Handmaid’s Tale by Atwood, a dystopian modern classic in which certain women are forced to have children for a ruling class, and several King novels: It, Bag of Bones and 11/22/63.
Others are Tar Baby, The Bluest Eye, Sula and Love by Toni Morrison, The Tale of a Body Thief and Interview with a Vampire by Anne Rice, and the coming-of-age novel The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky, which addresses the psychological damage of child sexual abuse.
Also in the list are The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie, Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson, Furyborn by Claire Legrand, and fantasy-fiction Empire of Storms by Sarah J Maas. All six books in the Shatter Me series by Tahereh Mafi were also removed.
It is germane to note that several of the books removed from public schools have featured on the American Library Association’s 10 most challenged books in the U.S. across several years.
NCNC gathered that the Madison Count School Board’s policy was brought in by member Christopher Wingate.
Speaking with newsmen, he said “It’s about trying to protect children. There are other books I’m not crazy about, but these meet the definition. If made into a movie they would be NC-17 or R.”
Reports have it that the Supreme Court of the United States once stated in 1982 that school boards could not ban books from school libraries.
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