Porn Hearing at Local School Board

I give you my observation of hearing at a local school board, in a mid-sized, conservative city about the inclusion of porn, yes pornography not educational material, in the libraries of the school, including even the elementary schools. One side argued against banning books, for trusting the experts, and mocked references to the Bible, which are common in the community. The other mostly read the material (this time without the mic being cut off) and pointed out the that school policy was still in violation of SB13, and occasionally made reference to the Bible.

Facts are that there are many books with pornographic material (meaning illegal to give to minors in this state were they not in schools) in school libraries, including elementary schools. The state legislation and governor argue that porn has been banned through passage of SB 13 which allows parents to investigate, appeal for removal, and mark certain books not permitted for check out for their particular child. Apparently, the procedure for committee oversight and appeal for removal have been changed. Apparently books are removed when parents visit and then replaced. Only a handful of the claimed 1300 books have been removed.

This town well over 20% of its children homeschooled, and several large private Christian and charter schools. I was told that most of the student in the government schools have only one parent in the home. I agree with the opinion that I heard aired in the 1990s that there is a division between town and gown in the community. I have known this school system to violate the law.

The meeting/hearing was very well attended. I sat in the overflow room, and thus viewed what proceedings I saw via screen. Therefore, I could not see the behavior of the school board. It was reported to me that everyone was within the bounds of politeness, and some appeared to agree with the community. The speakers on the left seemed to me to all be employees or retirees of the school system.

I came away upset at the violence, grooming and depredation obviously in the material. I came away thinking that neither side "heard" or understood the other side. I continue to be surprised that "I love books...." was never followed by "but..." The sides clearly were hardened, neither were skilled, and some (professionals on the left) acted beneath decorum. But after all, we are having a debate on very serious violation of community standards.

While this is a particular situation, with only a s