Virginia School Board Changes Course After Announcing Book Ban

A Virginia School Board has reversed course after announcing a ban on sexually explicit books in its school’s libraries.

The board members were reportedly concerned about potential constitutional violations.

Fox News reports:

The Spotsylvania County School Board rescinded the vote, Fox 5 DC reported, after public discussion went on for hours Monday night as 68 people had signed up to speak. Hundreds, including parents, students, teachers and librarians, were in attendance, The Free Lance Star reported.

The heated public discussion came after the board moved last week to remove all books considered “sexually explicit” but failed to develop specific qualifications on what that categorization meant. Two parents had expressed concern over the content of two books, “Call Me By Your Name” and “33 Snowfish,” which their daughter had access to through the library at Riverbend High School.

But several speakers gathered in Chancellor High School’s auditorium Monday directed their outrage at two board members, Kirk Twigg and Rabih Abuismail, who had publicly declared the books be burned – which critics compared to the Nazi regime’s book burnings before the onset of the Second World War. A petition for Abuismail removal had 1,045 signatures by Monday night and many attendees had signs demanding he “resign or face recall,” The Free Lance Star, a newspaper in Fredericksburg, reported.

…

“I have a message from every single student to you school board,” a student said. “You have failed us!”