North Carolina: “Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools Changes E-Book App Over ‘Parents’ Bill of Rights’ Concerns”
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools this week ended its use of a popular library app that gave students access to more than 40,000 books, due to a controversial state law.
The change comes in response to the state’s passage of Senate Bill 49, titled the “Parents’ Bill of Rights,” which passed in a party-line vote in August to override Gov. Roy Cooper’s veto. The bill has several provisions, including those expanding parents’ access to their children’s records as well as imposing strict limits on the instruction of topics related to gender identity and sexuality.
The e-book app, Epic, is currently used in over 80% of U.S. elementary schools. CMS said Epic primarily was used by students in kindergarten through second grade during independent reading time.
“Districts are expected to ensure that curriculum and instructional resources, including supplemental materials, for Kindergarten through fourth grade students do not teach on gender identity, sexual activity, or sexuality. EPIC is considered a supplemental resource, and CMS recently learned that there were books on this digital platform that were in violation of this law,” CMS Deputy Superintendent Melissa Balknight said in an email to The Charlotte Observer. “Since EPIC does not allow CMS to manage and monitor access to books on this platform, a decision was made to remove access to this digital platform during the instructional day to adhere to Senate Bill 49.”
About Gary Price
Gary Price (gprice@gmail.com) is a librarian, writer, consultant, and frequent conference speaker based in the Washington D.C. metro area. He earned his MLIS degree from Wayne State University in Detroit. Price has won several awards including the SLA Innovations in Technology Award and Alumnus of the Year from the Wayne St. University Library and Information Science Program. From 2006-2009 he was Director of Online Information Services at Ask.com.
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