Report: “National Women’s Law Center Files Civil Rights Complaints Against Georgia and Florida School Districts for Censoring Inclusive Books”

From the National Women’s Law Center (NWLC):

Today [May 13, 2024], the National Women’s Law Center (NWLC) filed two complaints with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR), urging an investigation into Georgia’s Cobb County School District and Florida’s Collier County Public School District for creating a hostile environment for students through practices that include censoring books and learning materials that feature, tell the stories of, or are written by  LGBTQIA+ people and people of color.

Those school districts have also disciplined some teachers for giving students access to inclusive books, intimidating teachers into censoring the books they assign and the lessons they teach. These bans have directly contributed to a hostile environment for LGBTQIA+ students and students of color by making these students feel targeted, unwelcome, and unsafe at school by suggesting that their identities and experiences are inappropriate or unacceptable.

NWLC’s complaints allege the school districts violated Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

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Among the recommendations in the complaints, NWLC asks OCR to require the school districts to:

• Restore all books that were banned because they feature people of color or LGBTQIA+ people or discuss race or LGBTQIA+ identity.
• Refrain from removing any books in the future because they feature people of color or LGBTQIA+ people or discuss race or LGBTQIA+ identity.
• Clarify in school district mission statements and policies that they value diversity and are committed to ensuring safe, inclusive, and supportive campuses free from discrimination.
• Ensure students understand how to report incidents of harassment and discrimination with their schools and with OCR.
• Rectify their policies and practices contributing to a hostile environment for students of color and LGBTQIA+ students through recommendations listed in the complaints.

Read the Complete Post From NWLC

See Also: Text of Complaint

Media Coverage (2 Reports)

Civil Rights Complaint Filed Against Cobb County Schools Over Book Removal (via Fox5Atlanta)

The complaint comes less than a month after Cobb County School Superintendent Chris Ragsdale announced the district would remove four books from its media centers.

“It Ends with Us,” “The Perks of Being a Wallflower,” “Lucky,” and “Thirteen Reasons Why” were all identified by the district as having lewd, vulgar, graphic, or sexually explicit content.

The titles join three other books banned by the district in 2023 — “Me, Earl, and the Dying Girl,” “Flamed,” and “Blankets.” Cobb Schools had previously said they planned to remove 25 books from libraries.

Read the Complete Article

Cobb County Schools Faces Civil Rights Complaint Over Books Removed From Libraries (via WSB-TV)

Cobb County Superintendent Chris Ragsdale previously said at an April meeting that he doesn’t see the process as book banning.

“As long as I am the superintendent of the Cobb County School District, I will work tirelessly to ensure your children are not given unrestricted access to materials containing lewd, vulgar, and sexually explicit content, nor will your taxes be used to fund it,” Ragsdale said.

Read the Complete Article

Filed under: Libraries, News, Reports