The non-profit organization Marietta in the Middle, which is dedicated to protecting student experiences, has recently taken up the fight against book bannings in Marietta Schools.
Book bannings began in September of last year in Marietta Schools, and the group initially formed in response to the bannings in order to appeal them. The group consists of parents, teachers, alumni and students alike in the Marietta area.
Kayla Sargent, the board president of Marietta in the Middle stated that “our hope, and aim is much bigger than book bans.”
“That was the catalyst to organize initially. And broadly, the hope is to be a reflective voice for the community at large,” said Sargent. “To survey what their concerns are and what they need, what they like, they want more or less of, and to represent that voice to the district in a powerful way.”
With the introduction of the Parents’ Bill of Rights in 2022, parents now have the power to request to review all material that will be taught in the classroom and request that it be removed if they feel that it contains “divisive concepts” that could be considered “harmful to minors.” The material is then reviewed by a board within a review period at the beginning of semesters before the decision to remove content is made.
This has extended beyond sexual content, with books centered around racial issues, gender identity, sex trafficking, and substance abuse being removed. However, the reasons cited are often for containing sexually explicit content.
In fact, the issue of book bannings surged after a teacher was fired for presenting fifth-grade students with a book about gender identity in 2023.
As important as these topics may be for students to consider at an appropriate age level, it is true that such issues have no place in the curriculum as it stands. However, the question of whether or not it should still be available in the library arises. So far, the unanimous decision of the board and parents alike, is no.
Besides books in the classroom, parents have also requested that material be removed from libraries, even if it is not part of classroom lesson plans or curriculum, which is why so many books have now been removed from school libraries.
A number of questions arise from this decision to allow parents to dictate what is available in school libraries. The most important of which being, should parents who are untrained as media professionals be allowed to decide what is allowed in schools?
“If a 14-year-old brings up This Book is Gay at the high school to check out, which is basically a homosexual sex-ed book, that librarian might say, hey, let’s get parent permission for this,” said Karla Jacobs, a board member of Marietta in the Middle. “It’s not that parent permission should be codified in some kind of policy as a rule, but that librarian has the professional judgment to make that call.”
A seasoned librarian who has asked to remain anonymous shares the same sentiment that “everyone should be able to read whatever they want and interpret it however they want. As a librarian, I can’t tell them how to interpret something. It’s up to them. Schools should also let people read whatever they want… Ultimately, it comes down to the relationship with the student and their parents.”
tristanlewis 
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