CHARLOTTE — Students in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools can start using the libraries Monday after a two-week period to let parents file any objections to books.
Channel 9 asked CMS if any objections had been filed as part of the new Parents’ Bill of Rights, and if so, which books were being investigated.
After all of the wait, only five objections were filed in the whole district. All of them were filed at one school, according to a CMS spokesperson.
The five books that had objections filed are the following.
- Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult
- Sold by Patricia McCormick
- Tricks by Ellen Hopkins
- Jack of Hearts by L.C. Rosen
- A Court of Frost and Starlight by Sarah J Maas
Channel 9′s Evan Donovan spoke with Brooke Weiss, the mother of a student at Ardrey Kell. She’s also the head of the Mecklenburg County chapter of Moms for Liberty.
“There are a lot of books that have made their way into educational settings that many parents feel are not appropriate,” Weiss said.
Weiss, a self-described environmentalist, said that despite viewing this as a parental issue and not a political one, she say she’s developed a reputation for speaking out.
“I wouldn’t even know half the stuff I know about in all these other schools if parents weren’t coming forward and telling me,” Weiss told Donovan. “And it’s not just parents, it’s teachers too. They’re just not willing to put their name on it.”
Donovan learned that Weiss is behind all five of the objections.
Her latest challenged book, “Haunted” by Chuck Palahniuk, has a table with a count of the number of profane or derogatory terms.
“I don’t understand why a book would be in an educational setting when I’m sitting here with you and I cannot read the quotes ... because it violates FCC guidelines,” Weiss said.
(Federal Communications Commission guidelines say that obscene content is prohibited from being broadcast at all times; profanity and indecent content is prohibited between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m.)
The district says that all of the books are still on the shelves, but it will review those books. There’s no timeline for how long that will take.
CMS added that parents and guardians can restrict access to certain books for their student by contacting their school’s media coordinator.
(WATCH: County library books addressing gender identity, sexuality cause a stir in community)
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