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One of the largest school districts in Pennsylvania has implemented “the strictest” book ban policy in the state after community members, parents, teachers, and even board members got caught up in a rowdy board meeting.
The Central Bucks School District, Pennsylvania’s third-largest school district, passed its new book-removal policy in a 6-3 vote Tuesday evening. The new policy allows just one adult—be it parent, guardian, or community member, whoever—to challenge a book simply “on the basis of appropriateness” and have it eventually entirely removed from district libraries. The board will organize a committee to review the “appropriateness” of a challenged book but it’s unclear what will happen to copies of the book while under review.
In the policy’s framework, it says, “No materials in elementary libraries shall contain visual or visually implied depictions of sexual acts or simulations of such acts, explicit or implied written descriptions of sexual acts, or visual depictions of nudity or implied nudity.” Similar rules are applied to middle schools, but they’re given special allowances for anatomy studies and “classical works of art.” High school students cannot have access to books with “visual or visually implied depictions of sexual acts or simulations of such acts, or explicit written descriptions of sexual acts.”