NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV) – In Rutherford County, Friday night football games have long brought communities together, with proud traditions at schools like Riverdale High. But this fall, a different kind of conflict is taking place off the field: a divisive battle over the need to remove certain books from library shelves.

Since February, the Rutherford County School Board has banned 35 books, including well-known young adult novels such as Wicked, The perks of Being a WallflowerAnd Beloved by Nobel laureate Toni Morrison. These books were available in high school libraries, but none were part of the district’s curriculum.

The book bans were initiated by board member Caleb Tidwell, who reported the titles as sexually explicit under school board policy and state obscenity laws.

At a board meeting in September, people in favor of banning the books, including many from Tidwell’s church, were present and spoke out saying that sexually explicit content was harmful to minors.

“Yes, we are trying to ban books containing pornographic material,” one supporter said during public comments.

But not all board members agree. Butch Vaughn, a retired director, was recently elected to the board. He grew up in Rutherford County, sent his children to public school there and expressed concern about what he calls “political grandstanding.”

“I sometimes view this as a battle between good and evil, and I will always be on the side of good,” Vaughn said. “It feels like they’re really creating dust, and I don’t think this should be an issue that divides us and keeps us from focusing on what’s really important.”

Vaughn, who attends the same church as Tidwell, worries about the consequences of the board’s actions and says he thinks it’s a small, vocal minority pushing to ban the books.

“It’s created so much bitterness and division,” Vaughn said. “If you look at the number of times (banned books) have been accessed over the last few years, it’s just tiny. I mean, it’s like they’re really creating dust in a lot of situations.

Stan Vaught, another new board member and longtime community resident, shares Vaughn’s concerns and worries that book bans are a slippery slope.

“It almost reminds me a little bit of Germany in the 1930s: if we take them out of our libraries, where are we going to take them out of next? » said Vaught. “I can’t tell other parents how to raise their children, and I won’t, that’s not my job.”

Over the summer, lawmakers revised state law, broadening the definition of obscenity and expanding the types of materials now banned in school libraries.

Beginning in August, Tennessee school districts struggled to interpret the law and implement its new requirements.

Despite the legal confusion that ensued at its own board meetings, Rutherford County still moved forward and banned six more books under the law, after Tidwell challenged them as “sexually explicit.” .

“The law can and will be challenged, and I am certain it will not survive,” said Ken Paulson, director of the Free Speech Center at Middle Tennessee State University. “And the reason is it takes existing Supreme Court rules and adds new things.”

Paulson says that when it comes to library materials, the changes to the law are so broad that any book containing depictions of sexual behavior or excessive violence is now banned in Tennessee.

“Never in American history has the Supreme Court or a federal court found that a book was obscene because it contained excessive violence,” Paulson said. “And the books banned in Rutherford County are not porn. And the idea that they are somehow written to capture the same audience as something like scammer the magazine is nonsense.

Both Vaughn and Vaught fear the district is heading toward a federal lawsuit that could cost the school district hundreds of thousands of dollars to defend.

“I don’t want my tax dollars, or yours, or anyone else’s, to be used to defend a frivolous lawsuit when we can avoid it,” Vaught said.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is reportedly considering taking legal action against the board, and earlier this fall the board voted to request a letter of legal opinion from the attorney general of the state on how to move forward with the new law.

But instead of waiting for those directives, Tidwell proposed removing ten additional titles, and then on Monday, board member Frances Rosales flagged another 150 titles under the obscenity law.

WSMV4 Investigates confirmed that Schools Superintendent James had the new list of books removed from school libraries on Tuesday, with those titles including novels. Catch-22 And A clockwork orange.

Vaught said he wished the board could return to other matters and return to a time when parents made decisions about the books their children read.

“We have hired experts to manage these libraries. My personal belief is that we should give in to them. If a parent doesn’t like a book, don’t let the child check it out.

Tidwell, who declined an interview, released a statement that read:

“Once the community was made aware of the content in question, the vast majority of participants in our meetings were in favor of removing it. The community members who supported the removal come from a variety of backgrounds, churches, schools, and yet came to the same conclusion: this content violates the law. More to the point, it’s common sense and it’s legal. Attempts to hide behind fear of litigation to keep sexually explicit books in schools, a framework focused on education, demonstrates a misunderstanding of the law or a deviation from duty.

It is offensive to suggest that keeping sexually explicit books in school libraries has no harmful effects on minors and that these fictional books have educational value beyond their sexual exposure. »

The school board will now have 60 days to review the removed books and decide whether they should return to library shelves or be banned permanently.

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