The Mat-Su School Board is set to conder whether to remove additional books – deemed criminally obscene – from school libraries.
Over the past year, the school board has made determinations on the suitability of dozens of books which area residents have objected to as unsuitable for children.
So far, the board has made decisions on 35 of 56 challenged books that were initially flagged for review by the Library Citizen Advisory Committee. The committee is tasked with determining whether the books are obscene under standards set by Alaska statute. The committee then gives its recommendations to the school board for final action.
To date, seven books have been removed. The board has also remanded back to the district administration 14 other books for a final decision regarding obscenity status or restricted access, and an additional 14 books were retained for various grade levels, as determined by district administration.
In June, the library committee finalized recommendations related to four additional titles, concluding by various votes that two books might meet the elements of criminal obscenity under Alaska Law. These were “Tricks,” and “The Handmaid’s Tale – The Graphic Novel.”
The committee did not conclude with a majority vote that two other titles, “Living Dead Girl” and “Perfect” met the definition of “criminal obscenity” under Alaska Law.
School board members will vote on what to do with these four books at its Aug. 7 meeting.
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Books that have been removed thus far were done so because the overwhelming majority of the school board believed they met the legal definition for exposing minors to indecent material.
Concerns over sexually charged books in various school libraries became a major issue last year, which prompted the formation of the library committee. The library committee’s main function is to enable both citizens and educators to better understand the attitudes and opinions held in the school and community and to examine library books to ensure schools are not disseminating sexually explicit material to minors in violation of Alaska statute.
Many parents remain deeply concerned about the challenged books, a number of which contain detailed descriptions of masturbation, anal and oral sex, sex toys, pole dancing, sex parties, dominatrix, foul language, descriptions of graphic and violent rape, gay teen sex encounters, gender transitioning characters and more.
The library committee meets the second Thursday of each month. The next meeting is Aug. 10, 5-7 p.m., at the Mat-Su Borough Admin Building (501 North Gulkana Street, Palmer).
8 Comments
What a shame that we need to watch what the libraries are buying with taxpayer dollars that will harm our children. We need to check on whether those books are in the Fairbanks School District libraries when they are flagged in Mat-Su. If they violate State Statutes in Mat-su then they violate them in all school districts in Alaska. There needs to be a collective purging of those books throughout the state.
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The library administration should be held accountable.. A business knows what they are purchasing, and so should a library.. If it were me, distributing obscene materials to an inappropriate aged group/ person, I would be arrested.
7 out of 56 isn’t much
And to be clear to the leftist hordes screaming ‘book banning’…removing a book from a children’s library, where it is age inappropriate, is not banning. The books are still available, likely cataloged where they should be, in a library collection that has an adult or maybe even young adult section.
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If the books are nothing but tools of indoctrination to groom minors to accept a deviant sexual lifestyle, if the books entice and encourage SECRECY, then there is criminal intent. Community standards for the safety and protection of minors should not be ignored. All part of the war upon the family by communists. Deviant sexual mores are the weapon, the deviants who support kids have access are the shock troops of the Left. They hate heterosexuals, normacy. I don’t get where there is any issue regarding the barring of these books from being accessed by MINORS. There is no ban, just a standard of decency and concern for the safety and welfare of the kids expressed with the restriction in access.
The MatSu School District removed from children 56 of the books in their library because they were thought to be obscene. Both Federal and State laws describe what obscenity means, and under their definitions, these books are obscene. The ‘library committees’ decide if they think the books are obscene. Before the Borough Assembly created a new Library Committee to review challenged books in the MatSu Borough libraries, the librarians themselves, or “friends” of the Library would be the deciding committee. And, BIG SURPRISE, they always chose to leave these disgusting books shelved in YA area. Did you know YA means Young Adults? These books are written for 14-17 year olds. Are 14-17 year olds adults? NO! They are not!. They are young teenagers, who are having their minds twisted about sexual behaviors. So, our Assembly and Mayor DeVries took action and created a new Library Committee to deal with the obscene books. Each Assembly member gave the Mayor a name of their choosing. But the Mayor had discretion to choose them for the Library Committee, or not. The new Library Committee will have their first meeting this coming Monday evening August 12th, from 5-7.
I believe the new library committee will be removing most of the challenged books from out of the reach of the children. I hope all Boroughs can do the same. AND you have to deal with the City Councils for each city library, too. It’s a lot of work and a lot of meetings to attend, but we are the adults and we have to do what we can to keep these obscene books out of the hands of children. We have librarians who think these obscene books are fine for children! ‘Friends of Wasilla Library’ and ‘Moms for Social Justice” just donated a book that is made for toddlers and it’s about a 2 or 3 year old that was born female, but she wants to be a boy. So, of course, the parents go along with it. How insane is that?! This book is written for a toddler that sits on your lap and is read to them!!! WE MUST DO SOMETHING ABOUT THE LIBRARIANS who protect these books from hell! They are not sweet, little old ladies anymore. By the way, Devan H., a Librarian in Fairbanks, stated that she had done research. She said her research showed that the teens want MORE sado-masachistic scenes in the books they read! I don’t believe that for a minute. I think the librarians need to be vetted before giving them access to the children.
This is happening all over the nation! I’m thankful there are people working hard to remove the obscene materials, too. We’re not in Kansas anymore, Toto.