Sunday, May 19, 2024
Leaked audio of Granbury ISD Superintendent Jeremy Glenn addressing school librarians about books dealing with LGBTQ issues may have placed the school district in legal jeopardy, according to NBC News, ProPublica and the Texas Tribune.
The media outlets, working in partnership, published the audio along with a related article on Wednesday, March 23. The report stated that the recording made by a district staffer on Jan. 10 had been verified.
Glenn’s remarks were made shortly before the district convened a panel to review books in school libraries. Of the 131 books pulled for review, all but a few have since been returned to school library shelves after being examined by a volunteer committee of parents, community members, and staff.
In the recording, Glenn noted that Granbury and the school board are “very, very conservative.”
“If it is not what you believe, you better hide it,” he said. “Because it ain’t changing in Granbury. Here, in this community, we’re going to be conservative.”
The Granbury ISD issued a statement about the published report after the story broke.
The next morning (Thursday, March 24), Glenn, through Communications Director Jeff Meador, declined a request from the Hood County News for an interview.
The press release from GISD stated, in part, “In Granbury and across Texas we are seeing parents push back and demand elected officials put safeguards in place to protect their children from materials that are vulgar, sexually explicit, and serve no academic purpose.”
It noted that the books that were removed from school libraries were “sexually explicit and not age-appropriate. Two of the eight books did have LGBTQ+ themes, however all of the books that were removed had sexually explicit and/or pervasively vulgar content.”
The statement did not address the legal issues raised by NBC News, ProPublica, and the Texas Tribune.
In the leaked audio, Glenn cited specific concerns about books with LGBTQ and transgender themes.
“It’s the transgender, LGBTQ and the sex — sexuality — in books,” he said. “That’s what the governor has said that he will prosecute people for, and that’s what we’re pulling out.”
Glenn stated in the recording that students could read about sexuality or LGBTQ/transgender issues at public libraries but that those books should not be in public schools.
The article raised the possibility of legal jeopardy stemming from Glenn’s remarks.
“Those comments, according to legal experts, raise concerns about possible violations of the First Amendment and federal civil rights laws that protect students from discrimination based on their gender and sexuality,” stated the article written by Jeremy Schwartz of the Texas Tribune and ProPublica and Mike Hixenbaugh of NBC News.
The report did not list those experts, but did quote Kate Huddleston, a staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas, who said that the recording “is very much evidence of anti-LGBTQ and particularly anti-trans discrimination.”
