Monday, May 6, 2024
The Granbury ISD board of trustees is poised to join other school districts and lawmakers in support of state Rep. Jared Patterson’s pledge to not do business with vendors responsible for supplying “child pornography” to public schools.
Patterson, a Frisco Republican who represents House District 106, is calling on school districts “to neither knowingly partner with, purchase from, or associate with, in any way, a vendor who has supplied child pornography to public schools.”
Under the pledge, participating school districts agree “to take all necessary steps to root out and remove explicit and obscene books, as such materials have no place in school district libraries.”
In a letter to school superintendents dated March 2, Patterson stated that the book “Gender Queer,” which he said “illustrates child pornography,” was found in multiple public school libraries in Texas.
He wrote: “Both local districts and the Legislature will be working diligently on policies to prevent such books from being allowed on campus in the future. However, we also acknowledge school districts have a lot (of) power in the market when purchasing books and that if we stand together against explicit materials for children, book vendors will be forced to adjust.”
At the school board’s regular meeting in May, trustee Melanie Graft encouraged the board to support Patterson’s efforts. She stated that such materials “are damaging to our youth” and that the local community has shown that it wants “strong policies” where such materials are concerned.
Graft said that she had spoken with Patterson’s chief of staff about “defining and detailing” what constitutes obscene books and had requested a list of vendors known to have provided such materials.
Trustee Paula McDonald supported the idea but stated that the language in Patterson’s pledge is “vague.” She suggested that GISD create a document with language that is “a lot tighter” since there is “no way” that the school board can know every action taken previously by every vendor.
School Board member Courtney Gore agreed with McDonald and said she would like “a statement that fits our district.”
Trustee Mark Jackson also expressed support, and said that state Sen. Brian Birdwell, R-Granbury, and state Rep. Shelby Slawson, R-Stephenville, “have our backs on this.”
The move is part of an ongoing effort to monitor for age appropriateness reading material that is available to students through GISD libraries.
Earlier this year, a GISD committee of parents, community members and staff reviewed 131 books to make sure they did not include Gov. Greg Abbott’s definition of “written or visual material that depicts explicit sexual acts or overtly sexual content.”
Three books were designated for removal.
District officials had already removed five novels for teens and adults written by Abbi Glines.
