Posted on May 23, 2023 at 12:00 PM by Sadye Scott-Hainchek

The US Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights announced a settlement with a Georgia school district over book removals on Friday.

The New York Times reports that the DOE was investigating Forsyth County Schools, in north central Georgia.

There, the district responded to parent complaints about library books with sexual or LGBTQ+ content by removing some of them, along with books by or about people of color.

Students argued that they felt unsafe because of this targeting and raised concerns about civil rights violations.

Forsyth County Schools agreed to survey students about their school environment and submit to ongoing monitoring from the Office for Civil Rights.

Meanwhile, the opponents of library book removals weren't as successful in southern Missouri.

The New Yorker profiled the drama in one town — Nixa, near Springfield and the Ozark Mountains — that can be seen as representative of countless others.

In Nixa, a group of persistent but outnumbered community members are fighting back against book removals (and political candidates) that take their inspiration from national efforts.

Read about the hard work that U-Turn in Education has put in in the New Yorker.

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Categories: Today in Books

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