001welcome to the September 19th meeting of the Rutherford County School Board first item on the agenda is the Pledge of Allegiance led by Mr Bush Fawn please stand I pledge of aliance to the stes of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all next I would like to uh have a moment of silence on unfortunately we had a spectator at Seagull Middle have a medical emergency and tragically Mr Bill Wells passed away and I'd like us to please pray for his family bow your heads please thank you first up all on our uh agenda is the approval of the agenda would everyone like to take a look at it any questions or comments I'd like to request that we
002move Blackman Middle School's per percussion up to number six absolutely is that okay with everyone okay I'll entertain a motion move to approve second second thank you all in favor say I I any opposed next we have the approval of the consent agenda any comments or questions not I'll entertain a motion so moved second thank you all in favor say I I any opposed okay next I would like to uh have Miss Rosales since she invited the uh percussion to fin them please thank you thank you Miss Claire Maxwell um I am so excited for you to have a special treat from black men Middle School the percussion Ensemble and I would like Mr David England who is the band director of the Middle School to give a little few words and also to speak
003about the special and amazing uh recognition that they just received which is amazing CU it sh shows what an amazing talent we have here in wfor County uh thank you Mr roses thank you for inviting us today thank you Dr s for having us and Dr howford also want to thank our amazing principal Dr Jackson who's here with us tonight too for her support and all of our parents uh yes we uh competed uh through submissions over the past couple years of different uh percussion Ensemble concerts and uh performances uh we had to submit several of those to the international per Ensemble competition uh which is held by the percussive arts society International Convention and uh groups from all around the nation uh send in uh their submissions and basically compete for a spot to
004perform at the convention which is held in November and uh they take one Middle School group from the whole nation and we were fortunate enough this year to get that spot [Applause] [Music] uh students have done a lot of work over the past couple years it's not just these students that are sitting here uh but the students that have come a couple years before because they make us send stuff from you know previous years as well so uh we're just super happy uh with their work and it's just a pleasure to get to do uh what we do every day and I would like to add Mr England and Mr Chestnut put in an amazing amount of a time and we are super thankful to have him and and Mr Chesnut and just the work
005they do and and what they pour into our kids uh is just unspoken and a and a very thankless job sometimes so um he definitely has been here since the school opened I believe as like a middle school and so he U he has definitely built this program into this so it's U it's definitely start from the top of him [Applause] and as they get started I'll Echo that I worked with Mr Eng going at black middle school and then Mr Chestnut was my band director in a different district and so they are both phenomenal there definitely are and you have not aged like I have so congratulations B is how you feel I have um uh I wanted to say something before we play uh just a little education about this this is a
006it's an African piece called Allah ningo it's based on an African uh Bell pattern called the BBE Bell pattern actually comes from religious ceremonies uh they were held in central Africa this is like ages ages old uh Bell pattern and I just want to show you the Bell pattern so you get to clap it back so when you hear it you go oh okay I know something so uh this is the Bell pattern it goes try it with me one ready go yeah you hear that over and over that yeah it's in like a 68 I feel uh there are some sections that are kind of loud so if you're noise sensitive beware but there's also a lot of soft stuff in this too so uh those that are F ofart it's loud at the
007beginning to get your attention so here we go [Music] the [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] h oh [Applause] oh [Applause] [Music] w [Applause] yes I would like to also recognize Miss Lindsay who does a lot for this um she has a very um to pick a job aboard of work in school I would love to work in her Precision with the liberal art and music and all that so she's part of this program and it's just getting better and better every year so I just want to recognize you for the god well D that you've done for our brother County School hey Mr England Mr England Mr Mr who hired you what's that who hired you uh I started at smart and middle school what about at Blackman Middle who hired you oh me would
008have been Mr Buton I owe him a great de of gratitude he so do I this is awesome thank you thank you thank you very much give them just a moment to leave you all are welcome to file in where the seats were the microphon not on John can you hear me they're not yes if if you need more chairs we do have some chairs over here on the left of the wall I know I can you may want to ask him to wait till the drums while he's getting them yeah I can't hear [Music] I could hear Francis on the make sure everybody can get in here could could see take thank you uh we're going to continue with number six which is public comment I would like to ask to suspend the rules
009if everyone agrees uh we have 14 speakers we usually have 30 minutes obviously with 14 speakers 3 minutes a piece that's more than 30 minutes but I would like everyone to be heard this evening so um when you uh come up you wait till the green light and then when it turns okay I'm so sorry motion to who want motion move to the rules okay second thank you all in favor to say I I nay okay eyes have it um the first person we have up speaking is Miss Daphne Gamble and when the when the yellow light that tells you that you've got like just a few seconds left okay okay uh is the mic working okay do I start yeah uh I am a junior attending rer County schools and I'm asking you not
010to remove these books in order to violate Tendencies of city laws books have to meet specific certain certain specific criteria the criteria is not depict sex and moving a book simply because itct sex creates a dangerous precedent love and and homegoing refect the realities of slavery if we remove if we remove these books for depicting real historical events what stopping non-fictional books from being removed some of the Well's most well-known Holocaust photos have nudy in them if Bel in home going cross the line what chance does a book containing these photos have removing these books could lead to the sledgehammering of the library's historical resources beloved in homegoing have won awards beloved winning the no The pullit Sur prize the idea of of the polter being awarded to the ob scene book is ludicrous if
011a pter prize winner is removed is Shakespeare next if these books were obscene they would have never been put in school libraries in the first place in addition I'm concerned about how removing books with disabled characters will affect disabled R County students considering how rare dispill the representation is in literature I was surprised to learn that four out of seven books we are discussing today have disabled characters I am not accusing you of intentionally targeting books because they have disabled characters but I would ask that you can consider the importance of books showing disabled people in relationships while I do not have the same disabilities as kale Tower of dawn did help me feel more comfortable with my autism and improved my self-image overall the book had a positive impact for me I'm encouraging you
012to consider what these books can mean to somebody any one of these seven books could allow a student feel seen I to feel seen I sincerely hope these books remain in school libraries and I encourage you not to remove them thank you for your time thank you [Applause] next we have Mr Brian Schuster good evening my name is Brian Schuster you and I are on the same team we want what's best for the children of Rutherford County the people here wearing white shirts hold the same view as I do I'm here as a concerned parent and member of the community to address the seven books that should be removed from our count our school libraries I have taken the time to read the content in these books I hope you have in order to make
013an informed decision today others can read the content too at bookreview rc.com the state of Tennessee has made this clear for us Tennessee Code 4 96 3803 States a material that one in whole or in part contains nudity or descriptions or depictions of sexual excitement sexual conduct excess violence or sadomasochistic abuse as those terms are defined in Tennessee code 391 17901 is not appropriate for the age or maturity level of a student in any any of the grades kindergarten through 12 and must not be maintained in a School's library collection furthermore section c of Tennessee code 391 17911 designates the violation of breaching this law a Class A misdemeanor these seven books contain nudity descriptions or depictions of sexual excitement sexual conduct excess violence and sadomasochistic abuse continuing to allow these books to remain in
014our school libraries is illegal if there's any question whether this content fits This legal definition I'm going to read samples from the books as a disclaimer to parents of children here or watching online this language is sexually explicit I also apologize in advance for not adhering to the board's visitor policy in this adult setting the board policy states no person will be allowed to make obscene or V statements yet the quotes I'll be reading come from the books in our children's School libraries the irony here is absurd The Perks of Being a Wallflower he reached to take off her pants but she started crying really hard so he reached for his own please Dave no she grabbed his penis with her hands and started moving it after a few minutes the boy pushed the girls
015head down and she started to kiss his penis she was still crying finally she stopped crying because he put his penis in her mouth homecoming he put her on a folded tarp spread her legs and entered her she screamed but he placed his hand over her lips and put his fingers in her mouth he tasted her and could feel the pleasure it sent through her body this content is sexually explicit and keeping it in our school libraries is against the law thank you next up we have Miss Ellen Myrick I'm sorry Thomas okay I I messed up sorry Thomas buds sorry my name's Tom buds I'm uh retired from Los Angeles countyy sheriff's department after 30 years of service I supervised the major crimes unit of that 18,000 member department for 15 years I investigated
016organized crime Asian and Russian uh public uh corruption uh I carried FBI credentials and was pinned by the Secret Service I believe that the books that Brian and we were all talking about this evening violate the State Child obscenity laws and note that the procurement may actually violate federal child obscenity and pornography statutes as it appears their procurement crosses state lines I believe in this specific case it's deceptive to argue that parents can decide what their children read they don't often and shouldn't have to accompany their children at school libraries to screen their access to smut I spent a lot of time in and around witness chairs and state and federal courtrooms rooms being a man of Christ I believe that each of us will be sitting in the Final witness chair on the Mount
017of Olives where the Lord will face us from his throne with a large Millstone in his hand he's going to look out all of us in the eye and he's going to say what did you do with these little ones I put in your trust there's no acceptable answer except I did what Jesus would have done I believe these salacious books are further demonstration that our cultural values are in the toilet I expect my elected officials to help me flush the toilet not to put crap in [Applause] it those claiming that we're trying to ban books are remind you who they are they're the ones that ban the Bible the Ten Commandments in the pledge [Applause] ofion and lastly I want to say it's nice to be in a state where the school boards restrooms
018say men and women's thank [Applause] you now miss Ellen [Applause] Myrick okay so starting time right okay so what does the Lord require of you but to do justice to love kindness and walk humbly with your God you all know that we all know those thank you for the opportunity to speak with you all today about a topic close to my heart I have lived and worked in Rutherford County for 25 years both my children attended Rutherford County schools first there's been a lot of conversation about removing books that a few people have decided are not appropriate for students I fully support parents rights to guide their children's reading I also appreciate the dedicated Professionals in our schools and libraries who carefully curate book collections for the communities they serve I get that some parents
019may not want their kids exposed to the titles identified here but let's be real whatever topics and themes you find objectionable are also accessible via that little computer in your kids's Pockets when you remove books from libraries you're removing access for those kids who don't have the Privileges of a smartphone with unlimited data think about that for a moment second you may be aware that one of the largest Industries in rord county is book distribution the challenges that are rolling across the country are having a real impact on the sales and distribution of books but budgets at libraries and schools are being cut selectors are cautious about adding books to their collection because someone in their community may not like it forcing themselves to put aside the very real needs of their core communities book
020distribution is a major force in our community not just because of Ingram which is the largest book wholesaler in the world but other businesses like my own have grown up here because Middle Tennessee has been the book distribution capital of the world third all the energy you're putting into finding and challenging a handful of books could be spent in much more positive ways what if you put as much effort in creating a one book one Community event where schools libraries and everyone in the community had a conversation about a book that could provide a real model for civil discourse one book events have been done in cities across the country and have proven to be a powerful way for communities to come together because books can be Bridges lastly you find what you look for
021rather than looking for something you personally don't like or don't or agree with why not work together to find and celebrate a book that become can become a bridge to understanding change the direction of the conversation spend time in the light because books can be Bridges thank you thank you I want everyone to be heard tonight I just would like to ask you to please be respectful and refrain from talking or commenting during any speaker the next speaker we have is Miss Carrie [Applause] Lambert there you go hello okay um numerous court cases such as counts versus Cedarville case versus United Pico a lot more I don't have time to name have repeatedly confirmed that access to library materials cannot be limited solely on the basis of the content of those materials unless it can
022be demonstrated that the Restriction is necessary to achieve a compelling government interest and there are no less restrictive alternatives for achieving that interest you as a board do have a less restrictive option parents who want to restrict access to information could request that their child not have access to library materials but they do not have the right to restrict access to information for everyone's children this appears to be a matter of someone trying to impose their cancel culture agenda on our school district and just one week ago today a school district in Florida had to return 36 books to its Library shelves including beloved and Perks of Being a Wallflower as a result of the Parnell versus School Board of nasau County case they were originally removed because someone mistakenly thought they were obscene but
023they don't reach that legal bar um of relevance here is that at least some of the complainants used information from book looks which has the exact same information as book review rc.com which a board member suggested we all check out so let's be clear the books being considered today do not meet the bar necessary to be considered legally obscene and that's just a fact based on legal definitions not my opinion and I am not saying that some of the material in the books doesn't meet your definition of obscene I'm saying it doesn't meet the legal definition of obscene and that's what the issue is here the law not our personal opinions this this is probably why you've received a joint letter last spring from the National Coalition against censorship the author's Guild American book sellers
024for free Express expression children's and youth Adult Book committee from Pan America the foundation for individual rights and expression the National Council of teachers of English as well as the recent letter from the ACLU as far as using taxpayer money to pay for the books do you really think taxpayers want to waste money defending the decisions made by this board restrict access to information when case law shows we are guaranteed to lose we're certainly not getting our money back for those books if we pull them from our shelves the books have been on the shelves for years and caused no harm there is no need to do it it just wastes a lot of our time and taxpayer dollars so when you're making your decisions tonight please consider the source you're getting your information from
025legal experts versus an extremist web website that has not held up in court [Applause] time next we have Miss Michelle Koy my topic has nothing to do with books so sorry for that okay so my name is Michelle Koy and I'm a Rutherford County bus driver I've been a bus driver for over 20 years and as a bus driver we always have concerns about whether or not we're going to have fights on our bus well that happened to me on Monday I had a fight on my bus where a student was able to use his laptop as a weapon and hit another student in the face this happened at my feet the key of my bus was sheared off in the ignition and my sunglasses were broken we have to radio transportation to get help
026and then we have to wait for transportation to reach out to the school to get somebody to come out to us it was too long for them to get to me so another bus driver had to do that and come to my Aid he was sitting next to me he radioed for help nobody was able to come out at that time so he took it upon himself to help me get out of a dangerous situation I can't advocate for drivers to come and we all know that we're short drivers but I can't Advocate when I myself was in a fearful situation along with the 70 other students on my bus we send these kids to Suna West and 50% that went to samal West last year just at bman high school were rapat offenders we
027show that we have a zero tolerance in Rutherford County but that Zero Tolerance does not really show anything about fighting it deems that the offense to threat of health and safety of staff students and intolerable disrespect and educational process but it doesn't say anything about fighting so these students have the first offense is 3 days of oss the second offense is N9 days OSS or they go to an alternative school where they would rather be at than at their normal school I don't know what else to do other than say that we've got to find a better way to get our kids to not fight or we have to make stricter rules to where they can't fight they want to go to samna West that is what they want to do if you ask any
028of the students on my bus they would rather be at Su West than at Blackman High School it's easier and it's structured better for them so I'm asking that in order to keep us as drivers safe and the students safe on our buses the first time a school bus pulls into that parking lot whether it's 6:35 or 637 there should always be an SRO or an admin out there we cannot wait for somebody to come and help us as far as the kids go there should be stricter punishments then oh you get 3 days OSS so I get to stay home and play on my PlayStation that sounds like fun I would rather do that I get to kick the kids butt and I get to stay home there's no consequences for their actions go
029to the schools you'll find out they'd rather be in samna West than they would ever be at the normal school that's why they reoffend and I know that if they offend again once they're in Suna West they get expelled then it's too late thank you thank you our next speaker is Miss Hannah felner thank you so much for allowing us to speak um it is 2024 and here we are debating whether or not sexually explicit content should be in uh Public Schools funded by American taxpayers now I'm going to read a few sentences out of these books and before I do I just want to say that as a 17-year-old I am disgusted uh by the sentences and the words and the statements mentioned in these books um it's honestly It embarrasses me I did
030not want to come up on this this Podium and and read this aloud but I think that that's what needs to happen so before I do though uh on the Rutherford County under review page it says mature content warning this website may contain content of adult nature if you are easily offended or under the age of 18 please exit now so this book beloved uh which one of the young ladies was defending here is uh I don't know the exact page that this is on but I think it's on page 24 it says overwhelmed as much by the downright luck of finding her house and her in it as by the certainty of giving her his sex Paul D dropped 25 years from his recent memory a stair step before him and baby suggs's replacement
031the new girl they dreamed of at night and cows for at dawn while waiting for her to choose and that's just a paragraph of this book this entire book is about a slave girl and I know one of the ladies mentioned and was defending that we're trying to remove history from our libraries and from our school system I don't care if you're black white hispanic Asian female or male sexually explicit content should not be in public schools and uh for anyone that will bring up the notion that we are just a bunch of book banners number one we're not Banning books we simply want to protect children number two what's concerning is that you all think it's okay for children to be viewing pornographic content and explicit material but I would implore you all to
032ask yourself does putting the age limit to drink alcohol at 21 mean that we are Banning alcohol no we are just putting restrictions on it does putting the limit to legally drive a car at 16 mean that we are trying to ban driving no we are just creating boundaries does removing sexually explicit content from public schools mean we are Banning books no we are asking for restrictions to protect children this is common sense and I want every single member every single person in this room to understand that I get messages from people in California on the weekly basis telling me about books they found and Rutherford County Libraries and how they thought that removing to Rutherford County and sending their kids to public school here would be so much better but the response is is
033that it just got worse because politicians and leaders here call themselves conservatives but then go and defend keeping books like these in our public schools at least in California they def they aren't afraid to share what they believe in I hope you all will make the right decision and show tennesseans that you don't support pornography and explicit content in public schools thank you and God bless [Applause] next we have Mr Matt [Applause] fee we have a phone left up here [Music] all right good evening everybody um quite the audience here tonight um and I think I'm in a good spot to give my public comment here because I think it's pretty obvious what's about to happen here tonight uh the people who are against these books uh it definitely appears that we're about to see
034some theatrics um tonight from these books I originally signed up to speak at what I thought was the work session but I did not realize I was actually signed up for tonight that's my bad that's on me uh but as I sat and listened to the conversation I decided to change the topic of my comment from school safety to library material review that is on the agenda tonight so much time and effort were put into this topic the other night I wish we could put that effort toward more important issues rather than letting one board member try to dictate what books should or should not be in the library based on book reviews posted to a website associated with an extremist group for those who do not know what I am referring to let me
035explain at the work session on Tuesday one board member directed everyone to a website called bookreview rc.com when rcla reviewed this site later that night we found it alarming the website was only created a few days ago and there is no indication of who owns it all the reviews on the site say and genter generated by booklook s.org every single one of them in the corner the lack of transparency is alarming and trying to pass off reviews from another website as if they were from our county is incredibly misleading we need to keep in mind where these reviews come from book looks is associated with moms for Liberty which is categorized as an anti-government extremist Group by the Southern Poverty Law Center this outside group has clear motives and I am concerned about the use
036of their materials by this school board please do not give weight to these reviews they amplify only small portions of the work and do not consider it as a whole remember the Miller test says appeal to per interest and patently offensive and takeen as a whole lacks serious literary value emphasis here on the word and you can't separate them they go together so I ask you have you read the whole books or are you relying on the samples from an extremist group to base your decisions removing these books based on selective reviews from questionable sources sets a dangerous precedent of censorship books are meant to challenge Inspire and educate even when they push us out of our comfort zones let's teach students to think critically not fear the unknown one last point I'll make when
037Rutherford County had a library material review board every time they reviewed a book it was never removed from the libraries zero one Schoolboard member has had 29 removed one person should not have that much input thank you thank [Applause] you the next speaker is Miss Tammy Kelly so good evening you'll be voting on seven uh books to determine if they have any content in them that is sexually explicit the state law that uh that if the state law states that if books have been deemed to have any sexual uh explicit Conta in it no matter to what degree just any so according to the Tennessee code it provides definitions to help guide you in making the decision tonight that you have but let's take a look at one of the definitions it's number 14 where
038it says sexual content it says potentially of offensive representation and description of ultimate sexual acts normal or perverted actual or simulated a sexual act is stimul ated when it depicts explicit sexual activities that give the appearance of ultimate sexual acts anal oral genital this is just some of the partial descriptions that is described in the Tennessee code so let's hear some of the content from these seven books dreamed of a night and the cow sucking on my breast the one still in her cck testing he put her on a folded tarp spread her legs and entered entered her she screams but he placed his hand over her lips then put his fingers in her mouth she crossed her legs working her prowess as a teaser this content seems pretty clear to me that it is
039Define that as defined by the Tennessee code AS sexual explicit this is not about uh the freedom of speech or topics of these books it's not about how you even feel this is not about creating a safe space or a um mature space for these books you are giving the position to make a determination if any of the language in these books the content of these books is explicit sexual content so your vote tonight will let students parents and the public know how you personally stand and come to the U that comes to the content of these books so I just pray that God be with you in this decision and that you will take in consideration that it's about the content not the topic not your feelings um and definitely not all this drama
040thank you [Applause] I hope I'm going to say her name right but next we have Jan [Applause] Lasco thank you um for allowing me the opportunity to speak tonight I am speaking as a retired High School Librarian from Rutherford County Schools I would like to take time my time to answer and clarify some of the questions and comments that came up during the working session this week number one how do you get books books get to the library I believe this question was answered for the most part and thanks to the board members who visited libraries we are professionals with master's degrees that do our due diligence fetting books from academic journals and librarian reviews we have professional associations and peers because we are under very strong financial constraints we use all of these resources
041number two book review RC the site that Mr Tidwell directly du to is not backed by professional Librarians this site takes excerpts directly from the website booklook dorg that organization was started by moms for Liberty a moms for Liberty founder if you do not know moms for Liberty you need to research their viewpoint on this subject again it is not backed by any professional Librarians number three this is not book Banning actually it is when access is denied to books it becomes an equity and discriminatory issue we serve all students not just privileged ones some students do not have the means to go to the public library especially in rural areas like in Rutherford County some families can't run down to Barnes & Noble and purchase a book some parents don't see the need to
042buy books for home when students have access at school these are all things I've witnessed and heard from students directly number four is this a slippery slope can the Bible be next yes once the action is taken to start defining you've opened the door to all books in a large hars High School library like we have here there are approximately 10,000 books give or takee in some Tennessee districts hundreds of books have been pulled in our awaiting review unavailable for students this mind you has happened to students who also live through the co epidemic as noted earlier a lawsuit recently filed in Florida against an aggressive District had those books returned at this point RCS is one of the most aggressive book banners number five obscenity these books would not meet that that criteria under
043federal law and there are no books in school libraries that would the bottom line is this a book is not considered obscene until it is ruled that way in a court of law what do we want to spend our school funds on and finally high school students today I want you to think about this in our libraries we have military recruiters that often meet with students they offer these students an education in return for military service when an 18 they are given a gun and AC sent across the world to protect our nation these are our young adults we have helped gain a worldview as miners if we trust them to do that can't we trust them to understand what's in books and more importantly have parents Librarians and teachers to discuss this with a
044library is a place of voluntary inqu no student read time should be books for all sorry sorry thank [Applause] you next we have Miss Lindsay Schultz good afternoon members of the council and F fellow citizens of Rutherford County my name is Lindsay Schultz and I own the spine book shop here in Smyrna Tennessee I'm here to speak out against the proposed book Banning of the following books and I wonder if all of you have read any or all of the books I the person I am today because of the books that I read as a child teen and a young adult because they challenged my thinking educated me on issues I was previously unaware of books are a powerful tool for Education empathy and personal growth they allow us to explore ideas cultures and perspectives
045that may be different from our own and they encourage critical thinking and Imagination it seems that these books are covering issues that everyone is facing today like racism homophobia mental illness disability suicide and sexual topics just because these issues are uncomfortable to read about does not mean that we shouldn't instead they should be used to have an open and safe discussion to further our understanding we are Marching backwards instead of going forwards Banning any books on these subject matters is not going to make them go away people are gay they is racism and as we know mental health and suicide are on the front of our communities right now taking these books out of libraries is not going to make these subjects going to go away they are out in the world for everyone to
046see and by Banning these books you are just forcing these people to go into hiding and you're forcing them to be afraid to learn about the world around them there is nothing that will cause someone to read a book faster than telling them that they can't read it Banning books is a form of censorship that not only limits access to knowledge but also Fosters a climate of fear and intolerance our public libraries and schools should be a safe haven for intellectual Freedom not a Battleground for ideological Wars we must remember that books are not dangerous it's the ideas they contain that some people fear yet the beauty of literature is that it lies in its ability to challenge our assumptions broaden our Horizons and tonight very meaningful conversation um and instead of banning these books
047Let's promote values of dialogue and understanding let's equip our community with the tools to engage with challenging text rather than Shield them from ideas that they may find uncomfortable and after all it's through open and honest discourse that we grow and learn as individuals and as a society in conclusion Banning books is promoting ignorance and ignorance is what causes hate and I urge you to reconsider Banning these books instead and focus on cultivating a love of literature and respect for diverse ideas thank you very [Applause] much our next speaker is Miss Kristen ftner Miss ftner so both of us are signed up to speak and she was asking me to speak for her because she's embarrassed to read what's in the books is that okay okay okay so my name is James fauler Trey fauler
048I'm her husband as a father of four married for 20 years I was personally embarrassed and ashamed when reading the excerpts from these books each books that each book that we have here to discuss this evening has clear and obvious sections of pornographic scenes that honestly should not be readily available for anyone to read much less a minor reading some of the excerpts it is discouraging that we have come to the point in our culture that we are even having this discussion I believe right now today in my 3 minutes there's a spiritual battle going on and the spiritual environment is extremely thit there's a battle between good and evil going on here uh the party of slav the party of the KKK the party of abortion and the party of the rainbow sex cult
049are trying to pervert the minds of our innocent children yes we are trying to ban books we're trying to ban books that have pornographic material in them uh words like the word should not be in a book for a kid the word penis should not be in the word uh in in a book for children to read and I'm going to read a couple excerpts here this is from The Perks of a wallf flower this this scene that I'm going to read you is actually a rap scene okay okay our kids don't need to be reading this crap and the boy kept working up the girl's shirt and as much as she said no he kept working on her after a few minutes she stopped protesting and he pulled her shirt off after she said
050no and she had a white bra with lace I honestly didn't know what to do by this point the girl said pretty soon he took off her bra and started to kiss her breast this is visual pornography and it's inappropriate and then he put his hand down her pants and she started moaning this is visual pornography yes but she started crying cuz he's raping her okay kids don't need to be reading this trash but she started crying really hard so he reached out for his own he pulled his pants and underwear off and she said no to his needs please Dave no this is R okay our society has become desensitized to sexual immorality but the the boy just talked soft to her and manipulated her how good she looked and things like that and
051then she grabbed his penis with her hands and she started moving it this is pornography after a few minutes the boy pushed the girl's head down and she started to kiss his penis she was still crying because she was being [Music] raped finally she stopped crying when he forced his penis into her mouth this is pornography yes we're want to Banning we want to ban books stop with the stupid semantics another excert but Molina had always appreciated the attention of fretz and had been attentive to him but somehow his body had not been as Supple as turtle's heart from the book Wicked she drifted off to sleep with Turtle uh turtle's Hearts Turtle heart's mouth on one of her nipples this is pornography and His Hands his big hands roaming like shent pets over her
052body she imagined that Turtle Heart Divided his body when her eyes were closed his mouth roamed over her body his cop became became hard and Rose this is pornography he nudged and leaned his breath was somewhere somewhere other than his mouth and I'll close by saying this you call me extreme for wanting to protect the innocence of children I call you extreme for wanting to expose them the pornography [Applause] our last speaker will be Miss Barbara leig Miss leig I guess [Music] not we will be moving on to number seven Rutherford proud all right next we have Rutherford proud Blackman alumnist Clarissa ham is the founder of Archie's promise a local nonprofit agency that's been providing hygiene vending machines at no cost to several Local Schools based on principal request these machines have become highly
053popular with administrators teachers and students and Miss ham will discuss the project and her ultimate plans to expand the machines to any school that wants them [Music] I'm jennice dit I'm the coordinated School director for rord County schools and I work with Miss ham to get the vending machines into the schools so we have them in I'll tell you the schools we have them in right now lever High School Christiana Middle Riverdale seagull High Smyrna Middle and Rockville High um these machines provide hygiene items to the students for free so their place where the school wants them the counselors or someone on staff has some kind of token so if a student needs it they can go in confidence to that staff member put the token in the machine and get all the items that
054they need and there it's all free of charge good um thank you all for having us here today um we really appreciate you um inviting us so we can just tell you a little bit more about the hygiene vending machine program um my name is claresa ham and I graduated from Blackman High School in 2004 and I'm the founder and executive director of Archie's promise and what we do is we provide affordable for Formal Wear um to um people in the community and then we also provide um free hygiene products through our hygiene vending machines um I was just going to hit on a couple high points on kind of why we started it and what we are doing to kind of scale um a lot of people ask us kind of why we decided
055to do a vending machine model and not do like a pantry or a closet um and we decided to do um to do the vending machine because we wanted to be able to scale um provide accessibility um to prevent hoarding products and um we also are able to track our inventory and provide Jenna with detail reports that she can see how how it's doing um we currently have seven hygiene vending machines we have them in four high schools which is leverne Rockville Riverdale and seagull and we have them in two middle schools which is Christiana and um Christiana and Smyrna and then we have one Elementary school which is a Murphy's bro City School Mitch Nelson Elementary um as Jenna stated all the items in the machine are free and we provide the principles with
056um a card we design which is very similar to a debit card it's called a Hope card and so we um loaded with unlimited transactions so whenever a student needs something they can just go swipe it and get it out of the machine for the student for free odd one more thing we have partnered with the community Resource Center of Nashville and they are giving us as many hygiene items as we need so in July we got four pallets because that's all I thought we could handle at that time and it was a lot of work but we could handle more than that so they are going to partner with us every July and January to give us all the items we need as much as we need so every school got two full boxes
057um and we're just going to do as much as we can twice a year and those items can also go into the machines [Applause] that's wonderful and I'm so glad that you all started this program I've seen them in large cities um but I think it's wonderful that they're in our schools because I know from when I was at at Riverdale that there sometimes there's children that that are embarrassed that they don't can't afford deodorant or what have you and I think this is wonderful thank you all so much thank you we'll move on to number nine instruction number nine instruction which is under tab two under the supervision of the special education coordinator and assisted technology educational assistant is requested to assist students and teachers with assisted technology needs including but not limited to
058posttraining follow-up observations Fidelity checks data collection this position will be funded through idea Part B funds recommended motion is to approve the new position of an assist of Technology educational assistant to the special education department funding for this position will be funded through fiscal year 25 idea Part B funds as presented any questions or comments I will entertain a motion move to approve second second all in favor say I I anyone wishing to say nay eyes have it next we have number two number two is the academic calendar request we discuss this at our board work session on Tuesday we will have our full AC mic calendar available for the board to vote on at the October 1st meeting however twaa is requested for us to pick fall break for the next two years so
059they can guarantee that we have officials so that's why it's a little bit out of place this academic calendar request twsa has requested the following dates for RCS fall break 2526 Monday October 6th through Friday October 10th 2025 they've also requested fall break 2026 2027 for Monday October 5th through Friday October 9th This falls in line with our normal calendar being the first full week of October recommended motions to approve the fall break request for academic calendars for 2526 and 2627 as presented I'll make a motion we approve any second second all in favor say i i knee opposed eyes have it we are going to uh skip number 10 we had that at we have to vote oh we have to vote Yes we have to vote on what the option that we have
060the board had two options before them um that were option one which was to start having individuals that need the premiere which is open access and the p network for Blue Cross Blue Shield those individuals would pay up the caveat being that the Stone Crest and TriStar facilities on the North End are not included um we did verify though that if it is an emergency that insurance will cover under an emergency situation um regardless of which plan the second option was to cover 20% of all costs regardless of which plan people were on um so those that were on the higher plans would have more contributed from the board than those on the lower plans which has been the way we have operated either one so option one is start having those on the higher
061plans to pay more for those plans option two is to cover 20% of everybody's regardless of which one yes sir the option one was the insurance committee's recommendation correct correct ready for a motion move to are there any questions or comments move to take the insurance committee's recommendation second all in favor say I I all opposed guys have it well thank you that's the quickest insurance has ever been done thank [Music] you next we move to Legal so at a County transfer student the board has been requested to do admit a transfer student from another school system under discipline this student was expelled for possession or use of drugs according to policy 6318 the board may deny admissions of any student except those in state custody when a student transfers from another school system under
062suspension or expulsion director of school's recommendation is to deny admission however the board can admit or deny the admission of this Adda County transfer student as presented any comments questions I'll entertain a motion move to deny second all in favor say I I any opposed eyes have it next we have engineering and construction this is the request for Seagull Middle School softball batting cages principal Kim Stoker's requesting to install a 45x 65t batting cage for the softball team the estimated cost for this project is at 48,000 it will be at no cost to the school or School Board all materials and labor are being donated by a local business this area has been known to flood periodically in the past and Engineering does not believe it will make the problem worse it could however be
063underwater at some times engineering construction reviewed the request and has no objection recommended motion is to approve the seagull Middle School softball request as presented any questions or comments I'll entertain a motion move to approve second second all in favor say I I any opposed the eyes have it next we have number two request for hom rep pit campus School request for hom rep pit campus school's GaGa ball pit principal Sher King is requesting to install a GaGa ball pit on their playground the estimated cost for this project is 4,000 will be at no cost to the school board all materials are already in hand and paid for the labor is being donated by a local business and funded through the PTA engineering construction reviewed the request and has no objection recommended motions to approve
064the home repaired campus School request as presented any questions or comments yes ma'am I think that uh director needs to explain to everybody on it's watching what a what a Gaga field is because I had to get in lightting the other night so underhanded dodgeball inside of a hexagon my head my the best summary I can give have you ever played no I have because my son um Dean when he broke his arm in fourth grade they got one at Christiana right I had to go because he got in trouble cuz he was playing with a cast so yeah I'll make a motion we approve you second second all in favor say I I any opposed only one person said hi it's supposed to be more people saying I okay we'll do we'll do a
065roll call on this thank you okay yes mhm okay we G got BS all right Mr Mr B yes Miss sharp yes Mrs Derby yes Mr vaugh yes Mr Tidwell yes Mrs Rosales yes Mrs Maxwell yes motion passed next we move to library book review number 13 Madam chairman I'm going to offer a motion chair recognizes Mr VA I'm going to offer a motion for the purposes of discussion U I move to instruct the high school librarians or otherwise known as media specialist to create an area for parent approval only for books this SE this section will immediately upon passage of this motion be created tomorrow in any Library having any one of these seven books shall maintain them in this area going forward any book contained in the high school libraries that have a
066rating of three or four on booklook s.org shall also be contained in this area and any book with a rating of five shall immediately be removed furthermore any book purchased or donated that falls into this rating system of three or four shall also be contained in this area I so move do we have a second second okay that was lengthy that was oh Madam chair yes I'm going to ask that we talk about what we're supposed to be doing with these seven books before we move forward with Mr va's motion um these books were brought up according to state law state law doesn't talk about a mature reading list that's a separate issue if the board would like to create a mature reading list and I think we need to get probably Mr Reed up
067here to go over what the state law is and how we're supposed to be handling this particular [Music] situation and then working if the board chooses to work on a mature reading list that's like a separate these were challenged under the state law so that has to be answered to Mr Mr Reed we have a motion we have it seconded and then miss Arvey would like for us to can you give us some so um with respect to um your question with respect to the challenge on these books understand the challenge on these books were based on them being had sexual explicit sexual content and um and if they're deemed to be obscene then um they have to be removed from the school system that's that's basically what the law is um if there is
068um another challenge to these schools to these books to say that they're age inappropriate there's a mechanism to address whether or not books are age inappropriate and that is in the statute as well um and provides for the basically the school board to determine whether or not a book is appropriate for the age um to which the book is made accessible in schools um I think the question that's before you for tonight is with respect to these books and correct me I'm I'm wrong with respect to this is that if these book if these books are to be sexually explicit and obscene within the definition of TCA then they should be removed from the schools the statute with respect to the definition of obscenity is what we've heard other people talk about and this is
069a statutory definition that's been Incorporated um into our state laws it says basically obene means the average person applying contemporary Community standards would find that the work taken as a whole appeals to prent interest the average person applying contemporary Community standards would find that the work depicts or describes in a patently offensive way sexual conduct and see the work taken as a whole lacks serious literary artistic political or scientific value those three standards come from what has been known as the Miller test which is a spr US Supreme Court test has been adopted to measure what is deemed to be obscene or not now you as elected officials are representatives of our community so you are good uh people to decide what the Contemporary Community standards are for your for our County so it's of
070course somewhat subjective what contemporary standards are but you as elected representatives can determine what in your belief is the Contemporary Community standards that would apply to these books and so that's the statute that you would apply are we evaluating them on that statute or are we evaluating them on TCA 496 3803 because that states that in whole or in part contains nudity descriptions or depictions of sexual excitement sexual conduct excess violence or satom masochistic abuses those terms are defined in 39179 one is not appropriate for the age or maturity level of a student in any of the grades K through 12 and must not be maintained in a School's library cor collection um and above that it states materials in a library collection must be suitable for the age and maturity levels of the students
071who may access the materials so I think we have like two different laws we're looking at and I think the Board needs to know which law and which we're supposed to be looking at before we place a vote on those seven books that's I think that's where we have to start because I think there's been confusion about whether this is going under 3803 or going under the obscenity law that's listed in 901 well the the statute you decided does refer back to 3917 91 because it incorporates the definition of the 3917 91 in the in the statute but it incorporates those definitions as the terms listed here and of seen is not of them yeah cor I think yeah I understand yes so if we go back to those definitions um sexual conduct means patently
072offensive representations or descriptions of ultimate sexual acts normal or perverted actual or simulated a sexual act is simulated when it depicts explicit sexual activity that gives the appearance of ultimate sexual acts anal oral or genital ultimate sexual acts means sexual intercourse anal or otherwise felacio conalingus or sodomy or patently offensive representations or descriptions of masturbation expiratory functions and lud exhibition of the genitals sexual excitement means the condition of human male or female genitals when in a state of sexual sexual stimulation or arousal um so if this if 3803 is what we're going by and those are the definitions that's fine I just need to be clear that that is what we're having to base our decision on because once again this this is about adhering to state law at this point this isn't about how
073I feel about the book it's not about how somebody else feels about the book the people who have been elected to the state of Tennessee have put these laws in place and we're being asked to look at these books in relation to the law of the state of Tennessee I understand that that the explanation that was given with respect to these items that they were brought under 3803 as to be something to be objected to it the agenda is not clear okay because the agenda does not state which statute these are being challenged under so you're as an agenda item there's not a clear delineation which statute is being applied in this case I understand from conversation it was 3803 um but you know we can discuss that that was the intent of who were
074of how this got on the agenda Miss Maxwell yes thank you okay so I'm confused because I was told today and I um and I spoke with I spoke to other people too if I need to understand how these books were being challenged because if they were challenged on the statue that Miss Derby has been um speaking on they should have never come to us at all according I talked to tsba and they said if they're challenged based upon what you were saying they do not come before the board but they will come straight to the board if it's based on obscene so I'm confused as to how these books are being challenged because if they're being challenged on that statue my understanding is that they're not supposed to be coming straight to the board
075and it was supposed to be determined that they're they're removed for whatever reason um but I was told that this challenge has been on the premises of a scene and so therefore it came straight to the board and then now because it's obscene we have to overlook that statue and then look at the obscenity side of it which falls the three parts which it doesn't and that part of it doesn't matter whether there's a part of a section we have to take the book as a whole so I need to know myself where whoever challenged it where do we stand on this Madam chair can I just ask a clarifying question because I think um I think there are three kind of pieces when books are challenged I and correct me if I'm wrong Mr
076Reed I think there's the age appropriate which I believe M Rosales M Rosales do not interrupt I think that there's the age appropriate which does not come before the board there's the obscenity which comes before the board and then there's this piece on 3803 so to my knowledge there's three different ways for a book to be challenged and from what I have read in here I don't know that there's this says each each local Board of Education and Public Charter School governing body shall adopt a policy for developing and reviewing Li School library Collections and goes into the whole policy and all of that um but the law clearly states that if the books meet this they they are to be removed but it doesn't speak specifically to that so I don't know if that
077falls directly to our board policy and I'm honestly not sure that our board policy spoke specifically to that piece Mr you know uh something I don't understand about all this you know we're sitting here talking about all this stuff and Mr Vault made a motion that these books are going to be taken out of circulation what is it you folks want a book burning I mean we can go out here and pile them up and burn them out here in the front yard but they're out of circulation what what is that you want the out of circulation what do you want what do you people want that you know you're here tonight and let me say this let me since I'm I I got the phone just for just a minute you know you talk
078about these books but you have you checked your child's cell phone how many y'all if you Hest raise your hand if your kids got Madam chair point of order point of order is so anyway Mr VA V thank you Mr V Miss Miss Maxwell can I say something Mr Mr V and then I'm Mr B I guess I owe everybody an explanation so I'm going to try to dive into this and look at it um and and I'm I know this is a very sensitive subject for a lot of people and there's a lot of emotions and um everything's flowing and most people have been respectful tonight some people have not some people have got shock value out of this and the reason you know Butch and I and I think I can say this
079we're the new guys on the Block and we've asked for this job uh we're both in the point of our careers that I hate to admit it but I'm one of the oldest people on the committee now used to be I used to be one of the youngest when I was first elected to the County Commission but that almost 40 years ago and what I've observed over the years is that we get in a room like like this and everybody's a lawyer everybody's got an opinion right everybody's opinion counts too everybody has a vote and I want to respect that um a humorous comment I heard one time and I'm going to Brand it to Mayor Richard Reeves said um he said you know after a hot hot topic one night at a at a
080city council meeting uh they got ready to vote on an issue and everybody had their had their say about it and mayor re mayor Reef said he said well I I just want everybody to know this I've Got Friends on this side of the issue I got friends on this side of the issue and I'm for my friends okay I'm here for the entire Community what we are as elected representatives this is best I can remember a republic Mr Reed correct me if I'm wrong but you know a democracy is where the Mob Rules a republic is not a republic is where everybody has a fair Shake uh there's been many definitions given to it and I'm not going to bore the crowd with it tonight but I've been up since 3:00 this morning I've
081read the Constitution twice I've read opinions about everything and everybody's got an opinion and I and and and the conclusion I had come to is there's got to be some type of Middle Ground some people are not going to be happy with with it others maybe will see the wisdom that Butch and I have tried to come up with and yes but and I have talked about this he and I have taken it upon ourselves to visit every school in this County since we've become new board members we're not done but we have been to all the high schools but one we visited with all the I want to call them Librarians Dr Sullivan but I guess they're media specialist now I have the utmost confidence in these ladies they've done a good job I
082think Miss sharp said it the other night when I asked the question how do we get books it's just a box it comes there's a box of books that shows up not to be critical Miss sharp but I think there's a little more thought that goes into that these ladies are educated you know P are prize winning books or something that are to be valued they may make you think they may appall you uh as Caleb said the other night some of it is smut I I agree with that I agree with that and I don't think that our children need to be easily accessible to that and where this came from Caleb mentioned the other night about having Playboys in the schools and and I said uh I think it was Caleb that directed
083that question to me but hey hey I've got the floor right now she scolded me the other night talking over people so I'm going to get my piece out and y'all have at it but it made me think about it when I was a younger person and you go in the drugstore the Playboys were behind the counter they were wrapped up you had to show your ID or walk the walk of shame or whatever it is now I'm not suggesting that with our students or our children do that but I do think parents need to be engaged I really firmly believe that you know and it's obvious that this crowd is upset uh they just don't want cart block accessibility to some of these titles can't blame them I don't like them I wouldn't read
084them um and I'll be honest with you I read the reviews on some of them and and you know it is a shock value I'm I'm disappointed in a lot of people trying to get a rise out of everybody we all read them we all have seen the reviews it was uncalled for to come to that Podium tonight and broadcast this but if it made you feel better I'm glad you got it off your chest but at this point you know you want to practice law everybody wants to practice law are you scared of the ACL you you know Caleb says he's not I for one I don't want to spend a half million dollars defending the a lawsuit just like the city of murphysburg just got through doing I I don't think that's wise
085use of taxpayer dollars uh I don't know that this is a hill I want to die on you know because of that I don't want to take the books out and then turn around a year from now after we spent a half a million of your money defended it and still lose I don't know that we would again everybody's got an opinion right here but one of the things that I read through this and I'll wind this up Madam chairman is that going back to Pacifica would that be the case I think I'm testing your Law School uh but it was the one some of you that are gray-haired like me can remember a comedian named George Carlin did a routine years ago the seven words you can't say on TV y'all remember that some
086of you do kind of humorous you know as a team before I was in high school it was a shock value at my point in time in my he in my career or history and uh that case ended up not Mr Carlin but the case the seven words ended up at the Supreme Court and there was a ruling on it and I think briefly what it was was there was a radio station broadcast it and they got in trouble with the FCC and FCC wouldn't issue another license and they appealed it but what came out of the Supreme Court decision on it was yes there is freedom of speech much like you know we realize that and that's what we're trying to defend is is freedom of thought freedom of expression freedom to carry arms
087but there are limitations the right to bear arms doesn't give us the right to have a nuclear weapon nor does the right of free speech give us the right to run into this room right now and holler fire that's a problem we've got at schools right now we've got a lot of threats going on and it's unfortunate Oakland High School lost a whole day of instruction last week and and these threats and and I get it when I signed up for this I never dreamed I thought it would be I thought my expertise would be about building schools managing money it's about keeping your kids safe that's the number one priority this board is has got and this administration's got he's done a and I'm going to say it hell of a job I haven't
088known the man but 6 weeks and I very proud to work side by side with him but the Pacifica case came out to say that you know there's a time and place for everything I think the verbiage was something like this you know there's nothing wrong with a hog but the hog doesn't need to be in the living room you know there's nothing wrong probably with these books for some of us it is for others it's not but you know do they do they all need to have accessibility to to every child I don't think so so that's the reason I made offered the motion to try to give us a policy Direction and I've been told that we run by policy I hope this continues that way I trust our Librarians I trust Dr
089civan and his tenure to hire principles that hire good Librarians um one thing I think Mr vaugh and I have noticed is that some of our employees are taking this as a slight that's not a reason to vote for against this motion but these people go to school to learn this to to to administer this to our children to teach them and the love of reading my God if you could see the test scores I'm just glad they're picking up a book some of them right you know so anyway that's my piece I had to get it off of me I would like to hear from Mr tidal and then miss sharp everyone has been heard uh just a couple things on that so you're talking about defending a lawsuit to the ACLU I why
090my mic's so hot um but you'll be defending a lawsuit for keeping the sex explicit books in our schools if you go that way the content's out there now so am I good hot M hot mic all right I don't know what to do with it Francis Rosal all right thank you can you hear me better maybe a little bit maybe not um either way you'll have a lawsuit if you keep the sexually explicit content because now that content is available and has been publicly mentioned uh not only has it been publicly mentioned but the the website I want to go back to that real quick so uh there was some different stuff brought about challenging the website or book looks all this stuff I used um the site a guy that was trying to
091help me he asked how he could help I said share the content if you share the content that's what we're that's what we're talking about so this is the easier access for those to share the content not everybody has the ability to read all of the books but if you see see the content that's in question then you can make a decision based off of that um but the content's out there the ratings it's I'm I'm totally against hiding them behind some wall having some mature section in our schools I think that's extremely inappropriate uh if it's sexually explicit it's sexually explicit to go back to the decision uh discussion that we was having with Mr Reed I could argue e either way I could argue it which most of the time when I use
092the word of scene I follow it up with sexually explicit because I think we all understand that term a lot better uh if you want to make it if you want to go through the Miller test let's do that all right so this is this is and I and I'll go through the I know you talk about it's all being lawyers but I went through a lot of this on the work session but apparently the same topics and same items are coming up so I'll address that here the Miller test that's Miller versus California 1973 would be found by the average person applying contemporary Community standards who has the who is the the person in charge of those Community contemporary Community standards who makes that decision Supreme Court has ruled that that is made by
093the closest elected officials which is the school board to the community so that's subjective that's why they're having the school board do it is patently offensive to prevailing standards in the adult community patently offensive prevailing standards who decides what those standards are and who says that it's offensive I think it's patently offensive that we're exposing minors to sexually explicit content I think that's easily Justified taken as a whole lacks serious literary artistic political or scientific values for miners the word serious there how how are we going to determine whether something is serious enough that it should warrant keeping sexually explicit content that's funded by taxpayers dollars and handed not handed out but available to miners I don't think you can defend any of those on these books I don't think that using as much as
094I appreciate the work that's been done on some of these sites and by other individuals and I appreciate some of the items you said about removing the books that rated a five I appreciate that however those are still subjective ratings and so I may disagree with those ratings this board which is according to uh Supreme Court law this board is the final stop we may disagree with those ratings and want to pull a book out then so if we create this mature reading list then you're just going to have Librarians stack books back behind there and we're still holding those in our school that is inir violation of 496 3803 it's already been read read at work session Katie read it tonight Dr re uh uh Mr Reed read it as well I just don't
095see how there's a leg to stand on I think what you are at and where we are tonight is talking about these seven books start there you have to decide the content's been made available to every board member Mr Reed distributed all that out to us everybody's seen the content you heard some of it readed tonight but you have the the rest in here you have to decide if it's sexually explicit or not as you mentioned the other night we were going to do a roll call vote and go down book by book by book now here we are debating on whether to keep sexually explicit content in here I had this whole thing I was going to talk about the damage this does to adolescence the studies that have been shown the results of
096those consequences but I I'm I guess I'll save it we're going to continue to debate so I'd like to hear what arguments there are for keeping sexually explicit content in our schools shark [Music] [Applause] offici so when I spoke JY as a school board member in Wilson County um probably at least a four maybe a five year scho under the law the 8303 they Clos their Library first of the year Dr I talked about it earlier this year we were thinking that they Clos it because they were giving out the laptops no they were not closing it because they gave out the laptops they were closing it because the a303 made them take everything that was in their mature reading list to leave the schools they took every single Lookout so we can go down
097this route of Mr B but this law tells us we can't have a mature reading L it has to go now we can take those books one of the things that they suggested to take those books to public Lage so they're not wasted they're not put behind the scenes they're not thrown away so I I mean I'm completely open to do that but um I think we got to remove these books they're they're sexually explicit they of seen and I I've had a 24y old and I wouldn't give any of those to thing you know uh this motion Mr thought is made these books are are are taken out of circulation and by that means these kids and they say your parent gives you permission they have no access to them now I don't know
098why we're causing all this friction among the in the community and among church members and whoever but they're taken out kids kids have have no access to them they can't get them and I don't know I'm I'm ready to vote I mean I'm ready to vote myself Mr Reed I need a little guidance here um we have a a motion by Mr VA can we entertain his motion or do we need to do go by line by line for each book you can there's a motion in a second so the board can take up his motion okay Miss Maxwell yes I am still confused because when I talk to ban Tores from tsba and he said that if we're dealing with sexual explicit books they should have never come to the board and that if
099we're going to be voting on the books it's based on obscenity and it goes straight to the board so again how did these books came to us if they're under sexual explicit why are we sitting here and creating all this ant if the statue already speaks to it um I just want Clarity because my understanding there's two ways to challenge the books is based on obscenity and a based on asent appropriateness I was going to read everything that he said to me B Tour says I talked to him um he sent an email but I don't have my my laptop when it went off it died so um so there's there's the two ways and when it's age inappropriate it's whole in part if it's obscenity um it's based on the whole book in itself
100and you got to go through the three-prong test and he also said just because there's words there that you may not like it doesn't necessarily mean that it's going to be sexual explicit because you still have to go through that Miller test so I'm so confused as to what we're supposed to be doing if it's indeed the truth that these books following that sexual explicit aspect of it they should have never come to us to vote for it so that's where I'm at Madam chair yes mby the answer possibly so in 3803 it continues to state um each local Board of Education shall adopt a policy and our policy reads as defined in TCA 901 I'm not going to go into all the descriptions again with the definitions but it says if it meets those
101definitions it shall be immediately removed from all libraries within the school district and then reviewed for final decision by the board that is what our policy states ch yes M sharp thank you yes when I spoke to Joe Padia these books did not go before the school board they didn't vote on them under 80 excuse me 3803 they just removed every single one of them every book that they had in there under the mature reading list they were gone taken up gone vot Mr Reed um the the policy said and of course the board has to act in accordance with its policy so the policy of this board says as M Darby said as defined in TCA 3917 901 so that references that same statute we've been talking about any picture photograph drawing sculpture Motion
102Picture film or similar similar visual representation or image of a person or portion of the human body in whole or in part which depicts nudity sexual conduct sexual excitement excess violence or sat masochistic abuse is patently offensive or appeals to the prent interest shall be immediately removed from all libraries within the school district and then reviewed for final decision for by the board so then someone has to make a determination under TCA 391 17901 what books fall in that category and when that that statute references the obscenity statute and that's what the courts who have reviewed these matters have looked at so in evaluating all these published materials they said you have to apply this absin standard to them someone has to to do that so that no one has done that yet I guess
103with respect to these books uh but they it was brought on the board agenda and placed on the board agenda for this board to take some action on these books with regard to them because someone believed it fell within the definition of a book that should be prohibited and we have 60 days yes and this would be the end of the 60 days yes and so as within the discretion this board since this item has been brought before the board to determine how it wants to handle this matter with respect to these books that have been brought before it so ultimately that's the decision this board has to make as been said tonight you guys are the board members are the representatives of our community and know best what our community standards are and how
104you want to address these books that have been brought before you tonight so that's how it comes to this board tonight so I'm sorry yes Mr thank you Mr I'm so sorry so I want to be clear so we're not going under obscenity it's based on sexual explicit you're going when this comes for the board the board only asks through for for its policies right so the policy said that it's removed because it has all this stuff and so we have a final review we remove it right so so I think the problem is that I was under the pretenses that this was all about obscenity but now we're going back to say that our policy says that if it contains all that stuff in the books that we automatically remove it and we bring
105it before the board and it's automatically removed as a final review policy says as to find in TCA 391 17901 that statute is the statute that defines obscenity all these subcomponents that go into the definition of obscenity so is a broad is a statute that defines obscenity essentially what this statute is and what this policy what we have adopted does it refers back to the statute so you have to go back to the statute and read the statute and determine and so there has to be a determination made made by someone of whether or not these books fall within the definition of obscenity so if they are detered to be obscene we are required to remove them from our schools like we've talked about and it comes back to the board for your approval as
106far as your ultimate decision as to what you do with these books that is that is the decision that's been brought before this board tonight is for this board to go ahead and make a decision on these books that have been brought so that it's within this board's discretion to decide what it wants to do with respect to these books tonight Madam chairman yes Mr bot kind of go back and highlight and and Francis I understand I think every one of us I have read 49- whatever you know that's the statute that governs the operation of schools you got another statute over here that deals with other thing the Tennesse code annotated is a fascinating work however again I'm going to go back to Mr vaugh and I being the two oldest people on this
107board in my life experience there's always conflicts in the law and I think everybody in this room would concur with this statement we're all tired of the federal government dictating exactly what goes on in Murphy's Boro Tennessee I think some of us in this room are a little concerned about the dictation coming from Nashville to Murphysboro Tennessee what my motion does or what this policy change that I'm driving toward will do is put that in our hands to create an environment that as I see it protects the people and the and the and the young people that don't want to see this but yet make it available to those par parents and those students that deem it um literary for whatever for whatever reason it's not for me to judge it's not for any of
108us to judge in this room it's for us to kind of create a policy and an environment for these students to learn that's the only angle here I'm driving at I'm not trying to circumvent something I'm not trying to make a bold statement or shock value or anything like that I'm just trying to come to somewhat and I hate to use the word compromise cuz I don't know that this is a compromise this is something that probably should have been done years ago that that these books need to have parental engagement with them if you don't want your kid reading it don't let them check it out that would be how I would say it so anyone I think Mr tiwall was next then I'll get to you st yeah sorry so it's already in
109our hands that's what the court has decided so that's where we're at it's in our hands to make the decision and make that determination as we are those you said you don't want you mentioned Federal making decisions for us you don't want State necessarily making decisions for us you don't want Nashville making decisions for us that's correct it comes down to us we're here in Rutherford County we're elected officials uh that these people I'm assuming don't want to have to be doing this every two weeks or every three weeks uh that's why they elected us to do that so I think that if you'd be willing uh you've already put a motion out there if you I think a a possible Avenue right trying to think through what you what you've been mentioning here in
110some of the conversation going around we vote on these books tonight that solves the issue we go ahead and vote on them they're sexually explicit we we do the roll call vote as Miss Maxwell had suggested before moving forward potentially we can have and I think it's fair if we're balancing off balancing off what uh Wilson County has done we can have our Librarians go through the collections make recommendations follow the law as it says doesn't mean that books won't arrive to us doesn't mean they won't come to us because as we as we I pointed out at the work session the review process in my opinion is not as thorough as it is maybe LED out to be so obviously if if it had been thorough then there wouldn't have been 29 books worthy
111of removal and this and that's based off you mention in fours and fives being removed or fives being removed they would have been pulled out but they were not so in my opinion I think that's how we should handle the situation where we're currently at the law is clear so when it comes to sexually explicit and Mr Reed can correct me here but even the uh the reference in that Miss Derby had read about in whole or in part contains depictions of these things and it refers back to the language when it refers back to the language it's referring back to the word that was used so if it refers to sexual excitement it's referring to number 15 if it refers to sexual conduct it's refering number 14 so in that particular order it may
112not require the Miller test it may not require the three-prong test but still what is that going to end up with we're going to end up with recommendations possibly from The Librarians or decisions made at the the administration level but it still falls back on us we are still the final say so that would be my suggestion moving forward Mr stby um just a couple of things to answer the question about um the mature reading list and that it removes them out of circulation that's really only to a point first of all're we're still violating state law by having them available at all secondly there's nothing stopping students from sharing that with other students which means you have now just taken away the parents right to know what their child is accessing because you have
113inappropriate content available that other students have access to that they can share um we do not allow rated R movies to be played in our school system I have to sign a paper giving approval for PG movies for my children to watch there's a reason for that and it's unfortunate that our school that books do not have a rating system that Rutherford County Schools can easily say we're just going to provide g& PG rated books um I'm not trying to restrict anybody from Reading anything I'm trying to be a responsible Schoolboard member we are charged with educating children that is our job we should be providing materials that do that and the easiest thing to do is if something is questionable content in regards to the education of a child it probably shouldn't be there
114period that is the easiest thing to do we restrict internet access we give these children computers but we don't give them computers without internet restriction why because there is inappropriate content that is not okay for children to witness to view you cannot walk this stuff back once it has been introduced to Children there is an epidemic of young children addicted to pornography and it is not just in view form it is in the words they hear it is in the words they read it is in all of that content I am disheartened that that things are getting brought out that people are saying things for shock value I can tell you people don't believe that that content that was read tonight is in these books I would I am going to I might be wrong
115but I would like to say that people that read that tonight read that so that people can understand what we are talking about we are not talking about lighthearted sweet Hallmark movie love stories that's not what we're saying is inappropriate this is some pretty hardcore serious stuff that most children are not ready for and if your child is there are plenty of places for you to get that that is not my job that is yours that is your child I don't like the insinuation that because parents don't want these books there that they're not monitoring their children I monitor my children my daughter came home with a book from the library that I ended up finding out was inappropriate and guess what there was nothing nothing in the description of that book that would have
116said there was inappropriate material in there so we are living in an age where it is extremely difficult to monitor all of the things our children witness the last thing our school system needs to be doing is allowing access to that material whether whether or not it's going under obscene or sexually explicit the state law the Rutherford count Schoolboard policy states that the board is to review and make a decision so I think the board has to decide two things are we taking the vote on the motion are we taking the vote on the books and if we are are we taking the vote in regards to sexual explicit or obscenity Madam chair yes Mr vau I used to teach Ma and I hope I was a better teacher than I am now but the
117motion Mr Vault made was that these books are taken out of circulation which means they're not available to the to any student unless that parent gives him permission now they may share it but you can't control that they might borrow that cell phone that's got stuff on there but that's what I've vot is we're doing way with them we agree that they are OB they don't need to be in the regular run the meal a distribution and that's what Mr V that's his motion to take them out of circulation and if you want your child to read beloved or whatever it is wicked have at it but that's only the only in these Librarians we've got the best in the world and to sit there and people criticize and all like at the Librarians they
118do a phenomenal job and I tell you Mr VA I've talked to him and I tell you the thing about it is they understand this problem also and some schools don't even have them on there on the on the rack and they had even put them out there so they understand too and that's all we want to do I don't know why we just keep going down this rabbit hole that you know that uh we made a motion in a second that we're going to remove these books out of circulation other than I don't like I said them in go I hope I'm teach it better now than I was then I hope I taught them better now now Mr re but it's either you know it's either burn them out there you know we've
119we've we've uh taken them away we moved them out Mr Reed is Mr wat's motion a motion that we can vote on you have a mo you have a a motion in a second before the board I don't know if that motion will fail or P or pass but the board has to act on that motion first before anybody can make additional motions so there has to be a mo vote on the motion that was made that was made and seconded and for clarity purposes it might be good if discussion is stopped is if we're this discussion the motion again so we're clear on what his was yes are we clear can we can you read the motion one more time yeah you won't me to read it yes please oh can I add one
120thing before Mr Reed any change to policy has to go before policy committee so this would have to be a a separate type of thing we can discuss later okay yeah and that's not knowing everything here that's the reason I kind of left left it open-ended if you if you listen to it that's what I was I don't I don't have a running gear quite up under me yet I'll get it figured out around here I move to instruct the high school librarians otherwise known as media specialist to create an area for parent approval only books this section will immediately upon passage of this motion be created tomorrow in any Library having these seven books shall maintain them in this area going forward any book contained in the high school libraries that have a rating
121of three or four on booklook s.org shall also be contained in this area and any book with a rating of five shall be removed immediately furthermore any book purchased or donated that falls into this rating system of three or four shall also will be contained in this area I so move Miss Maxwell yes M I have I need to have a clarification I rev voting for all five books I mean I'm putting the whole I'm doing it for the whole crew okay can we take a recess for five minutes I've got to talk to Mr Reed yes I'll give you 5 minute recess Mr re we want to get this right we got any more water [Laughter] [Music] CB B e e e waiting on our attorney yeah I appreciate these signs but if they
122want me to see them they going to have to make a letter in a little B that's against policy [Applause] okay e you know uh it's just not uh we're we're so blessed to live in a country like America golly don't let something like this yeah div I so still don't think you can hear we can't hear you I guess they say I'm on man keep talking they said keep talking anybody know any good trivia I'm just kidding all right so a couple things real quick uh if we go with the the the current motion that's on the table that would not affect any of these books because that motion can't go into effect till it goes to policy commit so that therefore we would just be dodging the vote on these books next the
123Wilson Wilson County had a mature reading list that's what they had what's being proposed tonight they just removed all the books on their mature reading their mature reading list because of the new state law lastly point that I'd like to make is that all of the books that you have heard from tonight all of these these would all be put on the mature reading list not removed so if you heard anything tonight that sounded like sexually explicit content uh your ears did not fool you and neither would that be removed from the school district and with that I'd like to make a motion to amend the motion that we vote on these books individually as was presented the other night and that we do not move forward with a mature reading list um that can
124be added to the policy committee for debate at that point Mr second Miss Maxwell that's a whole new motion that is so that's Mr I've made a motion to amend what is required after a motion to amend well I want to say that I did something similar that you guys did and then you guys shot it down and said it was a whole new motion right so we don't do things consistently so I will say since my motion got shot it down when I did I will say this is a m is okay to make file a motion to amend the motion to amend must relate to the original motion it cannot contradict the original motion so it has to be a motion made that relates uh to amend that relates to the original motion
125so a motion to amend is okay if it gets it relates to the original motion and that motion to amend gets seconded but it cannot contradict the original motion contradicts motion what is your Amendment again my amendment is that we review these books tonight as you had originally presented uh we do a roll call vote on these books that part does not affect uh the other motion as the motion that was currently made can't go into effect until policy committee approves it so that would lead these books in limbo I think it's our duty and why we were elected to make that decision that's why I'm that's part of the amendment the other portion is that and you said it cannot contradict well then I make a amendment that the we can is this going
126to be one Amendment or two amendments one okay okay point of order you've already got an amendment on the flo we have Amendment on the on the floor he's repeating right yeah I thought you asked me to repeat that yes okay sorry go ahead so with that I make a motion to amend that we vote on these books individually through a roll call vote point no voter it's it's a contradiction it's not contradictory M makes Maxwell is that is that a contradiction I think the original motion called for all votes be all the books we voted on in one one time uh the motion to amend is to have them voted on individually I would I would the reader L mature reading list so it contradicts it does cont it does he's asking to remove
127the mature Madam chair Mr Mr V did your motion include any voting on these books tonight my motion stated to remove these books tomorrow morning and put them in a mature Reading area yes so that I'm taking them all As one we're not charry picking okay so that can't happen because of the it has to go to the policy committee meeting so I don't know if I don't know if his amendment is in contradiction or not I just wanted clarification on I will say this I think respect to the motion that Mr Vault made is okay if board decides to vote on that and that's what they're going to do take action tonight I think the board can do that so because that's not a direct change the policy that we have tonight that's something
128what Mr vault is moving and this board would determine to do tonight if the board decides to do that I will say secondly Mr Vault has requested all these may be taken up collectively and voted on together I think if the board if the amendment which Mr Tidwell has proposed calls for individual votes on these books to determine whether or not they go in this list in this mature category or not I think that is an okay motion to amend if this board if it's seconded and the board votes to adopt that amendment to it then you would take Mr vault's motion and apply it to to the seven books individually at a time so and I think that if that was an amendment that this seconded and voted on by the affirmative group of
129the board that will be an appropriate second uh Amendment on it in the event the the second component of Mr tidwell's motion though to not have the mature reading list would be contradictory to Mr vault's motion I don't think that would be appropriate for an amendment that's M just a point of clarification on that are you saying that we would vote on the seven books individually or as a collective based off my amend my amendment is to vote if you're if your motion to take up these books individually is what I understood to be you would take you would take Mr vault's proposed motion and apply it individually to each of these books vote book by book have an individual vote book by book as to whether or not it falls within the category of
130what Mr Vault uh proposed with which is basically to have them removed have that the book removed and placed in a mature category restricted access effective tomorrow so that's I don't know if that was the intent of your motion to amend but I understood that if that is the intent I think that is okay motion that is an acceptable motion to amend if it gets seconded and this group board as a whole votes majority votes in favor of amending the motion I have a question I'll get to you Mr Dar I promise he had a motion he seconded it does he have to does it have to be amended can he can Mr VA say I don't want my motion just to we go ahead and just vote on his a motion no he there
131could be a motion to amend made by Mr tiwall okay okay can just want to make sure for clarification purposes how can we vote on a motion that is requiring action tomorrow that's actually not able to happen I approve so no I'm serious like would Mr VA amend his motion to move his mature reading list to the policy committee meeting and we can leave these particular books separated out and do our job and vote on these and then revisit the mature reading list at the policy committee meeting because we can't address that until then is up to Mr no that is not you this Bunch right here wants those books removed and I want them removed in the morning I want them put behind the counter in the morning that's the intent of my motion
132if you want to do what I thought we weren't going to talk over each other if we if we are wanting to create policy you can refer it to the policy committee being the new kid on the Block I don't know exactly how the policy's written and how it's referred to it you're more experienced than I am at that if you want to amend the motion to direct it to the policy committee that's fine I'm good with it we'll talk about it at policy but tonight my motion is to remove them immediately and put them in a mature reading list period you would have to have a mature reading list policy to put them in it you're getting into sematics right now I I'm not this is respectfully this is we have a policy that
133speaks speaks to how we are to review and vote on removing books when they have been challenged the mature reading list was brought up at a previous policy meeting and was was not taken up so if you want to have one please add it to the policy committee meeting and we can address that at that time I have said from the start of this that's a separate issue from the seven books that are here tonight you can't remove them and put them somewhere that doesn't currently EX exist Mr Reed can we V there's a motion there's a motion a second on the floor Mr TI May a motion to amend I don't know if I heard whether there was a second or not on your motion to amend there was a second I would say
134yes there was a second M so with respect to your motion to amend we need to take action on the motion to amend and then come back to the original motion motion so the motion to amend as I understand it is to take up Mr vault's motion with respect to these books individually as opposed to collectively so they can be separate we can was a second on that but it is not to add them to a non-existent list that yeah um I that is going to be contradictory to his motion because Mr Vault has has proposed he to be removed and put into a maturity list a mature thing for tomorrow so that's something he can do if the if the board wants to take up this by policy and change the policy later on
135or address it differently this board can do that at policy committee but before tonight you have an action item on the agenda you've got motion was made you have a motion that's been seconded so from a procedural standpoint you have to act on the Motions that been made tonight and this as a board you can take action on these books tonight guess why this is on the agenda so you can determine tonight what action to take with respect to these books um so that is proper before you tonight if you want to make change of policy in the future you can do that go back and do another policy change that's a separate debate and a separate question than what you have before you tonight because what you have before you tonight as a final
136decision on respect to these seven books so if you want and I do if if the board if the majority of board wants to vote on these Mr vault's motion individually with these books that will be a proper Amendment if you want to do that if you but to contradict his his his motion altogether is not something we can do by a motion to amend Madam chairman I call for the question on the amendment that requires a two-thirds vote m w all right question on the motion Miss Derby no I need more clarification do you want to discussion or do you want question been called there's no more debate I would have to have clarification Mr vaugh I'm ready to vote on this but we're going to end debate so we need we need two3
137I mean are you agreeing to end the debate yeah well I want everybody to understand the way you vot is say I approve or I don't approve so it's not hard it's not hard there's no discussion on we make it the board has to vote on whether to End discussion or not that is the vote we we're voting to end debate yeah I'm true yeah yes Mr Tidwell no Mrs Rosales yes Mr Vault yes Miss sharp no Mrs Maxwell yes four [Music] yeses it fails so can I would you like to do can I ask Miss if Mr Tidwell if his Amendment said he wants to amend the motion to take the vote on these seven books whether or not to remove them and move the conversation of the mature reading list to the next
138policy committee meeting is that an acceptable Amendment uh no okay so M Maxim yes Mr tidal so you're saying that would be contradictory just to postpone it if this board as a whole wants to post postpone this and deal with it later and Mr vault's willing to withdraw his motion and the second is withdrawn and you decide as a board to table this and deal with it policy committee or at some future meeting that's something that could happen but that would require Mr Vault to to withdraw his motion and the second would have to also be withdrawn I'm specifically talking about the amendment since the amendment would be to postpone it it wouldn't be necessarily contradictory to his Amendment I'm just saying at a later time the yeah you're the the that is contradictory because
139his motion is to take action tonight okay then my next question on that particular topic is as Miss Darby has pointed out we don't have a mature reading list voting on one tonight won't create one tomorrow by my interpretation of what he would do you would create that would be the first seven books on a material reading list because that's what the board is talking about doing they be C these seven books and then there'll be whatever further action the board wants to take with other books in the future this board could then decide through policy or however you want to address that but the the the only issue between before the board tonight are these seven books so the these seven books are what the agenda item is that the board has to act
140on tonight or you choose not take any action on it so issues with respect to maturity list and and books and all that for policy standpoint is something you would take up later if you decide to do that but it is appropriate if this board decides to do something with respect to these seven books and remove them from access to everyone at your board action tonight that's something this board can do if this board decides to do that M Arby I'm very unclear because Dr Sullivan has stated we cannot have a mature reading list until it comes before the policy committee meeting the motion is to add these books tomorrow to a list that does not currently exist the motion that's on the floor tonight would create that list it would how can it create
141the list if the board didn't vote to create that list to begin saying that has to happen at the policy committee the board action if the board acts on this tonight the board would in effect be creating a list that these seven books will be going on that will be subject to the rules that Mr vault is proposing with respect to those seven books so the policy committee meeting means nothing no the policy committee meeting means means that whatever kind of policies the they want to take up later on with respect to books they can there may be other books that they want to consider that Librarians considered to go on that list to be treated the same as these seven but the issue you have before you tonight is as to these seven books
142so and then and the you know you call it a mature reading list or whatever you want to call it but the action that's being proposed is that those seven books be removed effectively tomorrow and have limited access be U created for those books effec tomorrow well let's be clear that they're not being removed they are being placed elsewhere and are still accessible they're not out of our school library which is what the state law [Applause] requires Mr Tidwell do you want to continue with your amend Amendment or resend it I'm going M Maxwell I I would like to resend my Amendment since it is going to have no bearing as long as Miss Sharp's okay resending her second uh seeing as we're simply moving these sexually explicit books into a different part of our
143library I'll let the board decide on their own vote on that I think we're ready to vote on the amendment the original Amendment no Amendment Amendment gone I mean sorry I meant motion I apologize the original motion I am so sorry it's been a long night Miss Maxwell okay because of the way that the motion reads I will not be able to vote on it as a whole because I worked with a because of my previous um so I will not be able to vote for that okay I've got one point of clarification then the there's always been this magic date of September the 19th and there's something I've read somewhere that said action had to be taken within 60 days or something or the books got referred to the state committee is that what
144happens there is yes there is some language saying this books get referred onto the state if they're not if the board does not take action within 60 days when the complaint is brought before the board there the state will say that they will not be reviewing these books unless the person complaining about the books files an appeal to the state so from a state standpoint they probably will not hear an appeal or review these books unless the person challenging these books presents an appeal before the state that is the state's position with respect to how the statute reads all right so I want to iterate this since Mrs Rosales cannot vote on this motion there is a possibility that this would be a TI vote and in my understanding of Robert's Rules of Order then
145the motion would fail then unless somebody made another motion to vote on them individually and then that motion failed because of a tie vote then these books would end up staying on the shelves until that individual appealed to the state correct that if there's a tie vote that's in effect what would happen so we we could end up not taking any action tonight if there's a strong possibility it could a split vote right here some motion will have to have four votes yes that's what I that's what I wanted clarification on so if if you want the books off you need to vote for the motion or you can vote to remove the books Let's go ahead and have a roll call vote on the original motion from Mr VA Mr Tidwell that's a heavy
146no Mrs Darby no Miss sharp 100% no Mr VA yes Mrs Rosales obain Mr vaugh yes ma'am Mrs Maxwell yes split M maw Maxwell hold on I got Mr I get to you yes Miss Rosales yes okay I make a motion that we table this so until we get from the Challenger Who challenged this exactly how we're going to challenge this because there's confusion even though we have that statute of the different definitions we cannot as a board pick one over the other so um it has to be one definition and it's supposed to be obscenity that was my understanding but if it's sexual explicit then that needs to be the um the Challenger so I move to table this so that we can get this back on the agenda with the right way of
147how it's supposed to be challenged that's my motion Mr tidal there it needs to be a second on the motion second if there's no second it fails yes Mr tidal I'd like to make a motion okay I would like to make a motion that we vote on each one of these books individually as a board as we're elected to do on it being sexually explicit content of which you are all aware second the motion is to call for a vote for each one of these books I think you have a motion that's to take up these votes individually and determine whether or not they're sexually explicit I believe is what the motion was I don't want you could I don't want to read that's correct I'm just clear can we make an amendment to the
148amendment to the motion yes Mr you know I want these books off the chef and you know that's the thing it you know hey please stop talking in the G you know if you people can't keep your mouth shut just okay point please just you know the thing about it is we're trying to you know and let's we have Mr vaugh Mr vau we have we have Amendment here's the thing about it I want them taking off the shelves and I don't see why we're doing all they're removed Mr Mr vaugh not talking to you okay can we go we're going to go one by one does that mean that they're going to be what does that mean read your your your motion one more I i' clarify we're going to vote on whether they
149are sexually explicit and should be removed by Tennessee state law based on sexually explicit content in the book uh with the board being the final determination of that that's what we'll be voting on if you vote in the affirmative to this tion You' be voting for removal if you vote against this motion you'd be voting to retain yeah yes is everyone clear no sorry Mr V we we're going to vote yeah just the motion is the motion to is a motion to but for determination that both these are sexually explicit and should be removed is that a motion yes and M second was Darby Darby I'm so sorry it's been a long night all right Miss Maxwell can I get a clarification from Jeff Reed yes okay so based on sexual explicit it doesn't fall
150under obscenity at all so is it part and whole I mean yeah part and whole then is that the interpretation now at this point since it was never clear on the agenda how we were supposed to be voting for it I understand the agenda the motion that Mr Tidwell made was to basically determine that these books individually whether or not they're sexually explicit or not and if they are and then if so they will be removed that is correct right but is it based on whole or in part the sexual explicit because ob8 is totally different and that's part of the statute and um I was and the impression that you had to pick one or the other so it's sexual explicit it was never supposed to come to us anyways if it was that
151so I just need clarification from Mr did not delineate a difference in his motion so his motion was for the board to vote determine whether these are sexually explicit and for the books to be banned banned but would be removed I am for clarity sakes I am making uh specifically to the sexually explicit which would include according to the law uh in whole or in part that is my clarity okay is that okay with the person who seconded the motion that okay with yes sorry okay this roll call please all right the first book Is beloved Mr Vault no Miss sharp yes Mrs Derby yes Mr vau see it is Mr didwell yes Mrs Rosales this wasis I know M Rosal yes I know I'm going to have to say yes because it's a whole
152in part Mrs Maxwell no five yeses all right we're going to Queen of Shadows Mr Tidwell yes Mrs Darby yes Miss sharp yes Mr VA Mrs Rosales yes Mr vaugh yes Mrs Maxwell no B yes the next one is Tower of dawn Mrs Derby yes Mr vaugh yes Mr Tidwell yes Mrs Rosales yes Mr VA no Miss Sharp yes Mrs Maxwell no Bob yes the next book is homegoing Mrs Rosales yes Mr Tidwell yes Mr vaugh yes Miss sharp yes Mr VA no Mrs Derby yes Mrs Maxwell no five yes the next book is Skin and Bones Miss sharp yes Mr VA no Mrs Rosales I read all these books um no Mrs Darby yes Mr Tidwell yes Mr v no Mrs Maxwell no that was only three yes the next book is The Perks
153of Being a Wallflower Mr vaugh no Mrs Rosalez yes Mr VA no Mr Tidwell yes Mrs Darby yes Miss sharp yes and Mrs Maxwell no four yes M Maxwell yes M Valez I have to step outside thank you m Maxwell I like to take a recess until Mr rolis returns I'm going make a motion i' like to make a motion do we take a recess tell mral to rejoin us [Music] so Madam chair Mr Reed when a board member leaves in the middle of a vote how do we proceed we just keep going well she why would a board member not have to be on record if she's going to abstain she should abstain the state legislature does it all the time they walk out just vacate the seat I'm not saying I agree with
154I'm just saying that's what they that's what they do I don't know her reasoning if the rules allow Mr vaugh yes Mr Tidwell yes Mrs Maxwell no four yes I guess we've got our answer yep thank you all we can move to nothing else with insurance nothing with insurance uh financial report we already taken care of that uh two quick things on financial report because payroll for administrators andent teachers have not run yet this is kind of connected with director's update we have a a um bid opening for Simon Springs phase two on Tuesday is that correct Mr Lee and then the exciting one is leverne high school's Edition is Thursday that bid opening so that should allow us to hopefully be able to approve them at our board meeting on the Monday Tuesday that
155was the reason that we had that change to try to hit the window um set by County Commission so that if all goes well and is approved by all levels of the County Commission then we would hope to be able to have that done by the middle of November for funding okay Madam chairman Dr s when when and where do you you open the bids here here in the Board Room 2:00 yes 2:00 2:00 what day y 2:00 and I'll also just because there was a what what day Tuesday and Thursday Tuesday is Simon Springs and then Thursday is Leever High School oh you going to make me come twice okay yes 2:00 both days yes also because I want to make sure part of my job is to protect board members as well is
156to make sure that when our seating was moved around because I was trying we have had some unfortunate conversation that sometimes lacks deorum that needs to be in a board meeting so I was trying to go with us facing each other and not facing the audience so that was my request for us to try to face each other to be able to look at that so when you look at the County Commission the County Commission faces each other um they're not facing the audience and that is the reason this is for this board to decide not for the audience to decide and so that was the reasoning we respect and appreciate everything that audience members can bring but that was for the seven board members to vote for okay thank you when are we vot
157excuse me are we voting on this no that's not a v no I was just saying that was for the board to discuss and decide not audience yes nothing for the tennessy or the federal okay which brings us to General discussion and if you'll bear with me just a moment I knew this was going to be a tough night probably one of the tougher nights we've ever had hearkens me back to the mass controversies and uh but I was glad we were able to keep our schools open and I'm very proud of of that so I would like to read this please I want to thank everyone for coming tonight or tuning in to the live stream this week the Rutherford County School Board was tasked with a difficult decision this board received over a
158100 emails possibly more for for or against retaining seven books I assure you each and every one of us has researched and even prayed over this we love this community and as a lifelong resident who grew up in our school system it hurts to see this issue tear our community apart I love Rutherford County and I proud to serve on this board and humbled to be elevated to chairwoman regardless of which side you are on I pray when we adjourn tonight we can come together to keep serving our community the school system is very important to us all and our Student Success is Paramount I know this community is strongest when we can work together all of us up here want to make things better I believe in leaving such a positive impact that things
159are better than you found them we have much work ahead with the many challenges the unprecedented growth has brought this County we have long days ahead but I have faith in this board and I want to thank all of you all I know this was hard tonight but I want to thank all of Y all Mi M yes Mr ped uh I would just like to say that we have a principal that is getting an award an MTSU alumni award and that is Miss Judy Goodwin she has been in our school district I think now years uh she is MTSU alumni and she is being awarded this Friday at 4 pm and so just a good congratulations she's been with us for a long time she's a very lovely lady and she deserves all these
160accolades very nice if there is no further discussion move to adjourn we are adjourned