Houston School District: Libraries? Libraries?! We don' need no steenkin' Libraries!

[thewayne]

Weirdest thing.

From the article: "New Superintendent Mike Miles announced earlier this summer that librarian and media specialist positions would be eliminated at the 28 original schools being overhauled under his reform program, New Education System (NES).

HISD said the 57 additional schools that opted into NES will be assessed on a case-by-case basis.

The librarians and media specialists are gone, but the books are still there. Students can borrow books on an 'honor' basis, but there's no one to recommend things or help them find books of special interest.

I'm curious if the "New Superintendent" is an appointee of Gov. Abbott. He hates Houston with a vengeance.

https://abc13.com/hisd-libraries-librarians-media-specialists-houston-isd/13548483/


In other news, the State of Illinois made it ILLEGAL to ban books!

The ban of bans is the only law of its kind in the country - I hope the first of many!

From the article: “Book bans are about censorship, marginalizing people, marginalizing ideas and facts. Regimes banned books, not democracies,” (Gov.) Pritzker, a Democrat, said at a bill signing ceremony at a Chicago library. “We refuse to let a vitriolic strain of White nationalism coursing through our country determine whose histories are told, not in Illinois.”

The measure, which takes effect January 1, says public libraries must adopt the American Library Association’s Library Bill of Rights or their own statement prohibiting book banning to be eligible for state money.

The association’s Library Bill of Rights states that reading materials “should not be proscribed or removed because of partisan or doctrinal disapproval” or “excluded because of the origin, background, or views of those contributing to their creation.”

https://www.cnn.com/2023/06/12/us/illinois-public-libraries-schools-book-bans/

Comments

[kaishin108]

How great that Illinois did that. It is horrible this book banning and Gov Abbott, ick ick. I try not to hate people but he sure tests that concept for me. I bet he hates Houston!

[gingeriana]

this world needs more of Illinois and less of Florida!

[thewayne]

Very much agreed!

Well ...

[ysabetwordsmith]

It's not the first, I've heard of a town doing it, and I've passed the word precisely hoping that ban-banning would spread. It solves the problem neatly.

[disneydream06]

Gotta love Repubs.
Keep the People stupid so they keep voting for you.
ARGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The sad/stupid thing is their People openly accept that. :o :o :o
Hugs, Jon

[silveradept]

Said super is indeed a state appointee and not locally accountable in any way, so I'm fairly certain that his decision to turn libraries into discipline centers, and likely in schools with high black and brown populations, is doing the will of the politician who wants to punish a place that doesn't believe in the same things he does.

Illinois is, in my professional opinion, making a grand statement, but they are not thinking through the possible consequences of their declaration, as most library policies and statements are written with scrupulous neutrality in mind, which will make them easily hijacked when people with bad intents find then and weaponize them to ensure that libraries can't get rid of their materials that do things like conspiracy theories, that promote fascism and theocracy, and that are transphobic, racist, and misogynistic, either, under the threat of being declared book banners.

[thewayne]

It's definitely a two-edged sword, and eventually the fascists will figure it out.  I've thought the way to fight attempts at nationwide book-bans would be to (A) post the ban submissions online so librarians can see if they're being boiler-plated, then (B) quiz the submitter on the content of the book to find out if they actually read it.  If they don't show up to defend their submission, 86 it.

[silveradept]

The boiler-plate is already in progress and very obvious, so it's not hard to figure it out. Even so, the challenges apparently still have to be taken seriously and handled according to procedure, rather than laughed at and someone told "return when you have actually read the book and can put together a complaint about the specifics." The challenger well show up to defend the challenge, even if it will become immediately obvious they haven't read the book and are only objecting to a specific portion of it. Many of the people doing the challenges are doing it because they want coverage and cameras and public outrage, not because they have actual objections.

[thewayne]

It's definitely a two-edged sword, and eventually the fascists will figure it out.  I've thought the way to fight attempts at nationwide book-bans would be to (A) post the ban submissions online so librarians can see if they're being boiler-plated, then (B) quiz the submitter on the content of the book to find out if they actually read it.  If they don't show up to defend their submission, 86 it.