One day before the start of classes, Keller ISD ordered that schools remove from the library, classrooms and its online library catalog “all books that were challenged last year” by the end of the day. The district plans to review these 41 books again under new district policies, even though the books were already returned to district shelves following a challenge.
IDRA, ACLU of Texas, and several other civil rights organizations sent a letter yesterday to Keller ISD urging the district to correct this violation of the First Amendment and the Texas Constitution by immediately returning books to the shelves. The letter states that “More than half of the books that Keller ISD has ordered removed from all library and classroom shelves relate to LGBTQ+ themes and characters, race and the United States’ history of racism, or anti-Semitism and the Holocaust.” Books under review include the Bible and Anne Frank’s Diary: The Graphic Adaptation.
The district’s actions are part of a disturbing trend of school districts engaging in censorship in a misguided effort to comply with Texas’s Senate Bill 3, and further underscore the need for the vague law to be repealed.
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