School district removes books, citing disinterest

At least one copy of a book about sex has been pulled from the library in a Cobb County public school, with the district citing student disinterest rather than inappropriate content.

Lassiter High School removed “The Scarlet Letter,” an American classic involving adultery, among hundreds culled during a renovation last school year.

Word of the mass removal comes weeks after the firing of a Cobb teacher for reading a book to fifth graders that challenges gender norms. Cobb also removed two books from school libraries because they deal with sexuality: “Flamer” by Mike Curato, a graphic novel about a boy who is bullied for appearing gay; and Jesse Andrews’ “Me and Earl and the Dying Girl,” about two high school boys who befriend a terminally ill girl.

Twenty school libraries in Cobb contained copies of one or both of those two books, a district spokesperson said. The district said they presented “inappropriate, ... explicit content.”

Cobb gave a different reason for removing “The Scarlet Letter,” the 19th century classic by Nathaniel Hawthorne. It was removed last school year after the district adopted new policies implementing state laws that streamline removing school library books, constrain conversations about race and emphasize parental rights. The rules indicate “parents have the right to direct the upbringing and ... religious training of their children.”

During a renovation of the high school media center, “over 700 books which weren’t often used ... (including The Scarlet Letter) were replaced at Lassiter with more current selections,” a district spokesperson confirmed after a query by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The books were replaced “with more current selections,” the spokesperson said, adding that a “couple copies” of the old classic remain available for students who really want to read it.