I’m supposed to be working, so I’ll keep this short, but I had to share.
Yesterday (8/09/22), teachers across the state received an email like this one:
The TN General Assembly has passed Public Chapter 744 titled the “Age-Appropriate Materials Act of 2022.” This Act requires each public school to maintain, and post on the school’s website, a list of the materials in the school’s library collection as well classroom libraries.
The purpose of the Act is to provide parents and school employees the opportunity to object to material contained in the school’s library collections as well as classroom libraries that they feel is not age appropriate and for local boards of education to establish a process to review such complaints. The goal is to allow employees, parents, and the school board to “ensure that the materials are appropriate for the age and maturity levels of the students who may access the materials, and that the materials are suitable for, and consistent with, the educational mission of the school.”
According to this law each classroom teacher needs to create a list of books they have in their classroom libraries that students can access prior to allowing students access to those books.
[district redacted] is aware that this will take time for teachers to complete should they wish to have open libraries in their classroom. Additionally, [district] is expecting more guidance on this in the weeks and months ahead. State law requires the Textbook and Instructional Materials Quality Commission to issue guidance by 12/1/2022. However, we are bound by the current state law now even though there is not additional guidance yet.
Please note, there is NO district requirement that teachers create and publish a list. However, they will not be able to utilize their classroom libraries for student access until a list is posted online.
Should a teacher want to begin creating a list, the list will need to contain both the full title of the book followed by the author’s name (last, first). For example: Charlotte’s Web - White, E.B.
If tldr, teachers have to post a list of their personal classroom libraries to allow parents to object to age-appropriateness of books on a cover-by-cover basis. Districts are required to develop a system to review these complaints. There is no additional staffing, time, or funding for this directive.
We would appreciate it if you would let Governor “teachers are dumb” Lee know what you think.