I want to respond to the recent article entitled, “Disturbing Trend, Local Democrat leader, author react to book banning”.
This article centered around the Pickens County School Board’s 7 to 0 decision to remove the book “Stamped: Racism, anti-racism and you” from the school district.
Authority To Choose:
Having served on the school board, and read state law and federal case law, the school board has the authority to select the curriculum, textbooks and instructional material available in the school district.
Hence, the Pickens County School Board’s decision to remove the book was within the power of the school board which it is given authority under state law Title 59, Chapter 19.
Not Banned Or Censored:
Every year hundreds of authors, textbooks, and companies vie to have their books to be included in the district’s curriculum and libraries. Some books are chosen by the school board, but most are not. The ones not chosen are not considered “banned” by the district. When it came to the article's title, that was a poor choice of title by the editor for the story.
If the Taliban petitioned the school board to put bomb making books in school libraries, and the school board refused, that would not be censorship either.
The Court:
Anyone can read the landmark US Supreme Court case (Island Trees School District vs. Pico 1982) on the subject to see the Court upholds this state law.
From the opinion: “The Court has long recognized that local school boards have broad discretion in the management of school affairs. Petitioners [the school board] possess significant discretion to determine the content of their school libraries… Public education in our Nation is committed to the control of state and local authorities… and that federal courts should not ordinarily intervene in the resolution of conflicts which arise in the daily operation of school systems…. local school boards must be permitted to establish and apply their curriculum in such a way as to transmit community values.”
So when the Pickens School board voted to remove the book because it did not “meet the district’s educational standard”, it was within its authority given to it by the state.
What?
I said both things very publicly when I spoke at the September school board meeting. In response, the head of the Democrat Party of Pickens County was quoted in the article, “As for Saitta, in typical fashion, the rules are important to him only when it suits him and he ignores rules when he feels he can gain an advantage.”
What was he talking about? The rules are made up by state law and the US Supreme Court, not me. If you violate them, you get sued and lose. The school board has the authority to select the curriculum, textbooks and instructional materials in the school district. The Supreme Court said school boards also have that authority.
If Byrd had read the law and case precedent, he’d see how clear it is. But if he is confident it has been broken, let the Democrat Party file a lawsuit. They won’t, because they realize the courts would uphold the action of the school board, as it has the legal authority to make such decisions.
