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County School Library Book Issue To Move On To Policy Committee; Idea Of Employee Bonuses Dropped

  • Friday, March 18, 2022

County School Board member Rhonda Thurman on Thursday presented a final report on the work of a special committee to set policies on the appropriateness of school library books, then the controversial issue was handed off to the board policy committee headed by James Walker.

Ms. Thurman said one focus of the group was to set up a vetting process for outside groups that donate books to school libraries. 

School Board attorney Scott Bennett said he is still working on a revision of the current policy.

He said to determine that a book is obscene "is a stringent standard." He said there have been very few cases in Tennessee in which that has happened.

But he said the board can set policy to insure that "certain things are age appropriate and topically appropriate."

The board is to eventually vote on a revised school library book policy after the policy committee completes its work. Board Chairman Tucker McClendon, who set up the committee, said that is several months away.

The committee had 19 members that included Ms. Thurman and two members each named by board members.

Also, Mr. McClendon said he was dropping the idea of $500 bonuses for full-time employees and $250 for part-time to help deal with inflation.

Board members on Monday at an agenda session were lukewarm to the proposal.
 

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