Carroll County schools to update book banning policy amid heated debate

BALTIMORE -- After months of debate about banning dozens of books from Caroll County Public Schools, the Board of Education was expected to discuss the policy Wednesday. 

Back in August, nearly 60 books were challenged for their content and removed from school libraries. Challenging a book means temporary removal of the book, pending review. 

Since then, the school board has held several public meetings to hear both sides of the book ban.

In October, the Board of Education agreed to update its policy by including language that would ban books that are defined as sexually explicit.

Some parents in Caroll County, many with the Mom's for Liberty group, are challenging 58 books to be removed from school libraries.

Moms for Liberty is a "parental rights" group that has sought to take over school boards in multiple states. It has been labeled an "extremist" organization by the Southern Poverty Law Center for allegedly harassing community members, advancing anti-LGBTQ+ misinformation and fighting to scrub diverse and inclusive material from lesson plans.

The group says the books listed have "sexually explicit content" and they want them off the shelves. Other parents, students and librarians are against this, calling the book ban a form of censorship.

Since August, a committee has decided on 15 of the 58 books.

They decided that some books would stay in school libraries, others would be removed from middle schools and others would be eliminated altogether.

Caroll County Public Schools agreed to draft new language to update the policy to govern the selection, evaluation and adoption of instructional materials.

Those policy updates are expected to be made public at a later date.

The Reconsideration Committee will continue to review each book one by one. 

The committee meets every three to five weeks after they read a book to discuss and decide what action to take.