In spring 2024, the Rutherford County School Board began banning books without any public meeting or board vote. Initially, books were banned from the schools' libraries based on informal requests by Board members and Director of Schools, Dr. James Sullivan. The books were removed because the Rutherford County School Board believed their content met the definition of the Age-Appropriate Materials Act – making the books “criminally obscene” – a designation widely disputed by librarians, educators, and literary experts.
Titles removed in spring 2024 include:
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“Speak” by Laurie Halse Anderson (2000 Printz Honor)
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“Damsel” by Elana K. Arnold (2019 Printz Honor)
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“Forever…” By Judy Blume (1996 ALA Margaret A. Edwards Award for Outstanding Literature for Young Adults)
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“The Testaments” by Margaret Atwood (2019 Booker Prize)
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“Tilt” by Ellen Hopkins (Nominee for 2012 Goodreads Choice Award for Readers' Favorite Young Adult Fiction)
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“The Kite Runner (Graphic Novel)” by Khaled Hosseini (Nominated for 2012 Great Graphic Novels for Teens by the Young Adult Library Services Association)
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“All Boys Aren’t Blue” by George M. Johnson (2022 Special Recognition Award from GLAAD)
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“Last Night at the Telegraph Club” by Malinda Lo (2021 National Book Award for Young People's Literature)
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“Nineteen Minutes” by Jodi Picoult (2007 Fearless Fiction Award from Cosmopolitan magazine)
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“Concrete Rose” by Angie Thomas (Printz Honor)
On August 8, 2024, the Board revised the board policy, which increased their authority to immediately remove books from school libraries and make final decisions on complaints about school materials. Based on this revised policy, the Board met on September 17 and 19, 2024, to address the removal of seven books including: Pulitzer Prize winner "Beloved" by Toni Morrison, "The Perks of Being a Wallflower" by Stephen Chbosky, and more. School officials made the decision to ban the books using reviews from "Book Reviews Rutherford County," which took its content directly from an ultra-conservative website founded by a former member of the far-right organization Moms for Liberty, raising concerns about the impartiality of the reviews.
The banning of school materials based on ideology and diverse opinions is a clear violation of the First Amendment of the United States Constitution -- which asserts that students' right to information and authors' right to free expression is protected under the United States Constitution. Despite sending a letter to the school board demanding them to halt banning literary and digital materials in schools, the Board continued to ban books simply based on ideologies they disagree with.
In April 2025, on behalf of anonymous Rutherford County families and PEN America author members, the ACLU-TN filed a complaint with the Middle District of Tennessee seeking the Court to block Rutherford County from continuing to ban books from school libraries, and to reinstate many of the books that have already been banned or restricted.
Plaintiffs:
- Rachel Roe, and her parent, Robert Roe
- David Doe, and his parent, Dana Doe
- Claire Coe, and his parent, Charles Coe
- PEN America Center, INC.
Defendants:
- Rutherford County Board of Education
- James Sullivan, in his official capacity as Director of Rutherford County Schools
