Rutherford County faces heated debate over school book ban as another 150 titles are pulled from library shelves

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV) – In Rutherford County, Friday night football games have long brought communities together, with proud traditions at schools like Riverdale High. But a different kind of clash is taking place off the field this fall: a divisive battle over whether certain books should be removed from library shelves.

Since February, the Rutherford County Board of Education has banned 35 books, including well-known young adult novels such as Bad, The benefits of being a wallflowerAnd Beloved by Nobel Prize winner Toni Morrison. These books were available in high school libraries, although none were part of the district curriculum.

The book ban was initiated by board member Caleb Tidwell, who labeled the titles as sexually explicit under school board policy and state obscenity laws.

At a board meeting in September, people who supported the book bans, many from Tidwell’s church, attended and spoke out that the sexually explicit content is harmful to minors.

“Yes, we are trying to ban books that contain pornographic material,” one supporter said during public comments.

But not all board members agree. Butch Vaughn, a retired director, was recently elected to the board. He grew up in Rutherford County, sent his children to public school here and has expressed concerns about what he calls “political grandstanding.”

“I see it sometimes as a battle between good and evil, and I will always be on the side of good,” Vaughn said. “It’s like they’re creating dust, and I don’t think this has to be a problem that divides us and keeps us from focusing on what’s really important.”

Vaughn, who attends the same church as Tidwell, worries about the consequences of the board’s actions and says he believes it is a small, vocal minority pushing to ban books.

“It has created so much bitterness and division,” Vaughn said. “If you look at the number of times (the banned books) have been lent out in recent years, it is so small. I mean, it’s like they really create dust in a lot of situations.

Stan Vaught, another new board member and longtime community resident, shares Vaughn’s concerns and fears the book ban is a slipper slope.

“It almost reminds me a bit of Germany in the 1930s: if we take them out of our libraries, where are we going to take them out again?” Vaught said. “I can’t tell other parents how to raise their children, and I’m not going to, it’s not my job.”

Over the summer, lawmakers revised state law, broadening the definition of obscenity and expanding the types of materials now banned from school libraries.

As of August, school districts across Tennessee struggled to interpret the law and implement the new requirements.

Despite the legal confusion that arose during its own board meetings, Rutherford County went ahead and banned six more books under the law after Tidwell challenged them as “sexually explicit.”

“The law can and will be challenged, and I am confident it will not survive,” said Ken Paulson, director of the Free Speech Center at Middle Tennessee State University. “And the reason for that is it takes existing Supreme Court rules and adds new things.”

Paulson says when it comes to library materials, the changes in the law are so broad that any book depicting sexual conduct or excessive violence is now banned in Tennessee.

“Never in the history of America has the Supreme Court or any federal court concluded that a book was obscene because it contained excessive violence,” Paulson said. “And the books banned in Rutherford County are not porn. And the idea that they’re somehow written to appeal to the same audience as something like that Hustlers magazine is nonsense.”

Both Vaughn and Vaught worry the district is headed for a federal lawsuit that could cost the school district hundreds of thousands of dollars to defend.

“I don’t want my tax dollars, nor yours, nor anyone else’s, going to defend a frivolous lawsuit when we could avoid it,” Vaught said.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is reportedly considering legal action against the board, and earlier this fall the board voted to receive a legal advice letter from the attorney general on how to proceed under the new law.

But instead of waiting for those guidelines, Tidwell proposed eliminating 10 additional titles, and on Monday fellow board member Frances Rosales flagged another 150 titles under the obscenity law.

WSMV4 Investigates has confirmed that Director of Schools James had the new list of books removed from school libraries on Tuesday, including the novels Catch-22 And A Clockwork Orange.

Vaught says he wishes the board could move on to other issues and return to a time when parents made decisions about the books their children read.

“We have hired experts to manage these libraries. My personal belief is that we must surrender to that. If a parent doesn’t like a book, don’t let the child look at it.”

Tidwell, who declined an interview, released a statement saying:

“Once the community was made aware of the content in question, the vast majority of attendees at our meetings supported its removal. The community members who supported the takedown come from different backgrounds, churches and schools, and yet came to the same conclusion: this content breaks the law. It’s mostly common sense and legal. Attempting to hide behind the fear of a lawsuit to keep sexually explicit books in schools, an education-oriented setting, shows a poor understanding of the law or a diversion of duties.

It is insulting to suggest that keeping sexually explicit books in school libraries has no harmful effect on minors and that these fictional books have an educational value that outweighs their sexual exposure.”

The school board now has 60 days to review the removed books and decide whether they should be returned to library shelves or permanently banned.