Chino Passes Proposal Banning Books and Censoring Classrooms
CHINO, CA – The Chino Valley Unified School Board (CVUSD) tonight passed a policy banning books and censoring classrooms that is almost certain to set up another legal battle with the State of California, as it appears to contradict the purpose Governor Gavin Newsom’s ban on book bans, AB 1078, that was signed into law in September.
“From Temecula to Tallahassee, fringe ideologues across the country are attempting to whitewash history and ban books from schools,” Governor Newsom said upon signing AB 1078. “With this new law, we’re cementing California’s role as the true freedom state: a place where families — not political fanatics — have the freedom to decide what’s right for them.”
CVUSD Board President Sonja Shaw introduced her original seven-page book banning proposal in October, and expanded it to apply to “classroom books/materials” ahead of this evening’s vote that passed 3-2. Shaw, who asserted she was not “a puppet or a servant” upon introducing her proposal, appears to have lifted entire paragraphs of it directly from the generic one-size-fits-all “Model Policy to Challenge Vulgar Books in School Libraries” template provided in Tennessee-based extremist Karen England’s “Take Back the Classroom” toolkit.
“Our teachers are overworked, underpaid, and very clearly under appreciated by this board who believe they have time to do their important jobs teaching our children and, as a nefarious extracurricular, indoctrinate them,” said Kristi Hirst, a parent, former teacher, and co-founder of Our Schools USA.
“Teachers tell me they’re worried about the chilling effect curriculum censorship will have on classroom learning, resources, and an increasingly challenging and negative school climate,” she continued. “This censorship is a naked attempt to discourage innovative teaching, squash creativity, and bury this school district in red tape and unsustainable legal expenses. The result of passing this type of censorship will diminish the quality of education available to our students, diminish the quality of teachers available to our students, and increase an already too-high number of teacher vacancies in this district.”
What’s certain is the consequences of Shaw’s latest crusade will be felt by students, teachers, parents, and Chino taxpayers. Earlier this week, the Sacramento Bee reported that “Chino Valley’s legal bills have tripled after the transgender outing policy,” and tonight, CVUSD approved paying Atkinson, Andelson, Loya, Ruud & Romo (AALRR), legal invoices for the months of August and September totaling $159,865.51, bringing the total year-to-date payment to the firm in the first three months of the 2023-24 school year to $190,786.76. In contrast, CVUSD paid AALRR $307,357.84 for legal services covering all twelve months of the 2022-23 school year.
Shaw, and supporters of her crude policy, claim “there is no book banning” in her proposal. Speaking before the U.S. House Committee on Education & the Workforce in October, Jonathan Friedman of PEN America directly addressed what constitutes a book being banned.
If on Monday a student has access to a book, and on Tuesday she doesn’t as a result of a challenge of that book’s content, ideas, or themes, then that book has been banned.
For that student, ready access to the book has been diminished or entirely restricted whether that book is now locked in an administrator’s office, moved to an upper grade library or permanently removed from circulation, or whether that book eventually gets returned to the shelf at an indeterminate period of review. For the duration, that student can no longer access that book, it is banned.