Texas school district tightens library restrictions after complaints about anti-racist book: report

A school district in Southlake, Texas, is changing its policies on what books teachers can keep in their classrooms following backlash and parent complaints about an anti-racist book, NBC News reports.

The Carroll Independent School District is asking teachers to discard books that present a singular narrative “in such a way that it … may be considered offensive,” the outlet reported citing a training document.

The district is providing teachers with mandatory training on the new guidelines regarding books, as well as instructions for removing books that don’t meet the criteria.

The new guidelines come after a parent complained about a fourth-grade teacher who had a copy of “This Book Is Anti-Racist” by Tiffany Jewell, according to NBC. The parent complained that the book violated her family’s “morals and faith.”

The book, released last year, ­­was described by Today.com as “a clear guidebook for how to stop racism in our own hearts and minds.”

The Carroll school board voted 3-2 to issue a letter of reprimand to the teacher on Monday, The Dallas Morning News reported.

A school district spokeswoman didn’t respond to NBC’s request for comment.

The Hill has reached out to the district for comment.

The fight over what books should be allowed in schools has ramped up in recent months amid a broader movement opposing the teaching of “critical race theory” in the classroom.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) signed a law in June banning schools from teaching lessons making students feel “discomfort, guilt, anguish, or any other form of psychological distress on account of the individual ’s race or sex.”

Earlier this week, the Katy Independent School District in Texas temporarily removed prominent author Jerry Craft’s books from its library and canceled a planned appearance because teachers claimed his books teach critical race theory, a decades-old area of academia that examines the intersection of race and the law in the U.S.