Policy in Action: How District Administrators Further the Book Banning Agenda

Abstract

Book banning and censorship in school libraries remain a significant barrier to intellectual freedom. Drawing on ten years of experience as a Texas school librarian, this opinion article highlights how district policies and grievance procedures empower individuals to exclude books representing marginalized identities, particularly queer and Black experiences. Using Critical Race Theory (CRT), specifically the tenets of whiteness as property and counter-storytelling, the article explains how these policies uphold white privilege and dominant narratives while silencing counter-stories that validate diverse student identities. The grievance process allows a single hearing officer to overturn committee decisions without transparent reasoning, often restricting or removing books that depict LGBTQ+ themes and racial experiences. Moreover, an informal review process grants district administrators unilateral power to remove books without explanation. The author argues for anti-oppressive reforms in reconsideration policies by utilizing Mari Matsuda’s "asking the other question" framework to expose and challenge embedded biases in decision-making. The article calls for systemic change to resist the continued shift that allows for exclusionary practices within schools and to help ensure school libraries serve all students equitably by protecting diverse narratives and resisting censorship rooted in privilege and exclusion.