If you are against widespread Book Bans in our schools, or don’t think your fellow parents should be empowered to initiate more bans, welcome!
The first thing we need to do is talk about it! Book Banning is an incredibly unpopular concept, with good reason. The Book Banners insist they need to be given this power to protect kids from a wave of pornography (and worse) in public schools, but reasonable people understand that our teachers and librarians do a great job of that already. In situations where a parent desires more restrictive content for their child, we have had ways to accommodate that, and can always come up with more. Widespread Book Bans affect far more than the families that want them.
The next thing we can do is talk about it with the people who are supposed to represent us. Here in Greenville, our most powerful representative is Dr. Burke Royster. The School Superintendent is not directly elected, but is hired (and re-hired by the school board). Dr. Royster has made limited public comment, but he did respond to parent criticism at the most recent school board meeting. Dr. Royster has a wide degree of latitude when it comes to implementing state regulation in the largest school district in the state. You can email Dr. Royster at wroyster@greenville.k12.sc.us or find other contact info on his page.
Our school boards are directly elected. Here is the page for the Greenville County School Board, and here is the Search for Voter Information tool for Greenville County. There, you can find your specific school board member, and other representatives.
There is a page for the State Board of Education where you can find a board member that represents your county and their contact info. Ellen Weaver is the Superintendent of Education for the state, and the one person most closely associated with the Book Banning regulation. Her contact info has its own page.
Get in touch! If we have more ideas for how people can help, we want to be able to drop you an email. Send a message to team@bookbannersvseverybody.org
Finally, you can buy a shirt. Wear it to start some good conversations!