TN Teacher goes viral addressing her struggle with new Age Appropriate Materials Act

A Tennessee teacher has gone viral on Tiktok from sharing her struggles caused by Tennessee’s new law requiring school and classroom libraries to have a list of content made available to parents.

The new state Age Appropriate Materials Act requires the local board of education to adopt a policy for developing and reviewing school library collections.  A Murfreesboro teacher has racked up nearly 2 million views on Tik Tok by sharing her experience with cataloging her content.

Larry Grohn has been recently elected to the Hamilton County School Board. He said as a former teacher he appreciates having vast resources but he believes this necessary process.

“As a former teacher, I’m very cognizant of having the vast resources within my own classroom. But I certainly made sure that we weren’t that these books weren’t espousing any particular religion or ideology for cultural current, faddish cultural issues. So, it’s incumbent upon administrators, teachers, school board members, to understand what our primary purpose is, in being involved in education in Hamilton County, and that is to protect a mentor and educate our students,” said Grohn. “Beyond that inserting our own personal ideologies and beliefs, is unacceptable.”

However this new law means that students are unable to utilize books in their classroom library until the list of materials has been posted on the school’s website for parents to see. 

The new policy states that, “Beginning with the 2022-2023 school year, each school operated by an LEA and each public charter school shall maintain a current list of the materials in the school’s library collection. The list must be posted on the school’s website.” 

The policy also states that, “ A local board of education or public charter school governing body shall evaluate each material for which feedback is provided according to the procedure established pursuant to subdivision.” This means the process of getting a list together is a lengthy one for some teachers. 

Grohn said if a text is deemed helpful but sensitive, it can likely be kept in a counselor’s office for use.

“Some of these books might be useful to students who have specific needs,” said Grohn. “Maybe a compromise could be made in terms of the counselors in the schools, having a locked cabinet, where these books are available, and with parental written approval. Maybe, having them take a look at the textbook, or the supplemental reading book, might agree that this could be helpful to their student,” said Grohn.

This issue was brought the state’s attention after McMinn County banned the graphic novel covering the Holocaust last school year.