michaelmeltzer

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So far NCAC Editor has created 22 blog entries.

Pinellas County Schools Bypass District Policy and Remove ‘The Bluest Eye’ from Libraries | Updated

By |2023-11-28T10:42:35-05:00February 9th, 2023|News|

Updated 11/28/23 -Upon meeting with local students and media specialists, the Pinellas County Library Review Team returned The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison to school libraries. 2/9/23 - The National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) has written a letter to the Pinellas County School Board in Largo, Florida regarding the district’s recent removal of the book The Bluest Eye by [...]

NCAC Urges Ohio School District to Resume Canceled Student Production of ‘The 25th Annual Putnam Spelling Bee’ | UPDATED

By |2023-02-14T16:09:52-05:00February 8th, 2023|News|

Updated 2/14/23 – According to the Geauga County Maple Leaf, the Cardinal School District Board of Education has reversed their decision to cancel the spring production. The play will go on as previously scheduled with minor revisions. On 2/8/23 – The National Coalition Against Censorship has written a letter to express our deep concerns over the cancellation of the high school [...]

NCAC demands return of 13 books by Ellen Hopkins to Hernando School District libraries

By |2023-01-25T08:26:45-05:00January 24th, 2023|News|

NCAC contacts Hernando School District in Brooksville, Florida, to express its concerns about the removal of 13 books by Ellen Hopkins from its libraries. A district administrator claimed that the materials are "harmful to minors" under Florida Statute 847, which makes it illegal to provide minors with access to "obscene" materials. This is problematic because, under Florida law, a book [...]

St. Lucie Public Schools in Florida Remove Books Before Review | UPDATED

By |2023-02-02T15:42:40-05:00January 18th, 2023|News|

Updated 2/2/23 – NCAC has received a response from the Superintendent of St Lucie Public Schools. He has agreed to follow the district's appeal process and to reconsider the four books that were improperly removed. On 1/18/23 - The National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) wrote to St. Lucie Public Schools in St. Lucie, Florida regarding their response to book [...]

Statement on Faculty Firing at Hamline University | UPDATED

By |2023-01-18T13:16:30-05:00January 10th, 2023|News|

Updated 01/18/2023— NCAC and CAA have sent this joint statement to the Hamline University president. In an egregious and chilling violation of academic freedom, Hamline University in St. Paul, Minnesota refused to renew the contract of an adjunct professor in retaliation for her inclusion of two artworks depicting the Prophet Muhammad in a class on global art history. As [...]

National Organizations Condemn Cancellation of Student Production of Play ‘Indecent’ in Duval County, Florida

By |2023-01-10T14:15:07-05:00January 10th, 2023|News, Press Releases|

NEW YORK — The National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC), PEN America, and the Dramatists Legal Defense Fund, organizations dedicated to artistic, intellectual, and academic freedom, today expressed deep concern over the cancellation of the student production of the play, Indecent, by the administration at Douglas Anderson School of Performing Arts in Duval County, Florida. The groups urged school officials [...]

NCAC and DDA Join Other Organizations to Demand Internet Infrastructure Providers Stop Censoring User-Generated Content

By |2022-12-02T13:26:11-05:00December 2nd, 2022|News, Press Releases|

NEW YORK – Today, the National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC), which represents 59 education, publishing, religious and arts organizations and Don’t Delete Art (DDA), a project of NCAC and several other organizations and artists, joined the Electronic Frontier Foundation and over 50 other organizations and institutions in supporting Protect the Stack, a statement calling on internet infrastructure providers not [...]

Artistic Freedom and the Internet Infrastructure

By |2022-12-02T13:27:52-05:00December 1st, 2022|Blog, News|

Companies providing core internet infrastructures—including internet service providers, website host companies, payment processors, and more—rarely have substantial contact with their users, user-generated content, or user activities. And, even though they typically lack expertise, authority, resources, and policies to regulate user content with consistency, many online infrastructure companies do just that. The result has severely restricted free speech on the internet, [...]

South Carolina Middle School Removes Book on Anti-Racism from Library

By |2022-10-25T13:11:33-04:00October 25th, 2022|News|

The National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) has written to Batesburg-Leesville Middle School in South Carolina regarding the removal of Stamped: Racism, Anti-Racism, and You from the school library. As we understand it, the school removed the book from the library in order to be compliant with South Carolina State Proviso 1.93, which prohibits certain school spending on ideas often [...]

NCAC Condemns San Francisco Public Library’s Cancellation of Art Exhibition

By |2022-10-05T10:28:59-04:00October 5th, 2022|News|

The National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) has written to the San Francisco Public Library (SFPL) regarding their decision in March to cancel the exhibition Wall + Response over objections to an idea expressed in one of the pieces. It is our understanding that when Wall + Response was approved by library officials, the poems and murals comprising the project [...]

Spotsylvania, Virginia, School District Removes Books Without Review

By |2022-09-27T13:37:27-04:00September 27th, 2022|News|

The National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) has written to Spotsylvania County Public Schools in Virginia, regarding the removal of district library books without following their established review policy. As we understand the situation, in response to a local parent challenging 13 district library books, four were removed by district personnel without following Board Policy IIA*-R. This policy explicitly states [...]

NCAC responds to NY Town’s Move to Censor Civil Rights Mural

By |2022-10-05T10:28:05-04:00September 16th, 2022|News|

Photo Credit: Jerald Braddock The National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) has written to the Town Supervisor of the Town of Greenburgh, New York, regarding its recent call to remove the depiction of Minister Louis Farrakhan, and potentially other controversial figures, from a new town-commissioned mural overseen by the artist known as Kindo Art. The mural was initially commissioned to [...]

Texas School District to Remove Books on Race and Gender

By |2022-09-15T12:54:54-04:00September 15th, 2022|News|

The National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) has written to Grapevine-Colleyville Independent School District in Grapevine, Texas, regarding recent policy changes which seem to allow library books to be removed based on the ideas they contain. As we understand the changes to Board Policy EMB (Local), the policy has been amended to restrict the use of instructional materials that advocate [...]

NCAC calls on Norman Oklahoma School District to Clarify HB 1775 Only Applies to Curriculum

By |2022-09-12T15:03:41-04:00September 12th, 2022|News|

A high school English teacher at Norman School District in Norman, Oklahoma, was recently admonished for sharing a QR Code with students that led to book recommendations from the Brooklyn Public Library. A parent filed a complaint and claimed that recommended materials supported critical race theory, which is against the law in Oklahoma under HB 1775. HB 1775 has put [...]

Madison, Mississippi, School District Restricts Books on Race and LGBTQ+ Themes

By |2022-08-26T15:08:18-04:00August 26th, 2022|News|

The National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) has written to the Madison County School Board in Ridgeland, Mississippi, regarding recent restrictions on 10 books, requiring students to obtain parental permission in order to read them. The 10 books in question address race-related or LQBTQ+ themes, and we are concerned that the district may have unconstitutionally targeted these books for the [...]

Naples, Florida, School District Adds Hundreds of “Advisory Notices” to Library Books

By |2022-08-24T17:54:50-04:00August 24th, 2022|News|

The National Coalition Against Censorship has written to the School Board of the Collier County Public Schools in Naples, Florida, after District libraries recently added an “Advisory Notice” to hundreds of library books—raising censorship concerns. Placing advisory notices, or “red-flagging” books often misleadingly reduces complex literary works to a few isolated elements—those that some individuals may find objectionable—rather than [...]

Conroe, Texas, School District to Remove “Obscene” Books from Libraries | UPDATED

By |2023-01-06T16:42:29-05:00August 22nd, 2022|News|

Updated 11/28/2022— NCAC has written an additional letter to the Conroe ISD Board of Trustees. Originally published 8/22/2022— The National Coalition Against Censorship has written to the Conroe Independent School District in Conroe, Texas, regarding recently adopted policies which require parental permission to check out allegedly obscene books from libraries while they are under review. Under the new policies, [...]

NCAC and FIRE Issue Joint Letter to Pennsylvania School District on Unconstitutional Policy Proposal

By |2022-08-15T12:21:33-04:00August 15th, 2022|News|

The National Coalition Against Censorship and the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression have cowritten a letter to the Pennridge School District in Perkasie, Pennsylvania, demanding changes to a proposed policy that would unconstitutionally restrict the communications that students can distribute both on and off school grounds. The proposed policy is shockingly broad and impermissibly vague. If implemented it [...]

NCAC Urges New York School District to Support Free Expression

By |2022-08-08T16:55:20-04:00August 8th, 2022|News|

The National Coalition Against Censorship has delivered a letter to the Auburn Enlarged City School District Board in Auburn, New York, in response to proposed amendments to its Instructional Materials and Controversial Issues policy that will allow parents to limit access to school library materials. Policy amendments are in response to complaints made early this year about All Boys Aren't [...]

Pennsylvania School District Passes Strict Book Banning Policy

By |2022-07-28T11:49:18-04:00July 27th, 2022|News|

The National Coalition Against Censorship has written to the School Board of Central Bucks School District in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, after recent proposed changes to the District’s Library Materials Policy raised serious censorship concerns. The Board voted to adopt the policy on July 26, 2022. The policy leaves the authority to remove materials in the hands of a single person. NCAC [...]

Fairview, Pennsylvania, Superintendent Removes Gender Queer from Library | Updated

By |2023-11-28T10:51:19-05:00July 20th, 2022|News|

Updated 11/28/23 - The graphic novel Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe was returned to school libraries, although students must request access from the nurse. 7/19/22 - The National Coalition Against Censorship has written to the Fairview School District School Board in Fairview, Pennsylvania, regarding a recent decision to remove Maia Kobabe's Gender Queer from the Fairview High School library.  [...]

NCAC Criticizes Rhode Island School District for Silencing Student Protesters

By |2022-07-18T14:43:28-04:00July 18th, 2022|News|

The National Coalition Against Censorship has written to the Superintendent of Foster-Glocester Regional School District in Glocester, Rhode Island, after students at Ponaganset High School were silenced for expressing their personal views.  The students in question, according to The Providence Journal, brought “anti-tolerant” flags to school following a Pride Month celebration. It is unclear if the students faced disciplinary action, but [...]

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