The National Coalition Against Censorship has sent a letter to the Canby School District in Canby, Oregon expressing our concerns with their instructional material reconsideration procedures. We encourage the Canby School Board to consider amending their policy to retain access to materials pending reconsideration procedures. Read NCAC's full letter to the Canby School District here: Click here for a [...]
The National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) has written to Volusia County Schools in DeLand, Florida, to suggest an important change to proposed amendments for the district's Library Media Selection policy. In a letter to the district, NCAC expresses our concern regarding an addition to the district policy, which states that a "principal may direct the removal of material he/she [...]
The National Coalition Against Censorship has encouraged the school board of Martin County School District to amend their book challenge policy following the removal of nearly 100 books from school libraries. NCAC shared our Material Review and Policy Guidelines and Examples, a resource to help school officials address the problem of book challenges. Read NCAC's [...]
Updated 3/31/2023 – The Greenville County Library board passes its amended collections policy removing language targeting gender. The National Coalition Against Censorship has sent a letter to the Greenville County Library System in Greenville, South Carolina, expressing our concerns with a proposed change to their library collection policy which would limit access to children's and young adult [...]
CHICAGO — The American Library Association (ALA), founder of Unite Against Book Bans, released new data documenting* 1,269 demands to censor library books and resources in 2022, the highest number of attempted book bans since ALA began compiling data about censorship in libraries more than 20 years ago. The unparalleled number of reported book challenges in 2022 nearly doubles [...]
The NCAC has joined PEN America and more than a dozen other civil liberties, digital rights, and anti-censorship organizations in a joint letter to oppose proposed federal legislation and a wholesale ban on the social media platform TikTok. The joint letter acknowledges the platform's national security and user privacy concerns. It also encourages lawmakers to explore viable solutions to prevent jeopardizing [...]
NEW YORK - As organizations dedicated to the freedom of thought, inquiry, and speech, we are deeply alarmed by Florida public officials’ attempts to suppress LGBTQ expression. Legislative and administrative acts of intimidation aimed at deterring access to LGBTQ culture are a serious attack on First Amendment principles. Florida’s hostility to LGBTQ communities stands out amid an onslaught of [...]
NEW YORK - The National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) announced today that Executive Director Christopher M. Finan will retire this summer after 40 years of defending free expression and First Amendment rights. Before joining NCAC in 2017, Finan was president of the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression (ABFFE) and executive director of Media Coalition, a trade association that [...]
Updated 3/29/2023 – In response to NCAC's letter, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools claims that both books were "reviewed by their schools' Committees before being permanently removed from those schools' shelves." On 3/8/23 - The National Coalition Against Censorship has written to Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools in Charlotte, North Carolina, to object to the district's removal of the books Let’s Talk About It and Sex [...]
The National Coalition Against Censorship has written a letter to the School Board of Northwest Allen County Schools in Indiana to protest the cancellation of the high school's production of Marian: The True Tale of Robin Hood. According to news reports, the play was canceled after parental complaints due to concerns of harassment or heckling if the play continued. [...]
The National Coalition Against Censorship has issued the following statement of support for Texas HB 1945 The National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) is an alliance of more than 50 national non-profit literary, artistic, religious, educational, professional, labor, and civil liberties groups that are united in their commitment to freedom of expression. NCAC is writing in support of Texas House [...]
The National Coalition Against Censorship has written a letter to St. Johns County School District in St. Augustine, Florida. Under their current policy, books are being removed during the review process, a practice we have long opposed. We encourage the District to adopt better policies for addressing book challenges in their schools. Read our full letter below, or click [...]
The AAUP, the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and the National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) issued the following statement condemning the introduction of Florida HB 999. With the introduction of HB 999, the Florida legislature—at Governor DeSantis’s urging—has doubled down on its attacks on academic freedom with a bill that would effectively silence faculty and students across the ideological [...]
NCAC has released a statement in support of the Student Journalist Free Speech Act and applauding New York student activists' efforts to support student free press rights. The act provides that, "a student journalist shall have the right to exercise free speech and of the press in school-sponsored media," and adds necessary protections for educators who advise and support [...]
The National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) has shared a letter with the School Board of Broward County Public Schools in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, concerning a potential violation of district policy and the improper temporary removal of Erika Moen's and Matthew Nolan's book Let’s Talk About It: The Teen’s Guide to Sex, Relationships, and Being a Human from library shelves. After [...]
NEW YORK - On February 17, the National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) delivered a letter to the Forest Hills Public School Board in Grand Rapids, Michigan, identifying 10 books that were secretly removed by Superintendent Dan Behm in violation of the school district’s reconsideration policy. In a previous letter, NCAC had alerted the board to the existence of a [...]
The National Coalition Against Censorship objects to Kutztown Area School District's Superintendent’s unilateral decision to cancel the One-Book Project following complaints about the climate change themes of the selected book. We urge the district to reinstate the project and adjudicate any challenges pursuant to the district's policy. Read NCAC's full letter to the Kutztown Area School District here: Click here [...]
The National Coalition Against Censorship has written to Madison County School Board in Madison, Virginia, to express our concern with recent district policy changes requiring books that include "explicit sexual content" to be removed even if they have substantial educational value for students. It's our understanding that this policy has already led to the removal of over 20 books [...]
NEW YORK, February 8, 2023 - The National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) today demanded that officials in a western Michigan school district investigate whether their superintendent secretly ordered the removal of books, violating a policy that requires a formal review before a book is banned. They also pointed officials to an audio recording in which a man who has [...]
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 [...]
The National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) has written to McKinney Independent School District in McKinney, Texas, concerning a recent change to district policy. The District has amended Board Policy EFB Local to exclude books from school libraries that contain material that appeals to "the prurient interest of a minor in sex, nudity, or excretion" or describes sexual activity in [...]
NEW YORK - Student journalists play an essential role in their schools by covering complex and, at times, controversial issues that aim to broaden interest in contemporary issues among their peers and community members. The National Coalition Against Censorship's (NCAC) Student Advocates for Speech (SAS) project and the Student Press Law Center (SPLC) will host Fighting for Press Freedom: [...]
NEW YORK, January 30, 2023 - The National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC), an alliance of 59 national literary, artistic, religious, educational, professional, labor, and civil liberties groups, is alarmed by the introduction of two bills in the North Dakota legislature that would make it a crime for booksellers to display a wide range of books and ban libraries from [...]
Updated 01/24/2023— On Friday, January 20, the Florida Department of Education released a list of reasons for rejecting the Advanced Placement course. This document makes it clear that what the state officials really object to is not a lack of educational value but some of the ideas discussed in the course. For example, they reject the discussion of Black [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
The National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) contacted Wilson County Schools Board in Lebanon, Tennessee, in regards to the School Board's decision to remove Tricks by Ellen Hopkins and Lev A.C. Rosen's Jack of Hearts (and Other Parts) despite the book review committee's recommendations to retain the books. NCAC expressed concern that the board may have removed the titles due to disagreement with the [...]
The National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) wrote more than 46 letters responding to book challenges and bans in 17 states in 2022. Below are summaries of letters from October 14 – November 28, 2022, that were not individually highlighted on our website but were instrumental in advocating for students' First Amendment rights and fighting censorship in U.S. schools. NCAC worked to bring [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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, [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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. It appears that the decision was made unilaterally by Superintendent Erik Kincade, circumventing district policy, which explicitly states that book challenges must be adjudicated by a committee [...]
Kyle Lukoff’s Call Me Max and Jazz Jennings’s I Am Jazz, which both feature transgender main characters, were removed from school libraries in Palm Beach County, Florida, without review. NCAC has written to the district urging them to immediately return the books to library shelves. The removal was purportedly in compliance with Florida House Bill 1557 which was recently signed [...]
George M. Johnson’s All Boys Aren’t Blue was removed from from libraries in Wicomico County Public Schools in Maryland, without review.
Arkansas school district removes "Beyond Magenta: Transgender Teens Speak Out" from school libraries against the recommendation of its own review committee.
Schools in Granbury, Texas, removed 130 books from library shelves before reviewing a single one.
