- This event has passed.
Freedom to Read Call to Action
Join the KCEC Chapter of SOCM (Public School Strong) and 12 other local Knox County organizations, led by the League of Women Voters of Knoxville/Knox County, for a Rally on Monday, June 1 at 4pm ahead of the 5pm Knox County Board of Education work session, where they will discuss a resolution proposing to change the current process of book removals by Knox County Schools, despite Superintendent Rysewyk’s statement following wide community pressure that Alex Haley’s “Roots” will be restored after initially being slated for removal by the local review committees.
There are still 123 banned books and an undemocratic, non-transparent process for removals created after the 2024 state law was passed, putting Tennessee third in the nation for book removals. Removing “Roots” was just the tipping point; there is no transparency about who is on these review committees, who decides, where and when they meet, how long their terms are, etc, and the Board can decide to look into changing the process. The regular session (voting meeting) will be on Thursday, June 4, at 5 pm. Both meetings will take place in the Summer Place Board Room, entrance on the corner of Wall & Walnut, across from Market Square Garage.
More details available later this week via an email alert, but Knox Countians from all 9 Districts are encouraged to email all Board members + Superintendent Rysewyk (superintendent@knoxschools.org), join the Rally and sign up to speak especially on Monday, especially if you reside in those districts who have a Knox County Board of Education member or County Commissioner up for election – Districts 1, 4, 6, 7, and 9 for KCBOE and Districts 3, 7 for County Commission. You can find your districts by entering your address here(KCBOE and Commission district #s are the same), and contact information for all Board members here.
Please share the action widely and stay tuned for the Knox County alert:
