The vast majority of parents and voters oppose book bans and classroom gag orders but only learn of such actions after the damage is done. Parents Defending Schools and Libraries enables parents, teachers and libraries to alert their community that a challenge has been filed before a book is removed or a lesson plan suppressed. This enables those who support the Right to Read and Right to Learn to organize in their area and respond in an informed way.
The debate over parental rights in education is at a fever pitch across the United States, with politicians and advocacy groups pushing for greater control over what children learn in school. At first glance, this may seem reasonable. A child’s education should be a partnership between parents and teachers. Barriers to that collaboration should be eliminated. While this may be the stated goal of the parental rights movement, look past the angry parents and shouting activists and you will find a different agenda at play. Opportunistic politicians, education privatizers, and conservative activists are manipulating parents to further their own objectives. Well-organized and well-funded groups across America are working to control and ultimately dismantle public education and public libraries.
Often, all it takes to prevent a book from being pulled from a shelf or a lesson plan censored is a few parents or community members expressing support. This is hard to do if you are unaware of efforts to censor schools and libraries. We will let you now whenever a book or lesson is challenged and provide you with context and information so you can decide if you want to help push back.
Sign up to receive email notification whenever a book, lesson or school in your area faces an intellectual freedom challenge.
Book bans start out as challenges. Often these are instigated by a small number of parents or even a single person who may or may not have children in the school. It is essential that other parents and community member in your area know these challenges and other attacks, such as gag orders and education intimidation, are happening and can respond.
Tell us what is happening in your schools and libraries. Please provide as much detail as possible including the name of the school or library, the name or description of the materials being challenged, and the challengers objections and concerns. We will make every effort to understand and verify the issue and then will alert other parents in your area. We will also provide suggestions and support for how to respond.
Parents Defending Schools and Libraries is a registered 501c3 non-profit organization incorporated in Oregon. We serve as an early warning and alert system for parents, students and their allies nationwide. When a book is challenged, a classroom disrupted or school board threatened, we provide the means to alert other parents in the area who want to push back and protect our education system. We provide support for those who want to stand up for the Right to Read and the Right to Learn. We promote inclusive library collections by providing donor supported direct grants to school libraries.
