LOXLEY — Baldwin County Board of Education District 1 member Ken Bradley has concerns about books he discovered in middle and high schools.
Bradley said Tuesday he searched through content online and found disturbing material about how to be a school shooter, how to get puberty blockers, and how to be transgender.
"It needs to come to an end, and it needs to be cleaned up," Bradley said.
Bradley said the books were placed in the libraries before new policies protecting children from inappropriate materials were implemented.
The new policy includes creating a materials selection committee to review book purchases. There is also a review request procedure that provides for a local or district review by the committee.
However, Bradley said he wants something done about the books already in school libraries.
Bradley said he had previously spoken with Superintendent Eddie Tyler and wasn't confident that his specific concerns had been addressed. He said he wants to see a solution to the "systemic problem."
"Well, I think the solution here is that when we talk about this, I don't know, I don't think you're interested in it, but I think we need to have a standard package for our high schools until we can fix this," Bradley said.
Tyler agreed with Bradley but was concerned that he voiced frustration with how the issue was being handled. He said he had attempted to set up a meeting regarding the matter.
"To say that I'm not interested in this, that's just not true," Tyler responded. "I mean, I agree with everything you're saying. We need a better process if it's so deep and embedded in our libraries, and it's a problem."
Still, Bradley said he feels like he's been on a treadmill trying to deal with the issue because the school system wants to follow the American Library Association standards.
Tyler said that in the next few weeks, he wanted to get with Bradley and a committee to come up with a solution.
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