Governor says Utahns should ‘pump the brakes’ over banning books in schools

In this August 2021 file photo, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox speaks during a COVID-19 news conference Aug. 31, 2021, in Salt Lake City, Utah | Photo by Rick Bowmer/Associated Press, St. George News

ST. GEORGE —Gov. Spencer Cox said Utahns should “pump the brakes” over the idea of banning or pulling books from school libraries.

File photo of Washington County School District office, St. George, Utah, July 25, 2019 | Photo by Ryann Richardson, St. George News

“Any student of history knows that banning books never ends up well,” Cox said Thursday during his monthly PBS news conference. “Now it’s one thing again to say, ‘This isn’t age appropriate,’ and it’s another thing to say, ‘Hey we’re making your kids read this book,’ right? … But just having a book available for kids who maybe see things differently or who are interested in that, let’s just be cautious out there.

“I’m not saying every book should be in every classroom,” the governor said. “There are probably some books that shouldn’t be in our schools. But let’s be thoughtful about it. Let’s take a step back, take a deep breath and make sure that we’re not doing something we’ll regret.”

Cox was asked about a report regarding parents in Washington County pushing to ban books from school libraries over concerns about explicit language, and race, sexual and gender identity.

KSL.com first reported Wednesday that an email from a parent prompted officials in the Canyons School District to pull nine different books from high school libraries at Alta High, Brighton High, Corner Canyon High and Jordan High. The parent said she believes some of the books’ content “falls under pornographic material” and described some excerpts as “extremely graphic and detailed.”

Read the full story here: KSL News.

Written by BRIAN WEST, KSL.com.

Copyright KSL.com.

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