Houston school libraries turned into 'discipline centers' in 'hostile takeover' by state 

Librarian here. One of the things they're missing is that the library is one of the first places a child gets to choose for themselves and experience autonomy in their own education. As early as 4 and 5 a child picks out books that they chose! It's so amazing. And they are responsible to return the book. Their decisions guide their own learning! It really is magical to witness.

This is authoritarianism, pure and simple. No one has the right or authority to restrict or strip away another person's rights, liberty and freedom.

If you can’t see how corrupt that superintendent is then you don’t know when someone lies to you with a smile on their face. That man would rather privatize education and keep libraries (which can be safe spaces for kids to escape to with books!) inaccessible to the most disenfranchised of us all

I have never heard of a school without a library. Even a small rural school has a bookshelf with books the children can read. How is NOT having a library going to help with a child's literacy and overall education? Shame on Texas! Shame on Abbott!

This is the WORST outcome I have every seen as it relates to teaching children. Removing libraries and librarians is an unspeakably bad idea.

As an immigrant kid in Houston Texas, the library was my favorite place and the librarians help me learn English. I saw the library as a place of refuge and of safety.

It's almost like they want the "bad" kids to hate learning. And honestly, as a black mother, I know exactly which kids aren't given the benefit of the doubt in disciplinary situations, more often than others. Planting a seed of disdain for libraries is the last thing some of our kids need germinating in their hearts. This is completely vile.

As a teacher, this is infuriating. The business bros and their political cronies have made no effort to hide it anymore: they need obedient worker drones, and you can't have obedient worker drones when people are smart.

As someone who is also in a blue city in a red state, I support and emphasize Houston. I work for the school district, and the state hasn't met their legal requirements for SPED funding in the 8 years I've worked here. They want people to feel alone and hopeless. We all need to vote and get rid of these awful representatives. Good luck and all my love, Houston.

I was a teacher for 37 years. This is the worst form of education I have ever heard of. Shame on you Texas.😡

Are they finally turning schools into minimum security prisons?

I grew up in and went to Houston public schools. At every single school I went to (elementary through high) my favourite teacher was always the school librarian. They were always true educators who encouraged us to learn more about anything I or any of my classmates showed interest in. At the library, it wasn't about what grade we were in or how old we were - the librarian was a mystical keeper of knowledge, a seasoned storyteller who aggressively, but lovingly shared their obsession with books to anyone and everyone who listened. If they want to increase their test scores, they need to hire more librarians. Real ones who understand that you can motivate the "bad kids" to follow the rules by simply keeping them engaged with interesting subject matter or by finding interesting ways to present dry topics. Teaching kids to love learning is the easiest and most effective way to increase test scores. A library is the best and safest place to cultivate that love, not a structured classroom or "discipline area."

As a teacher this is appalling. I’m glad I don’t teach there. If I did teach there my family would be looking to move ASAP. This country, led by Florida and Texas is on a fast track BACKWARDS. These are despicable people.

Mike Miles is a master at dodging questions, fire this man and rehire the librarians back.

I was at the library EVERY day growing up in the school system. I cannot imagine what my life would be without that thirst for reading. What they are depriving these kids... it's so tragic.

As an educator this makes my blood boil. America is just spiraling down a dark hole

"Kids like us shouldn't read" - I think the young man captured it so well there. I don't think they want the kids to learn. Because if they do, they'll be able to understand the world around them and its problems and want to solve them.

God that's so heartbreaking! The message: "That kids shouldn't read. Or that kids like *us* shouldn't read."

Why would they want children to read books, because books could give children ideas and ideals that are counter to Republican education programs.

Apparently in Texas parents have the right to say they don't want books in their school libraries, but they don't have the right to tell the state they do want them.

This is beyond despicable. As a kid books helped me in a way both my parents and teachers couldn't, they offered a reprieve from a world that I found abrasive, chaotic and confusing. Borderline hellish. I really probably didn't wouldn't be alive today and wouldn't be someone people wanted alive. These people are creating the same problems they push every election to solve.

I worked for Mike Miles in Dallas and he was a horrible superintendent. He cut a lot of libraries in Dallas as well, big pay increases for his administrators and created pay incentives for grades. I was very happy to see him go. He also invested in Teach-America (an alternative certification program), prioritizing their hiring and if there were job cuts they were safe and let vet teachers go… all so he could make money.

Let's just take a moment to realize the difference between the reaction of a librarian and the corporate charter school shill that was installed.

In my experiences, school librarians are often the most radically kind and supportive people in the building and will fight for their students. They understand the power of knowledge and inclusivity. I have little doubt that the state of Texas realizes this too and is strategically removing them from the buildings for this exact reason.

This feels like the equivalent to book banning, only under a different name. It's also discrimination if only certain schools are being targeted for this "new" concept. I do have to wonder what the salary of the guy put in charge of this is making. Pretty sure he hasn't taken a pay cut to go in and fire librarians. I'm also certain that there are other rooms that children who need to be removed from classrooms can go to. The whole thing stinks to high heaven.

*Knowledge is power.* There's a reason why the GOP doesn't want certain people to gain knowledge.

It's s appalling how people in Texas don't have access to their Constitutional Rights.

I really feel for that mom and all of the parents and kids impacted by this. Disturbing that you could send a child to a SCHOOL without a library

Houston area schools scored low on reading compared to other schools. So Republicans took away the books. How does that help kid's learn?

Wow. Discipline over libraries. Amazing. You can feel the disconnect from the supervisor and the rest of the population.

"The grades are down, let's remove the libraries!" Only in America

My 3rd grade daughter heard part of this & literally went “I don’t want to go to a school that doesn’t have a library.” The library is the soul of a school. It helps reinforce that spark of curiosity from your classroom & more importantly it helps ignite the imagination of far off places especially in our current world. Libraries were my safe space growing up. I grew up in small towns so I read about the world outside of my small town. Closing libraries is closing windows & doors to education not expanding education. Seriously, what was he thinking?!

This would have destroyed me as a child. It is insane. How can they do this?! ☹️ WHY would they do this?!

Anyone else think of DeSantis when they saw this? Abbott has become an ruling authoritarian, almost a jailer. As a Texas Democrat I detest these Republican tyrants!

"Even prisons have libraries ..."

Removing libraries from an educational system is one step removed from replacing the teachers with sports coaches. And yes, I went to a segregation school (a so-called "private academy" -- almost exclusively White) in Alabama in which that exact thing happened. One year, our mathematics teacher was the baseball coach; another year, a basketball coach taught English. And as you might have guessed, we didn't learn much in either of those classes. But -- at least we DID have a good library, and a librarian who encouraged students' curiosity about all sorts of things. I imagine some parents might have been quite shocked by some of the books she kept on the shelves. It was my favorite place in the whole school and since I had to stay two hours after closing every day, I got to read just about everything in there that interested me. These right-wingers in Texas don't want Houston kids to get an education. It's all about controlling a population of The Other by keeping them under the boot of ignorance.

It's sad that things are becoming so inhospitable. Libraries in the school where I taught were places of refuge for kids not wanting to spend recess out on a field. There were books, games and acceptance and a place to feel like you belong.

The right to education is not protected. Let's change that.

I could cry. Praying for these children.

In other countries (in Northern Europe), they have transformed prisonss into rehabilitation centers, which offer inmates the opportunity to take classes toward degrees and counseling. This allows the inmates to enter society ready for a new life. Meanwhile in Texas, they are transforming schools into prisons.

When I was a kid, they used the cafeteria as a study hall and detention room. The punishment was missing the class. Saying he requires the library for the space doesn't make sense. He thinks you can't see through that? What about all the books? The library was a giant part of my bookworm childhood.

Ms. Hensley hit the nail on the head when she said they are taught to pass tests, not being shown how to learn, but what to learn. The passion of Ms. Hensley about creating lifetime learners is obvious. Instead of laying her off, any intelligent superintendent would reopen all the libraries and develop and put Ms. Hensley in charge of all of them.

That superintendent struggled to explain his position, this is excruciating.

"Their reading scores are too low. Let's take away the books." Genius.

My small town of Newberg Oregon did the same thing where the parent rights” groups took over the school board and fired an excellent Superintendent. The voters saw what was happening and voted out the majority of the old school board. I’m sure the fight isn’t over but the voters are now aware of how fragile democracy truly is.

The Taliban and the GOP share many similar views on freedom, education, and women's rights.

This is 1) absolutely heartbreaking and 2) a disgusting travesty!!!! Why take away libraries from the communities who need them most!!? Awful!!!!

Omg! Education in Texas schools is going to get so bad! And it was already awful! Reading is such a big part of a child's education and mental development.😢 I remember being a little girl in elementary school. I loved reading. I loved our library. I spent so much time there, even at playtime. Other kids thought I was weird because I would rather read. However, I can say that my mind was enriched by the library, and the books. This is terrible.

Students at these schools should stage sit ins and protests and demand their libraries back.

Literacy is the key to real education. These extremists are purposely trying to make sure these children are not truly educated. My heart hurts for the children and their parents. The job these parents are going to have trying to fill the gap in literacy, and critical thinking that is going to be neglected in their educational system will be immense.

This is just evil. Libraries were my sanctuary as a child. I could pick out any book I wanted and get lost in imagination. Even have access to knowledge I didn’t have access to at home. To rob children of this is a sin.

I would have been devastated had this happened when I was back in school. The libraries were my favorite places. This "parental rights" movement has to be stopped. No matter the cost.

My love of reading and libraries saved me from the loneliness and neglect of my childhood. I learned to be kind, sympathetic, and loving from books. I learned about taking care of myself and others from reading. I learned that I could educate myself by reading and it could help make me the kind of person I wanted to be instead of the type of person I was being raised to be. Texas is using the schools to control not educate.

"Even prisons have libraries." Taking the library and turning it into a discipline center almost sounds like turning it into a prison.

So troubling. Librarians have played huge and positive roles in my and my child's life. Children need to be inspired and uplifted and seen, not beaten down in spirit. 🙏

What sort of school doesn't have a library? This is truly bizarre! What makes that man say his new model works? Surely schools the world over all have a library. America has lost its way completely.

As someone with dyslexia, I had a lot of teachers just consider me dumb, cause I couldn't finish tests on time and I read books really slowly. If the only introduction I had to reading was all those assignments I failed, I would have hated it. But time spent in the library is time when you're surrounded by books and free to read whatever you want. Not being timed or worried about class credit, you could just have fun. I can't believe schools are having their libraries takes away for punishment centers. Kids doing poorly in school shouldn't be disciplined, they should be helped, so that their creativity and curiosity are kindled to support their academics.

''Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.'' Voltaire

Who needs a library that costs money when in a few years you can fill a prison that makes it?

This is so sad, I'm literally tearing up. All kids deserve a good school library.

Q: Our test scores are inadequate what should we do? A: get rid of the libraries.

Well, it's Texas...one of the cesspools of America. I'm so sorry for those children!

As a teacher, I’m outraged at this. I get that some students need a place to refocus, but taking away libraries is a horrible solution. It sends the message that reading isn’t important. The superintendent sounds like a used car salesman. I wouldn’t trust him as far as I could throw him.

My heart truly aches for the children of Texas...this is terrifying and it gives me even more of a reason to work make positive change in the world.

I grew up in a dirt poor, very dysfunctional white family as a child. I remember when I was in the third grade a school librarian gave us a lesson on how to pick out a good book to read. One clue she pointed out was to look for special badges on the book cover ( Caldecott, etc.). There are so many books and authors that I have discovered over my lifetime because I noticed those badges on book covers. Some books that I would have never read if it hadn't been for those little badges. That one little lesson, from one school librarian led me to so many great books that I probably would never have picked up if left to just judge by the title or cover art. And sadly, so many of those great books are now banned in many districts. Oh, yeah--I grew up to have a career as an Air Force journalist and then later to graduate with honors from college and become a Special Education teacher. I am now retired. I ache to see what has become of our schools now.

I’m a librarian & the library was my haven as a child. This is morally reprehensible. It’s painfully obvious that this is an effort on the GOP’s part to tear down future generations of black and Hispanic activists & leaders. People like Abbott and Miles deserve nothing but scorn and shame.

" We can't have everything we want.." A school consists of books, teachers, and students. The book is a vessel of knowledge, the teacher is a conveyor of knowledge, and the student is the recipient of knowledge. Absolutely insane that in order to help kids do better, they remove a tool to help kids learn and do better. Of course, these are adults who had the privilege of going to school with a library full of books that are making these decisions so they won't see the direct result of removing a basic fundamental of learning until it's too late.

They could have compromised. Kept the library and had a disciplinary room in one of the classrooms or even downsized the library. I can't imagine not having a library in school. I was there checking out bunches of books as often as I could. I thought those who like to ban books were in favor of parent being in charge of their child's education. It doesn't sound like these kids parents have any say. Oh, and a red state doing this to the blue district??? No other district had low test scores??? Whatever.

As a K/1st teacher of 30 years this is deplorable!

I loved my school library as a student. So much so that I ended up becoming a librarian when I grew up. I can't imagine not having that in my life. I probably would not have survived high school without having free range of the library and the ability to check out those books. This is just heart breaking.

Critical thinking is not what they want.... They want obedient workers...

My school has no library. They got rid of it quietly during remodeling and eventually gave us a media center, which is just a big room where students can bring in their chromebooks and do their work. That is NOT a media center. In fact, I don't think any of the schools in the district have libraries. We're a small district in California.

Corruption of the highest degree. How are they getting away with this

The very nature of a library is about personal responsibility, freedom of choice, awareness/respect of differences, history/heritage, rules, respectful interaction, knowledge, limits, and enormous possibilities. If you're wondering how each of those concepts manifest in a library setting, think in your mind how a library operates (a shared space/hangout, mostly quiet, borrow books, Dewey Decimal System, etc.), then just add "because there are thousands of books to choose from" after each of them. For example, library is about limits because there are thousands of books to choose from. Cheers.

My heart hurts for our children.

As a retired school counselor and the wife of a school librarian/public librarian, I am so saddened! The library is a safe space for many students. Libraries and librarians are essential to promote reading, communication skills, and navigating through the world of technology. Who will fill that void?? This is a trend that is hitting many schools. My husband was furloughed from his school library job 10 years ago as were many across our state of Pennsylvania. Those libraries were repurposed and students do not have access to a library. This is a grave mistake!

I see my own 8yr old daughter who also has dyslexia like Sydney. Being in Charlotte, NC she is getting the help she needs because reading is very important and opens kids to incredible imagination. This strategy in Houston is doing a disservice to these children. This country creates the problem of un equal education standards based on income, place where they live and of course skin color, then say "look they are not as smart and are failing". But that is what they want to happen to these children and families. So instead of correcting the problem, they get less help and more policing. Remove libraries and replace with detention centers. This is intentional and designed to keep people of color down and further marginalized.

I’m black and when I was in school the library was a nice quite place, to get away from drama. We had a new updated library, where we had study groups at. We could go there during class. It really encouraged my love for reading.

Although I am not an American and do not live in the US, current events in the USA scare me. Fear for all of us, but above all fear for the people and children in the US. Please stay strong and fight for your freedom.

Even prisons have libraries.

The first step to an authoritarian state is to get rid of all the books. Texas, you better fight back.

The library was my favorite place to be as a kid, a safe space in a very scary world. I’m neurodivergent and I just wasn’t comfortable on the playground sometimes, I don’t know what I would have done without the library; without the stories that encouraged me to explore the world, to dream and to know it would get better. I still love reading, my love of learning, my imagination, everything about who I am started when I was child reading in a library. This is not ok. 😔🙏🏾💔

Disgusting and disturbing

It’s slowly happening all over Texas, I’ve worked in multiple schools in the austin area, Texas does not want books in non charter schools, over 50% of the state education funding is not going to public education, do not let this happen in your state.

If you’re afraid of books changing a person’s thinking, you’re not afraid of books. You’re afraid of thinking.

Parental rights. The right of parents to expect their children to have access to books and resource materials in libraries in schools. Although it is easier to create goose-stepping automatons without erudite individuals.

In sane countries all legislators and officials in this would be tossed straight into prison, no questions asked.

Discipline censters? How dystopic

Texas and Florida is where critical thinking goes to die.

Seriously, all of this is just messing up a system that could’ve just been fixed by adding teachers that ACTUALLY cared about their jobs and the subjects that they taught. Books are both a method of giving a child the freedom to diversify, exposing them to new things in school districts. Not only that, but most kids HATE reading, not because of books, but because of the TYPE of books they’re introduced to. Most are books of higher reading levels they can’t or are difficult to understand because they have no foundation in reading: WHICH IS GIVEN BY LIBRARIES and by the more fun, loose literature pieces. Not only does diverse, less strict and more imaginative literature pieces help a student start to develop better reading skills, it actually helps their morality, their comprehension skills, and their creative thinking process. It helps them think in new ways, creative thinking, that can help them in other subjects such as math and science, and more complex puzzles and questions. Let’s be honest, this new system is not to help the students. It’s to help discriminate and belittle students of color. Students that DESERVE to grow up with these critical thinking skills. State, these skills don’t come from your uninteresting, information based works. It comes from creativity and imagination, which leads to the hunger for knowledge. You know this but you refuse to give it to students of color. As he said, “Kids shouldn’t read. Or kids like US shouldn’t read.” Be better.

Gov Abbott is deplorable

In dictatorships, free thinkers and intellectuals are always the first targets. Libraries support people in so many ways. Keep the pressure on those who seek to dumb us all down!

Of course it would be Texas leading this. Libraries to detention centers

This is by design; the creation of a permanent underclass.

I hope the people of TX have woken up to what's going on in their state now. This is just too much. VOTE BLUE 🔵🔵🔵🔵🔵

The fact that they brought in someone from the charter school industry just goes to show the state isn't interested in actually improving education.

This hurts my heart; this is unacceptable! This is evil.

Ah yes, why ban some books when you can just ban a library? And hey, now we've got space for a big old detention hall. So many problems solved! It would be good to get more perspective on this, specifically the kind of ideological motivation going on behind it.

My elementary Librarian Mrs. Dowling was a kind lady who taught me a great deal. I could not imagine growing up without a school library. So sad.

Ridiculous!!!😡 The parents & community school be outraged and take action!!!