Opponents of book bans are expressing concerns over Carroll Independent School District’s latest hire. The district's new superintendent has a history of supporting the banning books from school libraries that deal with sexuality and gender.
The Southlake-based school district named Jeremy Glenn as its sole finalist for superintendent earlier this week. At his previous district, Granbury ISD, Glenn was investigated by the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights for discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender after ProPublica published a recording in which Glenn ordered school librarians to remove dozens of books from the shelves.
“I acknowledge that there are men that think they’re women and there are women that think they’re men,” Glenn said in the recording. “I don’t have any issues with what people want to believe, but there’s no place for it in our libraries.”
In a statement to WFAA, Carroll ISD board president Cam Bryan said Glenn is a “man of integrity and character,” who exemplifies the values of the district. On the same night Glenn’s sole candidacy was announced, Bryan also publicly stated that negotiations surrounding four student complaints against Carroll ISD that are being investigated by the Office of Civil Rights had reached an impasse and could not continue on the district’s end.
Da’Taeveyon Daniels, a Fort Worth native and rising senior, works for the student advocacy group Students Engaged in Advancing Texas and called Glenn’s appointment “a significant threat” to efforts the group has made to stand against book banning.
“First of all, it's idiocy, but second of all, they're targeting books that specifically share LGBTQIA+ narratives and the narratives of BIPOC individuals,” Daniels told the Observer. “They're targeting these narratives of students that are marginalized and ostracized and basically saying their identity is too filthy to be in the school library.’”
Daniels said the organization regularly files OCR complaints against districts that violate laws protecting marginalized students, and the members plan to keep an eye on Carroll ISD for any new violations.
The district does have its own history with book banning (and civil rights complaints, which were brought to the national spotlight in the eponymous podcast Southlake.) In 2023, students at Carroll Senior High School formed a banned books club to read books deemed too controversial for schools. While Carroll ISD says the district does not have a book banning policy, a procedure does allow for books to be flagged for review by a committee to determine whether the literature is “pervasively vulgar” or unsuitable for learning. According to the American Library Association, an analysis of the most frequently banned books in schools showed that content pertaining to LGBTQ+ stories were the most likely to be successfully challenged.
But even in a traditionally conservative district made up of a majority white students, Daniels thinks it is important to prioritize books that share alternative narratives.
“They're threatening intellectual freedom and the emotional well-being of students on both sides of this argument,” Daniels said. “Because if I'm not able to humanize and find a way to understand or even live vicariously through the words of a black or brown author or a queer author, then I may not be able to understand my neighbor.”
In a statement, Glenn said it is a "profound honor" to take the helm at Carroll ISD, where he will now be leading the response to the district's ongoing civil rights investigations. Granbury ISD School Board President commended Glenn's legacy at the district in the same statement.
"I think people really need to connect the dots and realize he's going to bring everything that he left at his last school district and bring it on over to Carroll ISD," Daniels said. "They may like the idea of a more conservative superintendent stepping in, but they have to realize, once they start attacking the rights of one marginalized community, they're just going to keep repeating it."
