We have unlocked a new level of dystopian, book-banning, and censorship hell in Texas. Students in Lamar Consolidated ISD, a rapidly growing, mid-size public school district located west of Houston, can no longer learn about the state of Virginia on their online research database, Pebble Go Next. In response to a public records request filed by Texas Freedom to Read Project, LCISD acknowledged that "Virginia" has been removed from Pebble Go Next, due to the lesson violating the school board's local library policy- EFB Local- for "frontal nudity." 

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Source: Pebble Go Next- Virginia

According to the LCISD website, Pebble Go Next is available to the district's 3rd-5th graders. On November 19, 2024, Lamar Consolidated ISD's school board voted 5-1 to update its EFB Local Library Materials policy. They made changes to the selection criteria which they claimed were necessary to comply with the board's interpretation of House Bill 900 (aka the READER Act). Among other things, the board policy added criteria that prohibits "frontal nudity" in any elementary school materials.

What's wild, is that HB900 does not require schools to ban materials containing "nudity." Nudity is not inherently sexual or sexually explicit. Take for example, David Shannon's beloved children's picture book, No David! that depicts a defiant little boy running down the street buck naked. Kids think butts are hilarious. Not sexual. What message are we sending if the depiction of a Roman goddess's illustrated breast on Virginia's state flag is considered inappropriate for students? 

Today, it's the Virginia state flag. Tomorrow will it be books that contain historical photos or depictions of Holocaust survivors? Breast-feeding mothers? The Paper Bag Princess? Art history books that portray the statue of David or the Birth of Venus? If adults making and implementing these rules, believe the nudity depicted on the Virginia state flag is prurient or obscene to the point that they must remove elementary school lessons on the state of Virginia, where will this end? 

Screenshot Lamar Consolidated ISD's Board EFB Local Board Policy

Beyond the boob. 

Not only has Lamar Consolidated ISD removed the Pebble Go Next lesson on Virginia, but they have also removed a lesson on "Family Types" - citing "gender fluidity" as the reason. 

Screenshot from a response to a Public Information Request obtained by Texas Freedom to Read Project on 4/14/2025.

These two lessons were removed from Pebble Go Next days after the school board enacted changes to their EFB Local Library policy- banning nudity- and also "gender fluidity." 

According to Community Impact, prior to casting the lone dissenting vote against the proposed changes, Trustee Kay Danziger voiced concerns the library materials policy revisions would stifle conversation between and among students and teachers about all of the different kinds of families the district serves. She said, “As a first grade teacher, we teach family, and I don’t want to ever tell a teacher they can’t use a book that shows non-traditional families, because we all know they’re out there,” she said. “We know there’s families with mothers, we know there’s families with fathers, with grandmothers, with maybe two fathers, two mothers, but they’re all families.”

Unfortunately, it appears that is exactly what is happening as a result of those policy changes. Apparently the very existence of factual, age-appropriate information about LGBTQ+ people and families in a lesson on "Family Types" violates LCISD's FA Local policy that bans materials "adopting, supporting, or promoting gender fluidity."

Like other Texas school board's local Library Materials policies, the Lamar Consolidated ISD Board Policy EFB Local, goes far beyond what is required by any Texas or federal laws. Just like they did before, the LCISD school board could revise their local policy to fix this issue and restore access to students' lesson on Virginia and Family Types- if they wanted to. 

None of this is new.

While these examples of newly discovered censorship in Lamar Consolidated ISD are truly wild, and absurd, they should not be surprising. Over the past five years, Texans have been battling censorship and book bans in our public schools and our public libraries.

We have seen local school boards bend to pressure by a handful of vocal individuals, politicians and organized political groups to restrict and remove access to books that contain ideas, viewpoints and stories they disagree with- usually in the name of "protecting children from sexually explicit material" or content they deem "educationally unsuitable."

School boards have adopted excessively rigid and over-broad local library materials policies in an effort to comply with vague and confusing state laws, and districts have resorted to over-compliance in attempts to appease both their boards, and the political activists targeting and harassing them. Librarians and educators continue to face increased pressure to restrict and remove books and materials, or risk facing disciplinary action, job loss, or even criminal investigation. 

Book bans and censorship are not going away. At least not any time soon.

If you're a Lamar Consolidated ISD parent, educator, or resident and would like help combatting censorship in your school district- or you're someone experiencing similar challenges in another Texas public school district- please reach out to us at info[at]txftrp[dot]org. We can help you better understand what's happening in your district, and help you organize, raise awareness, and fight for the freedom to read in your community. 

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