IOWA, USA — Students in and around the Quad Cities have been back in their classrooms for a few weeks, but schools on the Iowa side of the Mississippi River are navigating a new landscape.
2024 marks the first school year Senate File 496 is able to go into effect after an injunction against it was lifted in August. The bill removes all books depicting sex acts from school libraries, prevents educators from teaching and discussing gender identity and sexual orientation with students through sixth grade and requires teachers to notify parents if a student asks to change their pronouns or name.
News 8 has been reaching out to local school districts to see what, if any, books they've removed since SF 496 went into effect. Here are the responses we've received so far.
Davenport - 9 books
- "Push" by Sapphire
- "Tricks" by Helen Hopkins
- "Gender Queer" by Maia Kobabe
- "All Boys Aren't Blue" by George Johnson
- "Bluest Eye" by Toni Morrison
- "Handmaid's Tale" by Margaret Atwood
- "Sold" by Patricia McCormick
- "Court of Mist and Fury" by Sarah Maas
- "Court of Thorns and Roses" by Sarah Maas
Clinton - 22 books
- "Lucky" by Alice Sebold
- "The Color Purple" by Alice Walker
- "Boy Toy" by Barry Lyga
- "It Ends with Us" by Colleen Hoover
- "It Starts with Us" by Colleen Hoover
- "Crank" by Ellen Hopkins
- "Identical" by Ellen Hopkins
- "Tricks" by Ellen Hopkins
- "Let's Talk About It" by Erika Moen
- "Thirteen Reasons Why" by Jay Asher
- "Nineteen Minutes" by Jodi Picoult
- "Looking for Alaska" by John Green
- "Sold" by Patricia McCormick
- "Water for Elephants" by Sarah Gruen
- "Empire of Storms" by Sarah J. Maas
- "Kingdom of Ash" by Sarah J. Maas
- "A Court of Mist and Fury" by Sarah J. Maas
- "A Court of Thorns and Roses" by Sarah J. Maas
- "A Court of Wings and Ruin" by Sarah J. Maas
- "Tower of Dawn" by Sarah J. Maas
- "It" by Stephen King
- "The Perks of Being a Wallflower" by Steven Chbosky
Officials with the Bettendorf, Burlington and Pleasant Valley school districts said they haven't removed any materials from their shelves. We've reached out to Muscatine school officials multiple times since Aug. 15 but haven't received a response.