MARIETTA — The Board of Education voted 6-1 Thursday morning to uphold Superintendent Grant Rivera’s removal of “Flamer” by Mike Curato from the Marietta High School library.
Board member A.B. Almy, who voted over the phone, cast the lone vote against the motion.
The board’s ruling came at a brief special called meeting which began at 7:45 a.m. Board member Jaillene Hunter made the motion, seconded by Jeff DeJarnett, to uphold Rivera’s decision. There was no discussion prior to voting.
“Flamer,” a graphic novel about a gay teenager at summer camp who struggles with his identity, was removed from the high school’s library after Superintendent Grant Rivera deemed the book contains sexually explicit content.
The book was removed alongside the novel “Me, Earl, and the Dying Girl” by Jesse Andrews for the same reason. The titles were pulled from the school’s library shortly after similar removals in the Cobb County School District.
Shortly thereafter, the Marietta school board issued a directive to Rivera ordering him to remove “sexually explicit material” from the district, while also creating a process for people to appeal book removals.
Using that process, Marietta parent Kayla Sargent appealed to get “Flamer” reinstated, but Rivera rejected it. Sargent made a final appeal to the school board, which was rejected Thursday.
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