Karen Smith Takes Oath of Office on Stack of Banned Books

metroweekly.com:

Moms for Liberty — and a slew of anti-LGBTQ policies generally associated with them — and those running on the “Neighbors United for School Board” slate of candidates, who campaigned in opposition to the previous majority’s “book banning, anti-LGBTQIA+ policies, and ‘culture war’ politics.”Karen Smith and Dr.

Miriam Mahmud, the most senior Democratic-backed candidates on the board, were elected president and vice president by 7-2 and 8-1, respectively.

Smith, in a nod to the issues on which she ran, chose to symbolically be sworn in on a stack of books that had been flagged for removal from classrooms and school library shelves by the previous majority.“I’m not particularly religious,” Smith told The Philadelphia Inquirer. “The Bible doesn’t hold significant meaning for me, and given everything that has occurred in the last couple of years, the banned books, they do mean something to me at this point.”Upon being elected president by her fellow board members, Smith said, “Thank you for your trust in me.

I do not take this hand lightly. I feel it as a very heavy responsibility and you have my word, I will do my best for everyone.”Smith was first elected to the school board in 2015 as a Republican but later switched parties after fellow board members voted against allowing a school counselor to attend training on transgender issues.She chose Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye, Eli Wiesel’s Night, Lily and Dunkin by Donna Gephart, All Boys Aren’t Blue by George M.