ISD Trustee Suspended From X After Book Posts

The social media platform X recently suspended the account of Fort Bend Independent School District Board Member David Hamilton, according to another X user, Dr. Mary Talley Bowden.

“Ft Bend school board member David Hamilton’s account has been suspended. Hamilton4TX @elonmusk From David…. ‘Don’t know. No explanation… My best guess is that I’ve been posting about the library books in our school district, and I bet the American Library Association sent activists to report me,'” she posted.

“Only explanation that makes sense to me is that radical activists who don’t like that I’m exposing Texas school library books submitted fake reports of rule violations,” Hamilton told Texas Scorecard. 

Hamilton had commented on X about the presence of explicit books in Fort Bend ISD school libraries and pointed out that they were not kid-friendly.

Texas recently adopted a school library standard to prevent students from encountering sexually explicit content, as reported by The Dallas Express. The new standards state, “School districts are responsible for ensuring their school libraries implement and adhere to these collection development standards.”

The standards developed by the Texas State Library and Archives Commission (TSLAC) were created in compliance with House Bill 900, which regulates school libraries to restrict “explicit and adult-designated educational resources” that are deemed inappropriate for minors. 

The bill required the State Board of Education to approve the standards before they could be adopted by the TSLAC. The SBOE approved the standards in a 13-1 vote last December, with the lone dissenting vote coming from Democratic member Aicha Davis of Dallas.

Although the State Board of Education has passed the standards, the Texas Education Agency is prevented from enforcing them due to a ruling from the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in an HB 900 lawsuit. However, parents in school districts can help ensure that such standards are implemented in their local ISD.

Dallas ISD recently faced public backlash for creating and promoting a guide for students on how to transition genders, as previously reported by The Dallas Express. The document listed two Dallas-based clinics that facilitate transgender hormone usage as resources for Dallas ISD students. It also recommended books with transgender content, such as Julián Is a Mermaid, My Princess Boy, and Morris Micklewhite and the Tangerine Dress.