Knox County superintendent restores Roots after legal review as board weighs state's "age appropriate materials" rules
June 02, 2026 | Knox County, School Districts, Tennessee
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Superintendent Dr. Risewick on Tuesday announced he had restored Roots by Alex Haley to Knox County Schools' library shelves after seeking legal advice about a passage flagged under the state's Age Appropriate Materials Act.
The decision came during a long staff presentation on the law's history and the district's response. "I have made the decision to return Roots to the KCS library shelves effective immediately," Dr. Risewick told the board, saying the district consulted multiple legal experts and found a range of professional opinion about applying criminal-code definitions to a piece of literature.
Why it matters: The 2024 amendment to Tennessee's law added seven categories of prohibited content and tied those definitions to criminal-code language, creating a new preliminary standard that can trigger mandatory removal. Assistant Superintendent Corey Lner told the board the district has reviewed 358 excerpts over two years and removed 124 titles after applying the law's screening criteria. The Roots excerpt was raised by a librarian and flagged for possible forced removal under one of the statute's definitions.
Lner said the law sets a perimeter for what cannot be held in an open-access library collection; once a text triggers one of the statute's definitions, local discretion is limited. Within that perimeter, however, the district still manages formal and informal review processes, cataloging, and accommodation for individual students.
Board members pressed staff on policy levers: whether initial determinations must be handled by staff, whether the board can or should reclaim more direct review authority, and how the process interacts with the statute's 60-day review window and an appeal path to the state.
Public response at the meeting was split. Dozens of speakers told the board the Roots removal process had felt opaque and called for a transparent, librarian-centered review that evaluates works in context; others urged the board to uphold the state law and maintain strict exclusions where material meets the statute's definitions.
What's next: Staff proposed a July policy-review session to present policy options and clarified that the state statute requires a K 6 policy in time for the fall (staff noted August as a benchmark). Board members signaled support for a committee-led review of appeals/reconsideration options and for offering the public more clarity on the process used to elevate and adjudicate challenged titles.
Sources: Superintendent Dr. Risewick and Assistant Superintendent Corey Lner's presentation to the Knox County Board of Education, June 1, 2026; public forum comments.
The decision came during a long staff presentation on the law's history and the district's response. "I have made the decision to return Roots to the KCS library shelves effective immediately," Dr. Risewick told the board, saying the district consulted multiple legal experts and found a range of professional opinion about applying criminal-code definitions to a piece of literature.
Why it matters: The 2024 amendment to Tennessee's law added seven categories of prohibited content and tied those definitions to criminal-code language, creating a new preliminary standard that can trigger mandatory removal. Assistant Superintendent Corey Lner told the board the district has reviewed 358 excerpts over two years and removed 124 titles after applying the law's screening criteria. The Roots excerpt was raised by a librarian and flagged for possible forced removal under one of the statute's definitions.
Lner said the law sets a perimeter for what cannot be held in an open-access library collection; once a text triggers one of the statute's definitions, local discretion is limited. Within that perimeter, however, the district still manages formal and informal review processes, cataloging, and accommodation for individual students.
Board members pressed staff on policy levers: whether initial determinations must be handled by staff, whether the board can or should reclaim more direct review authority, and how the process interacts with the statute's 60-day review window and an appeal path to the state.
Public response at the meeting was split. Dozens of speakers told the board the Roots removal process had felt opaque and called for a transparent, librarian-centered review that evaluates works in context; others urged the board to uphold the state law and maintain strict exclusions where material meets the statute's definitions.
What's next: Staff proposed a July policy-review session to present policy options and clarified that the state statute requires a K 6 policy in time for the fall (staff noted August as a benchmark). Board members signaled support for a committee-led review of appeals/reconsideration options and for offering the public more clarity on the process used to elevate and adjudicate challenged titles.
Sources: Superintendent Dr. Risewick and Assistant Superintendent Corey Lner's presentation to the Knox County Board of Education, June 1, 2026; public forum comments.
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