Wake schools panel votes to keep 'Out of Darkness' in Cary High library after parent petition

It's the second such petition, both of which have been rejected, this year.

Posted 4:05 p.m. Apr 28, 2022 — Updated 5:03 p.m. Apr 28, 2022

Emily Walkenhorst

, WRAL education reporter

CARY, N.C. — A Wake County Board of Education panel voted 3-0 Thursday morning to reject a parent's petition to ban a book from a school library.

Chad Slotta asked Cary High School to remove the book "Out of Darkness" from its library. It's his second such petition, both of which have been rejected, this year.

"Out of Darkness" is a young adult historical fiction novel centered on an interracial relationship between two teenagers before, during and after the real-life New London school explosion that killed hundreds of students. The book includes descriptions of abuse and of sex acts.

The petition is just the latest is a series of complaints made in Wake County and nationwide about books available in school libraries, often featuring LGBTQ+ characters or people of color, that include sexually explicit content.

At the past two school board meetings, parents have gathered outside to rally on both sides: To either remove books they believe are age-inappropriate or keep books that they believe are being unfairly targeted and have value beyond selected passages.

Slotta, a former pastor, and his wife, Leah, after hearing concerns elsewhere about books in school libraries, began searching their daughter's school library for books they would find objectionable. That's when they found "Lawn Boy" by Jonathan Evison and and "Out of Darkness" by Ashley Hope Pérez.

A three-member panel of the county school board upheld earlier decisions to keep the book after noting the book is not required reading material is only available to students to check out on a voluntary basis.

Records obtained by WRAL News shortly after the hearing show an earlier Cary High panel denied the petition for the same reason. The second, district-level panel denied the petition 6-1, with the motion finding the book "is not pervasively vulgar, educationally unsuitable, or inappropriate to age, maturity, or grade level of the students."

Board Chairwoman Lindsay Mahaffey said the school board panel's decision Thursday was based on established rules and prior decisions.

"It is a book that is in the library to be read on a voluntary basis," Mahaffey said.

Slotta, who is running for the Republican nomination in North Carolina's 13th Congressional district, said he disagreed and argued the library merely having the book available was tantamount to promotion of it because librarians curate their collections.

The Slottas' petition complained of sexually explicit content and the book's negative portrayal of Christians. The Slottas said they "skimmed" the entire book and found themes of sexuality, racism, genderism and sexism. They also noted the book degrades Christians and portrays them as abusers, racists and hypocrites.

Efforts to be the ban from school libraries have succeeded elsewhere. Others have positively reviewed the book, arguing it powerfully illustrates themes of love, race and justice.

Chad Slotta said after the hearing that school libraries should be held to a different standard than other libraries or booksellers because their primary audiences are minors.

He believes parents should sign off on every book in a library.

"Moms and dads are not involved in the process, and they need to be," Slotta said.

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