The Denton City Council voted 4-2 on Tuesday against a nomination that would have put one of the chief architects of Denton ISD book challenges on the city’s public library board.
Denton Mayor Gerard Hudspeth had nominated Debi Scaggs to the library advisory board — a move that drew ire from a City Council member on social media.
After the nomination was removed from the consent agenda for individual consideration Tuesday afternoon, council members Brian Beck, Vicki Byrd, Paul Meltzer and Brandon Chase McGee voted against it. Hudspeth and council member Joe Holland voted in favor of the nomination. Council member Jill Jester was absent.
Scaggs played a key role in efforts to remove more than 100 books from Denton ISD campus libraries. The district removed at least 22 titles as a result of the challenges, which have persisted since 2021.
“While in attendance at a City Council Meeting several weeks ago, Councilwoman Byrd made an appeal to all in attendance to get on a city board or committee as there are so many open seats,” Scaggs said in an email to the Denton Record-Chronicle. “I took that to heart and applied for the library board. A couple of weeks ago, Mayor Hudspeth asked if I would be interested in that position and I told him yes, I am.”
Several Denton residents posted about their concerns with Scaggs’ nomination on Reddit and Facebook groups, and by Tuesday afternoon, at least 14 people had commented on the nomination on the council agenda online. All opposed Scaggs’ nomination.
“I oppose Gerard Hudspeth’s nomination of Debi Scaggs to the Library Board,” one person, Daniel Krutka, said in a comment. “Debi has proven in word and action that she is hateful toward community members. She believes in forcing her narrow-minded beliefs on others. Denton should be a place where people can live with differences. Placing a book banner on the Library Board is an insult to librarians, flames hateful culture wars in Denton, and targets vulnerable queer and transgender populations in our community.”
Scaggs has lived in Denton since 1979. She raised five children and said trips to the library to check out books and movies and to attend story times were a regular part of life. Now, she takes her grandchildren to the library.
“On one of my trips to the library, I went to the teen section, recommended for ages 11-17, to check out a book and discovered a very sexually explicit book on display,” she said. “I asked to talk to the head librarian to alert her to the book and where I found it, but was told I needed to fill out a reconsideration form for the book in question.”
Scaggs said she filled out the form and requested that the book be moved to the adult section of the library, where it wouldn’t be within easy reach of children.
She said her request was denied, so she addressed the City Council. When she presented portions of Let’s Talk About It, the graphic novel she asked the library staff to move, she said the imagery in the book was so graphic that Hudspeth would only allow her to share censored images.
Erika Moen and Matthew Nolan’s book, published by Random House Graphic, is subtitled The Teen’s Guide to Sex, Relationships, and Being a Human.
“I have since had a face-to-face visit with Ms. [Jennifer] Bekker [director of Denton Public Library], who is committed in keeping the present policy that puts full responsibility on the parent,” Scaggs said in her email. “While I’m a firm believer in parents’ rights, I also feel society, and particularly taxpayer-funded facilities, should play a part in protecting our children from harm. That is one reason I have challenged books at the public school that were sexually explicit or educationally unsuitable. It is the policy of Texas to keep educational materials that are obscene, vulgar and educationally unsuitable out of publicly funded schools. Of the 82 books that have been reviewed by the schools, 37 were removed due to being sexually explicit or educationally unsuitable and 24 were placed in ‘Parent Permission Only.’”
Scaggs ran for the Denton ISD school board in May but was defeated by incumbent Barbara Burns, who was then elected as board president. Scaggs’ defeat marked the second local school board campaign by a resident who challenged scores of books in school district libraries.
Scaggs and others who challenged books read sexually explicit passages aloud during open forums at school board meetings, and many of their challenges focused on LGBTQ+ characters and stories. Challengers say the books are pornographic and violate the state’s penal code regarding obscenity.
As of Tuesday afternoon, Hudspeth hadn’t replied to multiple emails asking for a comment about the nomination, nor had a city spokesperson. The Denton Record-Chronicle also sent questions to Bekker about the library board, which is an advisory body that makes recommendations about the library’s operating policies and programs.
Bekker and city spokespeople hadn’t replied by Tuesday afternoon.
Out of all of the City Council members contacted about the nomination, only District 3 council member Paul Meltzer responded Tuesday afternoon. Meltzer had said he expected the nomination would be removed from the consent agenda during the work session before the meeting but didn’t say how he would vote.
On Monday, District 2 City Council member Brian Beck promised to vote against Scaggs’ nomination.
“Let me state unequivocally that Ms. Scaggs’ narrow-minded, backwards, and indeed bigoted rhetoric not only flies in the face of longstanding library policy but flies in the face and spirit of our city enacted non-discrimination ordinance,” Beck said in a Facebook post. “Mayor Hudspeth has chosen to nominate a person that doesn’t merely have a different viewpoint but actually holds views that are dangerous for Denton and particularly dangerous for vulnerable classes. In no way will I support her nomination to the city’s library board.”
Beck said he wouldn’t play a part in moving Denton in the direction of North Richland Hills, Keller or Southlake, North Texas cities that have seen candidates who object to LGBTQ+ content and content critical of America’s racial history in school and municipal libraries elected to school boards. He said those cities’ governments have been “bogged down in bigotry and lawsuits, and from her prior statements I have no doubts that Ms. Scaggs appointment would take us in that wrong direction.”
Beck nominated Texas Woman’s University professor Kerol Harrod to fill the second of two open seats on the library board. Harrod teaches in the School of Library and Information Studies, and his research interests include public libraries. Harrod has spoken in favor of leaving books on age-appropriate shelves in Denton ISD, and he said he is honored to be nominated.
“I worked at the Denton Public Library for over 15 years, and I look forward to continuing my work there as a member of the library board,” Harrod said. “I am committed to listening to new ideas, maintaining intellectual freedom, and ensuring access to a diverse collection of library materials for all members of the community.”
Social media posts expressed worries that Scaggs would limit access to materials she objects to at the public library if her nomination passed.
“I would be ONE vote on a board of seven,” Scaggs said via email. “Why are some, especially Councilman Beck, who has belittled me on social media, so reluctant to having all voices in this city represented? Isn’t diversity the value that is uplifted in this city? Or is it only voices some agree with that are valued?”