School district cuts student access to Central Arkansas Library System’s online materials

A central Arkansas school district cut students’ access to the local public library’s online educational materials in response to a federal court ruling that a 2023 law restricting library content can take effect, a district spokesperson said Thursday.

The Pulaski County Special School District, which covers most of the rest of the county outside Little Rock and North Little Rock, started participating in the Central Arkansas Library System’s “tech card” program in 2018. The online portal provides “recommended resources divided by grade level for research, homework help, and more,” according to the CALS website.

District communications director Fredricka Sharkey on Friday declined to comment further on administrators’ decision.

Central Arkansas school district will reinstate access to library’s digital learning tools

The district previously stopped using the program at the start of the 2023-24 school year due to administrators’ concerns about Act 372 of 2023.

At the time, two sections of the law had been temporarily blocked by a federal judge, including the section that would criminalize “furnishing a harmful item to a minor.” One unchallenged portion of the law gives school boards the final say over the placement and availability of library materials.

District officials said in 2023 that the lack of a “filter” on CALS’ online learning materials led an attorney to suggest that the district stop using the program. The district reinstated the program in January 2024.

In July of this year, a federal appeals court removed the injunction on Act 372. The court has yet to issue its order for the law to go into effect, and the 18 plaintiffs filed a motion Thursday asking the court for a rehearing and clarification on compliance.

The Pulaski County district, which has about 11,000 students, is not the first to limit students’ digital access to books in response to state policies and concern over what might be considered inappropriate content for minors.

Last year, the North Little Rock School District made dozens of LGBTQ+ books unavailable on its digital reading platform.

North Little Rock School District orders 50 LGBTQ+ books hidden on students’ digital platform

Additionally, Act 372 was one of two laws that Benton School District cited last year when it removed a book from elementary and middle school libraries in response to a parent’s complaint about its LGBTQ+ content.

PCSSD administrators have not mentioned LGBTQ+ content as a reason for dropping CALS’ online educational resources.

CALS and its executive director, Nate Coulter, are among the plaintiffs challenging Act 372. Coulter said Friday that he is “sympathetic to the district’s concerns about the possible implications” of the law but found it frustrating that thousands of Pulaski County students no longer have access to CALS’ online learning resources.

“This is yet another negative consequence of an ill-advised law that supposedly solves a nonexistent problem,” Coulter said.