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McALLEN – On May 17, just one week before the end of the school year, the superintendent of the South Texas Mission School District received an email with a list of 676 books that a group of local pastors considered “dirty and evil.”

The email came from the personal assistant to Pastor Luis Cabrera, who leads a church in Harlingen, about 30 miles east of the Mission school district.

The email was clear. Cabrera and “the community” wanted it removed.

The email referenced state law House Bill 900, which requires retailers to review their books and materials for suitability based on sexual depictions or references before selling them to school libraries.

Although that law was blocked by a federal appeals court, then-Mission School District Superintendent Carol G. Perez responded within five minutes that the district would check to see if it had the books necessary to remove them.

Later that evening, Assistant Superintendent Sharon A. Roberts asked the district’s Director of Instructional Technology and Library Services, Marissa I. Saenz, to oversee their removal.

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Read the emails revealing that the Mission School District in South Texas complied with a request to remove over 600 books from its libraries. (5.7MB)

“Can you prioritize researching these books to ensure we remove them from school libraries? Can your IT staff help you track down the location of the books to expedite this request?” Roberts wrote in an email.

The emails, obtained by The Texas Tribune through a public records request, provide insight into how close the 14,500-student district came to removing a slew of books over summer break. It also shows the ongoing pressure school leaders — public and private — face across the state when it comes to access to books that address race, religion and LGBTQ+ issues.

School district and community libraries have been inundated with requests since 2020, following the COVID-19 pandemic and the Black Lives Matter protests following George Floyd’s death. The public backlash began in the Dallas suburbs. But communities large and small have wrestled with these questions.

Before the May 17 email, Cabrera had made similar requests to other school districts in the Rio Grande Valley. He spoke at several school board meetings last spring for public consultations. Cabrera followed, in part, the lead of an organization called Citizens Defending Freedom.

Founded in 2021, the nonprofit organization supports “citizens in defending their freedom and putting local government back in the hands of the people.” Until recently, the organization’s work focused primarily on North Texas counties.

Now, as the new school year begins, a coalition of Rio Grande Valley religious leaders is condemning efforts to remove books from school libraries in South Texas.

The McAllen Faith Leaders Network, a group of religious leaders in the Upper Rio Grande Valley, wrote a letter to local school districts after hearing about the Mission School District’s “knee-jerk reaction” to the Christian conservative group’s request.

The open letter from local religious leaders specifically criticized the inclusion of “The Diary of Anne Frank” in the book list. Dan Thomas, a spokesman for Citizens Defending Freedom, clarified that this title refers to the graphic novel, an adaptation of “The Diary of Anne Frank.”

This month, seven members of the McAllen Faith Leaders Network signed the letter calling for separation between religious organizations and public institutions.

“We do not believe that any religious organization should have decision-making authority over our public schools or other public institutions,” the religious leaders said.

Rabbi Nathan Farb of Temple Emanuel in McAllen said in an interview with The Texas Tribune that this coalition has no political agenda and that members of the group often disagree on political and other issues.

“We felt it was important that we as religious leaders raise our voices and let our educators know that this person does not speak on behalf of all faiths, does not speak on behalf of all Christians, and does not represent the religious voice of the entire valley.”

The Rev. Joe Tognetti of St. Mark United Methodist Church in McAllen said restrictions on access to school children may be appropriate, but parents, students and teachers should decide together which books are appropriate, not a national conservative nonprofit.

Ultimately, the Mission School District did not remove any books, the district told the Tribune late last week.

A few days after the district received the request to remove the books, Saenz, the library director, responded that she would compare the list with the district’s collection to ensure that all books that met the standards set by state law were removed.

However, Saenz noted that Cabrera appeared to have misunderstood the scope of the state’s laws and pointed out that some of the books on the list may not be sexually explicit.

For books that do not meet the criteria of state law, Saenz said school rules state that only a parent, a student 18 years or older, an employee or a resident of the school district can challenge the suitability of books.

The school district assured that no books had been covered, restricted or removed at this time.

“Mission CISD understands the concerns that have been raised in this situation,” a district spokesperson said in a statement. “We remain committed to meeting the educational needs of our students in the district.”

Mission was not the only school district that received requests to remove books last spring. At a meeting on May 7, Cabrera threatened to sue the Brownsville School District if it did not remove certain books.

The district, which serves about 38,000 students, has removed five books from its shelves, according to a May 24 email from the district’s chief operations officer to the superintendent.

Cabrera had just begun his partnership with Citizens Defending Freedom when he began contacting school districts in the Rio Grande Valley, according to Thomas, the citizens group’s spokesman. The group did not provide the book list, and Thomas said the way Cabrera contacted school districts was not their usual practice.

Cabrera did not respond to a request for comment.

Thomas said they typically take action when people from school districts approach them with their concerns.

Thomas also argued that their attempt to remove “vulgar” books did not exercise discretionary power over school districts, as local religious leaders had accused them of doing.

“Our position is simple,” Thomas said. “We want school libraries to contain books that have educational value. We do not believe it is appropriate to have vulgar books with no educational value in public school libraries.”

Reporting in the Rio Grande Valley is supported in part by Methodist Healthcare Ministries of South Texas, Inc.

This article originally appeared in the Texas Tribune.

The Texas Tribune is a member-supported, nonpartisan newsroom that keeps Texans informed and engaged about the state’s politics and policy. For more information, visit texastribune.org.

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