A recently fired substitute teacher in the Twin Falls School District who in December founded a local chapter of Moms for Liberty has challenged more than 95 books in the district’s collection — and two have been removed.

Cierra Clarke, a mother of a first-grader, says nearly all of her book challenges are based on sexualized content that is inappropriate for children.

The slew of challenges has led to a significant time commitment from dozens of parents, teachers and district staff members. The district’s policy requires committees of three to read each challenged book and vote on whether the book should be retained, moved to another location or removed entirely. Then, the superintendent makes a final decision. But the challenger can appeal that decision, which would go to the school board.

In his 10 years as superintendent, Brady Dickinson said he’s had one book challenged before Clarke began submitting her requests in December. He said the system was never designed to handle over a hundred challenges at once, but the district will follow its policy.

At first, he didn’t think the district would find many volunteers who want to be involved in the book review process.

“But we’ve put it out there and we’ve had parents say, “Yeah, I’d love to be involved in that process,’” Dickinson said.

Public Relations Director Eva Craner said as of Monday 81 staff members and parents in 65 committees are reading the challenged books, all on a volunteer basis. Many of the volunteers are reading more than one book. The district is paying a retired librarian $2,500 to run the committee meetings.

“It is taking up a substantial amount of my time reaching out to parents and staff members to get the committees lined up,” Craner wrote in an email to EdNews.

In response to a records request, Craner sent EdNews all of Clarke’s learning material review forms, committee recommendations and superintendent decisions. Clarke has challenged 96 books, but two cannot be located in the district’s collection. Craner said Clarke submitted another 31 challenges, but the district returned them and asked for more detail. Of those 31, only 23 are in the district’s collection.

Click here to see the list of books Clarke has challenged and click here to read through 416 pages of Clarke’s learning materials review forms.

Meanwhile, a group of progressive Twin Falls residents associated with Indivisible Twin Falls County Idaho are taking action to counter the local Moms for Liberty chapter.

Clarke’s journey from substitute to Moms for Liberty

Clarke was a stay-at-home mom to an incoming kindergartener when she became a substitute teacher a year-and-a-half ago. 

“I just decided to do it,” Clarke said in a phone interview. “I loved it.”

But things changed for Clarke when she substituted in her son’s class. She told EdNews that she noticed the class was further behind than other classes. She Googled the teacher’s name and found videos the teacher had made. She said the videos contained inappropriate content for a teacher.

Clarke told EdNews she made a fake email address and sent an anonymous complaint to the district. She said she followed up with the school and had a meeting with district staff.

That’s when the Twin Falls Police Department got involved.

According to body camera footage and a police report that EdNews received through a records request, Rock Creek Elementary Principal Lisa Gebbie and Elementary Programs Director Nancy Murphy requested on Oct. 3 that Clarke be trespassed from the school due to her behavior and language inside the school.

She cannot set foot on the property for a year.

“So that’s just kind of what inspired me to open up a chapter of Moms for Liberty here,” Clarke said. “Because if they’re going to do this to someone like me — someone that they loved and adored and begged me to go back to school to get my degree so I could have a classroom next year — then what are they doing to parents and families that they don’t have a good relationship with?”

Clarke said she started the local chapter in early December and has about 150 members on a Facebook group and email newsletter.

Since then she has teamed up with the Idaho Freedom Foundation, which published an interview with Clarke in December and an article in January. She’s also appeared in an interview with Casey Whalen, a self-proclaimed “independent journalist/activist,” and a discussion with Rep. Heather Scott, R-Blanchard, and Sen. Tammy Nichols, R-Middleton.

Clarke said she looked into what Moms for Liberty does and learned that the group challenges books.

“That really interested me, because I assumed that stuff doesn’t happen in Idaho,” Clarke said. “You know that’s like in places where you would expect it, right?”

Two books removed

Of the more than 95 books Clarke has challenged, the district has taken action on three.

A review committee determined that “Tricks” and “Traffick,” by Ellen Hopkins, include a level of descriptive detail beyond what is necessary to convey the message and should be removed from school libraries. The books tell the story of five teens who became victims of sex trafficking. Dickinson agreed with the committee’s recommendation.

A third committee recommended that “The Freedom Writers Diary,” by Erin Gruwell, should be retained at the high school level and restricted to parent permission for middle schoolers. Dickinson decided it should only be available for high school students, with parent permission.

Clarke said she began her book challenge process by looking at lists of books that are most often banned in schools and then looked at what is available in Twin Falls school libraries.

“Sure enough we have a lot of books in these libraries that are, you know, pretty graphic in nature,” Clarke said. “Pretty sexualized.”

She submitted her first learning materials review form on Dec. 9.

Some of the titles include “Ready Player One,” “Wicked,” “A Game of Thrones,” “The Fault in Our Stars,” “Two Boys Kissing,” and “On the Bright Side, I’m Now the Girlfriend of a Sex God.”

In each of the book challenges she submitted, Clarke stated that she has examined the entire resource. 

EdNews looked up the page count for each book Clarke challenged. The 95 books total about 35,000 pages. According to online reading time calculators, that would take an average reader about 583 hours, or 24 days of non-stop reading.

Clarke, 34, told EdNews that she is an avid book fan and has been reading her whole life.

“I couldn’t tell you exactly when I’ve read each one of these titles, but I’ve read them within my lifetime,” Clarke said.

EdNews asked Clarke why she didn’t challenge any of these books before she was fired.

“I didn’t know about them,” Clarke said. “I had no idea. I didn’t even know what Moms for Liberty was.”

Clarke’s activism goes beyond book challenges

Besides challenging books, Clarke has been critical of comments that Twin Falls Board Chair Eric Smallwood said to district staff earlier this year. Clarke posted a video on YouTube of her addressing the board in January with her concerns.

As EdNews previously reported, Smallwood encouraged district employees at a Jan. 5 staff meeting to vote in the May primary election and talked about supporting pro-education candidates. Smallwood did not name specific candidates or legislators.

Clarke is an active commenter on the Idaho Education News Facebook page and in one comment last week wrote that she is a Democrat. In an interview, Clarke told EdNews that she is registered as an independent and did not vote for President Donald Trump. In a search of her voting record, EdNews found that Clarke is a registered Republican.

Clarke has also submitted a number of public records requests to Twin Falls School District in the last few months.

While there are no fees associated with submitting book challenges in Twin Falls, Craner said the district has requested prepayment for Clarke’s records requests.

Reactions to the book challenges

Some Twin Falls residents are taking action to counter Clarke and her Moms for Liberty chapter.

Members of Indivisible Twin Falls County Idaho, the local chapter of a progressive national group, put out a call to action on social media last week asking folks to show up in force to the Twin Falls school board meeting on Wednesday to “show that a reasonable majority in Twin Falls supports our schools.” They are inviting attendees to wear red as a symbol of solidarity.

“While [Moms for Liberty] use the language of ‘parental rights,’ their actions in Twin Falls seek to infringe on the rights of all other parents by dictating what their children can and cannot read,” Indivisible members wrote in a statement to EdNews.

The group also collected several banned books at one of their meetings, according to co-founder Kevin Moxley, to help ensure kids have access. He said it would be great for kids to have the opportunity to read things related to their experiences, including stories with LGBTQ characters.

“In reality, I think that book bans probably excite kids to read books that they normally wouldn’t, just because of the taboo of it,” Moxley said.

For the American Civil Liberties Union of Idaho, libraries are essential to democracy. They ensure equitable access to information, promote civic engagement and strengthen communities.

“We’ve been battling attempts to restrict access to ideas for decades; what we are seeing now is not new,” the ACLU of Idaho stated in an email to EdNews.

In response to the large number of book challenges, the Twin Falls school board made a slight tweak to its policy earlier this month.

If the committees are not able to review the books by the end of the next quarter, trustees on Feb. 9 decided the district should pull the books from the libraries until the reviews are complete.

Smallwood, the board chair, told EdNews on Monday that he thinks the policy is good as it stands. He doesn’t expect to see another huge book challenge.

“We’re gonna honor the policy and her wishes and we’re gonna get through them all,” Smallwood said.