BEAUFORT COUNTY, S.C. () — Should books be pulled from Beaufort County school shelves? That’s the question facing the schoolboard, who took a second look at books that were already approved by parent and teacher panels once before.

Most people in the room Friday at the Beaufort County Schoolboard meeting stated they feel they’re in a revolving door.

Nine books, including a few best-selling popular novels, “The Bluest Eye,” “The Freedom Writers Diary,” “The Lovely Bones” and “13 Reasons Why,” were all put back on the districts table for review.

“Now we find ourselves here again, and I think it’s important to ask, will the will of a few individuals override the will of the majority?” said one Beaufort County resident.

Majority of the room sided against removing any books from public school shelves, while one Beaufort County parent argued that the material presented should not be read by students.

There was one other Beaufort County resident who called in to the meeting in support of the parents’ request to remove the books from schools.

“This isn’t about a popularity contest and who has the most people here.  This is about following the regulation and removing any votes that are not age or developmentally appropriate,” said the parent pushing to have the books removed.

The one parent believes the several novels, which focus on themes of race, sexuality, trauma, and other topics, are not appropriate for public school students, and violate the state’s book regulations.

The State Board of Education’s recently amended 43-170 Regulation allows the material to go back under review.

Read more into the State Education Board’s 43-170 Regulation here (pg. 51).

Many said that one complaint shouldn’t lead to all students losing access to the proposed books. But according to the state regulation, the parent’s complaint, like any other individual, would be processed and reviewed at a district level.

“The State Board of Education passed draconian regulations that are allowing one parent in Beaufort to remove parental decisions from all other parents and remove intellectual freedom from all children in South Carolina.”

Several people in the audience claimed the back and forth was unnecessary and unfair to the local review panels as they’d already approved the books previously.

“It’s an insult to those of us who volunteered and gave many hours to teach me to the process.  Our hard work actually examining the materials is being dismissed for one woman who no longer has a child in the system,” said a Beaufort County resident.

The school board voted 9-2 in favor of restricting students from reading the books until parents sign consent. The books are not removed from shelves, but South Carolina still leads with most books banned.