HARRISONBURG, Va. (ROCKTOWN NOW) – Two more books will be removed from the shelves of Rockingham County Public School’s libraries. 

At their meeting Monday night, the Rockingham County School Board voted 4-1 to remove ‘Allegedly,’ by Tiffany Jackson, countering the recommendation from Superintendent Dr. Larry Shifflett’s content review committee to retain the book. Board member Jackie Lohr cast the lone dissenting vote.

Shortly after, the Board voted unanimously to follow the committee’s recommendation to remove ‘Looking For Alaska,’ by John Green, as they found the book contains sexually explicit content as defined by school division’s recently adopted supplementary materials policy.

Board member Hollie Cave recommended removal of ‘Allegedly,’ referencing several pages of the book that she said contained sexually explicit material. This is the latest of several books to be removed despite the committee’s recommendations during the board’s meetings since the start of the 2024-2025 school year.

During the meeting’s public comment period, local resident Michael Stempel spoke about his concern over the board’s recent pattern of rejecting the committee’s recommendations to retain certain books.

“There have been multiple occasions, as noted tonight, where the school board has rejected the recommendations of its committee they created,” Stemple said. “These individuals are unpaid volunteers who take time away from their lives and their families to follow the school boards mandate and initiative to identify books with sexually explicit content. My question for the school board is: why would you create a committee for this purpose and ignore their recommendations?”

In response, Chair Matt Cross referred back to comments from Shifflett during a recent school board meeting, during which he stated that the content review committee’s verdicts on the books they screen are recommendations that do not dictate the School Board’s actions.