"Unintended Consequences": SC Board of Education Discusses Bans on Phones and Books

Yesterday, the South Carolina State Board of Education met for the first time since most of the state’s students returned to classrooms. While the meeting focused heavily on adopting a new policy for districts in connection with a state budget proviso banning cell phones throughout the school day, public comment often found its way back to the topic of book bans.

“The law of unintended consequences”

Board Chair David O'Shields— who is also the current Superintendent of Laurens 56 Schools, and therefore someone who is probably sees the consequences of new state policies in real time— set the tone for many of the comments during his opening remarks. O’Shields said he was “frightened” by the prospect of creating a model policy that would apply to all school districts. He was concerned, he said, about “the law of unintended consequences.”

He also expressed a desire to make a policy that was “more carrot than stick”— one that helped school districts with the overwhelming task of adopting a …