A North Carolina pastor who was escorted out of a school board meeting after reading graphic passages from a library book says the book has since been pulled from the shelves โ and the police department that removed him is stepping back from security at future meetings.
Pastor John K. Amanchukwu Sr. shared both developments on X in the days after his October 12, 2026 confrontation with the Iredell-Statesville Schools Board of Education, according to The Gateway Pundit, which first reported the removal.
The confrontation at the podium
The dispute began when Amanchukwu rose to speak at the board meeting and announced he would read aloud from Push, the 1996 novel by Sapphire (the pen name of Ramona Lofton) that later inspired the film Precious. The book, which follows a young woman through incest, rape and severe abuse, was available at Lake Norman High School.
Before he got a word out, Board Chair Dr. Doug Knight warned that reading what he called “nasty words” would not be permitted. Amanchukwu pressed on, arguing that shutting him down violated his First Amendment rights โ a position at least one other board member backed.
He began reading anyway. Knight declared him out of order, and officers approached the podium and removed him from the meeting.
In a post the following day, Amanchukwu framed the episode as a double standard. “I was censored by the board chair for reading from Push by Ramona Lofton,” he wrote. “Then POLICE were brought in to intimidate me and force me away from the podium.” He added: “Let me get this straight: THE BOOK STAYS. THE PREACHER GETS SILENCED.”
An update, and a letter from the chief
By October 17, the pastor was back on X with a different message. “The book that I read from, entitled PUSH, has been removed!!!” he wrote, alongside word that the Troutman Police Department would stop assigning officers to work off-duty security at board meetings.
The department’s decision came in a letter from Chief of Police Josh Watson to Superintendent James and Principal Rogers, dated to take effect October 26, 2026. Chief Watson wrote that “recent incidents have raised concerns about the legal basis for requested removals, the protection of Constitutional rights, and the expectations placed on officers assigned to these meetings.”
Watson drew a line between a presiding officer’s request and an officer’s own legal judgment: “A request from the presiding officer does not, by itself, establish sufficient legal grounds for removal, detention, or arrest.” He said that because of those concerns, continuing the off-duty assignment “is not appropriate for our department,” and that the board and school administration would need to find alternative security arrangements.
The chief stressed that his officers will still answer calls for law enforcement help at board meetings inside Troutman’s jurisdiction, evaluating each situation case by case. The change, he noted, does not affect approved off-duty assignments at school sporting events and other school activities.
Two fights, one meeting
The episode sits at the intersection of two long-running battles in American school districts: the fight over which books belong in school libraries, and the question of how far boards can go in policing public comment.
Book challenges have roiled districts nationwide in recent years, with critics arguing that explicit sexual content has no place in schools and defenders countering that removal campaigns amount to censorship. Amanchukwu’s complaint inverted the usual framing โ he argued that a book he considered inappropriate was protected while his own speech at a public meeting was not.
Board policy on decorum is the other front. Governing bodies typically have wide latitude to set rules for speakers, but the First Amendment generally bars them from silencing a speaker based on the content of what is said. That tension is precisely what Chief Watson cited in pulling his officers from the meetings: an officer asked to remove someone, he suggested, cannot treat the chair’s request as proof that the removal is lawful.
Neither the school district nor Board Chair Knight has issued a public response to Amanchukwu’s account of the book’s removal, and the district has not confirmed how or when Push was taken off Lake Norman High School’s shelves. Questions sent to the district about the removal and about the police department’s decision were not addressed in the material reviewed.
What remains unclear is how the board will handle security at its next meeting without Troutman’s off-duty officers, and whether other agencies will fill the gap. Also unresolved is the status of any review of the October 12 removal itself, and whether Amanchukwu or the board intend to pursue the constitutional question further.
For now, the pastor is claiming victory on both fronts. The book he came to read from is, by his account, no longer on the shelf, and the officers who walked him out will no longer be stationed in the room.
Source: www.thegatewaypundit.com โ https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2026/10/update-pastor-removed-school-board-meeting-reading-graphic/