Book ban controversy comes to Santa Rosa as Moms for Liberty seeks removal of 65 books

Santa Rosa County Schools have managed to avoid a book challenge push, but Moms for Liberty, a conservative nonprofit that advocates for parent rights, may be about to change that.

Former Florida legislative candidate Mariya Calkins started the Santa Rosa County chapter of Moms for Liberty in March and is already making waves with the Santa Rosa County School Board. Calkins lost to Joel Rudman, capturing only 38% of the vote despite having been endorsed by U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz.

Calkins has been advocating that the district work prayer into school board meetings, and her team of volunteers presented a list of 65 books to the board during May’s school board meeting they want removed from school shelves due to what they say is offensive content.

Prior to Calkins’ group coming forward, Santa Rosa County’s book reconsideration process was a non-issue. In Santa Rosa County, parents have full choice on whether their child has unlimited, limited or no access to school libraries, including classroom libraries.

Escambia bans 3 books: ‘I am embarrassed to be a student in Escambia County.’ District bans 3 more books.

PEN America sues Escambia County Schools PEN America, Penguin Random House sue Florida school district over book ban. What we know.

“To date, only one parent has decided to restrict library content their child has access to, and the district has received zero book reconsiderations as outlined in the district’s formal procedural process,” Santa Rosa County Schools Public Information Officer Tonya Shepherd wrote in an email statement on May 18.

As of Wednesday, an addition parent has requested limited library access for their child and three formal book challenges have been submitted.

What is Moms for Liberty trying to accomplish?

Moms For Liberty, a national organization with dozens of chapters in almost every state, has its own review process called a “book look” that prompts volunteers to read school library books and prepare reports on books that contain what they believe to be concerning material.

The group is most focused on revealing and removing sexually explicit material from schools, according to the Moms for Liberty website.

Those in Escambia County may get a sense of de ja vu when looking at the titles under the Moms’ review, which includes books such as “When Aidan Became a Brother” by Kyle Lukoff, “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” by Stephen Chbosky, “All Boys Aren't Blue” by George M. Johnson, “Milk and Honey” by Rupi Kaur and “The Absolute True Diary of A Part-Time Indian” by Sherman Alexie included. All are on Escambia County’s list of nearly 200 challenged books.

PEN America and publisher Penguin Random House — joined by parents and authors — filed suit in federal court last week alleging the book bans in Escambia County public schools are unconstitutional. Penguin is the largest book publisher in the nation.

Though Moms for Liberty claims to be focused on sexually explicit content, some topics on the moms’ title are geared toward social issues, with titles such as “Questions and Feelings About Racism” by Cale Dietrich, “Woke: A Young Poet’s Call to Social Justice” by Titania McGrath, “Race and Policing in Modern America" by Duchess Harris and R.L. Van and “Protesting Police Violence in Modern America” by Duchess Harris.

Pushback against Moms for Liberty

Since Moms for Liberty was founded in 2021, the organization has received significant pushback claiming the group pushes parents to comply with right-wing agendas. In a string of allegations published by Vice last month, there were several accounts of the harm caused by the group’s ideologies, such as regretful mother who received advice leading to her gay son’s attempted suicide.

Escambia County community advocate Vanessa Reynolds, a regular speaker at Escambia’s book challenge meetings, warned of the danger groups like Moms of Liberty could be bringing to the area.

“They are making it seem like everything is pornography,” Reynolds told the News Journal. “Then it goes into, ‘Well, having two dads — that’s going to indoctrinate the children and they’re going to start asking questions.' Then it’s, ‘Even the self-selected books — those could be forced upon the students.’ ... I don’t know if you’ve seen the videos and the clips of the parents that are coming in and opposing the book bans, but it’s heavily pushed by a Christian, nationalist type of movement.”

Reynolds is not the only one who fears the book bans are opening the door to exclusion.

In a 2022 study by PEN America, at least 50 groups were identified as advocating for K-12 book restrictions and bans, including Moms for Liberty. Of all the national groups observed, Moms for Liberty has spread the most broadly with over 200 local chapters. The groups are a recent phenomenon, with more than 70% of them having formed since 2021, according to the report.

Many of the groups are not only pushing for age-appropriate content but are explicitly calling for the removal of books that touch on race or LGBTQ themes.

The ideology tracks with Gov. Ron DeSantis, who made a social media statement Wednesday promising to crack-down on Pre-K through eighth grade education.

"Teachers of young children and tweens should be focused on reading comprehension − not gender fluidity and pronouns," DeSantis' statement read.

Calkins said that ultimately, the Santa Rosa County chapter is focused on protecting childhood innocence.

“Our goal is to protect our children from those horrible materials that can damage their childhood and their innocence. It’s very heartbreaking that the subject is even debatable. It should be just what’s bad is bad. Pornography in school libraries is bad, and we want to stop that,” Calkins said. “My ultimate goal to bring awareness and make sure that people and parents know about that. Since we started the chapter, a lot of people came forward and wanted to cooperate with us.”

She is hoping that bringing the books to the school board’s attention will be grounds for removal. However, it is not that simple. As of May 18, the group had not made any official book challenges using the district procedures, according to Shepherd. Nor does Calkins plan to.

“Quite honestly, it’s a little surprising that they were relaxed about those pornographic books because they’re giving us, Moms for Liberty volunteers, guidance on how to fill in those lengthy forms. But in our opinion, they have to be removing those books themselves in order to cooperate with the law,” Calkins said. “They have to be more proactive and less relaxed about this issue.”

The district has a firm process on how books are removed, starting at the individual school level.

“We are held to the standard of following policy and procedure, and it is a fair ask that they do the same by honoring the process in place,” Shepherd said of Moms for Liberty.

What happens when a book is challenged in Santa Rosa County?

The titles on the Moms’ list are self-selected reading, most of them middle school titles in the young adult section that already require parent permission to be accessed, according to Shepherd. They also are peer-reviewed.

However, any Santa Rosa County citizen is entitled to file a complaint with the school concerning a questionable book. Filling out the form doesn’t mean it will be immediately taken off the shelves until review procedures have been completed. That will change July 1 when HB 1069 goes into effect and all challenged books will need to be immediately removed.

But the first line of defense is not the Santa Rosa County School Board, it’s the school library media specialists.

”It’s the district’s hope that nearly all challenges can be addressed at the librarian or teacher level,” Shepherd said.

If the problem is not addressed, the challenger will speak with the school principal, then a school material review committee will decide.

If the process is completed and the challenger is still unsatisfied, they can file a formal complaint with the district.

However, parents always have complete control of their individual child’s library access level through the district’s website.

“If a parent has ever come to us and told us that they didn’t want their kid to have access to something, we have always honored that,” District Media Specialist Ruth Witter said in a statement. “With the legislation that was passed last year, we have a little bit more of a systemic approach to it.”

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Florida book bans hit Santa Rosa County in Moms for Liberty book look