Book debate: St. Johns County school district keeps 8 books, some with restrictions

Sheldon Gardner, St. Augustine Record
·6 min read
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As part of an ongoing debate about library materials and parental control in St. Johns County schools, school board members voted 3-2 recently to keep eight books that had been challenged by a county parent, some with restrictions.

School board members, district officials and local parents are wrangling over how to handle school library content. The controversy mostly surrounds the sexually graphic nature of some language and topics in books, such as gender identity, race theory, rape and child abuse.

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Another debate: 7 books that passed School Board review in May

After a parent objected to content in eight books available in district libraries, a district advisory committee reviewed the books and made recommendations. Superintendent Tim Forson accepted the committee's recommendations. The parent appealed Forson's decision to the school board. The board has the authority to remove or restrict books, or keep them without restrictions.

Here are the books and the decisions, as well as where they're available now, according to district spokeswoman Christina H. Upchurch:

  • "Thirteen Reasons Why," by Jay Asher: Restricted to eighth grade and up. The book is only available in high schools. A note will be added in the school district's online catalog: "Topics include suicide, bullying, rumors, sexual assault, voyeurism, underage drinking, revenge, survivor guilt. If anything in this book disturbs you, the school counselor is available to discuss it with you."

  • "The Breakaways," by Cathy Johnson: Restricted to sixth grade and up, but the book is only available in middle schools and high schools.

  • "Lucky," by Alice Sebold: 11th and 12th grades, but the book is only available in high schools. Note in the online catalog: "Emotional content. If anything in this book disturbs you, the school counselor is available to discuss it with you."

  • "Sold," by Patricia McCormick: Restricted to eighth grade and above, but the book is only available in high schools.

  • "The Perks of Being a Wallflower," by Stephen Chbosky: Retained without restriction.

  • "This Book is Anti-Racist," by Tiffany Jewell: Retained without restriction, but the book is only available in middle and high schools.

  • "A Court of Frost and Starlight," by Sarah Maas: Parent permission required for check out. The book is only available in high schools.

  • "The Bluest Eye," by Toni Morrison: Retained without restriction, but the book is only available in high schools.

School board members Bev Slough and Kelly Barrera voted against the motion to keep the books with the recommended restrictions. The other school board members, Patrick Canan, Anthony Coleman and Bill Mignon, voted for the motion.

In this file photo from May, officers eject community members from a school board hearing on library materials. A hearing this week renewed debate and tension about the issue.
In this file photo from May, officers eject community members from a school board hearing on library materials. A hearing this week renewed debate and tension about the issue.

A process is in place for making complaints about school library materials:

  • A book is flagged for review if even one parent or community member objects to it.

  • The books are then put before a school advisory committee made up of administrators, faculty and parents who consider the title's merit, age appropriateness, language and content/potential harmfulness. That committee makes a recommendation of whether to keep or remove the book.

  • The complainant can appeal the SAC recommendation and if so, it is forwarded along to a district committee made up of administrators.

  • The district committee makes a recommendation, which can also be appealed. At that point, the book would be considered by the superintendent who makes his or her own decision.

  • The complainant can then appeal the superintendent's decision. If appealed, the book is sent on to the school board which makes the final decision.

The school district's media centers have more than 600,000 books, said Dawn Sapp, associate superintendent for curriculum and instruction.

The school district is reviewing all of its procedures for developing its library collections, and the district has paused adding new titles as part of that process, Sapp said. The Florida Department of Education will provide training on selecting and maintaining library media collections to all media specialists by July 2023, she said.

Superintendent Tim Forson and school board members voiced support for parental choice and agreed that more needed to be done to alert parents to books with content they might not want their children to see.

"I'm going to just flatly say I disagree with the content that we heard today … But the thing that discourages and disturbs me the most is the fact that it's very difficult, really, for a parent to easily find out if there are restrictions on books right now," Slough said, adding that she supports having a list of restricted books on every school's website.

School board member Kelly Barrera said she believes parents should have to opt in in order for children to check out and read books with sexually explicit material.

As part of the meeting, school board attorney Frank Upchurch said he disagreed with the characterization of the debate as being about banning books and censorship. The school board is responsible for the content of school libraries and has "considerable legal discretion" in deciding what materials should be added and in providing guidelines about those materials, he said. Constitutionally, materials can be prohibited for factors such as vulgarity and offensiveness, but not for "ideological or partisan political reasons," he said.

Some board members voiced concern about opening the door to restricting or prohibiting books.

School board member Patrick Canan said he thinks the concerns about the materials are justified and should be looked into.

But, he added, "I think this is a really dangerous slope for a school board to be on."

He pointed out that the board spent more than four hours considering the matter.

"And the danger to me is that if any parent doesn't like a book or a paragraph or a sentence or a word and wants to challenge it, we'll be in here doing this every month for hours … To me that doesn't make a whole lot of sense," he said.

He added that he believes in parental rights and supports creating a better warning system for parents about materials that could be offensive.

But, he said, "I think once you take one book out, you're opening Pandora's box. I don't think you can discard literary value. Some of these books and some of these topics are very helpful to children who aren't like other children," he said.

Board member Bill Mignon said that concerns among teachers about what is, or will be, restricted information in classrooms has hurt morale. He said he supports trusting school district staff to handle what books to collect and restrict. He also voiced concerns about the quality of children's education being harmed as materials and the free exchange of ideas are restricted.

"I'm concerned about what is happening to education today. … I strongly believe that we have got to take a hard look at the challenges we are facing because I think most of them are political, and some of the laws that are being passed today are political," he said. "That's all they are."

This article originally appeared on St. Augustine Record: St. Johns County School Board keeps 8 books, restricts some