Book purge begins in Escambia classrooms as some titles are pulled from shelves for review

When N.B. Cook first-grade teacher Mary Skinner showed up to work for an in-service day on President’s Day, she was shocked to learn that her fully stocked bookshelf, taller than she was, would soon be halfway cleared out by lunchtime.

“Arthur’s Hiccups,” “Curious George Flies a Kite” and “Big Red Barn" − titles she has taught for the past 30 years − were among those shoved in a box in the back of her car at the request of the school’s media specialist.

“I am livid that someone can come into my room and tell me what I am able to read,” Skinner said.

State law HB 1467 passed last year demands all library books, even those in personal classroom collections, be catalogued and approved by a media specialist before going back into circulation. Starting Jan. 1, all Florida school librarians and media specialists were expected to have their training completed and to start the process.

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District PIO Cody Strother stated that since Skinner’s older books were unable to be scanned into the online system to determine they were on an approved list, the school media specialist was forced to ask Skinner to temporarily remove the books from her classroom until they could be manually entered into the system by title and author. Skinner estimated at least 200 books were unable to be scanned, making the manual entry a lengthy process.

Prior to HB 1467, personal classroom libraries did not need special approval, as long as the books followed the same set of guidelines used when selecting age-appropriate school library material.

Skinner said she fears that seemingly simple asks, like the classroom library reevaluation, is only the start of a bigger battle against teacher freedom.

“I can’t really grasp the lack of freedom we have been threatened with,” Skinner said. “I never thought in my lifetime something like this (freedom) would go in reverse.”

What happens now?

Classroom shelf searches like Skinners’ will be far from uncommon over the next few weeks, as media specialists across Escambia County take inventory of every book in each teacher’s classroom through March 10.

Media specialists can either use their tablet or phone cameras to scan the books or use a wireless mouse barcode scanner.

Once all the books are accounted for, each school’s media services department will spend a week in March comparing what was found in the classroom libraries to the Destiny collection, which is the district’s online book database.

Any books not found in the district’s Destiny catalog will be removed from classrooms until they can be approved by the media specialist.

The book purging process must be completed by June 30, 2024.

District library volunteers like Kathleen Varner, a retired English teacher and media specialist, fears that media specialists will be overworked and understaffed keeping up with the state’s enormous demands in the meantime.

Lots of titles, little time

Varner said her school’s media specialist, unable to find a volunteer committee willing to help with the scanning, had to take the job on alone with 45 classrooms to complete.

This is no quick process, as the last classroom she finished consisted of nearly 600 titles, which took her three days to scan while still keeping an eye on the open media center, Varner recounted.

Not only is the work labor intensive and time consuming, but she fears the required act will stir up animosity amongst staff.

“The judgment calls they will be asked to make moving forward seem administrative, but will pit them against their colleagues,” Varner wrote in a statement.

Varner has challenged the school board to search for a more equitable solution that does not put the responsibility entirely on the media specialist’s shoulders, jeopardizing retention.

“One that respects the professionals doing their jobs, one that does not jeopardize their physical and mental health and one that will not have you searching for 50+ media specialists for the next school year,” Varner said.

In the meantime, ECPS Coordinator of Media Services Michelle White released a statement that said the district's goal is to ultimately keep as many titles available to students as possible.

“We understand that classroom libraries have been carefully curated by teachers to support and create a love of reading and it is our goal that these collections remain available for our students while also being searchable by parents,” the statement said.

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Escambia schools pulling books from classrooms to review after florida law