'It's a book about teenage sex': Brevard Schools defies committee recommendation, bans book

For the first time since the district book review committee was formed, Brevard's school board defied the committee's recommendation to keep a challenged book in circulation, opting instead to ban it at Tuesday's meeting.

The decision came down to the book "The Nowhere Girls" by Amy Reed, focusing heavily on themes of sexuality and rape, with board members saying it broke state statute and contained other themes like underage drinking that they personally disliked.

"We can go against what the committee recommends," said Board Vice Chair Gene Trent. "That’s not only our option, but that’s our duty."

Immediately following the meeting, they discussed the fate of a list of books pulled after a group of parents and people -- some of whom do not reside in Brevard -- read passages with sexual content or explicit language at a December meeting. None of those books have returned to the shelves, though not all are permanently banned.

'The Nowhere Girls': Board rejects committee

The decision to ban "The Nowhere Girls" was made after a 15-minute discussion, during which the board debated whether or not to accept the book review committee's recommendation.

Jennifer Jenkins, the sole vote in opposition of banning the book, questioned the purpose of having a committee at all if the board was going to ignore their recommendations.

"If the board is going to read these books and make their own determination and disregard the recommendation of the committee, why do we have the committee in the first place?' she said.

When a committee was initially formed in 2022, they made decisions without the board. But that changed in late 2023, with the board changing their policy so that the committee would make a recommendation that the board would then vote on. It was a move made to protect the committee members from harassment, board members said at the time.

Trent rejected the idea that they were wasting the committee's time, saying, "They're not making policy. We respect their work on that committee ... if there's something that comes out and we disagree with it, then that's why we're here. We're the ones that are going to be responsible for, ultimately, the decision out of the committee."

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Trent, as well as Board Chair Megan Wright and Katye Campbell -- who made the motion to ban the book -- all took issue with the sexual content within it. Campbell specified that while other books that had gone through review also had sexual content, the ones they approved to stay in schools were focused on bigger stories. "The Nowhere Girls," she felt, did not have a story outside of sex.

"As a whole, it's a book about teenage sex, teenagers having sex," she said. "The main message is against rape culture and against those things, (but if you took that away) what we're left with on the other side is not a positive message."

Unlike at previous meetings where books are set to be voted on, only nine speakers signed up for public comment ahead of the board's vote, likely due to the meeting being held in the morning.

Despite the book review committee's recommendation to keep the book available for high schoolers, several people spoke in favor of the book being removed from all Brevard Public Schools libraries and classrooms.

Maribel Campos, who has repeatedly spoken out against "pornography" within the district, attempted to read a passage from "The Nowhere Girls" and was stopped on the grounds of using profane language.

"A book is indeed dangerous," she said. "The words in the book can lead to mental health issues and to suicide. What the book review committee is lacking is common sense."

Karen Fulton, a Moms for Liberty member, did not speak directly about "The Nowhere Girls," but reminded the board that they are to be "a steward" over the school district and what is and isn't allowed within it.

"We are not in favor of banning books," she said. "When people use the word book ban, it evokes an emotion -- it brings up an ugly history of a time when books were banned."

She went on to say she wished that "more offensive" books were limited to students ahead of "borderline (offensive)" books.

A handful of people spoke against banning the book, and book banning in general. Rebecca McAleenan said having diverse books available helps readers learn what they may not be taught in Florida classrooms.

"We're not teaching social studies, we're not teaching culture, we're not teaching diversity, we're not teaching social emotional learning," she said. "These books can provide that -- they're not required reading; they are not being forced on students."

Profane language, ban sexual content

The discussion on books continued into a work session following Tuesday's meeting, with the fate of books challenged last year being decided.

At the final meeting of 2023, 13 passages were read during public comment. It's a way to circumvent a district's book review policy through House Bill 1069, which says that if a speaker is stopped by a school board member on the grounds of reading sexual content, the book from which they're reading must be pulled from all district shelves within five days.

All books were removed from circulation, but not all speakers had been stopped because of sexual content, and some books were already in the formal challenge process. This created a dilemma for the district regarding whether or not the books were automatically banned, or if they needed to go through the review process.

Tara Harris, assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction, sought guidance from the board related to these books at the work session. Of the 13 books speakers read from, three had not already been objected to. Of the three, two of the speakers were stopped from reading because of sexual content, while the other was stopped because of profane language.

Of the 10 other books, five -- including "The Nowhere Girls" -- contained passages with profane language, while five contained passages with sexual content.

The board gave Harris guidance to have the books with profane language go through the book committee, while voting that the books with sexual content should be pulled. They will be off district shelves for at least five years.

Finch Walker is the education reporter at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Walker at 321-290-4744 or fwalker@floridatoday.com. X: @_finchwalker.

This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Flouting committee review, Brevard Schools bans 'The Nowhere Girls'