Brevard book committee opts to restrict 'Sold'; book's fate now in hands of school board

After a six-month break while their review policy was revamped to include language from new legislation, Brevard Public Schools' book review committee reconvened on Dec. 1.

The five-member committee, made up of members appointed by school board members, restricted the novel "Sold" to high-schoolers only. Brevard Public Schools content specialist Missy Slack, who chairs the committee as a sixth and non-voting member, said the book, which tells the story of a young teenager sold into sex trafficking in Nepal, was already available only in high schools.

The vote was 4 to 1, with member Paul Roub — appointed by Jennifer Jenkins — voting to leave it as is without specific restrictions.

Ultimately, the book's status will not change in Brevard's classrooms and school libraries yet. Under the updated review policy, the committee's vote serves only as an advisory for the school board. It's ultimately up to the school board to decide the fate of a book, as they will review the advisory and vote on whether or not to approve it at a board meeting.

Sold: 'Awareness is important'

The meeting lasted about 40 minutes, with some of that time spent on planning future meetings.

During the meeting, each member talked about their experience reading the book, whether or not they felt it had educational value and if they believed it broke House Bill 1069.

The law, passed earlier this year, requires that materials containing pornography or sexual content be suspended from use within schools prior to the resolution of an objection to the material.

Except in the case of pornographic material, school districts may continue to use material as long as it is deemed age-appropriate, according to HB 1069.

All committee members agreed that the novel "Sold" was educational and was not pornographic.

Michael Howell, appointed by Katye Campbell, praised author Patricia McCormick for her research prior to writing the book and for telling the story in a way that didn't feel too graphic.

"This is not about sexual desire; this is not about being illicit," he said. "This is about the (depiction) of something that is very prevalent in society around the world, and unfortunately is present in our country today."

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Ashley Hall, appointed by school board chair Megan Wright, agreed with Howell, saying the book wasn't as graphic as others that have been objected to in BPS' libraries.

"It gives just enough detail to make you cringe inside for this girl who's being trafficked, and that was it," she said. "It was more focused on her surviving, how she overcomes her situation, how she makes friends during it and then ultimately her rescue."

Katie Delaney, appointed by school board vice chair Gene Trent after his former appointee, Michelle Beavers, quit, raised concerns about how the book would be restricted in combined junior/senior high schools. However, other committee members and Slack said they've successfully dealt with that issue before.

Slack said books for high-schoolers in junior/senior high schools are generally noted in a file, and there is a marking on the book. The collection of books is also divided according to grade, she said.

Howell added that he was OK with it staying on the shelves where middle-schoolers may have access to it and not being restricted behind a media specialist's counter, as long as only high-schoolers could check the book out.

While Delaney didn't necessarily believe the book broke statute, she wasn't sure she would want the book in libraries anyway.

"Not only are we looking at statute, but we're looking at what kind of content do we want in our schools," she said, adding that she would prefer to see similar content without depictions of the torture the main character suffered.

"I've talked with different human trafficking organizations and human trafficking survivors, and whenever I've spoken to them about this topic, they say to me, 'Well, we don't talk about the details of what we went through,'" she said. "They want to talk about the next part — how they survived."

Michelle Dale, Matt Susin's appointee who replaced Sheri-Lynn Diskin after she resigned, said she believed the book teaches awareness about human trafficking.

"Our kids do need to be aware of what happens in that field," she said, adding that she would want her two daughters to read the book. "It's an educational concept of what they may encounter, especially with computer use and things like that, and awareness is important."

While the book was already only in high schools, Roub felt the committee should not place specific restrictions on the book, saying the committee members weren't experts.

"There are people whose job it is to make (decisions about books) and who are much more qualified than any of us sitting here .... and they have, and they're called media specialists," he said. "My inclination is to trust their judgement."

Book's fate now in hands of school board

While the committee voted to restrict the book to high-schoolers only, the final decision will be made by the school board. It's not yet clear if they'll vote on the matter at their Dec. 12 meeting or at a later date.

The change to policy was made after the board raised concerns during the summer about committee members being harassed by members of the public based on how they voted. Board members also opted to change the policy to removed a public comment section from the committee meetings, again citing concerns about harassment.

The public was still able to attend, and the meeting was recorded, though it was posted as an unlisted video to BPS' YouTube and had to be obtained via request.

When will future meetings be held?

The following meetings were scheduled during the Dec. 1 meeting:

• Dec. 15, 1 p.m. — "The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

• Jan. 12, 1 p.m. — "Slaughterhouse-Five," by Kurt Vonnegut

• Jan. 26, 1 p.m. — "Court of Thorn and Roses," by Sarah J. Maas

Several other dates for future meetings were discussed, but the committee may choose to double up on titles, so the schedule for other titles has not been finalized.

As of this week, there are 30 titles awaiting formal review by the committee, according to BPS' media website.

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: Brevard book committee: Novel 'Sold' should be for high-schoolers only