Collier County schools plan on banning or restricting nearly 400 books from libraries
Collier County Public Schools officials plan to restrict almost 400 books that their media specialists believe violate Florida HB 1069. The books range from classics to popular movie and TV adaptations.
More than 300 titles are being banned from school libraries and nearly 100 titles will either be restricted to certain grade levels or will need parent permission to read.
Naples Daily News acquired the list of titles CCPS is restricting, and we've broken down everything you need to know.
Breaking down HB 1069
The Florida Legislature recently passed House Bill 1069, which allows schools to limit materials that mention sex, gender, pronouns and reproductive health in the classroom.
It also requires "the suspension of materials alleged to contain pornography or obscene depictions of sexual conduct, as identified in current law, pending resolution of an objection to the material."
The law went into effect in July, and since then, Florida schools have been banning books that could violate the new law.
The Collier school district placed advisories on 115 books earlier this year but had not removed any from school libraries.
Now, 313 books are being removed. It's important to note that the majority of books in this list are being banned from high school libraries for students aged 14 to 18.
"Almost all of the recently removed books were taken from the high school media centers," the mother of a CCPS high schooler, Amy Perwien, said. "By removing these books, my high schooler is being denied access to books that interest him. Not all students have the means to obtain books, so the school library may be their only access point."
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Banned books in Collier County: Classics and new favorites
Of the 313 newly banned books, several are classics, including:
"The Handmaid's Tale," by Margaret Atwood
"Brave New World," by Aldous Huxley
"The Color Purple," by Alice Walker
"Slaughterhouse-Five," by Kurt Vonnegut
"Catch-22," by Joseph Heller
16 books by Stephen King
3 books by Ernest Hemingway
Many of the titles are popular ones turned into movies and TV shows. Here's a few CCPS-banned movie and TV adaptations:
"Dune Chronicles," by Frank Herbert
"A Game of Thrones," by George R.R. Martin
"The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo," by Stieg Larsson
"Forrest Gump," by Winston Groom
"The Perks of Being a Wallflower," by Stephen Chbosky
"One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest," by Ken Kesey
"2001: A Space Odyssey," by Arthur C. Clarke
"Ender's Game," by Scott Orson Card
Check out the full list of banned and restricted books, sourced from a public record request to CCPS, can be found here. CCPS is reviewing the list further to ensure the selected books meet the criteria to be banned or restricted.
Restricted titles: Parent permission and age requirements
Collier schools are allowing some flagged titles to stay in schools, but a student must have parent permission or be at a certain grade level to read them. Quite a few of the limited titles are LGBTQ stories.
Here are the titles that require parent permission:
"Drama," by Raina Telgemeier
"13 Reasons Why," by Jay Asher
"Being Jazz: My Life as a (Transgender) Teen," by Jazz Jennings
And here's some of the books that are limited to high school readers:
"The Hate U Give," by Angie Thomas
"Another Day," by David Levithan
"Clap When You Land," by Elizabeth Acevedo
"They Both Die at the End," by Adam Silvera
This is part of the list of books that are only for high schoolers with a parent's permission:
"This One Summer," Mariko Tamaki
"Tricks," by Ellen Hopkins
"The Kite Runner," by Khaled Hosseini
"Two Boys Kissing," by David Levithan
Choosing books to ban and restrict
We asked CCPS how they decided on which books to ban and restrict.
"Determination was made based on parameters of HB 1069, as well as other district review processes such as out-of-date titles," CCPS Communications Specialist Jennifer Kupiec said in an email.
Kupiec noted that CCPS is reviewing the list of books again and will determine if any of the titles will go back on school shelves or if they will remain banned.
We followed up with CCPS about the book-selection process but didn't hear back by time of publication. We'll update you when we get word from the school district.
Community weighs in
Annie O'Donnell, mother of two Seagate Elementary students, has two main concerns: lack of transparency and restriction of education.
"I don't think that we should have a system that requires families or community members to do public record requests to see which books are being restricted from our students," O'Donnell said. "I think we should be given updated accurate information from the district. And that is currently not happening."
Ashleigh Whitchurch, mother of a CCPS elementary student, feels the same. She says she hasn't heard a word from CCPS about banning books.
"My biggest concern is that we all know that children need to see themselves represented in literature," Whitchurch said. She also emphasized that children who are part of the majority need to see different types of people represented in literature, just like they'll see in the world.
Whitchurch said books that contain content about drugs, alcohol, and reproductive health can provide a way for students to start conversations with parents about the heavy topics. If they're taken away, that outlet is gone.
Both Whitchurch and O'Donnell believe banning and restricting books will impact the level of education students can receive.
"I'm deeply concerned that many of these [banned] titles are standard on honors and AP high school reading lists," O'Donnell said. "And I don't think we're doing our children any favors by not allowing them to read sophisticated, complex, and in some cases, classical works of literature."
O'Donnell also believes CCPS is banning and restricting books that don't necessarily fit the criteria HB 1069 has outlined.
"We're sort of at the point where we're not going to allow LGBTQ characters to exist in books," O'Donnell said. "And I just I do not think that is what the legislation requires."
Perwien echoed O'Donnell's sentiment.
"Sadly, many of the books pulled include stories about black, brown, and LGBTQ lives," Perwien said. "Libraries are critical for allowing teenagers to see themselves and others in books. It’s an opportunity for them to read about difficult situations that some teens experience. It’s an opportunity for them to read about diverse lives and experiences. That is education."
Whitchurch suggested CCPS adopts a system for parents where they can either allow their children access to the library with no restrictions on the books or keep their children out completely.
"If a parent is really concerned about what their kids are reading, let them opt out and let the rest of us have access," Whitchurch said.
Director of Research & Insight at the Florida Freedom to Read Project Stephana Ferrell said banning books can be detrimental to students.
"Students want to read about characters that act like them, think like them, and face the same issues they face in real life," Ferrell said. "An adult's discomfort with addressing these topics should not be put above a student's right to read and learn about their world."
This article originally appeared on Naples Daily News: Collier County banned books: Schools to pull over 300 titles
