Escambia book bans: School books flagged for sexual material must be pulled within 5 days
The Escambia County School Board unanimously approved an “emergency” rule adoption Tuesday night tightening up the district’s book removal procedures.
The school district has spent the past year navigating contentious book challenges. The controversy has led to several lengthy and heated public forum debates on the merits and dangers of various books, a lawsuit from the country’s largest book publisher, and contributed to the termination of the district’s first appointed superintendent.
The Escambia County School Board has been hearing complaints from parents, teachers and community members on how the polarizing book challenge process has been. Whether it be the accusation that removing a challenged book is censorship, or keeping one is indoctrination — school board members have been making case-by-case decisions they feel align best with the district’s overall community standards.
However, with the state’s latest education bill, HB 1069, taking effect July 1, many decisions are being taken out of the school district’s hands.
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Now, any book that is challenged for including pornography or describing sexual conduct must be removed from school shelves within five days. Students who could before “opt in” to read challenged books will no longer have that option, and the books will be unavailable until a final determination on their appropriateness is made.
With the district’s challenged book list surpassing 200, the books may have an extended stay in the restricted access section.
Under the new bill, the superintendent also no longer has the right to make a predetermination that a book is or is not pornographic before it goes through a formal review. It must be removed from circulation for investigation.
However, if the superintendent does acquire enough evidence to determine a book does contain sexual content, they have the power to bypass the District Materials Review Committee and the school board and remove the book.
The new bill also allows parents to protest a school board’s final determination on a book's fitness for students to the Florida Board of Education. The commissioner of education can appoint a special magistrate to recommend a decision on the book that the State Board of Education can either approve or reject. But the costs of the special magistrate fall on the school district.
A variety of community members weighed in on the new set of rules Tuesday night.
Julie Patton cautioned of the dangers of leaving children ignorant and full of questions by sheltering them from sexuality.
Others, such as Melanie Eubanks, warned of a different kind of danger. She cautioned that significant damage has been done by sexually explicit books on school shelves and time is of the essence in removing them. She said that it is the district’s duty to protect children from sexualization.
“Their innocence was taken,” she said of those who had read the challenged books.
Under the new rule, school districts are to establish community standards to help the board make decisions on challenged book addressing topics on race, sexuality, gender identity, profanity, drugs, alcohol and violence.
Patton advised that for Interim Superintendent Keith Leonard to succeed in his new role as superintendent, he will need to find a way to put the book issue to rest and make time for bigger issues.
“There are going to be a lot of things that can’t be done,” Patton said.
This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Escambia school district book ban challenge process set by HB 1069
