Brevard Public Schools approves book review policy; not known when committee will resume

Brevard's school board elected Megan Wright as its chairperson at a Tuesday night meeting.

Despite two policies on the agenda related to instructional materials, which allow the book review committee to resume, Gene Trent, newly elected board vice chair, made a move to adopt a state-curated list of 298 books to ban.

The board discussed accepting the move, with the caveat that they would only ban books already challenged in Brevard. However, it ultimately failed. They later approved two book-related policies.

Early in the meeting, the board voted to elect Wright as chairperson to replace Matt Susin, and Gene Trent as vice chairperson to replace Wright. Susin was chosen as board chair about a year ago, at the first meeting held with newly elected board members Wright and Trent. Katye Campbell had also just been re-elected for a second term. It was at that meeting that the newly elected board forced the resignation of Mark Mullins, BPS' former superintendent.

This board meeting was the second-to-last school board meeting of the year, with the final meeting scheduled for Dec. 12 at 5:30 p.m.

Book review policies approved; unknown when committee will resume

9:13 p.m.

The board unanimously approved two policies related to books and other instructional materials. The approval of these policies allows the book review committee to resume meetings, though it was not immediately known when they would begin meeting.

The review committee will read challenged books, then present recommendations regarding whether or not to remove a book from school libraries to the school board.

Mom Kelly Kervin spoke to the board prior to the approval of these policies, asking the board to read the books as well.

"If you’re going to ban books that our students need and should have access to, then you should have to read them yourselves," she said.

Arming teachers hot topic after Susin said 'nobody has talked about it'

8:59 p.m.

Though Susin told the audience ahead of time that arming teachers would not be a topic during the meeting, public comment was split between discussions of book banning and guns, with 14 out of 27 people speaking against the use of guns during public comment. No one spoke in favor of it.

Samantha Kervin, a high school student, brought up concerns about a student potentially overpowering a teacher and taking their gun if they were to be armed.

“Who’s to say someone isn’t going to take a gun and go berserk because they can?” she said.

Some saw the banning of books and the use of guns as related issues, questioning how the board could worry about the content of a book but consider allowing teachers to carry guns.

“Why are you so scared of books and not guns?" said Amy Roub, wife of book review committee member Paul Roub. "Because you just don’t pay attention to the data.”

Roub, who played a recording from the prior board meeting of Wright discussing arming staff — including teachers — was cut off after using an expletive.

Prior to public comment, Susin said that the idea of arming teachers was "perpetuated by a news organization and an off-the-wall organization."

He added that he attempted to quell rumors about arming teachers and that BPS was not considering arming teachers.

"Nobody has talked about it," he said.

Wright discussed arming staff, including teachers, at the previous board meeting.

State-curated list of banned books considered in place of review committee

6:49 p.m. Editor's note: This entry was corrected to reflect updated information.

Trent proposed adopting a state-curated list of books to be removed rather than adopting a new book review committee process, saying the process of removing books needed to be sped up. The item was not on the agenda.

"We hear you, and we need to streamline some things," Trent said.

The list, which contains 298 books, would bar these titles from school libraries and classrooms except in the case of AP curriculum requiring them. They would also be added to a "do not buy" list.

“There’s never a wrong time to do the right thing,” Trent said. “These books have already been looked at … we need to move forward. We owe it to the public.”

Though Campbell opposed the adoption of the list, saying it was not fair to bring it up when it was not on the agenda, Board Attorney Paul Gibbs advised that the public has had sufficient time to comment on book removals.

Susin moved to amend Trent's motion to remove only books that had been challenged in Brevard.

Even with the amendment, Campbell stood against the adoption of the list, saying she wasn’t comfortable accepting a list she had not reviewed.

"I do appreciate the (amendment) ... because I don't want to do what Clay is doing, and I don't want to do what Martin is doing, I want to do what Brevard is doing," she said, adding that they would be voting on a policy related to the book review process Tuesday night regardless.

Jenkins also opposed the adoption of the list, reading several of the books off the list, which included "Anne Frank's Diary" and “The Little Rock Nine.”

"If you really cared about keeping our children safe, you would worry about many other things than books," Jenkins said.

Members of the audience interrupted the meeting multiple times with a mix of laughs and jeers at the board's remarks. At one point, members erupted into applause and shouts about wanting children to have access to books.

"I really wish you guys would stop, because you guys are just hindering government," Wright said to the audience after they applauded.

She then disputed the idea that the district was banning books and said they're going to have to take the new book review policy back to policy making, and may have to do so every 60 days.

Ultimately, the amended motion did not pass, and the list was not adopted.

The book review process, adopted in April, was paused in June after the board brought up concerns about book committee members being harassed.

Megan Wright selected as board chairperson, Trent vice chair

5:51 p.m.

Upon the start of the election portion of the meeting, Susin nominated Wright for chairperson immediately. No other members were nominated. All members were in favor of her nomination with the exception of Jennifer Jenkins.

A short recess was held prior to the selection of a vice chairperson, after which Jenkins nominated Campbell, but the nomination failed with Wright, Trent and Susin in opposition. Trent was then nominated and selected, with Jenkins in opposition.

Meeting begins with Titusville High ROTC demonstration

5:38 p.m.

The school board meeting began with the pledge of allegiance led by a member of Titusville High School's Reserve Officers' Training Corps. This was followed with demonstrations led by the cadets.

The board is set to elect a new board chair following demonstrations.

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 Schools OKs book policies; unclear when committee to resume