'They want to erase history': Challenges abound as Polk schools interpret book rules
Kristina Thorwegen pulled 60 books considered high school level from her classroom shelves after an email sent to staff at Lake Alfred Polytech Academy said they could not be kept.
Among the books were titles such as “Harry Potter” and “Twilight.”
Polk County Public Schools is among other districts across the state challenged with interpreting the new laws related to what books can be offered to students dubbed “curriculum transparency.” Signed last year by Gov. Ron DeSantis, the law, HB 1467, requires districts to catalog every book on their shelves and put a formal review process in place for complaints.
“There was a lot of confusion in the beginning about what we were and weren’t supposed to do,” Thorwegen said. “What I’m finding frustrating is having books challenged that people have not read, and that don’t know what is going on in them and being told we cannot have certain things on our bookshelves.”
In Polk County, book challenges in schools started in December 2021 when County Citizens Defending Freedom asked the Polk County district to remove 16 books it deemed were harmful to children. The group claimed the books contained passages that it considered pornographic or had LGBTQ themes.
Recently:Polk School Board agrees to buy books for new libraries as conservative groups protest
Opt-outPolk group petitions school board to change policy on books it considers harmful
Seeking arrestsLeader of group targeting Polk school library books asks police agencies to take action
“Removing these books is about what is age appropriate for children,” said Pam Luce, CCDF’s education coordinator. “This subject is the right of the parent to address and not the schools.”
More recently, conservative groups including the CCDF objected earlier this year to a slate of books being adopted for a new middle school and a new elementary school. Among the books targeted in that complaint were titles such as "Choose Justice" by Maribel Valdez Gonzalez, "Equality, Social Justice and Our Future" by Sabrina Adams, "The Racial Justice Movement" by Kara Laughlin, "Rise Up: How You can Join the Fight Against White Supremacy" by Crystal Fleming and "Athletes for Social Justice: Colin Kaepernick, Lebron James and More" by Dolores Andral.
Training by the Florida Department of Education was released in January to guide media specialists on the new process for vetting books in school libraries. Polk County Schools was proactive and released its own policy prior to January, but even that was modified during the winter semester.
Which books are allowed? Varied interpretations of Florida law lead to confusion at schools
Polk now has an opt-out policy for parents who wish to limit students' access to books. The policy allows parents to opt out of any titles in school libraries. Conservative community groups such as the CCDF wanted the board to require parents to opt-in to give their children access to any of the 16 books that were challenged last year.
“It's getting incredibly ridiculous, and it’s disheartening because a lot of times what's happening is the districts are trying their best to follow the not-so-clear guidance from the state about what they have to remove and they're wanting to protect their employees because now having books on shelves that offend super, super, super conservative parents can lead to third-degree felonies for their employees,” said Anita Carson, a Polk County-based field manager for Equality Florida.
Equality Florida is a political advocacy group that advocates for civil rights and protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender residents.
Carson said she wished the districts were taking a stronger stance but understood why they are not, especially at a time when there is a teacher shortage. But it's not just teachers who are impacted, she said. Students are losing out in many ways over stricter policies on books in schools.
“We had made some good inroads as far as acceptance and having more support for students in a lot of places,” Carson said. “Those are being clawed back or they're being taken away entirely by the state, and some by counties that are worried about what the state will do if they do have those supports.”
Polk County School Board member Kay Fields takes umbrage to efforts to remove books about Black history and sports heroes for students of color.
“I don’t believe books should be banned. We have a procedure in place we have found successful,” Fields said. “People from the community, including people from CCDF, can review books that are in question.”
So far, books that have been challenged have remained on the shelves as long as they are age appropriate.
“I think the thing about banning books is if you ban one book then you are going to ban a whole bunch of other books," Fields said. "I mean where do you stop?”
“I think it is a movement of people who want to ignore what has happened,” she added. “They want to erase history. You can’t erase history. These things occurred and you know they occurred. You need to make sure it is shared. It is knowledge especially for our young people, so they don’t relive the history and repeat it.”
As of Friday, the school district has not received any formal challenges to books being purchased for the 2023-24 school year, district spokesman Kyle Kennedy said.
The Polk County School District has had a policy since 1966 for the community to challenge a book in a school library. Still, the district is involved in a statewide balancing act between erring on the side of caution or potentially facing penalties for noncompliance.
“Most of the requirements that are coming from the state are things that we are doing already,” said Heather Deputy, media specialist at Haines City High School. “We're not filling our shelves with pornography, and we never have.”
For Deputy, book ordering has become fear provoking.
“It’s the fear that I will order something and have it be inappropriate when I don’t know," she said. "We can read the reviews and we can do our due diligence, which is not the same as reading the book. It’s just not possible to read all the books.”
Stephanie Yocum, president of Polk Education Association, said more teachers and librarians have joined the union recently since DeSantis signed the new measures into law.
“People are afraid to even do commonsense things like put books in their classroom because they don't want to go to jail or they don't want to lose their certification,” she said. “It's created this fear they would rather be overly cautious than actually provide books."
"You don't want to be retaliated against," Yocum added. "That is what this governor is doing. We need our legislators to grow a backbone and stand up to this authoritarian dictator that is our governor right now.”
Paul Nutcher can be reached at pnutcher@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Challenges abound as Polk schools try to interpret state's book rules
