Jacksonville has a new policy for handling book challenges in school libraries, which could enable it to catch up with other Florida cities that are better protecting their children.
About 400 books were removed from school libraries last year, and half of those were in neighboring Clay County – thanks mostly to the dedication of local activist Bruce Friedman. Last year, more than 700 books were scrubbed statewide.
One book has been removed from the government schools in Jacksonville.
The media, which acts as spokesmen for the Far Left, is enraged, calling the removals “book bans.”
Newspapers are firmly on the side of the American Library Association and PEN America. These two organizations are all in on providing small children with pornography and anti-American propaganda.
Liberal parents are, of course, free to supply their children with all the pornography they feel is necessary, so there is no censorship. Responsible adults simply are choosing not to make taxpayers supply the pornography.
Members of the Duval County School Board passed the new policy last night, replacing an older, unwieldly policy. The vote was 5-2, reflecting the conservative-liberal split on the board.
Board Member Tony Ricardo told Eye on Jacksonville the new policy would allow the public to challenge objectionable and age-inappropriate materials (based on Florida statutes) being placed in front of minors.
“These materials will be reviewed by a committee of in-district parents/ guardians appointed by their district board member. Their review will be a recommendation to the board for action; challenged books and media will be immediately (five days from challenge) removed from circulation and remain there until the board votes on its final disposition,” Ricardo said.
To date, the previous policy has resulted in one book (“Identical”, by Ellen Hopkins) being removed permanently from circulation.
There is ongoing litigation over the issue, but one judge got it right. U.S. District Judge Allen Winsor said in a Sept. 30 ruling that school libraries don’t qualify as public forums. That means book review has not infringed on First Amendment rights in schools.
Having the new policy means organizations concerned with parental rights, such as Moms for Liberty, now can begin book challenges using lists of books already removed elsewhere as guides.
The school administration makes that difficult by not having a central database of all books in the system, incredibly. Why the lists from individual schools cannot be combined has yet to be explained.
Also, the system does play games. Ricardo recounted how one school recently acquired 3,000 new books and when Ricardo asked for a list of them he got a hodgepodge of incomplete information.
The main reason a central database is needed is to enable watchers to compare it with lists of books already found in violation of state law so reviewers will know where to focus.
The board also should order a monthly report from the superintendent on titles that have been reviewed and action taken. This is to keep school system employees from deliberately avoiding reviews of suspicious books and reading the Nancy Drew books instead.
Under a 2023 state law all materials must be vetted, and some of the stuff young children have had access to is disturbing to normal people.
The Deep State is deep, and the current community-oriented School Board needs to keep it in line. Last night was a step forward.
Florida children need education, not indoctrination.
