Parents will learn Tuesday whether the School Board is serious about cleaning up school libraries.
The education commissioner has warned them that he is not fooling around. Boards will do the cleanup, or else.
Sadly, Board Member April Carney has put herself on the wrong side of the issue. She said she did not want Duval County to be like Clay County.
Being more like Clay County on this issue is exactly what Duval needs. Clay leads every other county in Florida in cleansing its libraries of literary garbage.
Carney apparently has fallen for the blarney of the American Library Association, a liberal organization that doesn’t care about kids.
Other board members, however, are expected to be more responsive. Member Reginald Blount has indicated he would like to see more progress in the effort to comply with Florida law.
In a letter to school superintendents, Education Commissioner Henry Mack reminded them their responsibilities include “ensuring that materials made available to students in classrooms and school libraries are consistent with Florida law and appropriate to the age and development of the students who can access them.”
Hundreds of books no responsible parent would want his child to see have been found in Florida school libraries and removed. In addition to Clay, government schools in Escambia and Nassau counties have been doing their duty. Fewer than 100 have been removed or restricted in Duval.
One local grassroots effort, called the Library Restoration Project, has submitted 46 book challenges. Four of those books are being considered for removal.
The board has established a process for reviewing books, but it does not appear to be working effectively.
Essentially, Mack told superintendents that they should not rely on parents to complain about a book. They should scour their own libraries, find unsuitable books and get rid of them.
It should be noted that this is not a permanent prohibition. Students will be able to read restricted books after graduation. In fact, parents who prefer having their children read pornography can buy the books and provide them to their children before graduation.
It appears the process is bogged down in the bureaucracy.
An old joke goes like this:
The three rules of a bureaucracy are:
- Protect the bureaucracy.
- Expand the bureaucracy.
- Provide services when administratively convenient.
Such jokes are funny because they contain an element of truth.
The School Board must compel the superintendent to follow the law and move the bureaucracy. Protecting children is more important than the first rule of a bureaucracy.
