VIERA, Fla. — A committee voted for the removal of three books of poetry from all public schools in Brevard County on Friday.

The meeting was the first for the reformed version of the Brevard Public Schools’ Book Reconsideration Committee. The school board spent the past few months updating the instructional materials policy as part of its reevaluation of several district policies.

The new board used to include media specialists who were voting members, but a majority of the board voted to remove them.

The only voting members are those who are appointed by the school board:

• Ashley Hall — appointed by board vice chair Megan Wright
• Michelle Beavers — appointed by board member Gene Trent
• Paul Roub — appointed by board member Jennifer Jenkins
• Sheri-Lynn Diskin — appointed by board chair Matt Susin
• Michael Howell — appointed by Katye Campbell

The three books up for discussion were books of poems by New York Times Bestselling author Rupi Kaur: Milk and Honey (2014), The Sun and Her Flowers (2017), and Home Body (2020). Following an appearance on MSNBC earlier in the week, Kaur responded on Twitter to the backlash that her books have received in the last year or so.

The first book up for discussion on Friday was Milk and Honey, a book tied for nineth place on a list of the “Most banned books in the first half of the 2022-2023 school year,” according to an analysis by non-profit PEN America.

Karen Colby, the woman who brought for the book challenge along with the other two, said she was inspired to bring the challenge by another school district.

“I saw these books mentioned at another school board meeting and because I didn’t believe that a book could be bad enough to take off the shelf, I picked these three because I thought they were kind of sneaking under the radar,” Colby said.

She had 10 minutes per title to list her reasoning for each request for removal. She read aloud a number of passages containing material she found objectionable and deemed inappropriate for students of all ages at Brevard Public Schools.

“I really empathize with this author, but I do not believe that the pornographic material belongs in our schools,” Colby said. “It says clearly under the new law that Governor DeSantis put in, he said, very clearly, that we need to have the appropriate material, age appropriate.”

Two of the five committee members, Hall and Beavers, latched onto the idea that the illustrations and some of the text were more than enough to warrant removal. The idea of keeping them for students who are 18-years-old was suggested, but ultimately rejected.

“I don’t think this is appropriate for children. This is not a healing moment. This is not a ‘going to save me from grooming’ moment. This is designed to sexually excite you and this is against our rules. It’s as simple as that,” Beavers said after reading an excerpt from Milk and Honey.  

Part of “the rules” Beavers was referring to were parts of Florida’s media specialist training that was sent out by the Florida Department of Education in January. It describes the law against certain material that is “harmful to minors.”

That phrase is defined in Section 847.012, F.S. as needing such a description or representation to meet three requirements:

• Predominantly appeal to a prurient, shameful, or morbid interest;
• Be patently offensive to prevailing standards in the adult community as a whole with respect to what is suitable material for minors; and
• Taken as a whole, the material is without serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value for minors.

Of the roughly 20 parents and students who attended Friday’s meeting, half spoke during public comment, including high school student Josephine Griffith, who said having access to Milk and Honey was helpful for her own experience with sexual abuse.

“This book helped me come out about the crimes that were committed. I don’t understand why this is inappropriate for teenage girls and boys. This is another example of schools trying to suppress our emotions,” Griffith said.

Roub, who voted in favor of keeping all three books, appealed to the longevity of removing a book and argued that there are solutions for addressing the age appropriateness of a title without keeping it from everyone.

“Whatever decision we make here today lasts for eight years with no appeal, but let’s not say ‘banning’ because that will ruffle some feathers,” Roub said. “There are approaches we can take that don’t involve deciding what other people’s kids don’t read.”

Ultimately, all three books were voted to be removed by a majority of the committee. They were three out of 32 titles listed on the Brevard Public Schools website as in the pipeline for official review.

According to Dr. Stephanie Soliven, the assistant superintendent for secondary leading and learning, all books that are moved forward for formal review are pulled from school shelves pending the outcome.

The next title set for review is A Court of Misty and Fury by Sarah Maas, the second in the A Court of Thorns and Roses series, which will be discussed on June 30. Four of the five books in that series are set for formal review.

The upcoming books that have review dates are:

August 25

• Sold by Patricia McCormick (2006)
• Tilt by Ellen Hopkins (2012)
• Tricks by Ellen Hopkins (2009)

September 22

• The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini (2003)
• The Nowhere Girls by Amy Reed (2017)

October 27

• A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah Maas (2015)
• The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky (1999)

See the full list pending review here and watch the full meeting below: