BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. — The Brevard County School Board discussed several policies regarding instructional material Tuesday night, one which would sweep close to 300 books off library shelves. The proposal from Board Member Gene Trent ultimately failed, and it remains unclear when book review committee meetings will resume after a months-long hiatus.
What You Need To Know
- This school year, school officials canceled future book committee meetings following backlash and alleged doxing of committee members
- Several books in Brevard County remain off the shelves as they await formal review from the committee
- The board considered a sweeping removal of hundreds of books, a list based on decisions from other districts statewide, but the consideration did not pass
The book evaluation process for Brevard County has been an arguably slow one, prompting outcry from board members and parents alike.
Book committee meetings have been on hold for months, a decision which came after board members say some committee members were facing backlash and doxing from other members of the public.
Even with meetings convening at regular intervals, Board Member Gene Trent says book evaluations were happening at a pace far too slow.
“If you do the math, we’re a little bit shy of 15 years to go through the books,” said Trent, District 2 Board member.
On Tuesday night, Trent brought a list of 298 books which he hoped the board would agree to take off the shelves, expediting the process and removing the evaluation process from the committee’s hands.
The list compiled books pulled from shelves of other districts across the state. The majority of the books were those removed from Clay and Martin County libraries.
The list included a wide range of books. One, “Let’s Talk About It,” by Erika Moen and Mathew Nolan covers, “relationships, friendships, gender, sexuality, anatomy, body image, self sex, sexting, jealousy, rejection, sex education, and more,” according to its publisher.
But Board Member Jennifer Jenkins brought up concern over some of the titles, which she said the board did not have time to review. A graphic novel based on the “Diary of Anne Frank," for example, made the list.
“Sorry that it’s graphic, sorry that the Holocaust was graphic,” said Jenkins in a tongue-in-cheek manner.
Ultimately, other board members said they did not want to hand over their power to evaluate titles on their own.
Still, there has been no announcement on future book review committee meeting dates.
Roughly 30 books are still awaiting formal review, and the dates for the committee’s meeting on each book is marked as “pending” on the district website.
As the books await review, they remain off the shelves as they have been for several months.
Celeste Springer is the education beat reporter for Spectrum News. If you have a story idea or concern, you can email her at celeste.springer@charter.com.