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New chapter begins for Brevard Public Schools Book Review Committee

New chapter begins for Brevard Public Schools Book Review Committee

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Almost six months after it has been discontinued for the third time since it was founded in 2022, the book Review Committee of Brevard Public Schools booked – which helps to decide which books are permanently prohibited from district shelves and which remain – the page on a new chapter turn around. .

The committee, which was stopped in September 2024 in the five -member committee in September 2024, will resume the session on March 12 to discuss three novels. There have been numerous iterations since it was founded in 2022, as concerns about the content of books in classrooms and libraries in Brevard.

It is not clear who will be in the committee. Florida is unanswered today's examination of the district of District. The BPS directive stipulates that the committee members must be appointed by board members, with each board member drawing up a member.

Which books should be checked?

The checking committee is discussed “Breatless” by Jennifer Niven “last night in the Telegraph Club” by Malinda Lo and “Out Darkness” by Ashley Hope Pérez on March 12th.

You will also check “The Kingdom of Little Wounds” by Susann Cokal, although a date for this meeting was not set.

How does the review process work?

The review committee reads books about which members of the community submitted formal complaints and gives the school authority a recommendation whether the titles keep, restrict or forbid them. Ultimately, the decision is made to the board, which votes on the verdicted books at the following board meetings. You do not have to take into account the recommendations of the committee if you make the final decisions.

“We can against what the committee recommends” for high school. “This is not just our option, it is our duty.”

According to the most updated version of the distribution guideline, each board member appoints a member of the committee and a media specialist – employees who work in school libraries and work with teachers to offer the students learning opportunities through reading – Chair of the Committee in a position that is not entitled to vote.

In September, the district did not say which members have resigned from the committee, although an e -mail to the committee members from the district employee of Florida Katie Delaney (appointed by Gene Trent) and Michelle Dale (appointed by Matt Susin) had excluded. In addition, Paul Roub, who was appointed by the former board member Jennifer Jenkins, said that since this year he was no longer a member of the committee.

How many books were banned in Brevard?

Some books were banned in the district, while others were banned by school base, which makes it impossible to say how many titles were drawn from district shelf.

At least 38 books have been limited to certain grades since the foundation of the book review committee in 2022 or banned in the entire district. The list of books that are prohibited on a school basis is much larger. Florida records from today's school year 2023-2024 showed that 169 books were permanently pulled out of the shelves, whereby the House Bill district quoted, a law that represents what can be taught in schools and not. Some of these titles were duplicates. The district's website shows additional books that have been drawn in some schools.

Most of the books that have been banned violate at least one – a Japanese LGBTQ graphic or manga entitled “Sasaki Adn Miyano, Vol. 1” by Shō Harusono – do not violate the state statute, both the state. Committee as well as the board agreed. However, the board voted in August 2024 to ban it anyway, and Megan Wright said it was “inappropriate” and she had concerns that it was written “backwards”. Manga books are read directly to the left and from the back to the front because they are a literal translation of Japanese text.

The ban caused the national coalition against censorship – an alliance of non -profit groups from all over the country to protect freedom of expression – to create a letter in collaboration with Pen America, American booksellers for free expression and the Author's Guild to Brevards School Board . The group was concerned about the fact that the board may have violated the first change.

People have repeatedly spoken for and against the ban on books in school authorities. In August last year, Rachelle Jolley spoke at a board meeting after the list of the 169 books was spread online and referred to bookblowers in Nazi Germany.

“As you can see from the start, it is not about controlling people, checking information and protecting access to this information,” said Jolley. “It's about checking them.”

How has the book review committee changed over the years?

The Book Review Committee has seen a variety of members and changed slightly as it has been working since it was originally founded in 2022.

The first committee included media specialists, but in autumn 2022 media specialists enabled a vote.

The guideline has been revised to remove the decision -making authority from media specialists, and the committee was re -resumed in June 2023. It was stopped again in the same month, with board members complaining about the language in HB 1069 and what they had appointed harassment towards the members of the committee.

The guideline was revised again in October 2023 to include the language from HB 1069. This revision shifted the final decision -making authority to the school authority rather than the committee members.

The committee resumed again in December 2023 before it was discontinued in September last year. On numerous occasions, the Board of Directors ignored the recommendations of the committee members whether they should keep, restrict or prohibit a book. Most of these decisions were made on the basis of HB 1069's own interpretations by board members and their personal feelings in relation to a book.

Finch Walker is today the educational reporter at Florida. Contact Walker at fwalker@floridatoday.com. X: @_finchwalker.

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