Crowd of 200 gathers to protest ahead of Brevard school board banning book

With a megaphone in hand, Brevard student Anjani Sharma looked out at a crowd of about 200 and encouraged them to use their voice to protest book bans.

“We are the people going to our classrooms, every single day,” said Sharma, a West Shore Jr./Sr. High senior. “We are the students, so it’s really our time to show up and stand up.”

With the help of Youth Action Fund, a Florida youth activism group, Sharma led Brevard Students for Change in planning the student-led protest outside Brevard Public Schools’ district office, with the crowd gathering Tuesday ahead of a 5:30 p.m. school board meeting.

The protest’s stated purpose, organizers said: To show students are tired of book bans and that they want free access to literature ahead of the board’s plan to approve the banning of “A Court of Thorns and Roses” by Sarah J. Maas. The fantasy novel, marketed toward young and new adults, has been removed from shelves in several school districts nationwide, with officials citing sexual content.

While the school board has at two previous meetings voted on whether to ban books based on the recommendations of the district book committee, Tuesday night was the first time the board has voted to ban a book, as the majority of the committee recommended. Under a previous policy, where the committee had the final vote on a book and did not make a recommendation to the board, three Rupi Kaur poetry books were banned in the summer 2023.

About 10 people spoke at the protest, including students, community members and school board member Jennifer Jenkins.

"We, right now, are about to walk into a room of adults making decisions about these students," Jenkins said. "And (these students) need to know that they have a right to use their voice and stand up and speak about what matters to them."

A little less than three hours later, the book was banned.

'We deserve to have a voice at the table'

Sharma, who said she is passionate about politics, saw what was happening locally with debates about books in Brevard's school libraries and wanted to get involved, she said. Her goal was to bring together students and make their voices heard.

“I think in this county, but also all over the nation, I’ve seen that many students are not speaking up for their own education, their own rights, and I think that’s so unfortunate because we’re in the classroom every single day,” she said.

“We deserve to have a voice at the table.”

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And come together students did, with many gathering outside the district office and both current and former BPS students speaking up ahead of the meeting. One spoke of her English teacher having a secret classroom library because her school forbade her from having an official classroom library. Another, a college student from another county, spoke of his district banning books and urged Brevard to take a different path.

Samantha Kervin, a freshman, questioned why books — which she called a resource to connect with others and understand themselves better — were being attacked by adults.

“People use them to connect to others, to find friendships, to find yourself,” she said. “I am tired of our school board not listening; I am tired of our voices not being heard.”

Rosalina Rodriguez, a BPS graduate and current student at Eastern Florida State College, said she believed the removal of books is rooted in “fear, bigotry and attempts of an older, dying generation” to restrict critical thinking skills.

“The people in that building won’t be here when we the students have to pick up the pieces,” she said, referring to the board members. "They won’t be here when we have to clean up the mess. The only ones who are going to pay for the cost of war (are) you and me.”

'Not appropriate for our schools'

Multiple students who spoke during the protest signed up to speak during the board meeting, as well as concerned parents and community members. Only one person, Julie Bywater — acting chair of Brevard's chapter of Moms for Liberty — spoke in favor of banning "A Court of Thorns and Roses."

Even Bywater said she was tired of discussing books — something other speakers called an attempt at gaslighting, as Moms for Liberty has been a major proponent of the removal of certain books from schools.

"We have so many more things to talk about," Bywater said, referencing older buildings and VPK. "These are things that we really should be talking about; this is what our focus should be on. Let the committee do its job."

Paul Roub, a member of the committee — and the only member against banning the book — spoke later in the meeting and said he was "reeling" from Bywater's comment.

"Imagine the new chair of the Society of Serial Arsonists showed up and said, 'I really wish people would quit talking about all the arson,'" he said. 'Can we talk about something other than all the libraries we've set on fire?'"

Earlier in the month, the committee met — sans Michelle Dale, Matt Susin's appointee, who was absent that day — to discuss "A Court of Thorns and Roses." All members, except Roub, quickly voted to have the book removed completely from BPS.

The vote went fairly quickly during the three-hour school board meeting as well, though Jenkins commented prior to the vote. She brought up the fact that parents can opt their individual child out of specific titles they feel are inappropriate. However, most parents are not doing so, including board members and other people who have expressed concerns about certain titles in BPS libraries.

"How much do you truly believe that (these books are) a harm to students if you haven't even done it for your own children?" Jenkins said. "Parents have the choice to limit what their children are reading already, and they're not using it. So why are we making that choice for them?"

Board member Katye Campbell cited sexual content in the book and said she agreed with the committee's decision, saying the book would break state statute.

"(Three out of four) committee members were very clear about the explicit nature of this particular ... book," she said.

She also added that the review process ensures that it's not just one parent making decisions for the whole district.

"It is one parent starting the process," she said. "But it goes through the teacher, the media specialist at the school and the principal, and then if it gets past that and it goes to the district, we have a district committee."

Board member Matt Susin agreed that the book was not appropriate for schools.

"The author is not bad, this is just inappropriate for the time period that we're here," he said. "This author has a book that might be appropriate for a later age, might be appropriate for other readers; it's just not appropriate for our schools."

Without comment from Board Chair Megan Wright or Vice Chair Gene Trent, the board voted 4-1 to ban the book, with Jenkins in dissent.

Finch Walker is the education reporter at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Walker at [email protected]. X: @_finchwalker

This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Brevard Schools bans another book despite hundreds protesting