Moms for Liberty, others push for removal of books at Brevard school board meeting
Only one book was on the agenda for review at Brevard's Tuesday school board meeting, but multiple groups attended to either attempt to get more books removed or to oppose the removal of additional titles.
After a review by Brevard Public Schools' book committee, whether or not "Sold" by Patricia McCormick will remain on BPS shelves was decided by the board at Tuesday's meeting, with the board opting to keep it available for high schoolers as the committee recommended.
Almost immediately following the Dec. 1 review of "Sold," Brevard's Moms for Liberty chapter sent out a call to action, asking their members to attend Tuesday's meeting as the "removal (of) pornographic/sexually explicit books" would be a "topic of importance." This triggered multiple groups around the state to respond with similar calls, as well as requests for people to attend in opposition.
'We tried. I'll try again': Brevard school board shoots down Trent's motion to use state list as guide to ban books
Restrictions on supplemental materials: Charlie Brown movie and math problems among supplemental items nixed by Brevard principals
Brevard, Indian River County Moms for Liberty call to action
Though the request was initially made by Brevard's chapter of Moms for Liberty, it went relatively unnoticed online. Rather, it was a screenshot of an email from Indian River's Moms for Liberty chapter calling for members to come to Brevard's school board meeting that circulated on social media on Dec. 4.
The email, sent by chapter chair Jennifer Pippin, said the "same thing we did at our August 2023 school board meeting" would be happening at the Dec. 12 meeting, referencing an Aug. 28 meeting in Indian River County, where at least 33 books were pulled from district shelves after members of the public read passages containing sexual content in a bid to force a quick decision on the books.
Pippin called for members to join Brevard's chapters of Moms for Liberty and Moms for America and sign up to read materials at the meeting.
Brevard's chapter of Moms for Liberty asked members to sign up to "help in this fight to protect our kids from this harmful material."
Multiple groups respond to call on books
Though Pippin referenced Brevard Moms for America, the conservative parents group didn't post anything explicitly about reading at the upcoming meeting on its public social media pages.
Brevard Citizens Defending Freedom, a conservative group that describes itself as empowering "citizens to defend their freedom and liberty" and put "local government back into the hands of the people," asked members to attend the board meeting in an email sent Dec. 7.
Ruth Kaufhold, executive director of the Brevard chapter, wrote that the group was partnering with "several like-minded groups" around Brevard to "push back on the pornographic materials in our public school libraries." She encouraged members to speak at the board meeting or simply attend in support.
Groups against the removal of books also attended. Equality Florida, an LGBTQ nonprofit, sent an email on Dec. 5 asking members to attend the meeting.
Quinn Swearingen, field organizer at Equality Florida, suggested members call out the actions of those in favor of book removals and to read passages from a favorite book, especially if it is a banned book.
"Share passages that have inspired you or that have helped you in some way," he said. "Do not let Mom's For Liberty hide behind their out-of-context passages and fear-mongering, show an alternative vision and a love for literature."
Brevard Public Schools Watch, a social media page that shares information related to BPS and political action taken by the district and by community members related to the district, shared a post on Dec. 7 with a similar call to action. They raised concerns that not only would "Sold" be banned, but that the board would also go forward with a motion previously proposed by Board Vice Chair Gene Trent to ban nearly 300 books.
"Please plan to attend the meeting ... and speak in favor of keeping books in our schools, trusting the (review) process and and trusting our media specialists," the post said.
How books get banned at board meetings
House Bill 1069, which lays out rules about what can and can't be taught in Florida classrooms, says that parents must be allowed to read passages from “any material that is subject to an objection.” If a school board stops a parent from reading the passage because it is pornographic, the book must be pulled from library shelves or removed from curriculum.
With this stipulation, the law allows parents to bypass the district review process. It's something the Brevard school board discussed how to handle back in September, with concerns raised about whether they should continue to broadcast public comment if the reading of explicit passages had the potential to become commonplace. There was also a concern about the fact that responsibility to either let a speaker read uninterrupted or to stop them — and thus cause a book to be removed from schools — rested solely on the shoulders of the board chair, as the board chair runs the meeting. At the time, that was Matt Susin. Now, it's Megan Wright.
Ultimately, the board opted not to change how they run public comment, with Susin saying he would try to read and familiarize himself with all challenged books.
Prior to that discussion, Susin stopped several members of the public from reading at two separate meetings. At a July 27 meeting, three women read from five challenged books, with Susin stopping Michelle Beavers from reading an excerpt from "Me and Earl and the Dying Girl" by Jesse Andrews. He also stopped Karen Colby as she read an excerpt from "All Boys Aren't Blue," by George M. Johnson, but she resumed reading after the interruption and was not prevented from continuing. He stopped her a second time as she read from "The Bluest Eye" by Toni Morrison because she had completed her three-minute time limit.
Greg Ross was also cut off by Susin when he read the definition of "masturbation" from Webster's Dictionary at an Aug. 8 meeting.
It's not clear if any of these books were pulled from BPS shelves.
Public comment split Tuesday night
While "Sold," which tells the story of a young teenager sold into sex trafficking in Nepal, was the only book-related item on the agenda, groups planned to read during the public comment section of the meeting.
The school board approved the committee's recommendation to keep the book available to high schoolers, with a vote of four to one, with Trent opposing.
Prior to the vote, 41 people signed up to speak. The board split public comment based on agenda and non-agenda related items, with speakers discussing non-agenda items told to wait for the end of the meeting.
Only a small portion of those who signed up chose to speak during the agenda-related portion of public comment. 13 people spoke in favor of keeping "Sold" available for high schoolers, while two people spoke against keeping it.
Wright stopped speakers at least 13 times, either for sexual content or profanity.
State statute says books shall be removed if a speaker is stopped due to the sexual content within a book.
Board Attorney Paul Gibbs said he was not sure if a book would need to be banned because of profanity and would need to double check.
Multiple people asserted that the books were on school shelves, though board members said if they were challenged, they had been pulled from library and classroom shelves until they could be reviewed.
Finch Walker is the education reporter at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Walker at 321-290-4744 or [email protected]. Twitter: @_finchwalker.
This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Multiple groups push for removal of books at Brevard Schools meeting
