MANATEE COUNTY, Fla. — It's a hot-button topic; which books belong in schools and which ones don't?
That topic swirled during a Manatee County School Board workshop Friday.
School board members raised a couple of issues, such as a parent's right to request a book under review, as well as when the process raises to the school board level.
As for the vetting process, the Executive Director of Curriculum says the changes put more in the individual school's hands.
"Originally, we were holding district meetings and the schools did feel a little left out of the loop. We changed and rewrote the draft procedure and as you can see now, it comes to us, we contact the schools, and the principals have the ability to work on their campus," she explained.
The district currently has 30 books awaiting review.
Those books were submitted by community members online, then sent to the school's media specialists for the first set of eyes.
Every media specialist is trained to spot themes and ideas the state has identified as inappropriate.
A heavy lift Board Chair Chad Choate appreciates.
"I don't foresee myself being able to read 30 titles before the meeting in February to see if these are good or not," he said. "If the media specialist takes that, they learn, go through the course and says yay or nay, I don't know how I can say, 'You've done the training, I haven't and I'm going to sit here and say no."
Board member Gina Messenger voiced the concerns of teachers in the community.
"We need to respect the teachers because they've gone through a lot of training. There's a lot that goes into what a teacher puts into their classrooms," she said.
While Board Vice-Chair Cindy Spray focused on concerns from some parents, as it stands, a parent can sign a consent form to allow their child to check out a book under review.
"I think there should be committees that would actually look at some of these materials. Having a book that's being reconsidered but a student can still check that book out is bothersome to me," she said.
The school district says a fraction of a percent of the books in the district has been pulled. The school district says every school library has already gone through the vetting process and all that's left are the books inside classroom libraries.
"I think we're creating a mountain out of a molehill. there is less than 1% of books we've found inappropriate being reviewed. I don't think this is a district-wide problem and we're filled with books we shouldn't be. I also don't think in the classroom this is a problem. I think you find one and it slipped in when a parent brought in 50 books," he said.
On February 14th, the school board will decide if they want to adopt the chain of command for book reviews as well as approve the recommendations on 30 pending books.
You can find out more about the vetting process here.
