School staff and residents of Alachua County have expressed increasing frustration over the lack of community support in the wake of numerous book challenges that have taken titles off school library shelves.
“In a lot of ways, our hands are tied because of the legislation” District Media Specialist Patty Duval said.
Since the district changed its book challenging process in early February, parents and residents have challenged 16 books in Alachua County.
Two of these books recently passed a district-level meeting on April 11. The books “Fade,” by Lisa McMann, and “Empire of Storms,” by Sarah J. Maas were challenged by University of Florida student Olivia Haley, and the District Library Advisory Committee made the recommendation to have them removed from shelves after concluding that passages of the book contained descriptions of sexual conduct.
The Alachua County School Board has yet to establish Haley’s residency in the county, which is a legal requirement for proposing these challenges. As a result, the books are in a pending status. This requirement was emphasized in recent meetings after a woman who had not been an Alachua County resident for a year had challenged a book, resulting in the reversal of its removal.
According to Duval, if the county is able to establish that Haley meets the residency requirements and therefore go through with the 12 pending challenges from Haley and the remaining challenges from other objectors, the district will be at capacity for reviewing books for the school year. This means they will have to hold over any other book objections for the next school year.
Citizens in the community, including school staff, shared their concern with how many book challenges there have been in the current school year and what this means for children in the over 60 public schools in the county.
Media Specialist Bart Birdsall was one staff member who attended the April 2 school board meeting, and he said he knows the school board must abide by the law, but that the bans should be minimal in order to support education.
“We need to have all kinds of books for all kids that we see in our school,” Birdsall said. “It’s just the humane thing to do.”
Duval expressed how there has been a shift in her focus over the last two years as book challenges have continually come in. And she said this largely contradicts her role as a media specialist.
“Our mission is to put books in kids’ hands, not take it away,” Duval said.
Duval said this process has cost the school board a lot of time and money. She noted how hearings for the book challenges have been one of the most expensive facets because of the quantity of staff that is present.
Curriculum specialists, media specialists, school principals, IT staff and the ACPS staff attorney make up some of the staff that are present at these hearings, according to Duval.
“That’s a lot of dollars in one room,” Duval said.
Jane Spear, 80, was one resident who attended the district level meeting and is a member of PFLAG Gainesville Florida Chapter, an organization intended to support LGBTQ+ youth and adults.
Spear said she regularly attends both district level and school board meetings, with the hopes to voice her concerns and stay updated on every book challenge that comes up.
Spear was most concerned about how a small group of Alachua residents can make long-lasting impacts on libraries that provide for thousands of students.
“They don’t have the right to tell other parents what their child should read,” Spear said. “Choose for your own child, you don’t have a right to choose for every student.”
Haley, who spoke at a school board meeting on April 2, said the board should consider alternatives for books that contain inappropriate material, using “The House on Mango Street,” by Sandra Cisneros and “The Joy Luck Club,” by Amy Tan as examples. Haley said that the books included characters with diverse backgrounds without containing graphic material.
Another issue residents and school staff took issue with as more books were challenged involved how easily accessible public meetings are and how well they are being advertised to parents and staff.
Gainesville High School Teacher Sadie Matteucci, 24, said she appreciates how the change to the book challenging process has made meetings more open to the public throughout each step, but suggests there is still a long way to go.
“I think the whole thing is confusing,” Matteucci said. “And I understand that the district is building the plane as they fly it, however, I feel like there should be more of an outreach to the community. It still seems very tight-lipped and very inconspicuous.”
Duval mirrored Matteucci’s sentiment, saying that the district has made strides to make information publicly available, such as creating a spreadsheet of all the challenged material since September 2023 and providing public notices of meetings.
Duval said these public notices are largely out of her control, but she said it’s an evolving process for the district.
“We do want to be as transparent as we can and that’s why we have that spreadsheet,” Duval said. “It’s my job to keep it up.”
Duval said support from the community has been a challenge, and she has been limited in how much outreach she can extend.
Matteucci said she has been trying to rally support from teachers but feels the turnout at meetings and hearings have failed to provide her solace.
“I think there should be some serious unrest,” Matteucci said.
Duval said that ultimately, the district has an obligation to Florida law. She said in order for the book challenging process to change, legislators have to take action. Still, Duval said that awareness and community participation will play a vital role.