Case Study: Access Retained

This week, we wanted to do something a little different and present a case study in a mid-sized Florida school district where books deemed controversial have undergone internal review and ultimately perserved on library shelves.

Books have been disappearing from Florida classrooms and libraries at an alarming rate.  No one disputes this: we even ran a recent article where Governor Desantis admitted laws like HB1069 have been used to ban books with educational value (though his explanation for this and solution do not exactly comport with reality).  State laws like this have made it easier than ever for books to be removed by overzealous politicians and political extremists in and out of Florida school districts. 

But. 

Occasionally, we win back ground.  Occasionally, cooler heads prevail, and the absurdity of how these laws are implemented causes even conservatives to pull back.

Enter our case study on the preservation of books after review rather than their further restriction.  Now, we should note that in many of these cases, the books are restricted by age— sometimes arbitrarily.  At Florida Freedom to Read Project, we believe no book should be withheld from its author-intended audience, but the state’s laws unconstitutionally restrict many books based on ill-defined guidelines.  However, just the fact that some of these books are surviving intense scrutiny, even conditional decisions to retain, is a phenomenal step in the right direction and deserves recognition (if only to stop the ridiculous levels of censorship happening elsewhere).

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To help protect the safety and privacy of the officials involved in the process, we will not name the district we pulled our data from.  There are some facts, however, we would like to share about it so it can serve as an avatar of sorts for other school districts.  You’ll see it likely looks quite a bit like your student’s district or one very nearby.  If school officials in one district can come to these decisions within the boundaries of the law, decisions to permanently remove books can be reversed in other districts.

Our case study takes place in a mid-sized Florida district with over 35,000 students in attendance.  Over half of the students in this district identify as white.  The registered voters in this district are 2:1 Republican, and a majority of the school board is affiliated with the Republican party.  All of this information was obtained through a public records request process. 

While we do not want to spend too much time emphasizing party alliance, it is important for the purpose of this discussion and case study.  Republican and conservative-leaning politicians and activists tend to be the ones who have numerically pushed the majority of book-banning laws and enforcement in our public schools.  We do not want to paint with too broad a brush as we understand not every member of the American political right agrees with the implementation of these laws, but we have shown in past articles that the majority of bans and challenges are coming from those who identify as Republican or conservative. 

Therefore, it is particularly admirable that Republicans are helping to roll back some of the restrictions in our example district.

Let’s examine a few example titles that have undergone the internal review process and returned to shelves (albeit with restrictions).

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The Bluest Eye, a staple of AP Literature courses, had its access retained with restrictions on it for only 11th and 12th-grade students to check out.  In particular, The Bluest Eye remains one of the most challenged and banned books nationwide, and this is an incredibly important piece of modern American literature that is a cornerstone in advanced English courses.  This book being available in the library to juniors and seniors is a great opportunity for students of this district to continue their education when this book is not a part of their curriculum.  We’ll emphasize one more time that we do not believe any book should be restricted from its author-intended audience, and The Bluest Eye should be more broadly available to all high school students, but this is an important and fantastic first step. 

The Handmaid’s Tale and The Kite-Runner both had their access retained, with grade restrictions of 11 – 12 and 9 – 12, respectively.  Both of these books are increasingly recognized as modern literary classics with high educational value. Like The Bluest Eye, both of these titles regularly appear on the AP Literature exam, and many states include these titles among standard high school English curriculums.  They are also increasingly finding themselves on banned lists, and it is great to see this district recognizing their importance and preserving student access. 

Elementary and Middle School shelves were also reviewed in this district. Among the titles retained in Middle Schools with some restrictions: Speak, The Hate U Give, Thirteen Reasons Why, and Anne Frank’s Diary: The Graphic Adaptation. These books have been permanently removed from all grades without an official review in a number of Florida districts, often at the request of a single individual claiming the content is wholly inappropriate.  

The Elementary Schools also examined a number of picture books that have been removed in other districts. Titles that were retained in the school libraries include In Our Mothers’ House, Julian is a Mermaid, And Tango Makes Three, and Unicorns Are the Worst! The reasons these books were removed in other districts often are tied to a misinterpretation of the law. The recent Equality Florida settlement agreement helped to clarify that LGBTQ+ representation is not prohibited in library books, but unlike this district, there are still a handful that are afraid to return previously removed books to the shelf.

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The list of internally reviewed books is quite extensive.  We’ve included some screenshots from it below so you can see what else made it back to school shelves and the grades they have been restricted to. It’s important to note that students may also select from books assigned to a lower grade band than their current grade, provided the book is available in their school’s library. 

This is a heartening victory.  It is still, however, an incomplete one.

Here is where we remind you that progress is still needed.   Right now, districts are still restricting books from student access out of fear of state prosecution under these laws.  Collier, Escambia, Orange, and many other Florida school districts have all made headlines for the large number of books pulled, rejected, and permanently removed due to school leadership “erring on the side of caution” and taking an overly conservative reading of the law.  We’ve discussed this before: the chilling effect of free speech by laws like HB1069 constitutes a ban!  If libraries are pulling books ‘just in case,’ that is a form of censorship.  

And this fear is pervasive.  

We see a number of districts copycatting this harmful censorship for fear of being found too liberal in their interpretation of the law, but, as we have demonstrated, there are districts that are retaining access to these books and not facing educator decertification or felony charges.

So, let’s end on a positive note.  Because this is a positive turn of events.  The state is not pushing back against these books being retained on shelves by our case study district.  Prior decisions to remove certain books because of a misunderstanding of the law can be reversed or reconsidered.  HB 1069 does not require the draconian interpretation we have seen sweep the state encouraged by a misleading FLDOE memo.  There are interpretations to be found that will allow at least some students to continue accessing books with educational, intellectual, social, or cultural value. 

The bans can be slowed.  They can be rolled back.  They can be reversed.

And at least one district in Florida is taking steps in that direction.  We should celebrate that.      

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