SEMINOLE COUNTY, Fla. — School districts across the state are in the process of reviewing and removing books from their media center and library shelves after the State Department of Education sent a letter with a list of books that may contain questionable content.
The list of books was compiled from districts in other parts of the state where they were objected to.
This is the first time the Department of Education sent a list to school districts like this according to Katherine Crnkovich, the Communication Officer for the Seminole County Public Schools.
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“And as part of the media specialists training, they’re expected to go in and vet our collections against that list to ensure that they not only meet state statute, but that they’re also appropriate for grade level,” said Crnkovich.
So far 75 books have been removed from the shelves of media centers in schools across Seminole County.
Just because a book was on the state’s list, does not mean the district will remove it.
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“But what it means is it’s going to undergo a thoughtful review by trained professionals to be able to ensure that it’s in compliance with law. And titles can be moved to different grade levels.” said Crnkovich.
Some books are still under review and others have been moved into a category that can only be checked out with parents’ permission.
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“And so in those cases, the book cover, if you will, is on, I guess, a little placard. And if the child is looking for that book, it’ll just say, please bring this up to your librarian, your school media specialist, because we have to have print, parental permission for you to check that book out,” said Crnkovich.
Only one of the books that was on the states list before it came out was checked out and Crnkovich said it was only checked out by one student
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