Walton County School District Book Ban

[Teresa]

Walton Florida School Board Bans Books from School Libraries

Panama City’s NBC News affiliate reports:
Dozens of books were recently taken off Walton County schools library shelves, leading to concern on social media and during the school board meeting Tuesday. District officials confirmed 58 were removed from libraries throughout all schools.

“I did it for just a welfare of all involved, including our constituents, our teachers, and our students. I’ll continue to do those things and perhaps add some,” Walton County School Superintendent A. Russell Hughes [photo] said.

The Washington Post reports:
Since its publication in 2001, “Everywhere Babies” — a whimsical, lyrical ode to infancy, illustrated by Caldecott Medal-winning illustrator Marla Frazee — has become a staple of family bookshelves, a common recommendation in new parent groups, and a celebrated title on Best Books lists.

But for the first time in its history, “Everywhere Babies” was featured this week on an entirely different kind of list: The book was among dozens of works recently banned from public school libraries in Walton County, Fla.

A spokesperson for the Florida Department of Education referred questions to Walton County, noting that “individual school districts are responsible for making these decisions,” and did not respond to follow-up questions.

The author of “Everywhere Babies” tells the Washington Post that she believes her book was banned due to a single drawing of a man with his arm on another man’s shoulder. There are no explicitly LGBTQ persons depicted in the book.

 

[Teresa]

Walton County featured in The Washington Post
Friday April 22, 2022

View attachment 93705

The inspiration for the popular children’s picture book “Everywhere Babies” came to author Susan Meyers more than 25 years ago, after the birth of her first grandchild. It was around Christmas, she recalls, and she kept seeing Nativity scenes everywhere — baby Jesus embraced by his doting mother, surrounded by kindly visitors. Meyers, deeply smitten with her 5-month-old grandson, was struck by the everyday, extraordinary miracle of babies in their earliest months of life, how their development touches the lives of everyone around them. So she decided to write about it.

Since its publication in 2001, “Everywhere Babies” — a whimsical, lyrical ode to infancy, illustrated by Caldecott Medal-winning illustrator Marla Frazee — has become a staple of family bookshelves, a common recommendation in new parent groups, and a celebrated title on Best Books lists.

But for the first time in its history, “Everywhere Babies” was featured this week on an entirely different kind of list: The book was among dozens of works recently banned from public school libraries in Walton County, Fla. School district officials confirmed the removal of the books to WJHG-TV in Florida. Walton County School Superintendent Russell Hughes told the outlet that it was “necessary in this moment for me to make that decision and I did it for just a welfare of all involved, including our constituents, our teachers, and our students.”

Hughes did not respond to requests for comment from The Washington Post. A spokesperson for the Florida Department of Education referred questions to Walton County, noting that “individual school districts are responsible for making these decisions,” and did not respond to follow-up questions.

The decision made Walton County the latest jurisdiction to join a growing number of communities across the country that have sought to ban books that address subjects such as race, LGBTQ people, sex or other topics deemed offensive by the books’ critics. A slew of titles — many of them classic and award-winning works of children’s and young adult literature — have been stripped from shelves in school buildings and public libraries in states including Texas, Montana, Louisiana and Florida.

Meyers and Frazee each spoke to me about their book, the experience of seeing it banned from public school libraries for the first time, and what they hope parents might take away from what’s happening in Walton County and beyond. Their responses have been edited for length and clarity.

More...
Washpo

 

[PoppaJ]

While the book containing the story of two daughters getting their father drunk and having sex with him is still on the shelf.

 

[Teresa]

I've seen the list. I have questions about who.. and how it is determined which books should be banned from the public school libraries. I don't believe any book should be banned but surely someone at the educational level initially determines what books are added to the school library. And then the school board and parents don't have enough to do in their lives so they go through the entire inventory to find books that need to be banned? Would love to understand this process.

The usual Toni Morrison classics, along with others, are on the Walton County list and that is a crime against our children.

Certain books with topics geared to teens on subjects such as sex or LGBTQ issues are now banned.

A few books that are definitely adult level novels are banned (50 Shades, Outlander, a Sarah Maas series... All some of my favorite books). And my question is how did they get there to start with? I think some teens would very much enjoy these genres and that doesn't mean the school must provide them. But someone approved these books. My guess is Anne Rice novels have long been banned...

So I have questions. How does this even work and why are we suddenly making huge lists of banned books here in our own community? The action of book banning is not a good idea for any of us and certainly not our children. I never even considered this could happen here.

List of books being banned by Walton County, FL libraries.

They even go after a children’s book about Purim.. a Jewish-themed book called A Purim Superhero. It tells the story of a kid who can’t decide whether to dress up as a superhero for Purim, like all his friends, or an alien, because he is really into aliens. His two dads help him decide.
Omg.

The Kite Runner?

#13 is actually A DAY IN THE LIFE OF MARLON BUNDO. What a sweet book by John Oliver. I own it!

 

[Teresa]

New York Public Library​

Books For All: NYPL Supports the Right to Read Banned Books​

By Tony Marx, President of The New York Public Library
April 13, 2022

The New York Public Library’s mission is rooted in the The New York Public Library’s mission is rooted in the principles of free and open access to knowledge, information, and all perspectives—in essence, the right to read. In light of recent, prominent efforts to ban books in communities across the United States, we have now partnered with publishers Hachette Book Group, Macmillan Publishers, and Scholastic to make a small selection of commonly banned or challenged books available to anyone who chooses to read them—all for free via our e-reader app, SimplyE.

The recent instances of both attempted and successful book banning—primarily on titles that explore race, LGBTQ+ issues, religion, and history—are extremely disturbing and amount to an all-out attack on the very foundation of our democracy. The American Library Association (whose Library Bill of Rights is in clear opposition to any censorship or book banning) recently tracked an unprecedented number of challenges to library, school, and university materials in 2021. Knowledge is power; ignorance is dangerous, breeding hate and division. All people have the right to read or not read what they want—we are all entitled to make those choices. But to protect those freedoms, the books and information must remain available. Any effort to eliminate those choices stands in opposition to freedom of choice, and we cannot let that happen.

Since their inception, public libraries have worked to combat these forces simply by making all perspectives and ideas accessible to all, regardless of background or circumstance. With this project, the Library is doing just that on a larger scale to reach readers across the country.

The books being offered as part of this project are:

• Speak | Laurie Halse Anderson (Square Fish / Macmillan Publishers)
• King and the Dragonflies | Kacen Callender (Scholastic)
• Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You | Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers / Hachette Book Group)
• The Catcher in the Rye | J.D. Salinger (Little, Brown and Company / Hachette Book Group)

Beginning today through the end of May, anyone can browse, borrow, and read these books for free on any iOS or Android device with SimplyE (note that, as per the Library’s policies on materials accessible to SimplyE users under the age of 13, only King and the Dragonflies is available to those with children’s accounts). While there are hundreds of thousands of titles in the app available to New Yorkers with an NYPL library card, these books will be available through the Books for All Collection, with or without a library card, and with the added bonus of unlimited downloads—no waits, no fines.

The Library’s role is to make sure no perspective, no idea, no identity is erased. People have the right to read or not read what they want, but those books need to be available—for the teen who has questions and wants to privately find answers; for the adult who is curious about subjects for which they have no personal experience; for those who want to do their own research and make informed decisions based on fact. Since the founding of our great nation, libraries have been beacons of this kind of independent curiosity and learning, and it is unacceptable that they be censored in any way.

Whether by reading these books to form your own opinion about them, helping to spread the word about their availability, or visiting your own local branch to explore a world of varying perspectives, we encourage everyone to join us in supporting the right to read freely. Making these books available shouldn’t feel like an act of defiance, but sadly, it is. And we are proud to be part of it.

Books For All: NYPL Supports the Right to Read Banned Books | The New York Public Library

Through the end of May, anyone can browse, borrow, and read these books for free.

www.nypl.org

 

[bob1]

DeSantis Trump culture war nonsense that is really happening.

 

[Teresa]

Walton County Superintendent of Schools denies ban...

Outside group sends list of books which have been deemed inappropriate and so he removes any of them that exist in our schools. Not a ban? It's a ban.

Apr 22 2022​

April 22, 2022


The Walton County School District (WCSD), along with many educational systems, recently received a list of over 50 books deemed inappropriate by an outside group. From that list, as Superintendent of Schools, I sought information from district staff regarding the availability and locations of said titles. Staff located 24 of the 50+ books within media centers throughout the District.

Being proactive, I asked staff to remove the books from circulation for the purposes of reviewing and re-evaluating age-appropriateness and content, especially in the context of Florida’s recent legislative session. With reports of movements underway across the state coupled with legal implications and the potential undue stress to my District and staff, I am not willing to place any WCSD personnel in the cross hairs of this kind of perilous circumstance. I want to emphasize that NO “book ban” has occurred in Walton County. Any headlines or news stories as such are misinformation, inaccurate, and false!

The Walton County School District is committed to a culture which we proudly call EPIC. I am steadfast in the vision of excellence, choosing to focus on students and academics in these divisive times. Leaders, teachers, administrators, staff, and families in Walton County are focused on end of the year assessments, achievement, and graduations, which have earned the District the #5 ranking in the State of Florida. I will continue to protect and maintain the trust of the community and do what is right for all students and stakeholders consistent with how I have served as Superintendent for the past six years.


A. Russell Hughes Superintendent of Schools

 

[PoppaJ]

"If they're gonna ban books, then the whole library should be in play. My hope — and it's a longshot — is that they will apply their own standards to themselves and ban the Bible," Stevens tells New Times.

Free-speech and literary-expression advocates have been sounding the alarm about what they see as a bureaucratic, authoritarian attack on education in Florida, particularly after recent news that the state rejected 54 math textbooks from the curriculumfor allegedly containing prohibited topics such as "Critical Race Theory." When the state went so far as banning math books, Stevens says, he was inspired to use the same bureaucracy to strike back against the conservative wave with an operation he calls "Eff Off Jesus."

Florida Atheist Petitions to Ban the Bible in Miami-Dade and Broward Schools

Chaz Stevens has petitioned eight Florida school districts to ban the Bible, citing its inappropriate content.

www.miaminewtimes.com

 

[Bob Wells]

Noticed online you can get Mein Kampf through the Florida Library system. Curious if I checked it who else's names might be on the card...

 

[Matt J]

Everywhere Babies sums up Walton county pretty well.