Donna Brosemer- Volusia District 4
1. Please share your thoughts related to the importance of the school library/media center and the role of a certified, trained librarian/media specialist in schools.
Librarians are a great asset for research, and to refer students to books that may interest them, or expand their interest in a wider range of subject matter.
2. Florida school libraries/media centers have always supported parents' rights to direct their students' education. How would you balance parental rights and student access to library materials, especially given that some books trigger different reactions among parents, all of whom deserve rights?
State law has always limited provision of obscenity to a minor, including criminal penalties. Parents may choose to make such materials available to their minor children, but the school has a legal obligation to follow the law, so such provision must be made in the home, online, or at a book store, but not by a public school library. No parents or children are denied those materials, because they are still available from sources other than a K-12 library. Local school districts can decide what is appropriate based on the culture of their community, as long as that material does not meet the statutory definition of obscenity.
3. Students have access to reading material through captive classroom instruction, read-alouds and novel studies, as well as through self-selection in libraries where they choose their own book. How would you differentiate between the appropriateness of reading material in a captive classroom vs. self-selection in the school library?
Captive classroom reading should be more neutral, and generally accepted as appropriate, both culturally and by age. Self-selection should be limited to what is accepted and understood by the broader community to be age-appropriate. Subject matter that pushes cultural boundaries of acceptability, or is subjectively not age-appropriate, should require parental permission and should be in a designated or restricted area of the library.
4. As written in Florida House Bill 1069, “Parents shall have the right to read passages from any material that is subject to an objection. If the school board denies a parent the right to read passages due to content" deemed unsuitable as defined in the bill, the school district must discontinue use of the material. If a reader is denied, explain why you would interpret the law by supporting or opposing a fair and public review of the book, as outlined in each district's objection policy.
No one opposes a "fair and public" review of a book. The local district can appoint a committee to conduct reviews but if content is too vulgar or obscene to be read aloud at a school board meeting, it deserves scrutiny and likely removal. The local district has created an arcane and overly-complicated process for book removal that is intended to discourage book challenges. The best example is that VCS requires that a separate challenge must be filed, and a separate removal review and process must be followed, for each individual copy of a book, rather than one review that would be applied to all copies in all district libraries. That is transparently intended to thwart both the spirit and the application of the law.
Librarians are a great asset for research, and to refer students to books that may interest them, or expand their interest in a wider range of subject matter.
2. Florida school libraries/media centers have always supported parents' rights to direct their students' education. How would you balance parental rights and student access to library materials, especially given that some books trigger different reactions among parents, all of whom deserve rights?
State law has always limited provision of obscenity to a minor, including criminal penalties. Parents may choose to make such materials available to their minor children, but the school has a legal obligation to follow the law, so such provision must be made in the home, online, or at a book store, but not by a public school library. No parents or children are denied those materials, because they are still available from sources other than a K-12 library. Local school districts can decide what is appropriate based on the culture of their community, as long as that material does not meet the statutory definition of obscenity.
3. Students have access to reading material through captive classroom instruction, read-alouds and novel studies, as well as through self-selection in libraries where they choose their own book. How would you differentiate between the appropriateness of reading material in a captive classroom vs. self-selection in the school library?
Captive classroom reading should be more neutral, and generally accepted as appropriate, both culturally and by age. Self-selection should be limited to what is accepted and understood by the broader community to be age-appropriate. Subject matter that pushes cultural boundaries of acceptability, or is subjectively not age-appropriate, should require parental permission and should be in a designated or restricted area of the library.
4. As written in Florida House Bill 1069, “Parents shall have the right to read passages from any material that is subject to an objection. If the school board denies a parent the right to read passages due to content" deemed unsuitable as defined in the bill, the school district must discontinue use of the material. If a reader is denied, explain why you would interpret the law by supporting or opposing a fair and public review of the book, as outlined in each district's objection policy.
No one opposes a "fair and public" review of a book. The local district can appoint a committee to conduct reviews but if content is too vulgar or obscene to be read aloud at a school board meeting, it deserves scrutiny and likely removal. The local district has created an arcane and overly-complicated process for book removal that is intended to discourage book challenges. The best example is that VCS requires that a separate challenge must be filed, and a separate removal review and process must be followed, for each individual copy of a book, rather than one review that would be applied to all copies in all district libraries. That is transparently intended to thwart both the spirit and the application of the law.