Miss sap we are now live streaming thank you good afternoon thank you for joining us today for the District library book objection committee meeting the purpose of today's meeting is to review an objection to the book titled later gator by Laura Miracle my name is Don staff I'm associate superintendent for curriculum and instruction and I'll be facilitating today's committee meeting school-based and District staff as well as parent and community volunteers are invited to participate on each committee today's meeting will result in a recommendation that will be forward to Mr forson St John's County School District superintendent this committee meeting is public record and therefore subject to Sunshine Law it is being live streamed for public viewing committee members are not required to have their camera on during the meeting we are committed to Civility and de Quorum please assist us in maintaining a constructive meeting environment by remaining respectful of each participant during the meeting and afterwards additional discussion of the objecting party or committee members outside of the meeting is discouraged disparaging comments are contrary to District expectations regarding character and civility committee members received several resources in advance of the meeting the resources included the objecting Pary request for reconsideration a copy of the book Florida Statutes Florida Department of Education guidance for library media services professional Source reviews St John's County school board rules the library Bill of Rights and school library and a school library media materials evaluation checklist the process for today is as follows first the objecting party will have the opportunity to address the committee they will provide any information they deem compelling or new regarding their request next the committee will have a discussion you utilizing the school library media material evaluation checklist finally the committee will determine a recommendation for superintendent forson there are two options retain the book for a designated level or remove the book from all St John's County School District Libraries for our meeting today both agreeable and opposing viewpoints are welcome are there any questions thanks seeing none will begin Jean Moore is the objecting party for later gator Miss Moore this is your time to address the committee you have up to five minutes to share your objection good afternoon um thanks for the opportunity for me to share my thoughts my objections to this book are that it contains references to sexual activity sexual nudity profanity and alcohol use by minors in the version of the book that I read it contains some Q&A with the author at the end of the book The very first question to the author was why were your Books banned and do you personally think they should have been before I get into the answer she gave what a dumb question no one is Banning books and no author is going to say yeah remove my books from schools because they are inappropriate anyway the answer she provided was quote lots of my books have teen girls in them teen girls sometimes talk about sex teen girls sometimes have sex lots of grown-ups would like to believe it's not true I'm not one of those grown-ups and I think it's important and meaningful to give readers stories that reflect reality in a respectful way end quote she's not wrong in what she says kids can and do have sex whether we as parents want them to or not the problem I have is with the graphic commentary and the praising characters give each other for having sex not only that the Char characters talking about sex as a primary theme in the story here are some of my favorite excerpts other than those that provide in in the objection so what's up with you I'm kind of wired I just gave dug his very first Falls backward out of the computer chair what I was it was a going away present since I won't see him for a week I feel so proud of myself well for sure you can add that list right up there with your other accomplishments Straight A's honor counsel and giving head it wasn't all that fun for me but I think he really liked it and it made him happy but my jaw got really tired so spit or swallow I swallowed but I don't think I'm going to next time I'll just tell him for very politely so he's not offended what about playing old sex if you're embarrassed to have him go down on you won't you be embarrassed to have sex that's different but maybe I'll cross that bridge when I come to it which I guess will be soon because pill wise I'm one day away from being safe can you believe it but I leave for Tennessee tomorrow so there goes that good timing which means you'll have more time to get ready exactly well I guess it's good that they're at least practicing safe sex H can we talk about something else like this our very own Zoe is going to have her cherry pop tonight has the cherry popping commenced Maddie no but we're at the hotel unless Doug has other plans I don't really care just as long as we don't end up at some Hotel afterward having sex I'm not going to be that girl or well aren't you that girl already that was different our first time isn't going to be in a post prom hotel with three other couples and everyone except me drunk on cheap champagne and to make sure I have a plan which is I told Doug that I want to spend time the night before prom with just him he's got the key to his Church's basement so I'm going to suggest we go there it's not perfect but it's better than the prom night Insanity very nice and I think it is perfect that you're going to lose your maidenhood in the house of the Lord you'll be like a nun um no it'll be the opposite of a nun anti- nun yeah anti-un at least he really loves you zo at least he wasn't humping the first Fe available female just to get his Cheap Thrills at least he's not a total  I was in a fog I said something like why he's allowed to go out with other girls if he wants other horse  you mean let me guess Janna was very sympathetic listener uhhuh so sympathetic that she led him to an empty bedroom to so that they could be alone and they slept together as Maddie would say he squeezed it in her and who knows how many times they've had sex since then now do you understand why I'm such a mess that lying schemy skanky  yeah you non verion we're dying for details well it was wonderful night wonderful wonderful wonderful but actually I'm still a virion pardon we didn't make it to completion well he did but it was before you know he squeezed it in you Maddie after all he's he was all ah crap zo I'm sorry well yeah nice way to blow your wad Doug o Doug and zo must be go going at it in the church basement by now think he's going to blow his wad again prematurely I mean hey girls yes it's true I'm a woman now way to go you sexy beast squeals oh wow so this is not my mother's Pampered Chef party so a few minutes ago aunt stie was in the shower and her s beeped I picked it up and it was a text message from someone named dilemma dilemma get it the message was STI 5m good so I typed back 5:00 P p.m is great but changed my mind about the dildos bring lots all sizes so now Emma's going to show up to next Thursday with a human humongous box of dildos I love it talk about an awkward conversation can you imagine having to tell your dad that his wife's been whacking the liquor store guys salami apart from the awful text messaging format of the author author's books in this series the characters in this book are L laser focused on having sex not only that they are praising each other for sex acts and glorifying having teen sex any positive messaging about friendships and dealing with the stress of senior year is completely lost how is presenting reality how is this presenting reality in a respectful way how does this line of fiction fit in with a school district's view on abstinence isn't that what is taught in our County doesn't make sense for the school district to maintain works in the media center that uphold what is taught which pillar of character counts does giving a great blow job followed by swallowing the water encapsulate Miss Moore you please wrap up if we could yes ma'am I'm just about to give my punchline I will give you all I'm sorry let me read this last part which part pillar of character counts does giving a great blood blow job followed by swallowing the W incapsulate you all can discuss that point amongst yourselves thank you thank you Miss Moore Committee members we will now begin our discussion utilize ing the school library material evaluation checklist Florida statute states that any materials used in a classroom made available in a school or classroom library or included on a reading list may be objected to for four specific reasons reason number one the material is pornographic or prohibited under section 847.011 of Florida statute reason number two the material depicts or describes sexual conduct as defined in 8471 pin 19 of Florida statute reason number three the material is not suited to student needs and their ability to comprehend the material for reason number four the material is inappropriate for a grade level and age group for which the material is used if the majority of the committee determines that this material uh is pornographic or prohibited under Section 847.011 that would be reason number one then the material must be removed for the remaining three reasons the committee will determine if there is an appropriate grade level or if the material should be removed keep in mind that our final task on the form is to make a recommendation to superintendent forson and we have two options retain the book for a designated level or remove the book from all St John's County School District Libraries again statute is clear that we must remove the title if there is a majority of the committee who feels there is a violation of question number four the floor will be open to discussion and each Committee Member will have the opportunity to share comments will be summarized to proide to provide an overall committee response for each question please raise your hand anytime that you would like to provide a comment for our meeting today both agreeable and opposing viewpoints are welcome let's begin question number one the objecting party's challenge of the material cites that and for this question we will actually take exactly um the words that Mrs Moore provided on her objection form where she states that she is objecting to the material due to drugs alcohol profanity racial slurs teen sex references to chatting with adults online and adult drunkenness so we will um make sure that that is um placed right in there for question number one for question number two this is um to verify for Mr forson when he reviews our summary um it's just to show him that the members of the committee um were able to review the materials that were cited by the objecting party so if you were able to to review the materials that were cited by the objecting party please vote Yes at this time if you were unable to do that please vote now miss sap we have seven yes yes votes for question number two you may now remove your vote okay we'll move on to question number three this is similar to question number two and that um your vote will serve as confirmation that you were able to review the Press professional or crowd Source reviews that were provided so at this time please vote Yes if you did Rie the professional or crowdsource reviews vote no if you did not miss up for question three we have seven yes votes you may now remove your vote okay for question number four is the material pornographic or prohibited under Florida statute 847.011 is there anyone who would like to make a comment before we vote is the material pornographic or prohibited under Florida statute 8470 one2 go ahead Kelly hello um I just um wanted to point out that um that the the section 847.011 has three sections um so like even if people feel that one of the three sections might um meet the criteria um that all it doesn't I don't feel that it meets all three um like it's not appealing to a prient shameful or morbid interest um and it's not without serious literary artistic political or science scientific value for minors um so that's um something to take into consideration when you're voting and also just the definition of pornographic and general you know this is something you can buy at a bookstore not um something that um you know you're having to go and get shipped to you in a black um envelope or you know get in um you know a different way like you can get at a library you can get it at um at a bookstore thank you Kelly okay seeing no additional hands we'll go ahead with our vote is the material pornographic or prohibited under Florida statute 847.011 Miss Sapp we have seven no votes for question number four you may now remove your vote hey question number five and we'll also allow for comment before voting on this one question number five states does the material depict or describe sexual conduct defined in Florida statute 847 one for 19 please raise your hand if anyone would like to make a comment before we vote okay I don't see any hands so we'll go ahead with our vote does the material depict or describe sexual conduct defined in Florida statute 847.011 19 everyone go ahead and vote for question number five does the material depict or describe sexual conduct defined in Florida statute 8471 print 19 Miss sap for question number five we have seven no votes you may now remove your vote uh just to keep in mind again with question number six if there's anyone who wants to make a comment we'll do that before we vote question number six is the material unsuited to student needs and their ability to comprehend the material presented seeing No Hands we'll go ahead with the vote is the material unsuited to student needs and their ability to comprehend the material presented Miss sap for question six we have seven no votes you may now remove your vote hey before approaching question seven um Can someone from the media Services team please tell us for which grade level is this material currently available in our libraries hello this material is currently available in high school library collections so this material is currently available to students in Grade 9 through 12 in our high school library collections so now we'll address we'll address question number seven seven um please indicate again if you'd like to make a comment that you raise your hand is the material inappropriate for the grade level and age group for which the material is used don't see any hands so we'll go ahead with the vote is the material inappropriate for the grade level and age group for which the material is used Miss sap for question seven we have seven no votes you may now remove your vote that concludes our questions it's now time for us to indicate our recommendation to the superintendent so we need to indicate for which level um we want to um recommend that we um make this book available Miss we have one more vote that needs to be removed thank you is there a member of the committee who would like to make a recommendation State a recommendation for consideration oh go ahead Kelly I recommend that we keep it in the a level that it has now 9 through 12 okay thank you Kelly um I'm not sure whose hand was up next so miss kza hands was hand was up but it looks like she lowered it um Miss milon would be next go ahead Miss milon I was gonna say the same thing okay yes I recommend that we keep it um this book has was published published over a decade ago and the material in there is suitable for the kids that are reading it it is high school it is dealing with the last three months of senior year and it is very very relevant to what our kids do and see and talk about every single day so I say that we keep it for grades 9 through 12 okay so we'll go ahead and move forward with a vote by the committee that our recommendation to superintendent forson will be the material is appropriate for grades nine and up please vote the material is appropriate for grades nine and up you'll vote Yes if you support that recommendation Miss sap we have seven yes votes for keeping the book and grades nine and up you may now remove your vote are there just by you can raise your hand if you have any other comment that you'd like included on the recommendation to the superintendent okay seeing none thank you to all of our committee members for your participation today there are two final action steps to conclude our work number one your acknowledgement as a participant on the committee is needed on the recommendation to Mr forson the recommendation which includes notes from today's discussion will be email to you you may acknowledge participation by responding with an email or you may review and sign the document in person at our Media Services office at 10 hildr in St Augustine the second um item that we need you to do is to return your book and any notes from your work to prepare for this meeting and you can return those items to to the location where you picked up your book are there any questions before we close the meeting this concludes the meeting thank you