miss that we are now live streaming thank you good afternoon everyone and 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 The Lovely Bones by Alice seabold 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 forwarded to Mr forsen 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 decorum 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 have 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 a school library media material evaluation checklist I am Don Sapp associate superintendent for curriculum and instruction and I will be facilitating today's committee meeting 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 utilizing the school library meting material evaluation checklist finally the committee will determine a recommend ation for superintendent foron 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 and we look forward to attaining consensus are there any questions okay let us begin Gan Moore is the objecting party for the lovely bone Miss Moore this is your time to address the committee you have up to five minutes to share your objection good afternoon and thanks for the opportunity to share my thoughts Florida law House Bill 1069 says that books in school libraries cannot have content that violates the obscenity laws Florida Statutes 847.011 16 and 19 that depicts actual or stimulated sexual intercourse deviate sexual intercourse sexual abiity masturbation sestic istic abuse actual LW exhibition of the genitals actual physical T contact with a person's clothed or unclothed genitals pubic area buttocks or if such a person is a female the breast with the intent to arouse or gratify the sexual desire of either party or any act or conduct which can constitutes sexual battery or simulates that sexual battery is being or will be committed sexual battery will be committed this is an example text he baled up the Hat my mother had made me smashing it into my mouth the only sound I made after that was the weak tinkling of bells as he kissed his wet lips down my face and neck and began to shove his hands up my shirt I wept I began to leave my body I began to inhabit the air and the silence I wept and I struggled so I would not feel he ripped up in my pants not having found the invisible zipper my mother had artfully sewn into the side big white panties he said I felt huge and Bloated I felt like a sea in which stood and pissed and shat I felt the corners of my body turning in on themselves like cat like in a cat's cradle which I played with Lindsay just to make her happy he started working himself over me physical contact with a person's clothed or unclothed genitals or such a person as a female the breast example texts their breath be breath began to heat the small space beneath the boat and he could not stop it his penis stiffened inside his jeans Lindsay reached her hand out I'm sorry he began and I'm ready my sister said she took his hand and placed it on her breast I dragged his pubic hair out straight between my fingers I held that part of him that Mr Harvey had forced inside of me does everything have to be explicit or even inexplicit sex when we were talking about providing books to schoolage Children the line should be clear our our culture has made it out that this sort of imagery is normal or even suitable for children we have over sexualized almost everything that goes in front of our kids books movies TV music school should be a safe ground for kids where there is no risk of exposure to sexualized content of any kind also not not allowed is s masochistic abuse an example text a young girl being led through the streets she was taken to a p where she was wound in a sheet and placed up on the platform built from sticks the bright fire that consumed her brought my mother into that deep like dreamlike Bliss this girl was being burned alive but first there had been her body clean and whole this was a weird dream the mother was having what an unsettling mental picture drawn out by that text I'll end with a quote from Brook Stevens the creator of rated books.org the intent of book bands in the last century was to erase cultures tyrants burn books because they were a source of cultural identity in this age of information book Banning is nearly impossible yet the term is thrown about as if it were true the term book ban is an emotional trigger to derail the public and keep them from realizing that people can be controlled by giving them information that destroys their cultural identity children are being given books that shatter their morality and mental health cause addictions and create an appetite for sex and violence the reality is that our morality that is being banned parents standing to protect childhood innocence understand that it is our children that are being burned thank you for your time thank you Mrs Moore Committee members we will now begin our discussion utilizing the school library media materials evaluation checklist just a few reminders before we get started 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 the first reason um is if the material is considered um is found to be pornographic or prohibited under Section 847 .012 of Florida statute if this is the case the material must be removed so if the majority of our committee finds that the material is pornographic or prohibited under Section 847.011 um we will um know that we need to remove REM the material from our libraries there are three additional reasons the material depicts or describes sexual conduct as defined in 8471 Forin 19 the material is not suited to student needs and their ability to comprehend the material or the material is inappropriate for the grade level and age group for which the materials used if um the committee finds that one of those reasons um to be the case then the committee has to determine is there an appropriate grade level for the material uh from library media Services can you tell us where is this material currently available in our schools this material is currently housed in the high school libraries in St John's County okay so just for context uh The Lovely Bones is currently available to students in grades 9 through 12 okay keep in mind that our final task on this form is to make a recommendation to superintendent forson and there are two options we can retain the book for a designated level or remove it from all St John's County School District Libraries again statute is clear we must remove the title if 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 just all you have to do is um indicate with the um reaction to of a raised hand and um you will have the opportunity to speak comments will be summarized to provide an overall committee response for each question please remember to raise your hand if you want to provide a comment for our meeting today both agreeable and opposing viewpoints are welcome let's begin okay so now we're going to um go through the school library media material evaluation checklist for question number one the objecting Pary challenge of the material cites that and we will refer directly back to um the reconsideration form that was filled in by Miss Moore and she indicated that um there are sensitive material um sensitive sensitive materials in this document include mild profanity alternate alternate sexualities sexual activities including sexual assault so we'll make sure that we um place that onto the form so for question number two specific pages and the materials cited by the objecting party were were reviewed this question is just because we do send this on to Mr force and this um kind of confirms for him that the committee did um review all the materials so if you did review the materials that were cited by the objecting party you would vote Yes if you did not have the opportunity to to um review the materials You' vote no please vote at this time for question number two Miss sap can you hold for one minute um I think someone's having technical difficulty um and so they're calling in to the office so I'm going to try and help them okay sure okay all right so hold tight one second if everyone will just leave their vote there for a minute okay it looks like um we have everyone here now and voted and um I tallied the votes it is8 yes votes Miss SE okay thank you okay we'll move on to question number three um similar to question number two this is to verify whether or not you had the opportunity to rece sorry we just need everyone to remove their vote so we can make sure that we have a fresh vote there we go I think we're good now so for question number three um when you vote for this one you'll be verifying if you had the opportunity to review the professional Andor crowdsource reviews so if you did review the professional or Andor crowdsource reviews please vote Yes if you did not vote no please vote down okay the tally is eight yes votes um it does appear we you may remove your vote at this time um we do have a uh looks like we might have a hand raised um but um we do have someone that is still having some technical difficulty we're going to ask them to leave and come back in to see if they're able to hear us better okay sounds good Nancy does have her hand up okay Nancy go ahead hi I just wanted to clarify you guys sent out a lot of really useful information and the there's a book looks document and that that is something that was not from the district was that something that was from the complaintant that was not one of the reviews that that you all sent that was um professionally sourced and is that correct that is correct yes okay because it was just a little confusing with all the different things that came out I just want to make sure okay thank you give Miss if we want to hold one second can you hear me okay I think we're our technical difficulty is fixed so we're good to go um I did have I got the vote for the last one so I think we're good to go sorry about that no problem thank you for keeping us on track okay we are now um looking at question number four is the material pornographic or prohibited under Florida statute 847.011 you believe it is pornographic or prohibited you would vote Yes you believe it is not you will vote no Miss sap we have four yes votes and four no votes okay for question go ahead miss Trey hi I just wanted to um explain my answer I think with this one you really have to dig into the statute and part of the reason why I chose no was that I don't feel like this work meets the definition of obscene and harmful as it's um laid out in the statute and taken as a whole I think The Lovely Bones has literacy literary and artistic value for miners so that's why I voted the way I did okay thank you Kelly go ahead thank you um I just wanted to explain and clarify my vote as well um because the two it has to meet all three requirements to be considered harmful to minors and I would not say that it is predominantly appeal to a perent shameful or morbid interest like this story has a much more like that is not this whole story at all like it's a very um you know the story talks about you know family relationships and dealing with death and um a lot of other things that teens go through um it's not it's not like a predominantly appeal to those um prent shameful and morbid interests and then also to second um the ny's comment about like taken as a whole the material is not without serious literary artistic Pol for minor so while it might be patently offens offensive to um the prevailing standards in the adult community as a whole it doesn't meet those other two criteria to be considered um harmful to minors in my opinion thank you thank you for your comments is there anyone from the opposing view that would like to make a comment I will share as the facilitator we we oh Kelly go ahead um if you still have your vote on you may remove your vote at this time I don't see any other hands up yet miss sa okay I was just going to share that um if we have a majority of the committee we would stop at this point we at this point we have a four to four and so we don't really have a majority um so uh we will move forward um as the facilitator um when we get to the end hopefully we can land one way or the other on our recommendation to the superintendent um but if it is a 44 then I we you know I will take that forward as well but hoping that as we work our way through we will continue because um we did not have majority but any other comments before we continue okay Nancy I I just like to take it one step further I I feel really strongly that this book is a cautionary tale so in addition to not being harmful you know as somebody with three kids in our schools I actually find a lot of helpful um value in this book so to me it's beyond just not being harmful I think it's helpful thank you Nancy okay we're going to go ahead and move on so we had that that um number four is four yeses and four NOS okay let's look at question number five does the material depict or describe sexual conduct defined in Florida statute 84701 Forin 19 the bed of it does depict or describe sexual conduct for that definition in statute you will vote Yes believe it does not you'll vote no we're just waiting for two more votes Miss up okay okay we have five yes votes and three no votes for question number five you may remove your vote at this time okay thank you question number six is the material unsuited to student needs and their ability to comprehend the material presented and we will continue to use our frame as reference as students from grades 9 through 12 is the material unsuited to student needs and their ability to comprehend the material presented please vote at this time okay Miss zpp we have one yes vote and seven no votes for question six you may remove your vote at this time hey okay question number seven oh hold on a second we need one more vote please remove your vote at this time thank you okay question number seven is the material inappropriate for the grade level and age group for which this material is used is the material inappropriate for grades nine and up which is the group for which this material is used both at this time we're just waiting for one more vote so uh I would I would vote for 11th and 12th grade only okay so you would say no for the group it's you it's used for right now correct yeah okay all right okay let me um I'm going to re uh tally these votes real quick um I think we had a change there so I want to make sure I capture it correctly all right Miss Sepp we have um two yes votes and five no votes for question seven and we do have one hand raised um if I can have everyone remove their vote at this time and Nancy you can go ahead I I just wanted to toss out there that um pelis County School District in Florida just went through this committee review process for The Lovely Bones specifically at the end of 2023 and unanimous ly agreed to keep The Lovely Bones in middle school and high school so I just think it's interesting that there's a presedent in Florida um going through this consideration process and looking at the statute um of keeping it in another District thank you there any other comments okay so that concludes the checklist questions and now as a committee we need to determine our recommendation for Mr forsen so is there someone who would like to um make a recommendation on the level that uh they'd like us to start with and then we can vote and then we need to we can vote again yeah I'll I'll go ahead and just throw out it's currently a available for grades nine and up so let's just take a vote if you agree that it is appropriate for grades nine and up you would vote Yes if you don't agree for grades nine and up you would vote no Miss sap for the recommendation of grades nine and up we have seven yes votes and one no vote okay so the majority of the committee has voted um that the material is appropriate for grades nine and up that will be our recommendation to Mr forson um this is the last chance for any any comments that would be included with our recommendation also you may remove your vote at this time they did good they kept their vote up okay well thank you very much to our committee members for your participation today there are two final action steps to conclude your work the first step is your acknowledgement as a participant on the committee is needed on the rec recommendation the recommendation which includes the notes from today's discussion will be emailed 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 we ask that you please try to make sure that that is completed um no later than the end of this week which would be February 16th I believe so if everyone can please just try to make sure that you've either responded to the email or you've stopped by Media Services um to sign in person by Friday the 16th um the second step we need to do is to return your book and any notes from your work in preparation for this meeting to the location where you picked up your book and again we ask if you could please um try to make that happen no later than the end of this week are there any questions before we close the meeting this concludes the meeting thank you --------- Miss saap we are now live streaming thank you 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 the Sun and her flowers by Ruby core 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 forwarded to Mr forson St John's County School District superintendent the 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 decorum please assist us in maintaining a constructed 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 party's requests 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 Li Library Bill of Rights and the school library medeia materials evaluation checklist I'm Don Sapp associate superintendent and I will serve as the facilitator for today's committee meeting 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 utilizing the schol School library media material evaluation checklist finally the committee will determine a recommendation for superintendent poron 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 let us begin Jean Moore is the objecting party for the Sun and her flowers Miss Moore you have up to five minutes to share your objection good afternoon and thank you for the opportunity to share my thoughts the sun in her flowers is the followup work to the already removed book Milk and Honey by this author this book is intended for adults and it's not suitable for young readers the content is is descriptive and the images while they might add to the books appe heal for adults are graphic in nature there are several drawings depict nudity and sexual activities I've been reading through samples of what would be considered objectional content in other committee meetings but you've all read this book for yourselves this is just another example of how our culture seems to be okay with the sexualization of children you can call high schoolers young adults if it makes you feel better but that does not make it okay for the school district to provide sexual sexualized content to students parents alone should make sexual content available to their child if that is their choice I voiced many times that the opt out process is ineffective and the destiny system the digital catalog does not provide enough information for parents to make choices and it is unreasonable to expect parents to scrub the catalog looking for sexualized or of seen materials students can still freely browse without parental supervision students should be able to browse free freely without risk of being exposed to sexual content yes if kids come across something they can put the book down but once something is read it cannot be unread nor can images magically be erased from memory the argument inevitably comes up that kids today can Pro can and probably do find worse things on the internet and have ready access to things through smartphones this argument is irrelevant students cannot access pornographic sites at school and there are rules and consequences for this sort of misconduct VI via personal phones yet students have ready access to sexualized content at school via the media center because of the descriptive language and the drawn out imagery the committee can and should see that this book contains illegal content under house bill Tech 1069 and the Florida absity laws and can only deliver a decision of removal from the district thank you for your time thank you Miss Moore Committee members we will now begin our discussion utilizing the school library media material evaluation checklist just a few reminders before we get started 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 those reasons are the material is found to be pornographic or prohibited under Section 847.011 if the majority of our committee finds that this book is um pornographic or prohibited under Section to the m the material must be removed there are three remaining reasons the material depicts or describe sexual conduct as defined in statute 8471 pin9 the material is not suited to student needs and their ability to comprehend the material or the material is inappropriate for the grade level and age group for which the material is used for any of these remaining three reasons the committee will determine if there is an appropriate grade level or if the material needs to be removed keep in mind that our final task on our form is to make a recommendation to superintendent porson and there are two options retain the book for a designated level or remove the book from all St Johnny County School District Libraries statute is clear that we must remove the title if there is a violation of question number four the floor will be open open to discussion and each Committee Member will have the opportunity to share comments will be summarized to provide an overall committee response for each question um if at any time you'd like to make a comment or if you have a question please just use the um reactions tool and raise your hand for our meeting today both agreeable and opposing viewpoints are welcome let's begin question number one on the evaluation checklist the objecting party's challenge of the material cites that and we will refer directly to miss Moore's um request for reconsideration and she cites that there are sensitive materials in this um book contains sexual activity sexual assault sexual nudity and abortion commentary so we will make sure that that is included and pasted into number one for number two specific pages in the material materials cited by the objecting party were reviewed um this is where uh it's an indication to Mr forson that all members of the committee either did or did not review the materials cited by the objecting party so if you could please um enter your vote for number two if you did um review the materials you will vote Yes if you did not have a chance to review the materials you will vote no Miss sap that is eight yes votes for question number two you may now remove your vote everyone thank you question number three again this is oh wait there we go okay question number three this is an uh an indication that you whether you did or did not have the opportunity to review the professional and or crowdsource reviews if you did review and consider the professional Andor crowdsource reviews please indicate by voting yes if you did not um consider those reviews please indicate by checking no Miss sap we have eight yes votes for question number three you may now remove your vote question number four is the material pornographic or prohibited under Florida statute 847.011 you believe the material is pornographic or prohibited please vote Yes you believe it is not porn graphic or prohibited vote no Miss sap we have six yes votes and two no votes for question number four okay and as I stated at the beginning if we have a majority of the commit that feels that the material is pornographic or prohibited we must remove the material so by the nature of this vote our recommendation to Mr forson will be to remove this material from all St John's County School District Libraries um are there any comments or um questions you can show just by show of hands if you'd like to have a comment included with our recommendation we do have uh a hand raised an please go ahead hi yeah um I just wanted to say um of note when I was researching this I saw that in Poke County they have uh recently retained it after review um and also this book Al I'm very personal uh these poems can speak to many young adults as they mature and learn the importance of self-acceptance in a society that puts so much judgment and pressure on one's identity um I think it's unfortunate that it was voted this way and um the work is very deep and written away that the reader can relate self-reflect and accomplish a healthy self-identity and honestly the book is good for anyone dealing with self-acceptance loss Injustice depression and abuse so I think it's unfortunate that it was voted this way thank you an we'll include your comments in our recommendation to Mr foron there anyone else who had any comments okay I'll go ahead and we'll go to the closing thank you to all committee members for your participation today there are two final action steps to conclude our work the first 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 disc discussion will be emailed to you you may acknowledge participation by responding to the email or you may review and sign the document in person at our Media Services office at 10 hildr in St Augustine second thing oh and if we can please have everyone complete that um by the end of this week which would be Friday February 16th the second thing we need to you to do is return your book and any notes from your work in preparing for today's meeting and if you could uh please return those materials to the location where you picked up your book and again um it would be very helpful if everyone could complete both of these tasks by um this Friday February 16 are there any questions before we close the meeting this concludes the meeting thank you