Miss seep I'm G to pause you for just one moment we have lost one of our committee members okay we're going to um contact that person oh there they are in the waiting room they just must have got kicked out so give us one second for him to get back in and then um we are live streaming but I'll let you know when he is St are you able to unmute and check your mic one more time yep all good perfect we can hear you thank you all right Miss sappa I'll turn it over to you we are live streaming thank you for joining us today for the district library book objection committee meeeting the purpose of today's meeting is to review an objection to the book titled 33 snowfish by Adam rap I'm Don Sapp associate superintendent for curriculum and instruction our superintendent Mr forson has designated me as chair of the committee and I'll be facilitating today's 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 and 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 is being live streamed for public viewing committee members are not required to have their camera on during the meeting we're 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 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 library Bill of Rights and a school library meeting material 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 utilizing the school library media material evaluation checklist final finally the decision by majority vote will determine a recommendation for superintendent forsen 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 before we begin hey seeing No Hands Gan Moore is the objecting party for 33 snowfish Miss Moore this is your time to address the committee you have up to five minutes to share your objection good afternoon and thank you for the opportunity to share my thoughts my objections to this book are it contains excessive and frequent profanity and derogatory terms sexual activities including child prostitution and hate including racism the book itself does not contain egregious illegal content but that should not be the only consideration when when deciding appropriate reading material for for school libraries my opinion about the story itself doesn't matter what matters is what lies within the content excessive use of profanity the word occurs frequently and is used as in regular speech by the main characters the same with the word it's used throughout the book by the main characters in as regular part of speech and as a racial slur I strongly believe that if the author's use of profanity and other fou language is necessary for character development or to show some sort of realism of the setting is perhaps for more mature audiences outside of school I've said this quite a few times in these meetings our culture has seriously lost its way it's now a foregone conclusion that profanity obscenity and other adult content does not belong in front of children let alone in schools and that adult mature content is for adults this is a perfect example when he woke up his nose twitched a little and he just laid there and stared at me what you doing jimster I didn't say nothing back I just took my pants down and climbed up in his bed his mattress is real high off the flooor so you kind of have to jump up in it after I got up in the bed I turned away from him and got on my hands and knees like a dog I didn't notice it when I walked in the room but on the wall across from his bed there was a picture of this clown with balloons in his cheeks the clown had this upside down smile and he looked sad and happy at the same time I just stared at the picture and waited for Seldon to do what I knew he was going to do Seldon went gymster again but I just stayed there like that like that for a minute I just stayed there all doggy style and naked with my ass up in the air Seldon went you asleep gster I just went go ahead seldom go on and do me then I closed my eyes tight and held my breath because I knew he had his big dick out and I knew it was all long and scabby and I knew it had the hook on the end of it like Bob Motley talked about and I just knew that  was going to hurt when he stuck it in me and took my buns too it didn't matter how much hair grease or motor oil he used but I didn't care I just said said it again I went go on and me what in the name of Heaven makes anyone think this is okay for school would you want this image on a movie or TV screen in front of your child a naked child ready for anal sex talking about go on and me with your long scabby dick I would sincerely hope that answer is no so why would you want to put that image in a child's head via graphic descriptive language isn't that one of the wonderful things about reading our minds are able to create imagery from words when kids are at school the school stands in for parents to keep Kids Safe physically emotionally psychologically Etc the digital catalog does not provide enough information for parents to safeguard their students while they're browsing the shelves at school the optout solution does not work the school district needs to make better choices When selecting titles not every book ever written belongs in a school library in spite of what the Ala Library Bill of Rights might imply the boundaries around sexual content profanity obscenity and other adult content in a public school library needs to be clear in our district the school the school district is relying heavily on the Florida Statutes and the recent houseful 1069 for us committee members to make decisions a book does not need to be illegal for it to be inappropriate for schools the checklist alone does not determine appropriateness I sincerely hope this committee approaches the content with common sense a moral compass and courage to stand up for childhood innocence and parental rights parentals parents alone determine if they want their child to have access to adult content not the child and not the school district thank you for your time thank you Miss Moore Committee members we will now refer to the school library media material evaluation form for our discussion as a reminder Florida statute states that any excuse me 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 84701 two of Florida statute the material must be removed if the majority of the committee agrees with an objecting party that the material is pornographic or prohibited for the remaining three me reasons the committee will determine if there's an appropriate grade level or if the material should be removed reason number two the material depicts or describes sexual conduct as defined in statute 8471 P9 reason number three the material is not suited to student needs and their ability to comprehend the material reason number four the material is inappropriate for the grade level and age group for which the material is used keep in mind that our final task on the form is to make a recommendation to superintendent forson there are two options retain the book for a designated level or remove the book from all St John's County Libraries School District Libraries again statute is clear that we must recommend to remove the title if a majority of the committee determines there is a violation of question four on the checklist the floor will be 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 please remember to raise your hand to provide a comment for our meeting today both agreeable and opposing viewpoints are welcome we will now go through the checklist together I will read each question ask if anyone has a comment and then we will vote are there any questions before we begin okay question number one on the checklist um asks or wants you wants all of us to make sure that we know what the objective party 's challenges to the material so it says the objecting party's challenge of the material cites that and we will lift that directly from the um formal objection that uh Miss Moore submitted and her grounds for objection were reasons number two three and four so those reasons being the material depicts or describes sexual conduct the material is not suited to student needs and their ability to comprehend the material and the material appropriate for the grade level and age group for which it is being used and then she also provided an attached PDF so we'll make sure that that is captured for number one for number two uh number two and three are both um just an opportunity for the for Mr forsen to know um to what degree the committee reviewed the materials so for question number two it's asking if you reviewed specific pages that were cited by the objecting party so if you did review the pages that were cited by the objecting party you would vote Yes if you did not review those specific Pages you'd vote no we're just waiting for one more vote for question number two again if y there we go all right Miss sa for question number two we have eight yes votes you may now remove your vote thank you uh similar line of thought for question number three um professional Andor crowdsource reviews were considered if you did read over those professional Andor crowdsource reviews please vote Yes if you did not please vote no Miss saap for question three we have eight yes votes you may now remove your vote okay for the remaining questions I'll read the question and ask for any comments you have a comment you'll raise your hand um and then following comments uh we will vote so for question number four is the material pornographic or prohibited under Florida statute 847.011 are there any comments okay seeing none will vote is the material pornographic or prohibited under Florida statute 847.011 we are waiting for three more votes Miss sap for question four we have four yes votes and four no votes thank you you may now remove your vote move on to question number five does the material depict or describe sexual conduct defined in Florida statute 8471 for in 19 are there any comments seeing No Hands we'll go ahead and vote does the material depict or describe sexual conduct defined in Florida statute 8471 PR 19 Miss sap for question five we have five yes votes and three no votes you may now remove your vote question number six is the material unsuited to student needs and their ability to comprehend the material presented raise your hand if you have a comment seeing no hands will vote is the material unsuited to student needs and their ability to comprehend the material presented this sap for question six we have four yes votes and four no votes you may now remove your vote for question number seven um Miss Sakowski could you please tell us where is this material currently available in our libraries it's currently available in the high school collections grades 9 through 12 okay thank you so just keeping that in mind it's currently available for grades 9 through 12 so question seven says is the material inappropriate for the grade level and age group for which the material is used are there any comments no hands so go ahead and vote is the material inappropriate for the grade level and age group for which the material is used Miss sap we have four yes votes and four no votes for question seven you may now remove your vote okay we're now at the point of making a recommendation to the superintendent um we have seen a split vote on on several of these of course um so we we do have to start somewhere and um just to clarify for everyone we haven't really had a majority that indicated we should we H that we have to make a recommendation Mr forson to remove the material but um we do see a split vote so um the material is currently available for grades nine and up I'm asking if there is any discussion on whether we should start there with a vote on nine and up or if we'd like a different we start somewhere different is there any discussion okay so we will vote on the material is appropriate for grades nine and up if you agree you'll vote Yes if you disagree you'll vote no the material is appropriate for grades nine and up this would be our recommendation to Mr foron Miss sap we have five yes votes and three no votes for uh the recommendation of appropriate for grades nine and up you may now remove your vote okay so our recommendation to Mr forsen will be because the majority of the committee um voted in favor that the material will remain available for grades nine and up are there any closing comments from anyone from the committee that you'd like included with the recommendation okay well thank you very much to all of the 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 forsen the recommendation which includes 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 documents in person at our Media Services office at 10 hrth in St Augustine second thing we need you to do is to return your book and any notes from your work to prepare for the meeting to the location where you picked up your book we'd like you to try to make sure you finish both of these tasks um by the end of this week that would help us out a lot and um given that are there any questions before we close the meeting this concludes the meeting thank you very much --------- okay Miss sa 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 and objection to the book titled 33 snowfish by Adam rap I'm Don Sapp associate superintendent for curriculum and instruction our superintendent Mr forson has designated me as the chair of the committee and I'll be facilitating today's 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 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 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 received several resources in advance of the meeting the resources included the objecting Pary requests for reconsideration a copy of the book Florida Statutes Florida Department of Education guidance for library media services yes I'm sorry to interrupt we do have a hand up and some um comments in the chat this is um I'm gonna let Miss Dixon Speak oh apologize yes my apologies Miss Miss sa this is um the objection to strange truth ah I am so sorry it's the next book but that's okay you go ahead and finish and um I'm sure more in the committee um know the book that they're reviewing yes I see that and I apologize for that I see that com it's my confusion I had my date mixed up um and since I don't have my notes right here strange truth the author is Miss Dixon Miss zakowski I don't have it right in front of me either it is Maggie thrash thank you I just want to make sure we get that recorded So today's meeting is um to review an objection to strange truth Truth by Maggie thrash my apologies again for that so you received a copy of that book and um the Florida Statutes the Florida Department of Ed guidance for library media Services professional Source reviews St John's County school board rules the library book of Rights and a school library media material 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 utilizing the school library media material evaluation checklist finally the decision by majority vote will determine a recommendation for superintendent forsen 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 welcomed are there any questions before we begin Jean Moore is the objecting party for strange truth Miss Mo this is your time to address the committee you have up to five minutes to share your objection good afternoon and thank you for the opportunity to share my thoughts my objections to this to the book strange truth by Maggie thrash are that it contains obscene sexual activities sexual assault sexual nudity voyerism profanity profanity and derogatory terms alcohol and drug use by minors and suicide I'd like to share kirus reviews review of this title it states the obvious about the story itself and then provides an accurate conclusion an elite Atlanta Prep School Harbor shocking and deadly Secrets at Winship Academy the mystery Club has only two members Benny one of the only Jewish students in the entire school and gossip mongering Virginia AB bordering the school's crumbling dorms when popular blonde Britney Plum plummets off a bridge the mystery Club is on the case what they discover however is a disquieting web of murder Obsession and sex crimes rape and child pornography are breezily discussed and seem to be given almost no gravitus the perpetrator of the rape and murder faces No punishment even after Benny and Virginia deduce who who did it Benny concludes what the world needed more more than Justice was truth instead of reporting it to the authorities even more frustratingly among the nearly allwhite student body the only people who commit crimes in this book are people of color it will be hard for readers to find anyone to latch on to as the characters are almost uniformally rep repellent including Benny and Virginia their ability to shrug off the seriousness of crimes they investigate in order to solve them seems positively sociopathic the mystery itself is implausible and that failing combines with with the careless treatment of victims and loathsome character characterizations to create an offering that's both repugnant and infuriating don't just skip this run from it the reviewer calls the characterizations loathsome and the book itself repugnant I could not agree more anything good you could possibly come up with about the story is lost in the endless sexual commentary and scenarios I would like to take a moment to say that every student in this that uses a school media center is a minor child it is the responsibility of the school district to compile an age appropriate collection that does not include adult content a book does not have to be illegal under the Florida Statutes to be inappropriate for school please do not get lost in the upcoming questions from the checklist the checklist alone does not determine if a book is appropriate for school I sincerely hope that committee members will also use common sense a moral compass and courage to stand up for childhood innocence in parental rights parents alone determine if they want their children to have access to to or be exposed to adult content not the child and not the school district the digital catalog and opt out process does nothing to prevent students from accessing anything located in the media center thank you for your time thank you Miss Moore Committee members we will refer to the school library media material evaluation form for our discussion as a reminder Florida statute states that any material 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 the material must be removed if the majority of the committee agrees that the objecting with the objecting party that the material is pornographic or prohibited for the remaining three reasons the committee will determine if there is an appropriate grade level or if the material should be removed those three reasons are the material depicts or describes sexual conduct as defined in statute 8471 P9 the material is not suited to student needs and their ability to comprehend the material and the material is inappropriate for the grade level and age group for which the material is used keep in mind that our final task on the form is to make a recommendation to superintendent forsen there are two options retain the book or designated level or remove the book from all libraries again statute is clear that we must recommend to remove the title if the majority of the committee determines a violation of question four on the checklist the floor will be 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 please remember to raise your hand to provide a comment for our meeting today both agreeable and opposing viewpoints are welcome let's begin we will now go through the checklist together I will read each question ask if anyone has comments and then we will vote okay the first question the objecting party's challenge of the material cites that and what we will do is we will go directly to the document that was provided by Miss Moore and we will take her words from her form and place them for question one it's just a way um when Mr forsome received this it's a way of seeing that you know we all know this is why the material was objected to so number one um will take care of that and you can see that on the um her request for reconsideration so we'll go to question number two um questions two and three are really just a way for Mr forson to know if the committee the members of the committee had a chance to look at the resources that were provided so question number two specific pages in the material cited by the objecting party were reviewed if you did review the pages cited by the injecting party please vote Yes at this time if you did not um review those pages please vote no miss that is seven yes votes for question number two you may now remove your vote we're waiting on one more vote to be removed sorry I think that's me can you tell me how to do that again I'm just where you clicked the uh to vote you're just gonna hit that um option one more time there you go Gotta thanks did you want to change your Vote or was that a mistake to that was a yeah that was a mistake I okay that was supposed to be green yes it was Green at first and then I think you hit it to remove it and I just want to make sure that we properly accounted for your vote so that is thank you you're welcome seven yes votes Miss sap thank you question number three professional Andor crowd Source reviews were considered if you looked at the professional and crowd Source reviews that were provided please vote Yes if you did not review the all of those um provided reviews please vote no all right Miss sap we have um six yes votes and one no vote for question number three you may now remove your vote thank you okay moving on to question number four is the material pornographic or prohibited under Florida statute 847.011 please vote oh and I apologize is there anyone and I know you guys start but is there anyone who want to make a comment on this prior to the vote if you do just raise your hand okay I don't see any hands so we'll go ahead with the vote is the material pornographic or prohibited under Florida statute 847.011 please vote it this time is the material pornographic or prohibited under Florida statute 847.011 this app we have three yes votes and four no votes for question number four you may now remove your vote question number five does the material depict or describe sexual conduct defined in Florida statute 8471 for9 are there any comments before we vote raise your hand don't see any hands so we'll go ahead and vote does the material depict or describe sexual conduct defined in Florida statute 8471 pin9 Miss sap we have two yes votes and five no votes for question number number five you may now remove your vote okay question number six is the material unsuited to student needs and their ability to comprehend the material presented are there any comments please raise your hand seeing none we'll go ahead and vote is the material unsuited to student student needs and their ability to comprehend the material presented Miss saap for question six we have seven no votes you may now remove your vote before I read question seven um Can someone from instructional materials and Media Services tell me where is this material located at this time hi currently this material is located in the high school collection so those are grades 9 through 12 thank you so for question number seven just keeping in mind that it's currently available for grades 9 through 12 12 question number seven is the material inappropriate for the grade level and age group for which the material is used are there any comments seeing No Hands let's go ahead and 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 okay so we are now at the point where we need to um indicate what our recommendation is so as was stated the material is currently available for students in grades nine and up is there anyone on the committee who would like to suggest that we change that recommendation okay seeing No Hands we will go ahead and vote that our recommendation is the material is appropriate for grade nine and up please vote the material is appropriate for grade nine and up Miss sap for the recommendation of uh grades nine and up we have seven yes votes you may now remove your vote just waiting on one more vote to be removed okay well I'm gon I'll go ahead um thank you to all of our committee members for your participation today excuse me there are two final action steps to conclude our work first your acknowledgement as a participant on the committee is needed on the recommendation to Mr forsen the recommendation which is includes notes from today discussion will be emailed to you you may acknowledge participation by responding with an email or you may review and sign the documents in person at our Media Services office at 10 hildr in St Augustine the second thing we need you to do is to return your book and any notes from your work to prepare for this meeting and you'll return those to the location where you picked up your book are there any questions before we close the meeting okay thank you have a great afternoon everyone