Five books are coming off the Leon County School Library shelves after Moms For Liberty called them into question. Lynn Hatter reports Leon Superintendent Rocky Hanna briefly discussed the removal during a school board agenda meeting earlier this week.
The books include the novels “Push” which inspired the Oscar-winning movie “Precious.” Also taken out of the libraries of SAIL and Lincoln High: “Me, Earl and the Dying Girl,” which was also made into a film. The novels "Dead End,” "Doomed” and “Lucky” are also out.
The books were removed after Hanna says he and other school board members received a complaint by Moms For Liberty.
“We have over 468,131 books in our inventory. There were five that were brought in question, I reviewed them personally, and they were removed," Hanna told school board members during Monday night's agenda review meeting.
The five removed books were donated to the district and haven’t been checked out since 2018, says a district spokesman. They were removed because they contain sexually explicit content.
The district is reviewing all of its library and classroom materials, under new requirements from the state. During that process, Hanna says any books he and others find to have pornography will be removed immediately.
“Books we readily identify that are in stark violation in state law I will remove immediately because they’re in violation of the law. Others we do not deem inappropriate…we will continue to follow the process that we are using with the Billie Jean King book.”
The district is still involved in a parent challenge to the book “I am Billie Jean King.” It was challenged over its inclusion of LGBTQ issues. The district is undergoing a series of mediations to determine that book's fate.
Meanwhile, the local chapter of Moms For Liberty has put out a list of more than a dozen other books in the school district it says need to be scrapped. That list includes novels such as “Water for Elephants,” and “All Boys Aren’t Blue.” In a statement on its Facebook page, Moms for Liberty Leon thanked Hanna for removing the books it originally called into question.
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