Polk School Board Reinstates 16 Books to Library Shelves, Some Parents Believe it May Violate Florida Law

PUNTA GORDA, Fla.—On Aug. 10 Polk County Schools will be in session and so will 16 book titles that some parents found “objectionable” at the end of the 2021-2022 school year.

Some parents believe that the books violate Florida law.

In February, the school board voted to pull the 16 titles from the shelves of school libraries and quarantined them until further review.

During a school board workshop that month, Polk County school superintendent Frederick Heid told those in attendance that a total of 56 books had been initially identified as being in violation of Florida law, but later narrowed the list to 16.

A file image of a school library. (John Moore/Getty Images)

In response to growing concern from parents and worries over Florida statutes—more importantly F.S. 547.012, which deals with the distribution of obscenity to minors, a third-degree felony—Heid formed a review committee to evaluate the “questionable titles.”

The district developed a process to thoroughly examine each book where they were evaluated by educators, community stakeholders, mental health experts, parents, and high school students.

The review committee’s findings were presented at a May school board meeting by the superintendent with his recommendations on how to handle parental concerns over the books being available to their children.

The committee found that none of the books would be banned and only some of the titles were to be moved to the high school level. The school board did not make or vote on any recommendations on how to move forward with any policies regarding the committee’s findings or who would make the policy.

At the July 26 board meeting, Heid explained to the board that he planned to implement an Opt-In/Opt-Out policy.

Opt-In allowed parents to give permission for students to check out a library book that had been part of a district-wide