Some Florida teachers and parents are grappling with how to explain disappearing books to their students, under sweeping, inconsistent book policies school districts have implemented in response to new state rules.
One avid reader — a fifth grader in a Duval school — tells Jacksonville Today, “The best part about a library is that you don't have to be held to what you just have at home.” But lately, he’s had to bring books from home to read at school. “The thing is, some of my friends don’t have access to books like I do, and you can’t share them unless you go to their parent.”
It’s been two weeks since the district directed teachers to temporarily cover or store classroom library books, as 52 certified media specialists review classroom and school library books across the district’s nearly 200 schools — a massive undertaking that’s left some classrooms nearly bookless in the interim. “A day hasn’t gone by that a student hasn’t asked me when the books will be back, or, ‘Where are the books?’ or, ‘How can we get some books?’” Andrea Phillips, a reading interventionist in Duval Schools, says. “They want their books back.”
Duval Schools’ schoolbook review is in response to a new state law that makes it easier for parents to contest schoolbooks, but it’s also more drastic than surrounding districts. St. Johns County Schools is letting most books stay in place in classrooms, while distributing a list of a few dozen books to be removed. Clay County Schools says it hasn’t directed teachers to remove any books yet.
Read the rest of this story at Jacksonville Today, part of WJCT Public Media.
