A Duval Schools staffer who’s helping lead the district’s ongoing review of 1.6 million books called depictions of an adult lesbian couple in a book intended for 5th graders “morally damning to a student” in a book review last spring. Michelle DiBias, the district’s supervisor of instructional materials and media services, also wrote in the review of Ivy Aberdeen’s Letter to the World that the book was “teaching a lifestyle contrary to the design of humanity,” and recommended it be removed from all shelves, according to a log of 2022 review notes obtained by Jacksonville Today.
On Wednesday, after Jacksonville Today asked Duval Schools about her comments and for her personnel file, DiBias sent out an email to colleagues saying she is resigning from her position. She did not respond to multiple requests for comment, but in the email to colleagues, obtained by Jacksonville Today, she wrote, “I am hoping to stay with DCPS in some capacity. It is a step of faith, so I do not know at all what that capacity is yet.”
DiBias was one of 11 reviewers assessing a collection of 179 books under scrutiny last year, and she was recently tasked with overseeing volunteer reviewers in a new process. Last week, the district retracted a logistical email DiBias sent to potential book reviewers, saying the information was “premature.”
Read the rest of this story at Jacksonville Today, part of WJCT Public Media.
