Under national scrutiny over rejected schoolbooks, Duval County Public Schools clarified this week which books it returned to its distributor because they weren’t part of the district’s intended order — and which books it returned over content.
What led the district to reject nearly 50 titles last year — including 34 titles explicitly over content — became a flashpoint last week during congressional debate over a federal “Parents’ Bill of Rights.” The proposal mirrors laws Florida passed last year, prompting House Democrats to point to Duval County’s review of the Essential Voices classroom library collection as a cautionary tale of what could happen elsewhere in the country under the bill.
The books rejected over content include "The Berenstain Bears and the Big Question" by Jan and Stan Berenstain, about God and religion; "Other Words for Home" by Jasmine Warga, about a 12-year-old Syrian refugee in the U.S.; and "Separate Is Never Equal: Sylvia Mendez and Her Family’s Fight for Desegregation" by Duncan Tonatiuh, a children’s book about the fight to end segregation in California schools seven years before Brown v. Board of Education — the Supreme Court decision that found school segregation unconstitutional.
See the full list of rejected books at Jacksonville Today, part of WJCT Public Media.
