#van ayres

Judd Legum, Rebecca Crosby, and Noel Sims at Popular Information:

In a chilling meeting of the Florida State Board of Education last week, a school district superintendent was publicly browbeaten and repeatedly threatened with criminal prosecution. The members of the State Board were incensed that Van Ayres, the Superintendent of Hillsborough County Public Schools, had not unilaterally and permanently removed a list of 55 books from school libraries. While Florida Republicans have defended removing books from public school libraries in the name of "parents' rights," no Hillsborough County parent had objected to the books at issue. Rather, the State Board had summarily declared that the 55 books were "pornography," even though none of the books met the legal definition of pornographic material. Many of the books targeted by the State Board are award-winning literature that have been read by students for years — including two finalists for the National Book Award for Young People's Literature, Patricia McCormick's Sold and Elana K. Arnold's What Girls Are Made Of. Also included was Forever, a seminal young adult novel by Judy Blume, winner of the American Library Association's Margaret A. Edwards Award, which honors the best young adult authors. These books include sexual content and other mature themes. But they are not smut or pornography. They are works of literature that have long been recognized as valuable material for many high school students. The Florida Freedom to Read Project obtained the full list of books that the State Board wants immediately banned from public schools.

Ayres had ordered the removal of all 55 books — and hundreds of others — after receiving threatening letters from Florida Secretary of Education Manny Diaz Jr. (R) and Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier (R). But the State Board was angered that, with the exception of six books, Ayres indicated the materials would be reviewed by the schools’ librarians, known in Florida as media specialists, to determine which books were age-appropriate and which should be removed permanently. Kelly Garcia, who was appointed to the State Board by Governor Ron DeSantis (R) in 2023, suggested that librarians in Hillsborough County were illiterate and told Ayres they lacked a "single shred of decency." She described the librarians as "child abusers" and asked if Ayres had considered firing all of them.

Ryan Petty, appointed by DeSantis in 2020, told Ayres it was time to demonstrate "courage." According to Petty, Ayres should tell librarians and others in his school district, "I don't care what the rules say." Then, Ayres should order the permanent removal of the "garbage" from the library and tell district librarians that anyone who does not comply will be "terminated immediately."

[...] Ben Gibson, the State Board Chair, demanded that Ayres remove all 55 books within two weeks. (Gibson incorrectly stated there were 57 books on the list.) Gibson told Ayres not to let the books be subject to "an expensive review process" and instead "be done with it." [...]

The groups behind the bans

Both the legislation and the book bans are being advocated for by two right-wing groups, Moms for Liberty and Citizens Defending Freedom. Since 2021, Moms for Liberty has pushed to limit conversations about race and LGBTQ issues in schools, remove books from school libraries, and limit sex education curricula. The group’s website argues that the organization is “fighting for the survival of America by unifying, educating and empowering parents to defend their parental rights at all levels of government.”

Moms for Liberty has reported school librarians to law enforcement for letting a student check out a popular young adult novel, claiming that they were distributing “pornography;” convinced a school district to “draw clothes” over illustrated books that depicted figures without clothes, including Maurice Sendak’s In The Night Kitchen; and argued that young adult books about Martin Luther King Jr. and Ruby Bridges were “critical race theory.” Citizens Defending Freedom’s website states that its “resources empower citizens to hold school boards, local officials, and other governing bodies accountable, ensuring they uphold the principles of freedom and liberty.” The group’s “focused efforts” include “uncovering corruption,” “promoting our faith,” and “election integrity.”

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