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Against Policy, Flagler’s Book-Challenge Appeal Panels Dim Faculty and District Vote to Minority Status

February 28, 2023 | FlaglerLive | 10 Comments

Assistant Superintendent Lashakia Moore at a Feb. 6 community meeting where most of the non-district employees looking to be appointed to book-review committees heard an orientation. The committee members were culled from that group. The first such appeals committee meets on March 6. (© FlaglerLive)
Assistant Superintendent Lashakia Moore at a Feb. 6 community meeting where most of the non-district employees looking to be appointed to book-review committees heard an orientation. The committee members were culled from that group. The first such appeals committee meets on March 6. (© FlaglerLive)

A Flagler County school district-level committee will meet for the first time on Monday to take up the appeal of a decision not to ban the novel Sold from library shelves at Flagler Palm Coast High School and Matanzas High School.




The make-up of the committee is not in line with school board policy, giving parents and community members a lopsided presence on the panel–at the expense of district staff and faculty. The make-up of a second appeals committee waiting in the wings is even more lopsided, severely diminishing the role of school and district staffers.

The 14-member appeals committee is made up of members of the community who don’t have children in public schools, parents with children in schools, and district administrators and school faculty. The non-district representatives were drawn from upward of 70 people who turned up or showed interest in being part of such appeals committees when Assistant Superintendent Lashakia Moore held an information session about the system on Feb. 6.

Moore said then that she would seek to maximize community and parental representation on the appeals committees. The district appeared intent on accommodating every person who showed interest in being appointed to a committee, even at the expense of following policy. That has resulted in a less rigorous, more loosey-goosey system framing what has been one of the district’s most vexing issues of the last two years.




The selection of district and school staffers was the administration’s decision. The selection of parents and community members was randomized by computer from the pool of some 70 applicants.

The panel reviewing the Sold decision will meet at 6 p.m. on March 6 at the Government Services Building, 1769 East Moody Boulevard, Bunnell, in Room 3B. The meeting is open to the public, though it isn’t clear if public participation will be permitted. It is not permitted at the school level.

The committee breaks down as follows:

First District-Level Book Review Appeals Committee

MemberRepresentation
Carmen StanfordParent of current student
Milagros MuentesParent of current student
Holly RichmondParent of current student
Angela CoatesParent of current student
Tiffany ScardignoCommunity member
Carol GunthorpeCommunity member
Jeanene FarrellCommunity member
Jearlyn LoweCommunity member
Kristin FrankDistrict curriculum specialist
Amy KopachDistrict instructional media services (IT)
Catie BrandnerMatanzas High Schoool media specialist
Katie BrushIndian Trails Middle School media specialist
Mandy KraverotisFlagler Palm Coast High School assistant principal
Tom DeCeglieMatanzas High School English teacher
Lashakia MooreNonvoting facilitator, assistant superintendent

Flagler County School Board Policy 411 sets out the make-up of the committee. The policy language is not ambiguous: “The Superintendent shall appoint a District Review Committee with the following composition.” The policy then sets out nine clearly defined appointments, with faculty and district staff holding a 6-vote majority.




The actual appointments follow the policy in so far as district and school-based personnel is concerned. But with regards to three other categories and the total number of members on the panel, the make-up does not  follow policy. It stacks the panel in favor of parents and community members, reducing faculty and district votes to a minority.

The committee by policy was to have only one member of the community at large (that is, a local resident with no children in public schools). It has four. By policy, it is to have one “representative of a school parent organization,” which is being interpreted as a parent with one or more children in school. It has four. It is to have one representative of the Public Library board of trustees. It has none.

While it was to have only two parents or members of the community, six school and district staffers and a library representative, the committee meeting Monday will have eight members of the public or parents, and six school staffers.

So that first appointed appeals committee has 14 voting members (instead of nine), the second has 20. The even numbers in both raises the possibility of a tie vote, which would be avoided had the original make-up been followed (or if the membership was odd-numbered). And no representation from the public library, usually a staunch advocate in defense of books.

Assistant County Attorney Sean Moylan informed Holly Albanese, director of the Flagler County Public Library, that the district could not compel a library trustee to serve on the district committee. Albanese met with Moore to let her know the decision of the library board not to participate. “It did not appear to me from her comments that it was a requirement, just if we are interested,” Albanese said.




While the expansion of the committee may allow the district to claim that it is being more welcoming of community voices, diverting from policy potentially creates a legal liability for the district, especially as the number of community and parental members appears very fluid.

The next district-level committee, which will take up another appeal, is even more lopsided. It has 13 different parents or community members–three parents, 10 community members–and six school staffers. That committee will take up the appeal of The Nowhere Girls on March 13. A school-based committee elected to keep the novel by Amy Reed on high school shelves, prompting what appears to be automatic appeals of decisions that don’t go the challengers’ way.

That committee breaks down as follows:

Second District-Level Book Review Appeals Committee

MemberRepresentation
Amylyn CerranoParent of a current student
Richard NicholsParent of a current student
Joseph EspositoParent of a current student
Debbie MayCommunity member
Debra BroganCommunity member
Brad WestCommunity member
Elizabeth GiordanoCommunity member
Deborah GiordanoCommunity member
Chandra HolbackCommunity member
Gary PerkinsCommunity member
Michaelle HarleCommunity member
Bettie EubanksCommunity member
Jo Anne HornCommunity member
Celeste AckermanDistrict curriculum specialist
Amy PhillipsDistrict instructional media services (IT)
Caitlin HutsellBuddy Taylor Middle School media specialist
Katie BrushIndian Trails Middle School media specialist
Mandy KaverotisMatanzas High School assistant principal
Tom DeCeglieMatanzas High School English teacher
Lashakia MooreNonvoting facilitator, assistant superintendent

The parent and community-member make-up of three additional district-level committees have been formed as well. But those appeals committee have yet to be assigned titles to review.

In the increasingly muddy maze of the school district’s attempt to deal with a suppuration of attempted book bans, appeals committee are different from school-based committees, and neither have the final decision.

A joint committee of the two high schools voted earlier this year to keep Patricia McCormick’s Sold on the shelves after Shannon Rambow and Terri McDonald each filed a challenge to the book in an effort to ban it, one of 44 challenges affecting 22 titles they and Cheryl Lackey filed since last summer. That school-level decision is now being appealed.




The appeals committee will discuss the book in open session and vote on whether to recommend upholding the school-based committee’s decision or reverse it. The appeals committee’s vote, however, will only be a recommendation to Superintendent Cathy Mittlestadt, who will then decide whether to ratify the recommendation. The superintendent’s decision may be appealed to the school board, but only if Mittelstadt elects to keep the books on the shelves. If she decides to ban it, her decision may not be appealed.

An appeal to the school board is in fact expected should the appeals committee and the superintendent align on the side of protecting access to the book, which would only be available as a voluntary reading choice in libraries, not as assigned reading in any curriculum.

Sold, patricia McCormickSold is a 2006 novel written from the point of view of a 13-year-old Nepalese girl sold into sexual slavery in a brothel in Indian. The story reflects the experience of large numbers of minor girls and boys worldwide, including in the United States, who are victims of human trafficking, a problem human rights agencies, governments and the United Nations have been highlighting in order to combat it. (It was the subject of a recent Flagler Tiger Bay’s keynote presentation.) In 2020, the last year for which figures are available, the number of children believed to be in the trade fell worldwide for the first time in 20 years, by 11 percent–except in the United States and Europe. It rose 26 percent in the United States.

While Sold, written by a journalist, contains two scenes alluding to–but not explicitly describing–the child being raped by customers, the story is entirely focused on the child’s psychology and evolution from an innocent, hard-working school-girl in the hills of Nepal to an object of trade and abuse in a large Indian city. It is written in the luminescent language of a child, often in verse, and doesn’t once contain the word “sex” or its derivatives.

Sold was a National Book Award finalist in 2006. It was on numerous lists for the best books of 2006, including Publishers weekly, National Public Radio and the American Library Association. It won the Gustav-Heinemann Peace Prize in 2009. The prize, named for a former president of West Germany, is awarded annually to authors of young adult literature who promote world peace.

It’s local challengers claim it’s “pornography.”




The trio of challengers–Rambow, Lackey, McDonald–are alone in seeking book bans. Two of them have no children in schools. They are taking advantage of a change in state law that now permits any local resident to challenge library holdings in a county’s public schools, but not at the county library, which has taken a decidedly defiant position against all bans. The three challengers are members of the vigilante group known as the “moms for liberty.” It has few members. But its state representative has Gov. Ron DeSantis’s ear.

There is no evidence that the challengers have read the books, and a lot of evidence that they have not–that they have plagiarized their challenges, page for page, title for title, from a national website that caters to book-burners. In essence, the challengers have spent all of a few minutes cutting and pasting a few lines and page numbers to file challenges.

To address them, the district is devoting a disproportionate amount of school and community resources, time, money and energy. By law, the district has no choice, however frivolous or intellectually dishonest the challenges may be. That’s why 15 men and women will meet in committee after hours, many of them after a full days’ work, to review a book they will have been required to read (it would have taken three or four additional hours of their time beforehand) and will now be required to judge, possibly to no end, since their decision is not binding.

Click On:


  • 70 People Turn Up, Hoping for Appointment to District’s Book-Banning Committees
  • State Panel Developing Guidelines on Book Bans for School Librarians May Be at an Impasse
  • In Flagler Schools, New Regime of Book Challenges Is Laborious, Subjective and Fraught With Uncertainties
  • Flagler Schools Have Been Quietly Banning or ‘Removing’ Many Books Since Summer in Bow to ‘Moms for Liberty’
  • American Library Association Condemns Broad Censorship of Books on Race and LGBTQ in Schools and Libraries
  • Flagler School Libraries Face Chilling Dangers Beyond Book Bans
  • On Book Bans, ‘Equity’ and the School District’s Duty to Honor Student Diversity: The Students’ Perspective
  • Closing Inquiry, Sheriff Rebuffs Charge of ‘Crime’ in Book Controversy; Woolbright Wants ‘All Young Adult Books Checked’
  • Why All Boys Aren’t Blue Belongs in High School Libraries: A Response to Brian McMillan
  • Student Protesters Face Hail of Vile Obscenities, Taunts and Threats From Group Claiming to Speak For Children
  • Potential Book Ban in Schools Galvanizes 2 Sides in Day of Highs and Lows as Sheriff Recoils at Criminal Complaint
  • Cheryl Massaro Rebukes Fellow School Board Member Woolbright Over ‘Rogue’ Attacks on Books and Superintendent
  • The Live Interview: Author George M. Johnson Speaks to Those Who Want Book Banned From Flagler Schools
  • 2 Flagler School Board Members Object to Black Lives Matter Language and a ‘Hate Group’ Trolls District’s Library Books
  • Help Make Flagler County Known for Progress, Tolerance and Growth Instead of Ignorance and Hate
  • Jill Woolbright Wants 4 Books Banned Over Anti-Racism, LGBTQ, Police Violence and Rape Themes; District Removes Them Pending Review
  • Shapiro: In the End, It’s the Profanity of Censorship Against the Sacredness of Learning
  • Why To Kill a Mockingbird Is a Triumph for Flagler, And Especially for FPC’s Drama Club
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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Shocking says

    February 28, 2023 at 8:07 pm

    So in other words, that whack-a-doodle group Moms of Liberty will have their paid shills there as well. You know the group funded by the Koch family. Nothing wrong here. 🙄

  2. JOE D says

    February 28, 2023 at 10:54 pm

    Why should this review committee be any different than any other current Florida governmental behavior from the Governor on down. If you don’t like a law/policy, ignore it, or change/ram it through the puppet Florida legislature to change the rules the way you want!

    Democracy FLORIDA STYLE!

  3. Deborah Coffey says

    March 1, 2023 at 8:20 am

    Obviously, the people of Flagler County want all their rights taken away because they keep voting for Republicans…Putin-like authoritarianism at its finest. Welcome to Florida, the first Fascist state in the nation!

  4. ralph6 says

    March 1, 2023 at 10:24 am

    Yes, let’s let the fox guard the chickens. NOT. The people who put what some consider objectional books into the library/curriculum should not have much of a say in whether those items stay. It’s a given those backing the books will again back the books. The key issue is parental control. The scales need to be tipped in the favor of parents. Those paying the taxes, paying the bills for the schools and the salaries of the administrators, the faculty, and the libraries/librarians, too.

    The teacher unions are on record as not being for the students, but instead being for the teachers. Most parents have the interests of their kids at the forefront. Especially those parents actually engaged in supporting the education of their kids.

    At a time when many see a major problem with education as lack of parental engagement, we should support those parents who are engaged.

    Note this is not book banning. It is judging what is age appropriate material for minors. Book banning today is the digital censorship (of all kinds) that happens in social media, the news media, and often instigated by the US Government as has become very evident.

  5. JoB says

    March 1, 2023 at 11:42 am

    The article states that “the trio of challengers—Rambow, Lackey, McDonald—are alone in seeking book bans. Two of them have no children in schools.” It does not appear that parental involvement is the reason for the book challenges.
    As for the scales being tipped in the favor of those paying the taxes—as one of those taxpayers, I oppose the book challenges by a few individuals.

  6. Sheila Zinkerman, Citizens for Truth and Justice in Education says

    March 1, 2023 at 12:38 pm

    Curriculum and Instruction Chapter 4-411 Vl Educational Media Materials Selection, Challenged Materials
    https://go.boarddocs.com/fla/flcsd/Board.nsf/goto?open&id=8ZMP7763322D#

    Via Email and Comment:
    Dear School Board Members:

    With the undermining of Chapter 4-411 Vl-H, your school board has now officially entered what Maurice Mitchell, National Director of the Working Families Party, refers to as a doom-loop; and you are stuck in the weeds.

    Where is your Leadership? You and your districts are in a position to make a positive difference by allowing professional educators and others who will not be intimidated to do their job on the book-challenge appeal committee, structured as agreed upon in Chapter 4-411 VI-H.

    Choose appeal committee members according to policy. Simplify.

  7. Laurel says

    March 1, 2023 at 1:24 pm

    Ralph6: Note, this is book banning, by a trio of, in my opinion, ding-a-lings, whom I cannot believe anyone is paying attention to. This is the kind of garbage you will get if you vote for DeSantis again.

    Our daughter, when her daughter was in K-12, was very much involved in our granddaughter’s school. Ever heard of PTA? She was very involved in the school, the school’s sports and activities. If you, or other parents, are not, that’s your problem. No one is stopping you from being involved in your child’s school. This whole “parental control” thing is BS! Just another way to control other people’s lives.

  8. Nephew Of Uncle Sam says

    March 1, 2023 at 2:07 pm

    I would like the Flagler County School Board to publicly post how much this is costing ALL of us taxpayers for the actions of a few including two who have no children. PARENTS if you don’t like a book based on what you personally read in said book then opt your child out of said book at school. PARENTS at what point do you allow another parent to dictate what YOUR child should read, or not read, and YOU have no say so? PARENTS how many of YOU laughed at book banning and burning when you were in school and said it will never happen to YOU or YOUR CHILD? Well welcome to 2023 in Flagler County. Doesn’t matter which political party you belong to these so called saviors of your child will make sure your child only reads what they believe your child should read. Start asking yourself what is the monetary cost in dollars and the dumbing down of the children of Flagler County.

  9. Pinelake79 says

    March 1, 2023 at 2:42 pm

    I think these members should actually read and discuss these books. I have yet to read SOLD, but have read THE BLACK FLAMINGO and ALL BOYS AREN’T BLUE. I am not a reader of porn and these books were NOT that. They weren’t very good and any book club discussion would be very short! These ‘Moms’ need to get out more!!

  10. formerpirate says

    March 1, 2023 at 10:29 pm

    When I attended MHS, there was a copy of Mein Kampf in the library. I didn’t turn into a Nazi despite reading it. I also checked out and read Kite Runner from that same library, and reading a graphic depiction of boy-on-boy rape didn’t turn me into a sex offender. It did, however, give me an opportunity to empathize with a person who’s life was widely different than my own during an important time in my intellectual and emotional development. How stupid are your kids that you’re afraid of them being exposed to books?

    (So much admiration for Tom DeCeglie btw, he’s one of the smartest and kindest guys I’ve ever met. I would say he should be running the whole show but the man doesn’t deserve that kind of stress).

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