Groups like Public School Defenders Duval, Rebel Readers, 904WARD, Equality Florida and Moms Rising will make their voices heard outside district headquarters.
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Several Jacksonville groups are rallying outside Duval County Public Schools headquarters Monday, calling for an end to book bans across the state.
Members from Public School Defenders Duval, Florida Freedom to Read, Families for Strong Public Schools, Rebel Readers, 904WARD, Equality Florida and Moms Rising are making their voices heard ahead of the Duval school board’s first meeting of 2024.
Rebel Readers is run by Casey Truglio and Katie Johnston, two former teachers who say they personally watched literacy rates decline in the classroom.
“A staggering amount of the bans are for books that are written by members of marginalized communities,” Truglio said, “so it’s important for people to see themselves represented in literature because then they become more engaged in it, which is particularly important for the students.”
In Duval, 13 books have been placed on the “not approved” for students list, including “Beloved” by Toni Morrison, who’s known for writing about the Black experience in America.
The district previously reviewed another 250 books, which they opted not to ban. Media specialists recommended requiring parental permission for some and leaving others on the shelves.
Dr. Jennifer Cowart said she feels like recently some people want to bypass the normal book review process.
“What we’ve seen as a tactic across the country, and now in Duval County,” Cowart said, “where someone will stand up and read out loud from a challenging passage of a book, in an attempt to basically get the school board to strike that book and pull it for review without going through again, the usual process for submitting a book challenge.”
Johnston said parents should be making the final decision about if their child is mature enough for a book.
She said these conversations at home are vital to encouraging reading.
“Parents do have a right,” Johnston said. “They do have choice, but they don’t have the choice to take it away from everyone. As long as you’re a part of your kid’s education, you can still make those decisions with them and for them, but you don’t have to do it for everyone else’s kids.”
