Brevard school board leaves public comment as-is amid explicit book controversy

BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. – The Brevard County School Board decided to keep their public speaking policy as-is during a workshop meeting Tuesday following a controversy over explicit books being read during board meetings.

The move comes after a new law, HB 1069, was signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis that says parents “shall have the right to read passages from any material that is subject to an objection,” and if a board member stops them, the book is “discontinued.”

The Indian River School Board recently removed dozens of books after the board stopped parents from reading sexually explicit passages during a board meeting.

Brevard board member Katye Campbell previously proposed a policy change to remove “non-agenda” public comment from the live stream, and instead record it and upload it after-the-fact.

Campbell said her intent was to “protect the little ears at home from more than just sexually explicit content.”

Campbell voiced concerns on FCC violations and said “obscene content does not have protection by the First Amendment.”

The board was previously split on the decision, as reported by Florida’s Voice; however, during the Sept. 19 workshop, Campbell’s proposal did not receive enough support for a policy change.

Before the Tuesday meeting, Florida’s Voice questioned board members about legal experts that claim the opposite of Campbell. Some people believe that parents reading those explicit excerpts actually did not violate FCC law.

In a similar school board discussion, Indian River County Attorney Sidney F. Ansbacher spoke on the topic during a board meeting on Sept 11. and said, “Public access TV is not directly regulated by FCC.”

Thomas Kenny, Policy and Media director for Indian River of Florida Chapter of Moms for Liberty, previously told Florida’s Voice he believes that Campbell is “incorrect” and said her quote pertains to the “commercial channels that are not broadcast for the purpose of the public interest.”

Multiple activist groups, including the local chapters of Moms for Liberty and Moms for America issued a call to action ahead of the meeting, encouraging members to contact school board members to leave the public comment as-is.

Despite the push back, during Tuesday’s workshop meeting, Campbell said she still felt the same on the issue and supported the separation.

“I still feel the way that I feel, for no other ulterior political motives, then, not just FCC, and people tried to disprove, ‘Oh, FCC doesn’t apply, or does apply […] but whether it’s that way or not, it’s still comes down to my personal concern,” Campbell said.

During the meeting, board member Megan Wright echoed her previous comments issued to Florida’s Voice, and said she “never was in favor – not one time – of not recording them live.”

“Right now my choice would be leave it alone and see what happens,” Wright said.

Board Chair Matt Susin agreed, and said he “feels the same way.”

Board member Gene Trent flipped his initial position and said his “first choice now is to leave it alone and continue the recording.”

“I’m sure that it’ll be taken care of the way its supposed to from the chair’s position, I have all the confidence in that,” Trent said.

Board member Jennifer Jenkins said she is “okay with leaving it as it is,” but also said she is “not against separating “agenda” and “non agenda.”

Toward the end of the discussion, Jenkins said she believed that the board “needs to be well aware of the responsibility that they’re taking by leaving it alone.”

“You are now ahead of time, very well aware of how it can be abused, while also having a book committee that is not active, and we are not actively utilizing the policy that we put in place to address the very issue that might come before us,” Jenkins said.

Campbell said the situation is not a “hypothetical” and that on July 27 they stopped people from reading books and then removed the books from shelves.

“The board majority has spoken – I don’t have a problem with that – but I just want to us to recognize this isn’t something that’s out there, potentially, it already happened, and we were unaware. It might happen again, and I’m not gonna be happy about it, but this is where we are,” Campbell said.

Susin said noted “a disconnect” between the board, the public, and news organizations, regarding the “knowledge of which books are being challenged,” and said he will make a request to receive those books.

Susin said at the Lincoln Museum, there’s a section where “he [Lincoln] was completely attacked by the press, by individuals, by everything, and he kept moving forward.”

“I think we do ourselves a disservice, I’ve stood by the opportunity to allow people to come address us at one time during the agenda, to the point where many of our vendors have to sit through the conversations and stuff, because that’s what our governing is,” Susin said.

Susin said when they “try to change that, it hurts our process a little bit.”

He said he understands the fear of the new update, but “if you look back at history, whether that was slavery, whether that was the many of the rights that came up, there were serious conversations and debates and things that came up, and we still have it today.”

“We are prepared for what they come with, and it is their right to do so. So we need to adjust if there’s something, but I do not fear somebody getting up and speaking to something that is in our schools or not,” Susin said.

During the meeting, resident Maribel Campos spoke during public comment on the topic of explicit books in schools and said books with sexual explicit language “need to be removed – period.”

“There should be no exceptions and whether the book is educational or not,” Campos said. “Anything in regards to sexuality has no place in our schools, including the high schools that are still full of minors.”

Another speaker told the board they need to “get the book review policy committee back on a roll as quickly as humanly possible.”

Brevard Moms for Liberty Chair Deborah Crisafulli told Florida’s Voice she is “happy that we can go on as usual with the goal of removing books containing explicit material.”

Crisafulli said she “appreciates the passion that came from Campbell, and respect where she is coming from.”

Katie Delaney, chair of Brevard Chapter of Moms for America told Florida’s Voice she is “very excited that the school board voted to continue the policy as it is.”

“I think the more transparency we can bring to our public meetings, the better,” Delaney said.