Sen. Tina Polsky: Parents not ‘qualified’ to decide which books should be in classrooms

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (FLV) – Sen. Tina Polsky, D-Boca Raton, said Wednesday that parents are “not qualified” to decide if certain books should be in school or classroom libraries.

“The fact that I as a parent, and anyone else who’s testifying, are suggesting books don’t belong in school libraries or classroom libraries, is not qualified to make the decision like a school librarian, or the teacher of those students,” Polsky said.

Her comments came minutes before the Florida Senate gave final passage to a bill that prohibits school teachers from teaching sexual orientation or gender identity from grades PreK-8. 

One big part of the bill would require a school remove books that have been objected to on the basis that they are pornographic, harmful to minors, or describe or depict sexual conduct. 

They must be removed from circulation at the school where the objection was made, within 5 days of the objection, until the completion of the objection process.

The bill will now move to Gov. Ron DeSantis for his signature.

Republicans said they believe the legislation will protect children from seeing pornography in school material. They also urged that parents should have more of a say in what books are allowed in the classrooms. 

Sen. Blaise Ingoglia, R-Spring Hill, called the “book banning” narrative a “ridiculous argument.”

“Have there been some books that have been pulled off of the shelves because there was something indecent in there, one or two lines, buried in 200 pages? It’s possible,” Ingoglia said. “But that’s not what we’re talking about. That is a disingenuous argument to, quite frankly, apologize for the pornographic materials in our schools.”

The bill aims to increase school district transparency and accountability for selecting and using instructional materials and library materials by requiring that district school boards be responsible for the contents of classroom libraries, in addition to instructional materials and school libraries.

Committees convened by a school district to review and make recommendations related to the adoption of instructional materials must include parents of students that will have access to the materials being reviewed. 

All meetings of such committees must be publicly noticed and open to the public. 

The bill creates an appeals process for a parent that disagrees with the school board’s determination on his or her objection.

Polsky brought up the book Roberto Clemente: Pride of the Pittsburgh Pirates and said copies of the book were “pulled from the shelves.”

“And they will be pulled, books like that, ban first, review later. And they were only put back because of public pressure or public records requests. So, we’re gonna have a serious problem with that policy,” Polsky said.

In February, senior officials from the governor’s office pushed back against certain narratives, including articles about the removal of the book on MLB legend Roberto Clemente, being tied to a bill DeSantis signed into law last year.

Florida lawmakers passed HB 1467 in mid-2022, which requires media specialists go through approved training to brush up on Florida laws in order to approve books for classrooms and libraries. The training was formally approved in January 2023.

NBC News reported that Roberto Clemente: Pride of the Pittsburgh Pirates and other “books about Latino figures” have been “covered or stored and paused for student use” in Duval County schools. Videos have surfaced of one Duval County school library without any books on the shelves.

Officials from the governor’s office told Florida’s Voice the administration never dictated the removal of books like Roberto Clemente or wanted shelves wiped of books, calling it political theater. They expressed frustration that the book of Clemente had taken eight months to review.

DeSantis addressed the situation at a press conference, saying that the concerning books are those containing pornography, not a biography of Clemente.

“Having young kids engaging in sex acts, you’re going to compare that to a biography of Roberto Clemente?” DeSantis said. “Give me a break.”

In March, Florida Education Commissioner Manny Diaz Jr. launched the Commissioner’s Book of the Month for K-12 schools.

On the first list of Diaz’s book of the month recommendations, he chose the biography of Clemente for grades 3-5.