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Clay County tops state in school book removals, withdrawing nearly 290 books last school year

CLAY COUNTY, Fla. – Clay County in Northeast Florida takes the top spot in the state for districts removing the most books last school year.

According to a new report from the Florida Department of Education, Clay County pulled 287 books from their libraries.

For the 2022-2023 school year, the district removed 177 schoolbooks.

Tara Richardson, a member of Clay Reading Alliance, is a former educator in the county. She taught in the classroom and was a former assistant principal.

She said the removal of books is hurtful.

RELATED: Nassau County schools facing federal lawsuit over removal of dozens of books | St. Johns County school board decides not to remove Slaughterhouse-Five, 3 other books from high school shelves

“I wish more people were involved,” Richardson said. “This is affecting teachers classroom libraries and the libraries at the school “

This topic of removing books has been contentious in the state for the past few years.

In Clay County, to get the process of removing a book started, a Specific Material Objection Form must be submitted. It has to be filled out proving there are pornographic elements or inappropriate elements for a certain grade level.

Earlier this year, the district released a new library policy after years of controversy.

News4JAX spoke to Clay County resident Bruce Freidman about these book removals.

He said he’d challenged about 1,000 books. One of the books he challenged last school year that was removed was A Clash of Kings.

He provided an 11-page document that showed the reasons why he wanted the book removed. This included references to paragraphs he thought were inappropriate and demonstrated things that included “porn, sex, violence, gore profanity, references to kink, incest and beastly.”

His document said those things could lead to damaged souls.

He also said that inappropriate books being removed will benefit the students.

“Keeping P*RN away from children is not only consistent with the law, it’s what this community demands,” Freidman said. “Our school libraries are still polluted. *My son is forbidden to use the library in his own school. Shame on all involved who let things get this bad and failed to provide any oversight at all. Shame on us too. As community members, we should have noticed sooner that our librarians were not trained consistent with this community’s standards.”

He also said, “It’s odd that so many people are struggling to defend giving these books to children. They are written for adults.”

While she feels the books removed are for adults, Richardson said these books being gone will be detrimental to kids.

“It concerns me they’re removing books that have a moral and cautionary tale.”

News4JAX contacted the Clay County School District to inquire whether the removed books are going to be replaced.

Terri Dennis with the Communications/Community Relations Department said, “Our libraries are currently purchasing new titles.”

For a 2023-2024 county-by-county breakdown of removed books in Florida, view the documents below.

For a 2022-2023 county-by-county breakdown of removed books in Florida, view the documents below.


About the Author
Khalil Maycock headshot

Khalil Maycock joined the News4JAX team in November 2022 after reporting in Des Moines, IA.

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