- March 28, 2025
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Volusia County Schools continues to work on updating its policy on book selection — even as School Board members and district staff acknowledge state legislators have made it a moving target.
On Tuesday, March 25, the Volusia County School Board unanimously approved the advertisement of amendments to Policy 320 on Media Selection of Print and Non-Print Materials. Changes included clarifying language surrounding the book challenge process, eliminating the requirement for a school level review committee, as well as adding language about book challenges made that concern all students, versus individuals. The amendments also added a clause to the policy that a book that's been removed can be revisited by a school media advisory committee after three years.
"This has been a very intense review in trying to come up with something to present to the board," Board Attorney Gilbert Evans said. "As you know, we have presented this policy, or attempted to present this policy, at least three times, and every time we've tried to present this policy, there was always some additional information that we thought may have been pertinent to adding to the policy — for clarity, for equity, for transparency and also to further strengthen the policy."
District staff knows that there is both pending litigation (VCS is named in an ongoing federal lawsuit concerning book challenges) and proposed legislation that may affect the policy this year, Evans said. But their goal was to bring the board a policy that adhered to Florida law.
Some board members wondered if it was better to wait.
"So if we put this out for advertisement and that changes, then do we have to put it out for advertisement all over again?" School Board member Jessie Thompson asked. "And would it be more prudent to wait, since there is legislation pending that could affect this?"
School Board Chair Jamie Haynes said that the law dictates there should be no pornographic and sexually explicit materials in public school libraries.
"Every time this policy comes back up, it sometimes gets kicked down the road, and I don't understand why, because there is a law," Haynes said. "And whether we have a policy for that law or not, we took an oath that we would follow the law."
Yes, Haynes said, there are bills currently proposed that could impact the policy. One of these bills is Senate Bill 1692, which would further define what materials are considered "harmful" to minors, and prevent school boards from considering "potential literary, artistic, political, or scientific value as a basis for retaining the material."
"I'm not kicking this down the road again," Haynes said. "We don't know what's going to happen in Tallahassee. ... But the clarifications in here are needed."
For example, removing the school level review committee was made "to support schools," said Desirée Rybinski, district coordinator for Instructional Materials and Media Services.
"This is a burdensome process for schools when we are processing several objections across multiple schools," Rybinski said. "So this supports the schools and takes some of that time and effort, burden from them, and allows for consistency across the district."
If a principal removes a book, then it would trigger a district level review, she explained. Such a review would also take place if a principal decides to keep a book and the complainant disagrees, or if the complainant is making an objection concerning students other than their own.
Currently, a review committee is made up of seven members: a principal, a media specialist, a curriculum supervisor or an instructional staff member, and parents or citizens who are not employed by the district.
The revised policy proposes replacing the principal on the committee with an administrator and for the rest, all of which will be volunteers, to be randomly selected.
VCS has not had any book challenges this school year, according to Rybinski.
School Board member Ruben Colon said this policy is "Groundhog Day every single year."
"We can vote on this," Colon said. "This is great. This is going to go into effect in the middle of May, and then it's coming back at the end of July because there's going to be legislation."
He was in favor of the proposed amendments, but wary they may be perceived as more restrictive due to the federal lawsuit. So Colon asked: Is it worth it?
"I don't believe that we had any wrongdoing, but we're in the middle of getting sued," he said. "... Can I vote for this? Yeah. Is it going to make a difference? No. Is it going to change anything? There's zero books — there's been zero books all year long."
The only books pulled from shelves, Colon said, are the ones speakers have come before the board to read explicit passages.
The fact that there have been no challenges, School Board member Donna Brosemer said, is not an indication of a "lack of desire to have done them," but of confusion regarding the policy and the district procedures.
"There's been a lot of waiting around, trying to come to some resolution that would define the policy and that may lead to some challenges," Brosemer said.
It would not be difficult for the board to adjust the policy should some of the legislation become law, she added.
"I'm willing to be done with this for the moment," Brosemer said. "I think this is moving, at the very least, in the right direction."
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