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Florida Department of Ed to schools: Get rid of sexually explicit materials
In a memorandum sent to school districts across the state last week, Henry Mack, the Commissioner of Education for the Florida Department of Education, reiterated the “statutory duties” to follow state law and protect the “innocence of Florida’s children” from sexually explicit books heavily promoted to minors in schools by Planned Parenthood, Advocates for Youth (AFY), the American Library Association (ALA), and PEN America.
Henry Mack of the Florida Department of Education sent out a memo to school districts last week reminding them that they have "statutory duties" to protect students from sexually explicit materials.
The memo also informed school superintendents that they must ensure their schools “apply Florida law and the training" as opposed to talking points from the American Library Association or activist parent groups.
The memo confirmed that “if the school board denies a parent the right to read passages [in a school board meeting] due to content... being pornographic or harmful material, the school district shall discontinue the use of the material in the school district.”
Sexually explicit books find their way into K-12 schools through multiple avenues, including the ALA's recommended book lists sent to libraries across the country. In addition, programs and groups attempt to promote gender ideology, abortion, and more through lists like AFY’s “Hope in a Box,” which claims to equip “K-12 educators with LGBTQ-inclusive curricula, training and mentorship" through a “curated book list, curriculum guides, and toolkits” sent to schools across the country, including Florida.
In August, Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick spoke with Bonnie Wallace, legislative liaison with Recover America, who raised awareness that some Texas school districts are allegedly failing to adhere to state law. They are continuing to allow minors access to sexually explicit and vulgar materials in school libraries.
Patrick and Wallace noted that certain advocacy groups are now collaborating to protect the minds of children. Utah resident and concerned parent Brooke Stephens founded Rated Books, and helped to get legislation passed aimed at removing such explicit content from schools.
“To most people, it’s obvious that many of these books are not intended for children,” Stephens told Live Action News.
Rated Books has detailed book reports and a rating system (ranging from 0 for all ages to 5 for adult-only/deviant content). Using this system, Live Action News identified 70 books from AFY’s “Hope in a Box” catalog, of which over 20 were categorized with a 3/5 rating or higher. Eight books were rated 4/5 and one was rated 5/5. These books included content such as:
graphic or gratuitous violence; explicit sexual nudity; graphic depictions of sexual activities, shockingly profane, sexual, or obscene content to denigrate or ridicule revered religious figures, symbols, or texts; and reference or links to BDSM, sex toys, kinks and fetishes, animal cruelty, cannibalism, body horror/gore and violence; explicit descriptions or depictions of aberrant sexual activities including sexual assault, battery, bestiality, or sadomasochistic abuse.
In his memo, Florida Commissioner Mack cited recent testimony given by a parent who read aloud sections of these explicit books at a recent school board meeting. Mack wrote:
Protecting the innocence of Florida’s children is among the most serious responsibilities entrusted to public school leadership. Parents want to trust districts to protect and educate their children, but it’s not easy to trust them when the parents have to act as the quality-control mechanism for which materials are available to their children in a school library.
The memo also informed school superintendents that they must ensure their schools “apply Florida law and the training, not PEN America or ALA talking points, and not a parent activist checklist either.”
This is relevant, as Live Action News previously reported on the long standing relationship between the American Library Association, PEN America, and Planned Parenthood, and how the relationships have helped to advance both the pro-abortion and gender ideology propaganda.
Graphic books are continuing to be identified across the state.
After auditing school libraries in Palm Beach County Florida, Bonnie Wallace was invited by author and Pastor John Amanchukwu to testify with him and others during a school district board meeting, where she read aloud some of the more egregious materials.
Wallace told Live Action News:
"The district has just about every bad book, including a book about a 12 year old boy being groomed by his middle school teacher and having graphic sex (BOY TOY, by Barry Lyga).... There are also many books which glamorize and trivialize abortion, including A SPARK OF LIGHT by Jodi Picoult.”
Pro-abortion author Jodi Picoult likens the intentional killing of the preborn human child in an abortion to an “ice cream cone,” while also detailing explicit scenes of rape, incest, and gender ideology. Rated Books scored the book as 4/5 with a content warning of adults only.
While gearing up to read the book, “Let’s Talk About It” by Erika Moen & Matthew Nolan, Pastor John Amanchukwu was cut off multiple times so a board member could read a warning to parents.
Amanchukwu advised board members:
“If you have to give a warning because of the books, then maybe the books should not be in the school system. If you’re concerned about people online, the children, what about the kids who go to the library… this is insane."
Even after the school board member gave the content warning, the board still censored Amanchukwu's reading of the book due its vulgar content.
The memorandum sent to Florida schools confirmed Amanchukwu’s testimony, citing statute 1006.28(2)(a) which states that “if the school board denies a parent the right to read passages due to content... being pornographic or harmful material, the school district shall discontinue the use of the material in the school district” (emphasis added).
Live Action News also reported that Erika Moen and Matthew Nolan’s books are not only promoted by some Planned Parenthood affiliates, but the author’s other books, like the “Drawn to Sex” series — which are just as vulgar and are equally ranked as a 4/5 “adult only” by Rated Books — were directly sponsored by Planned Parenthood Columbia Willamette in 2017.
During the interview between Patrick and Wallace, Wallace noted that Moen and Nolan’s book comes with a disclaimer in which authors and publishers “expressly disclaim[s] responsibility for any adverse effects which may result from the use or application of information contained in [the] book,” while pointing readers to “look up interviews with your favorite porn performer.”
Live Action News found that the authors also promote their website in the books which have additional graphic content on subjects like “Kink & BDSM.” Other authors provide information on how to use and where to buy items like an acrylic knife for times when a “light spanking isn’t enough” for use on themselves and others, claiming that “[d]espite how sharp and pointy it is, you’d be hard pressed to actually draw blood with [it].”
“It’s becoming more evident — incidents of harmful content inside our children's library books is not just a problem in Texas but is a problem throughout our country. I've been in thousands of libraries and have yet to find a clean library. Not a single clean library... yet!” Wallace told Live Action News.
“I'm extremely grateful that the Florida Commissioner of Education is throwing down the gauntlet! I'm hopeful that Texas Commissioner Mike Morath, Texas Education Agency, will do the same thing and come alongside Henry Mack. The time for being timid and tolerant is over,” she stated.
Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick promised to find a way to cut funding for school districts who continue to disregard state law. Florida’s Commissioner Mack promises to do similar, stating:
To be perfectly clear: when the Department receives credible allegations that a district has failed to comply with its statutory responsibilities, I will use the authority provided by law to the fullest extent…
Make no mistake, the Department will hold districts, and the superintendents who lead them, accountable for failing to protect students from inappropriate content and material.
Live Action News is pro-life news and commentary from a pro-life perspective.
Our work is possible because of our donors. Please consider giving to further our work of changing hearts and minds on issues of life and human dignity.
Contact editor@liveaction.org for questions, corrections, or if you are seeking permission to reprint any Live Action News content.
Guest Articles: To submit a guest article to Live Action News, email editor@liveaction.org with an attached Word document of 800-1000 words. Please also attach any photos relevant to your submission if applicable. If your submission is accepted for publication, you will be notified within three weeks. Guest articles are not compensated (see our Open License Agreement). Thank you for your interest in Live Action News!
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·Florida Department of Ed to schools: Get rid of sexually explicit materials
In a memorandum sent to school districts across the state last week, Henry Mack, the Commissioner of Education for the Florida Department of Education, reiterated the “statutory duties” to follow state law and protect the “innocence of Florida’s children” from sexually explicit books heavily promoted to minors in schools by Planned Parenthood, Advocates for Youth (AFY), the American Library Association (ALA), and PEN America.
Henry Mack of the Florida Department of Education sent out a memo to school districts last week reminding them that they have "statutory duties" to protect students from sexually explicit materials.
The memo also informed school superintendents that they must ensure their schools “apply Florida law and the training" as opposed to talking points from the American Library Association or activist parent groups.
The memo confirmed that “if the school board denies a parent the right to read passages [in a school board meeting] due to content... being pornographic or harmful material, the school district shall discontinue the use of the material in the school district.”
Sexually explicit books find their way into K-12 schools through multiple avenues, including the ALA's recommended book lists sent to libraries across the country. In addition, programs and groups attempt to promote gender ideology, abortion, and more through lists like AFY’s “Hope in a Box,” which claims to equip “K-12 educators with LGBTQ-inclusive curricula, training and mentorship" through a “curated book list, curriculum guides, and toolkits” sent to schools across the country, including Florida.
In August, Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick spoke with Bonnie Wallace, legislative liaison with Recover America, who raised awareness that some Texas school districts are allegedly failing to adhere to state law. They are continuing to allow minors access to sexually explicit and vulgar materials in school libraries.
Patrick and Wallace noted that certain advocacy groups are now collaborating to protect the minds of children. Utah resident and concerned parent Brooke Stephens founded Rated Books, and helped to get legislation passed aimed at removing such explicit content from schools.
“To most people, it’s obvious that many of these books are not intended for children,” Stephens told Live Action News.
Rated Books has detailed book reports and a rating system (ranging from 0 for all ages to 5 for adult-only/deviant content). Using this system, Live Action News identified 70 books from AFY’s “Hope in a Box” catalog, of which over 20 were categorized with a 3/5 rating or higher. Eight books were rated 4/5 and one was rated 5/5. These books included content such as:
graphic or gratuitous violence; explicit sexual nudity; graphic depictions of sexual activities, shockingly profane, sexual, or obscene content to denigrate or ridicule revered religious figures, symbols, or texts; and reference or links to BDSM, sex toys, kinks and fetishes, animal cruelty, cannibalism, body horror/gore and violence; explicit descriptions or depictions of aberrant sexual activities including sexual assault, battery, bestiality, or sadomasochistic abuse.
In his memo, Florida Commissioner Mack cited recent testimony given by a parent who read aloud sections of these explicit books at a recent school board meeting. Mack wrote:
Protecting the innocence of Florida’s children is among the most serious responsibilities entrusted to public school leadership. Parents want to trust districts to protect and educate their children, but it’s not easy to trust them when the parents have to act as the quality-control mechanism for which materials are available to their children in a school library.
The memo also informed school superintendents that they must ensure their schools “apply Florida law and the training, not PEN America or ALA talking points, and not a parent activist checklist either.”
This is relevant, as Live Action News previously reported on the long standing relationship between the American Library Association, PEN America, and Planned Parenthood, and how the relationships have helped to advance both the pro-abortion and gender ideology propaganda.
Graphic books are continuing to be identified across the state.
After auditing school libraries in Palm Beach County Florida, Bonnie Wallace was invited by author and Pastor John Amanchukwu to testify with him and others during a school district board meeting, where she read aloud some of the more egregious materials.
Wallace told Live Action News:
"The district has just about every bad book, including a book about a 12 year old boy being groomed by his middle school teacher and having graphic sex (BOY TOY, by Barry Lyga).... There are also many books which glamorize and trivialize abortion, including A SPARK OF LIGHT by Jodi Picoult.”
Pro-abortion author Jodi Picoult likens the intentional killing of the preborn human child in an abortion to an “ice cream cone,” while also detailing explicit scenes of rape, incest, and gender ideology. Rated Books scored the book as 4/5 with a content warning of adults only.
While gearing up to read the book, “Let’s Talk About It” by Erika Moen & Matthew Nolan, Pastor John Amanchukwu was cut off multiple times so a board member could read a warning to parents.
Amanchukwu advised board members:
“If you have to give a warning because of the books, then maybe the books should not be in the school system. If you’re concerned about people online, the children, what about the kids who go to the library… this is insane."
Even after the school board member gave the content warning, the board still censored Amanchukwu's reading of the book due its vulgar content.
The memorandum sent to Florida schools confirmed Amanchukwu’s testimony, citing statute 1006.28(2)(a) which states that “if the school board denies a parent the right to read passages due to content... being pornographic or harmful material, the school district shall discontinue the use of the material in the school district” (emphasis added).
Live Action News also reported that Erika Moen and Matthew Nolan’s books are not only promoted by some Planned Parenthood affiliates, but the author’s other books, like the “Drawn to Sex” series — which are just as vulgar and are equally ranked as a 4/5 “adult only” by Rated Books — were directly sponsored by Planned Parenthood Columbia Willamette in 2017.
During the interview between Patrick and Wallace, Wallace noted that Moen and Nolan’s book comes with a disclaimer in which authors and publishers “expressly disclaim[s] responsibility for any adverse effects which may result from the use or application of information contained in [the] book,” while pointing readers to “look up interviews with your favorite porn performer.”
Live Action News found that the authors also promote their website in the books which have additional graphic content on subjects like “Kink & BDSM.” Other authors provide information on how to use and where to buy items like an acrylic knife for times when a “light spanking isn’t enough” for use on themselves and others, claiming that “[d]espite how sharp and pointy it is, you’d be hard pressed to actually draw blood with [it].”
“It’s becoming more evident — incidents of harmful content inside our children's library books is not just a problem in Texas but is a problem throughout our country. I've been in thousands of libraries and have yet to find a clean library. Not a single clean library... yet!” Wallace told Live Action News.
“I'm extremely grateful that the Florida Commissioner of Education is throwing down the gauntlet! I'm hopeful that Texas Commissioner Mike Morath, Texas Education Agency, will do the same thing and come alongside Henry Mack. The time for being timid and tolerant is over,” she stated.
Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick promised to find a way to cut funding for school districts who continue to disregard state law. Florida’s Commissioner Mack promises to do similar, stating:
To be perfectly clear: when the Department receives credible allegations that a district has failed to comply with its statutory responsibilities, I will use the authority provided by law to the fullest extent…
Make no mistake, the Department will hold districts, and the superintendents who lead them, accountable for failing to protect students from inappropriate content and material.
Live Action News is pro-life news and commentary from a pro-life perspective.
Our work is possible because of our donors. Please consider giving to further our work of changing hearts and minds on issues of life and human dignity.
Contact editor@liveaction.org for questions, corrections, or if you are seeking permission to reprint any Live Action News content.
Guest Articles: To submit a guest article to Live Action News, email editor@liveaction.org with an attached Word document of 800-1000 words. Please also attach any photos relevant to your submission if applicable. If your submission is accepted for publication, you will be notified within three weeks. Guest articles are not compensated (see our Open License Agreement). Thank you for your interest in Live Action News!
Cassy Cooke
·Guest Column
Rep. Chris Smith
·Politics
Cassy Cooke
·Politics
Bridget Sielicki
·Politics
Bridget Sielicki
·Investigative
Sheena Rodriguez
·Issues
Sheena Rodriguez
·Issues
Sheena Rodriguez
·Issues
Sheena Rodriguez
·SEXUALLY EXPLICIT and INAPPROPRIATE content has NO PLACE in Florida schools. Florida school districts will be held ACCOUNTABLE for failing to protect our children from this type of content. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH.
