County Citizens Defending Freedom has received an overwhelming positive response for bringing to light content within library books available in Polk County public schools that is explicit and inappropriate for minors. CCDF-USA understands that hard working parents do not have time for page-by-page reviews of public school library books and many have expressed appreciation that CCDF-USA brought this issue to their attention. Polk County parents are not alone. Parents around the country have openly expressed the same concerns about such material being readily available to minors in public schools.
Parents attending a recent school board meeting in Virginia were gaveled down by the board chairperson as the parents read sexually explicit excerpts from books found in their children’s school libraries. Should minor students not be safeguarded from materials of explicit nature? Why is it available to them in school? Why would school board members of any school district refuse to hear the content of the very books they make available to minors? If the content was so uncomfortable for the board members to hear, why would they resist a discussion about the appropriateness for minors?
The books identified by CCDF-USA imprint obscene, violent, pornographic, drug abuse, sexual abuse and suicide-related content upon the minds of minor students. The family values and virtues that shape a child should be and are developed in the home, and the content found in these books stands in opposition to those very core values. Parents should have confidence in sending their children to school without worry that undesirable, even unthinkable material is available to their children in their school libraries; especially books that potentially violate Florida’s decency and child protection statutes.
Children are not born with a fully developed set of values. Their values are formed as they mature to adulthood under the guidance and direction of their family. Because of this, parents entrust school teachers and administrators to partner with them in protecting their children as they develop. This trust must not be breached.
CCDF-USA looks forward to working with the Polk County School Board, Superintendent Heid and Polk County parents to ensure that minors are not subjected to such materials in Polk County public schools.