Story thread · 2 reports / 2 sources

After state demands, Hillsborough pulls more books from school shelves

tampabay.com · 3hShare

Hillsborough County schools are again culling books from their shelves after Florida’s new education commissioner on Wednesday renewed calls to purge books deemed inappropriate. Hillsborough was specifically highlighted in Education Commissioner Henry Mack’s seven-page memo calling for a 90-day, nine-step plan to remove all inappropriate materials. Mack referenced nine books in his memo, and Hillsborough immediately pulled the remaining seven that had not previously been removed, a district spokesperson said. Among them was Toni Morrison’s “The Bluest Eye,” one of the books that first launched conversations over book removals in the district years ago. It’s also the book that brought Pinellas County’s removal processes into question when it was removed before going through official procedures. It was later returned to that district’s shelves . “Our schools will conduct a collection integrity review of their library media and classroom collections,” Hillsborough spokesperson Tanya Arja

First report: Hillsborough County schools called out in FDOE letter about inappropriate books — wfla.com, 1d