Board to advertise revisions to media-selection policy after public comment on fairness and committee process

The Volusia County School Board on March 25 authorized advertisement of proposed amendments to School Board Policy 3-20, which governs selection and challenges to print and nonprint instructional materials. The vote to advertise followed public comments urging additional procedural clarifications and requests that parents be allowed to appeal both removal and retention decisions.

The draft policy removes a school-level review committee, creates standing district-level review committees (elementary, middle, high) and sets an open-meeting process for district reviews. It also codifies that titles may be removed districtwide if the district review committee determines a violation of Florida statute.

Why it matters: the revisions change how book objections are escalated and decided. Public speakers and community members asked the board to add a “fairness clause” allowing appeals when the district keeps a title as well as when it removes one. Others raised a possible contradiction in the posted draft about whether removals could be limited to specific grade levels or must be districtwide.

Multiple public commenters urged clearer procedures and records. Christine Seriene, a community member, commended several improvements — notably the requirement that an objection form be completed during the principal conference and the rule that titles remain in circulation during review unless removal is legally required — but asked for a published objections register and said the draft’s language duplicates the principal’s authority and could be read to let principals remove items without consistent district review.

Sheila and Larry Zinkerman urged the board to add a fairness clause so families who support keeping a title have an appeal path equivalent to those challenging a title. Jennifer Marinacchio, a longtime community volunteer, pointed out a potential contradiction in the draft: one section allows the district committee to discontinue use for particular grade levels while a later section says that if the district determines a title violates statute it “shall be removed from all Volusia County Schools.” She recommended clarifying whether district removals can be grade- or level-specific when statute allows.

Staff summarized the revisions and described the district-level review committees’ composition: seven members with a school administrator (principal or designee), a media specialist, a curriculum supervisor or instructional staff member, and four parents/citizens who are not employed by Volusia County Schools. District staff said parents/citizen volunteers would be solicited and then chosen by random selection from a volunteer pool; the district will advertise openings through usual parent and district communications.

The proposed process also includes a 15-minute public-comment period at district-level review meetings and a three-year reconsideration pathway: a school’s Media Advisory Council may propose returning a title to a campus collection after three years if it is no longer determined to violate statute.

Board members discussed timing and pending state legislation; some members asked whether advertising now would require re-advertising if Tallahassee passes changes during the session. Legal counsel said the proposed draft is intended to comply with current Florida statutes and that the board can revisit the policy following state action. The board voted to advertise the revisions; discussion and public comment will continue as part of the advertisement and public-review period.