Nassau staff propose new book‑review rule, recommend immediate removal of State Board titles from student access

District staff presented a proposed rewrite of administrative rule 8.33 and recommended immediate removal from student access of any library titles that appear on the Florida State Board of Education's list of materials the state identified as pornographic.

The district's presenter told the school board that the proposed process would start when a petitioner files the specific material objection form with the assistant superintendent; a three‑person statutory compliance team — the presenter said that team would be herself, Dr. Barbara Swatkins and Mark Durham — would perform an initial, public review and notify petitioners of decisions. "We would then make a determination," the presenter said, describing the team's role in informal review and noting those meetings would be held in the sunshine and advertised in advance.

Staff said the changes are intended to clarify steps that have caused repeated requests for follow‑up information from the state and to align local procedure with federal court settlement requirements related to a prior lawsuit involving the district. The presenter summarized work that followed the federal settlement in Peter Parnell et al. v. The School Board of Nassau County, Florida et al., and described how that process had been used to evaluate a first set of titles.

Staff outlined three immediate procedural changes: require petitioners to submit the district's specific material objection template to the assistant superintendent; create and publicize a statutory compliance team that will provide an initial vetting; and establish a limited public forum for advance public comment on informal reviews so committee members have review time before meetings. "We would create a limited public forum for it where people could comment in advance," the presenter said, describing how submissions would be provided to committee members ahead of public meetings.

On the State Board of Education's list of titles — the presenter and staff repeatedly referred to the item as a 57‑page document that includes 55 book titles — staff said four of those titles are available in the district and not under review, five are marked "processing" and removed from student access pending review, four were previously removed per the district's settlement process, and 42 are not in the district's collection. Staff said one item, A Clockwork Orange, had been marked lost in 2023 and deleted from the district catalog, and that deletion would not prevent later removal actions if a copy resurfaces.

Staff recommended the board advertise the draft administrative rule 8.33 for the required public comment period and, separately, recommended immediate removal from student access of any titles still in circulation that appear on the State Board of Education list. "We would like to recommend that we have immediate removal from student access, any library media materials still in circulation that appears on the state board list," the presenter said. The presenter added that the district would document every removal with title, author, school and rationale and would report removals as required by the state.

No formal board vote on the revised administrative rule or the removal recommendation was recorded in the transcript. Staff asked the board to allow the revised 8.33 to appear on the agenda for the board meeting on Thursday to begin the 21‑day advertisement period.

Context and next steps: staff said, if the board allows advertising, the statutory compliance team would begin vetting the 57 previously filed objections under the new rule; petitioners would be notified and could request formal reconsideration, which would trigger the district review committee for a second, formal review.

Speakers quoted in this story are cited from the meeting transcript of the Nassau County School District School Board meeting.