{"id":19516,"date":"2022-01-26T15:40:33","date_gmt":"2022-01-26T20:40:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/?p=19516"},"modified":"2022-01-26T15:40:46","modified_gmt":"2022-01-26T20:40:46","slug":"local-group-complains-about-16-books-in-the-polk-county-schools-libraries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/2022\/01\/26\/local-group-complains-about-16-books-in-the-polk-county-schools-libraries\/","title":{"rendered":"Local Group Complains about 16 Books in the Polk County Schools Libraries"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On Tuesday, Polk County Public Schools Superintendent Frederick Heid has asked all middle and high school librarians to remove 16 books from school media center shelves ASAP. Because Heid received complaints about the books from the activist group <a href=\"https:\/\/ccdfusa.com\/\">County Citizens Defending Freedom<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"alignright size-full\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"250\" height=\"250\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1110px) 100vw, 1110px\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/SuperintendentHeidFred-250x250-1.jpg?resize=250%2C250&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-19517\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/SuperintendentHeidFred-250x250-1.jpg?w=250&amp;ssl=1 250w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/SuperintendentHeidFred-250x250-1.jpg?resize=150%2C150&amp;ssl=1 150w\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In an email Heid said;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWhile it is not the role of my office to approve\/evaluate instructional or resource materials at that level, I do have an obligation to review any allegation that a crime is being or has been committed,\u201d Heid wrote in an email sent Monday evening. \u201cIt is also my obligation to provide safeguards to protect our employees.\u201d Heid added the district is taking several steps to \u201caddress [the] issue honestly, fairly, and transparently.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Most of the 16 books targeted by the group deal with racism or LGBTQ+ characters and themes. The books had been housed in media centers across the district including in high schools, middle schools and a few elementary schools. <\/p>\n\n\n        <div id=\"ep-gutenberg-content-4e2f013acb4282d99774765008bb6627\" class=\"ep-gutenberg-content aligncenter ep-percentage-width   ep-content-protection-disabled\" data-embed-type=\"PDF\" data-embed-url=\"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/media-materials-for-review.pdf\">\n            <div class=\"embedpress-inner-iframe emebedpress-unit-percent ep-doc-4e2f013acb4282d99774765008bb6627\" style=\"max-width:600%\" id=\"embedpress-pdf-1643229265478\">\n                <div >\n                    <div class=\"ep-embed-content-wraper\"><div class=\"position-right-wraper gutenberg-pdf-wraper\"><iframe title=\"media-materials-for-review\" class=\"embedpress-embed-document-pdf embedpress-pdf-1643229265478\" style=\"width:600%;height:600px; max-width:100%; display: inline-block\" src=\"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/plugins\/embedpress\/assets\/pdf\/web\/viewer.html?&#038;file=https%3A%2F%2Flakelandgazette.info%2Fnews%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2022%2F01%2Fmedia-materials-for-review.pdf#key=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\" frameborder=\"0\" oncontextmenu=\"return false;\"><\/iframe> <\/div><\/div>                <\/div>\n            <\/div>\n        <\/div>\n    \n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the email, Heid said a \u201cstakeholder group\u201d \u2014 later identified as&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/ccdfusa.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">County Citizens Defending Freedom<\/a>&nbsp;\u2014 requested the books be removed from the shelves because the group\u2019s members allege they contain material harmful to minors which would violate&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.lawserver.com\/law\/state\/florida\/statutes\/florida_statutes_847-012#:~:text=Florida%20Statutes%20847.012%20%E2%80%93%20Harmful%20materials%3B%20sale%20or,2021%20%7C%20Check%20for%20updates%20%7C%20Other%20versions\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Florida statute 847.012<\/a>, which involves distribution of \u201charmful materials\u201d to minors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>\u201cIt is important to note that these 16 books have not been censored or banned at this time. They have been removed so a thorough, thoughtful review of their content can take place,\u201d <\/strong>said Jason Geary, spokesman for Polk County Public Schools, adding that these books will be not be available to students while under review.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cPCPS is committed to the safety and wellbeing of children as well as the freedom of expression, \u201cGeary said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On Tuesday, Polk County Public Schools Superintendent Frederick Heid has asked all middle and high school librarians to remove 16 books from school media center shelves ASAP. Because Heid received&hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":19519,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"0","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","inline_featured_image":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"wpai_generated_summary":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","default_image_id":71799,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[12,14],"tags":[2271],"class_list":["post-19516","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local","category-news","tag-local-group-complains-about-16-books"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19516","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19516"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19516\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19519"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19516"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19516"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19516"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}