Book ban discourse might be in public

Officials consider lifting the privacy veil on a discussion of whether the novel Deenie is appropriate for elementary school readers.

BROOKSVILLE - Hernando County school officials are planning to let the public attend a meeting at which a committee will consider the appropriateness of Judy Blume's novel Deenie for elementary school library shelves, two School Board members said Monday.

"We'd rather have it a public meeting due to the nature" of the subject matter, said board member Robert Wiggins, who said superintendent Wendy Tellone phoned him over the weekend to alert him to the decision.

"She said several of the board members had expressed a desire to have it public," Wiggins said.

In a separate interview, board member Gail David said she got the word from the board's lawyer, Karen Gaffney. David called the pending move "a good thing."

Both David and Wiggins suggested that the School Board will need to revisit its policy governing instructional materials challenges, to clarify the community's role in the review process.

"We need to look at what are we going to do in the future, if this occurs again," David said.

Last week, the St. Petersburg Times asked Circuit Judge Jack Springstead to stop the review committee from meeting this week if it was to convene privately. Springstead then issued a temporary injunction.

The paper acted after Gaffney said in a letter to a reporter that the session did not have to take place in the open because the panel does not advise the board directly.

Gaffney said Monday that she had not changed her opinion, and that any action the district takes would be to save taxpayer money on legal fees. She added that no decision on whether to open the meeting and end the lawsuit with the Times would be made until the board can discuss its options and act.

"Anytime a lawsuit is filed, only the School Board can resolve it," Gaffney said, adding that Tellone is considering options to recommend to the board.

Penelope Bryan, a attorney for the Times, said she was expecting a draft of a settlement agreement from Gaffney.

"I'm looking forward to a positive resolution," Bryan said. "I think it's the right thing to do, especially given the justifiable interest from the public."

The district began a review of Deenie after Jerri Trammel, the mother of a fourth-grader at Spring Hill Elementary School, complained that passages about masturbation were not appropriate for children that young. A review committee at the school did not agree on whether to remove the book and passed it to the district level.

Curriculum specialist Elaine Wooten established a committee that included a parent and a community member, following the policy that the board created in 1998 when dealing with complaints about I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. Wooten would not release any information about the committee, however, saying Gaffney had advised her that the group was not subject to state open meetings laws.

The committee's deliberations, originally scheduled for Wednesday, have been postponed pending resolution of the case. Wiggins and David both said that some committee members had agreed to serve under the assumption that they would remain anonymous and their position would not be made public.

Those committee members have been given a chance to resign, Wiggins said, so they can be replaced by "those who want to be there."

"Which I think is a good thing," Wiggins said. "If you feel strongly about it, why not go on the record?"

Board members said they learned of the book challenge and the dispute over the open meeting only after reading about it in the newspaper. They have not discussed it as a group.

However, several agreed independently that they probably need to make clear their intent for the future. Board member Jim Malcolm said he was ambivalent, to the extent that opening the session does not hinder the district's ability to find good people to serve.

"Sometimes you've just got to let things happen and keep people out of the fishbowl," Malcolm said.

He added that he would listen to recommendations regarding restricting access to Deenie based on age-appropriateness. However, he added, "I will not take books off the shelf. Nobody has the right to dictate what others will or will not read."

Wiggins said he thought Gaffney and Tellone had been acting to protect the board. He said he thinks the policy needs revision.

"I don't think we should discourage the public from attending," he said.

- Jeffrey S. Solochek can be reached at 352 754-6115 or solochek@sptimes.com

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