JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A book challenge filed with Duval County Public Schools will be reviewed next month now that all members of a committee assigned to consider book challenges have been trained.
Unlike Clay County, which has seen hundreds of book challenges filed over the past few years, neighboring Duval County has seen only one.
The challenge to Identical by Ellen Hopkins was filed back in November of 2023.
The complainant argued it contains descriptions of sexual assault, child molestation, violence, profanity, and drug abuse.
“It deals with a set of twins who have a sexual relationship with their father,” said Rebecca Nathanson with Moms for Liberty.
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While the conservative parent group didn’t file the challenge, it has closely watched the process, which Nathanson argued has been slow walked.
“The entire challenge process was put on ice and the district was not following school board policy. So, a year went by with absolutely no action,” said Nathanson.
On Thursday, the final member of the review committee officially completed their training.
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Duval School Board Member Cindy Pearson (District 3) said training the parent committee members was the last thing preventing the review from being conducted.
“And they will have another meeting on Mar. 5 to deliberate their reviews of the book,” said Pearson.
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But Nathanson argued there’s no reason why it should have taken more than a year to select and train a parent to serve on the committee.
“How can it take over a year to find a parent in a school district with over 100,000 students to serve on a committee? I know several people that have volunteered to serve. We’re ignored,” said Nathanson.
The full review committee will make a final recommendation on the book during the upcoming meeting in March.
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From there, it will be up to the new conservative majority on the school board to make a final decision on whether it should be removed or restricted.
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