A Florida school district is being sued after refusing to disclose whether it makes pornographic books available for students to access.
Florida Citizens United is a nonprofit organization which seeks to “improve Florida’s K-12 education by uniting and empowering teachers, students, and parents” through legislative action, community involvement and education solutions.
In 2021, the group compiled a list of 41 books that it believes are pornographic and then filed a public records request with Broward County Public Schools (BCPS) to see if the district has the books available to students.
According to The Christian Post, the list includes the following books: The ABC’s of LGBT+ by Ashley Mardell; S.E.X., Second Edition: The All-You-Need-to-Know Sexuality Guide to Get You Through Your Teens and Twenties by Heather Corinna; This Book is Gay by Juno Dawson; Sex Plus: Learning, Loving, and Enjoying Your Body by Laci Green; and The Gender Quest Workbook: A Guide for Teens and Young Adults Exploring Gender Identity by Rylan Jay Testa, Deborah Coolhart, and Jayme Peta.
The Pacific Justice Institute (PJI), one of the nation’s largest religious nonprofit legal firms, filed the public records lawsuit on behalf of FLCA, but the district has stonewalled the records request for months.
BCPS has subjected PJI and FLCA to “two months of multilayer bureaucracy without producing all of the requested records.”
After BCPS dragged its feet in producing the records, one district administrator admitted that BCPS has a database containing all books available to students, and that accessing it “would only take five hours.” The administrator said a search would begin immediately.
Three weeks later, and the district had still disclosed no records.
That brings us to PJI’s newly filed lawsuit against the district, which alleges BCPS violated Florida’s Public Records Law.
PJI’s Florida staff attorney Alexander Bumbu said in a press release, “Under Florida law, BCPS is responsible for monitoring the materials used in its schools, and Floridians have a clear right to see those materials.
“FLCA is doing what any parent would do if they were concerned about what their child is being exposed to in school. BCPS is undermining Floridians’ rights to access public records. It’s imperative that a public example be made of BCPS, to show that public school districts can and should be held accountable for disregarding the right to access public records,” he added.
“Without question, Broward County Public Schools is breaching parental trust by their continued unwillingness to comply with Florida public records law,” said Brad Dacus, president of PJI. “In a court of law, PJI’s attorney, Alexander Bumbu, will hold them accountable for their actions on behalf of Florida’s parents.”
If you are concerned about what your child may be learning or reading in school, Focus on the Family is here to help. We’ve created a free resource called Back to School for Parents which will help you become informed about what your child may be learning in school, and take practical steps to protect them.
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