ACPS defends Assistant Principal featured in viral video

BY JENNIFER CABRERA

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – After a video of witness testimony from the district hearing on a parent’s challenge to the book Melissa went viral today, Alachua County Public Schools and Superintendent Shane Andrew released a statement supporting the witness.

The district book challenge hearing was held on January 24 after Dr. Crystal Marull appealed a decision by the Terwilliger Elementary Library Advisory Council to keep the book, which she challenged because she believes it is not appropriate for elementary-aged children.

At the January 24 district-level hearing, Dr. Marull called Terwilliger Assistant Principal Garrett Jones as a witness; Jones was a member of the Library Advisory Council at Terwilliger and had voted to keep the book at the school-level hearing. The following video shows the beginning of Jones’ testimony and the entirety of the discussion about whether he would find the book appropriate for his own children. The rest of his testimony concerned whether the book met Florida standards for library books, and Jones did his best to answer the questions but was uncertain about the requirements of the law regarding library books.

Jones’ testimony can be found at about 1:08:30 here.

Libs of TikTok post

Today, the “Libs of TikTok” account posted a 49-second clip from the hearing with the caption: “UNBELIEVABLE. Garrett Jones, assistant principal for an elementary school in @AlachuaSchools says he thinks it’s appropriate for 8-year-old kids to be reading p*rnogr*phy and dirty magazines in school.” The post has received 1.1 million views to date, with over 2,400 comments and 8,900 re-posts.

However, the caption does not accurately capture the content of the video. The questions from Marull were about whether Jones thought the material was appropriate for 8-year-olds, and he said it was, but the book itself does not contain pornography; Marull’s objection was that it introduces the concepts of pornography, “dirty magazines,” and deleting web browser history to elementary-aged children.

The book’s publisher describes Melissa (previously published as George), by Alex Gino, this way: “BE WHO YOU ARE. When people look at Melissa, they think they see a boy named George. But she knows she’s not a boy. She knows she’s a girl. Melissa thinks she’ll have to keep this a secret forever. Then her teacher announces that their class play is going to be Charlotte’s Web. Melissa really, really, REALLY wants to play Charlotte. But the teacher says she can’t even try out for the part… because she’s a boy. With the help of her best friend, Kelly, Melissa comes up with a plan. Not just so she can be Charlotte — but so everyone can know who she is, once and for all.”

In the book, George’s 14-year-old brother says to 10-year-old George, “That’s my little bro! Growing up and looking at dirty magazines.” In another place, this quote appears: “George had been reading websites about transitioning since Scott taught her how to clear the web browser history on Mom’s computer.” A third quote: “Dude, I thought you had porn or something in there, so I took a peek.”

Here is the transcript of the video posted by Libs of TikTok:

Marull: Mr. Jones, I believe you, too, have children. Is that correct?

Jones: Yes.

Marull: What ages are they?

Jones: 18, 16, and 13.

Marull: And would you find it appropriate if they brought this book home and were talking about dirty magazines and pornography in a K-5 environment?

Jones: I think it would open up a conversation that we would have.

Marull: So you think the book is appropriate in the K-5 environment, even though it’s referencing pornography and dirty magazines?

Jones: I think in my–what I voted for was that it would be for the three-to-five age group.

Marull: Which would be what ages?

Jones: So that would be eight to 10? 12?

Marull: So you think an eight-year-old would be appropriate, age-appropriate, to be reading about pornography and dirty magazines? From school?

Jones: Yes.

Alachua County Public Schools statement

The statement from ACPS begins, “To be clear up front–this Superintendent, the district, and the staff believe no student should have access to pornographic materials in their schools. That belief is shared by the ACPS employee who has been the subject of recent social media postings about a book challenge.”

ACPS writes that the video “was taken out of context and was misleading” and clarified that the witness “did not intend to convey that this book was, in fact, about pornography and dirty magazines. He certainly does not agree that it is appropriate for an elementary school student or any student to read pornographic materials. It is rather his belief that this particular book is not pornographic, does not violate state statutes and can therefore be read by elementary school students in grades 3-5. The parent never actually asked the ACPS witness if he believed this book is pornographic. The witness did clarify later in the hearing that he did not believe this book is pornographic.”

The statement admits that the book introduces the concepts of “dirty magazines” and “porn”:

“There are two sections of the book in which the words ‘dirty magazines’ or the word ‘porn’ are mentioned. They are as follows:

“The phrase ‘dirty magazine’ was used by a teenage boy taunting his little brother. The little brother was, in fact, not looking at a dirty magazine.

“The word ‘porn’ appeared later in the book, when the same older brother stated he knew his little brother was not reading porn.

“This is the full extent of the use of those two terms in the book. The book contains no pornographic scenes, pictures or descriptions.“

School board voted to keep the book

Following the January 24 hearing, the Alachua County School Board voted 4-1 to keep the book in the Terwilliger Elementary School Library, with Member Sarah Rockwell saying, “Telling my child that she can’t have access to an age-appropriate book that does not violate state statute violates my parental rights because not every parent can just go to Amazon and purchase Melissa if their child wants to read it and they’re okay with that.” Member Kay Abbitt, who voted to remove the book, said, “I don’t think we should have things that indicate to fourth-graders, third-graders, and second-graders that boys are trying to get into your underpants and that nobody but the boyfriend should be able to do that. I’m just telling you how I feel. I’m old-fashioned.”