School board approves 10 new principals, votes to keep two books on school library shelves

BY JENNIFER CABRERA

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – At the June 4 School Board of Alachua County meeting, the board approved 10 new Principals and two district-level appointments and voted to keep two challenged books on school library shelves.

Appointments of Principals and District Staff

Superintendent Shane Andrew announced the following appointments:

• Vicki McAlhany – Principal of Terwilliger Elementary
• Emory Bishop – Principal of Newberry Elementary
• Jim Kuhn – Principal, Turnaround
• Casey Karas – Principal of Idylwild Elementary
• Cory Tomlinson – Principal of Metcalfe Elementary
• Christiana Robbins – Principal of Chiles Elementary
• Heather Harbour – Principal of High Springs Community School
• Jared Taber – Principal of Oak View Middle School
• Melissa Pratto – Principal of Ft. Clarke Middle School
• Kelly Armstrong – Principal of Santa Fe High School
• David Shelnutt – Director of Evaluation, Accountability, and Data Analysis
• Manda Bessner – Executive Director, Secondary Curriculum

During public comment on the motion to appoint Harbour, a staff member at Terwilliger Elementary, where Harbour is currently Principal, said the new Principal will be the fifth one since 2015-16 “and likely the eighth Assistant Principal. Thirteen big changes in nine years.” She said children need consistency.

Member Tina Certain agreed: “Since being a board member and even before I was a board member,… that’s what I saw happening at our high-needs schools – they have such a churn in leadership.” She said she didn’t mean she didn’t want anybody to move, but she was specifically concerned about churn at schools with “lots of high-need students.”

Andrew said the outgoing and incoming teams in all of the transitions have been collaborating, and he thanked all of them for taking the extra time to do that and for “having that professional commitment to one another and the students in multiple communities.”

Member Leanetta McNealy said, “Change can be very, very rewarding. It’s all in how we look at it and how we embrace it.”

Chair Diyonne McGraw said, “Change is never easy, but remember, the focus is all about the kids; you do have a team that’s going to support you.”

McNealy added, “Superintendent Andrew, I trust you, believe in you, and I know that the decisions that you made were not easy… But we totally support you in this effort.”

Vacancies in the District Office

Andrew also asked the board to approve the full list of appointments and extensions of contracts for the school-based and district-level administrators. Most of the big changes are listed above, but the list also shows a vacancy for Executive Director of Human Resources (Shelnutt’s previous position), a vacancy for Director of Transportation (Dontarrius Rawls recently left for another job), and a vacancy for Director of Educational Equity and Outreach (ACPS has not responded to our question about why Dr. Dakeyan “Dre” Graham left). Gabrielle Jaremczuk was introduced as the new Chief of Finance. 

The Freedom Writers Diary

The board voted to keep The Freedom Writers Diary by The Freedom Writers in high school libraries, with no presentation or discussion. The parent who filed the book challenge indicated on her challenge form that she believed it had pornographic content, depicted sexual conduct, and was inappropriate for students at Gainesville High School. The District Library Advisory Council recommended that the book remain on the shelves, and the parent chose not to request a hearing before the school board. Certain made a motion to keep the book, Member Sarah Rockwell seconded it, and the vote to keep it was unanimous.

Pet

The second book challenge was for Pet by Akwaeke Emezi. The book describes a world in which children are told that “monsters” (people who harm others) have been defeated by “angels” (heroes who led a revolution). Jam, the main character, learns that a neighbor may be abusing a child and sets out to protect the child. A review at The Bulletin says, “Jam is also notable as a Black, trans protagonist in this important narrative that teens will want to read to gain some perspective on the modern political environment.”

At a district-level hearing on April 30, the petitioner, Dr. Crystal Marull, presented 110 pages of evidence; she argued that the material depicts sexual conduct and is inappropriate for 6th graders but is in Alachua County Public Schools middle school libraries.

The district’s recommendation letter agrees, “‘Pet‘ is recommended for middle grades 7 and up” but does not recommend removing it for sixth-graders. The letter also states that “Sexual abuse is implied but not explained in detail.” 

Rockwell made a motion to keep the book on shelves, and McNealy seconded it.

Bob Edewaard spoke for Marull, who he said was away on vacation; he said the book “promoted Marxist revolutions cloaked in demonic demagoguery, with references to child abuse and sexual assault” and asked, “Is there anything [Staff Attorney] Seigle and [District Media Specialist] Duval… find inappropriate for any child at any age? They apparently do not. As Ms. Seigle stated in her familiar refrain, any book that encourages a child to read and think is beneficial to the child’s education. They know it is important to destroy the idea of normal sexuality, normal relationships, normal lifestyles in young children before their oppressive family and/or society make them normal, like binary males and females.” He added, “Even by your own standards, you should limit the sixth-graders’ access to this book.”

A member of the public said, “I would like to thank the gentleman who just spoke because he showed us what bigotry and Christian nationalism looks like in real time… His religious conviction should not have any bearing on whether or not this board [keeps the book] because last time I checked, you have a separation of faith in this country.”

Another man said Pet was “pretty bizarre” and that the book’s introduction “sounds like it’s from Ted Kaczynski… It’s just bizarre.”

Seigle presented the district’s rebuttal to Edewaard’s presentation, saying the book is an allegory that includes “nothing that was any sexual content at all… I don’t have any idea where, other than vivid imagination, you decide this had to do with Mao’s Cultural Revolution or anything that political. It’s an allegory for children, saying, ‘Just be cautious and careful. Things are not always what they seem.'”

The board voted unanimously to keep the book.