School Board supports staff recommendation to keep “A is for Activist” at first book challenge review

BY AMBER THIBODAUX

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The Alachua County School Board voted on its first book challenge review at its January 16 meeting, rejecting an appeal that a parent filed against the Terwilliger Elementary School Library Advisory Council’s decision to keep the book A is for Activist on the shelves of the school library. 

The Terwilliger Library Advisory Council’s decision was followed by a district hearing on December 14, and Terwilliger parent Crystal Marull, who filed the appeal, gave a presentation in defense of her request to remove the book from the library. Former school district employee Bessie Jackson acted as an “impartial hearing officer” at the courtroom-style hearing and later recommended to the school board that they vote to keep the book in circulation.

School board discussion

At the January 16 school board meeting, Board Member Tina Certain, who also attended the hearing last month, praised Jackson’s recommendation to keep the book. “I read the book, and I was really shocked that it was being challenged as such… I was kind of rubbed the wrong way with that,” Certain said.

“You know, if you’re a person of color, African American, or anyone that’s different – and to sit through and hear someone just challenge something, almost berate, and say something is not worth being in a school library where children can see themselves in books – we kind of have to all stand up against that,” she continued.

Board Chair Diyonne McGraw agreed with Certain and referred back to a prior remark Certain had made about the amount of staff time it takes to review a book challenge and the costs of the challenges to the school district.

“As Ms. Certain said, it does take up staff time, it does cost – but sometimes this is unfortunately what you have to deal with when you’re in these seats. Of course, we can’t use our personal belief; it’s what’s best for the overall,” McGraw said.

Member Sarah Rockwell made a motion to keep the book, and Certain seconded the motion. The vote to approve the motion was unanimous.

Dr. Marull’s presentation at the district hearing

At the district hearing, Marull presented her case before Jackson and a panel of three district employees: Susan Seigle, staff attorney; Deirdre Talbot, legal assistant for the staff attorney; and Kathy Gowan, program services specialist.

During Marull’s presentation, she was repeatedly interrupted by Jackson for a variety of reasons, including accusations of irrelevancy on the intended target age group for the book and an objection that the author, Innosanto Nagara, wasn’t present in the room to explain his motives or intentions for the concepts presented in the book.

Marull countered by saying that she was tasked with making her case on why she believed the book didn’t belong in the school library and that age-appropriateness was one of her main objections. She also pointed out that the author is a “self-described Marxist [who] says that capitalism is an inherently exploitative and alienating system and that socialism presents a positive alternative.” Jackson interrupted Marull to say that “the author’s admission of his information you’re reading to us is not relevant… He’s not here to justify his intent.” 

Marull, who is certified by the state of Florida as a World Language – Spanish educator for grades K-12 and as a Media Specialist for grades PK-12, argued that the book didn’t meet the standards in Florida Statutes 1006.28 and 1006.40 “specifically due to its lack of suitability for student comprehension and its questionable appropriateness of the grade level and age group.”

Statute 1006.28 states, in part, that the instructional materials used in the classroom or made available in the school or classroom library do not meet current guidelines if the material “is not suited to student needs and their ability to comprehend the material presented; or is inappropriate for the grade level and age group for which the material is used.”

In the district hearing, Marull repeatedly asked school district representatives about the school district’s target age range for the book; the district’s Destiny Discover database lists it as reading level 3.1, with an “interest level” for grades K-3. Amazon’s page for the book variously describes it as written for two-year-olds, for 1-to-3-year-olds, for 3-to-7-year-olds, and for grades 4 and up. Marull said the answer from the school district was that it’s appropriate for grades K-5.

Information without context

One of Marull’s many concerns was that children would not be able to understand the context on certain pages. For example, the text on the page below is, “J is for Justice! Yay for Justice! Jia-Jing Jiang. Juanita. Jamal. Justice for the Janitors. Justicia for all!” Marull argued that the book provides no context that would allow a young reader to understand what the author was referring to when he wrote about Jia-Jing Jiang, Juanita, Jamal, and Janitors.

Topics and people in the book are unfamiliar to many adults

Seigle admitted to Jackson that upon her review of A is for Activist, several of the topics and people portrayed in the book were unfamiliar to her; Marull’s challenge was based on the argument that the book is not suitable for elementary-aged children based on its advanced subject matter but would be more suitable for middle or high school students. 

Seigle admitted that even after seeing a list of the names of the people pictured in the book, she was still unable to identify a majority of them, and the book provides no additional information about those people. 

“I was only able to recognize potentially two faces, Dr. King and Rosa Parks. And as far as I’m concerned, they were not known as Nazi or communist sympathizers,” Seigle said.

Marull wrote on her initial Citizen’s Request Form that she believed the main purpose of the material was “to promote [and] indoctrinate youth into Marxist and socialist ideologies,” which could result in “indoctrination into extreme left-wing ideology.” 

According to the Florida Department of Education website, public school library books should reflect an “accurate portrayal of the state’s broad racial, ethnic, socioeconomic and cultural diversity, without bias or indoctrination.”

Seigle agreed that the book did “slant toward the left side of the political spectrum” but argued that activism doesn’t just occur on the left. 

“Dr. Marull is an activist herself,” Seigle said. “She’s an activist on the far-right on the topic of banning books, just like the Moms of Liberty are activists on the far-right for their points of view. I suggest if this [book] was an ABC book on far-right-wing activism, it would be acceptable [to Marull].”

The publisher’s description of the book explains that it is “written and illustrated for the next generation of progressives; families who want their kids to grow up in a space that is unapologetic about activism, environmental justice, civil rights, LGBTQ rights, and everything else that activists believe in and fight for.”

In her presentation at the district hearing, Marull went through each page of the book and explained the various activist groups and concepts that were mentioned, including communist groups; militant rebels; LGBTQ terminology and references; and a depiction of the Mexican Zapatista Army, a Marxist guerilla organization that uses a strategy of “civil resistance” to control a substantial amount of territory in Southern Mexico.

Seigle also addressed a prior controversy surrounding the “doxxing” of Marull in which her personal information, including name, place of employment, and voter registration, was published by a reporter at WUFT.

“I take offense at being [accused] of colluding with the media to make her name public. We are a public institution; we are governed by public records laws Chapter 119. The name of Dr. Marull making a book challenge is public record. And if we are asked about that, we must reveal it, or we suffer the consequences of litigation. So there was no collusion; we adhered to the requirements of the law,” Seigle said.

However, Marull pointed out that she was not given the same treatment when she requested the names of the Library Advisory Council members who voted to keep the book on the shelves of Terwilliger Elementary. According to Marull, she repeatedly requested the names via emails sent to Heather Harbour, principal at Terwilliger. Harbour said during a questioning session at the hearing that she didn’t provide the names because a public records request was required before she was legally allowed to disclose that information. Marull said she did make a records request for the names as part of a larger request, but later told Alachua Chronicle that several weeks went by before she was quoted a price of $112.14 in exchange for the information related to the library council. Emails sent to us by Marull confirm this. 

Marull: “This highlights a troubling trend”

“This disregard for state selection criteria and subsequent lack of corrective action is particularly concerning when coupled with how this challenge has been managed from the start. The media specialist and principal were reluctant to engage in conversation with me, there has been a litany of procedural errors, the district openly colluded with the media to disclose my identity and political affiliation as an attempt to intimidate me and to deter other parents from engaging with the selection process, and partisanship has clearly been influencing decisions,” Marull said. 

“This highlights a troubling trend that needlessly strains the school’s relationship with the broader parent community,” she continued. 

Marull told us she has escalated her challenge of the book to the State Magistrate level. Under new State legislation passed last summer, parents have the right to request that the Florida Commissioner of Education appoint a Special Magistrate to hear the case.

The law reads, in part, “The special magistrate shall determine facts relating to the school district’s determination, consider information provided by the parent and the school district, and render a recommended decision for resolution to the State Board of Education within 30 days after receipt of the request by the parent.”