News/Education
By Michael Hernandez, 9-12-24
“Whoever cause one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were drowned in the depth of the sea.”—(Matthew 18:6, NKJV) Read to Nassau School Board during public comments.
FERNANDINA BEACH, FLORIDA—“Our school board settled with plaintiffs about returning removed school books to library shelves,” said Jack Knocke, Executive Director of Citizens Defending Freedom at the Sept. 12 Nassau County School Board meeting. “This seriously disappoints me,” said Knocke as he held up Tricks by Ellen Hopkins (Jan, 2017). “This book is about rape, sex, and is disgusting. I don’t want to hold this book. It will be back on the library shelves tomorrow. This lawsuit agreement was with the devil to put books like this back on bookshelves.”
Tricks is a book about five troubled teenagers (three girls, two guys, four straight, one gay, some rich, some poor, some from great families, some with no one at all) who fall into prostitution as they search for freedom, safety, community, family and love.
“I went around the State, telling people that Nassau County was one of the top counties (in Florida) getting books out of school libraries and now we are one of the worst counties,” said Knocke. “This is so disappointing to me. I am so disappointed in what happened here (Nassau County).”
Meanwhile, Supt. Dr. Kathy Burns stated that the Nassau County School District had provided parents a form to complete stating that their children could have one of three options: no access to library books, limited access or full access.
A public comment exhorting Nassau County Board members to take seriously their charge to care for the 12,000 children entrusted to them due to the “demonic realm having harmful consequences with all kinds of issues around books” was given by Ken R. to each board member. He mentioned three biblical scriptures and quoted Matthew 18:6 (see above reference).
At the Aug. 8 school board meeting, the Nassau County School District retracted previous action taken—returning three books removed from the school library books shelves effective immediately. This action was part of a lawsuit settlement recommended by School Board Attorney Brett Steger to appease two New York book authors that demanded that their books be replaced in Nassau County School libraries.
The two New Yorkers who are co-authors of And Tango Makes Three (a book about two penguins who create a nontraditional family) by Peter Parnell (a Broadway playwright and co-producer of the television show The West Wing who lives in New York City) and Dr. Justin Richardson, an assistant professor of psychiatry at Columbia and Cornell (who lectures to parents and teaches on parenting and the sexual development of children). The other two books replaced back in library book shelves were Almost Perfect by Brain Katcher (a love story between two boys—one who has changed gender) and Ghost Boys by Jewell Parker Rhodes (about a black boy killed by a police officer).
(Note: See Citizens Journal Aug. 11 article on “Nassau County Schools Fold On Library Books: Cave To Pressure From Authors; Transparency A Casualty Again https://www.citizensjournal.net/nassau-county-schools-fold-on-library-books-cave-to-pressure-from-authors-transparency-a-casualty-again/.)
Board member Curtis Gaus claimed at the Sept. 12 meeting “that the school board had nothing to do with this agreement” and in November, he will help Knocke get the returned books off the library shelves once again. Meanwhile, Knocke refuted Gaus claim and stated: “The school board approved the lawsuit settlement in contrast to what (Attorney Brett) Steger says.”
In a follow-up call made Sept. 13 to Gaus, a Georgia teacher and a resigned board member (his last meeting is Nov. 14), he told Citizens Journal Florida: “My contention is that none of the books have come before the board in a public meeting. The Board should be allowed to review and have discussion on those books but (Attorney) Steger contends that the library collection is a management function and the superintendent and district makes the decision and that is outside of the decision of the board,” said Gaus.
“I will help Mr. Knocke get these books out of the library. Some of these books should not be in the library. I plan to meet as many parents as I can and if I have to visit ever church in the county, I will with a book table highlighting sections of these books.”
The lawsuit filed in the United States District Court Middle District of Florida has both Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson as plaintiffs along with two parents: Sara Moerman and Toby Lentz v. Supt. Dr Kathy Burns and Assistant Superintendent Mark Durham.
Knocke, at the Aug. 8 school board stated: “Advocating for these obscene books that have already been addressed and identified by the school district is a violation of Florida statues…These books should not be replaced back on the shelf of school libraries.”
To see the full list and an informal book review of all 36 books that are being returned to school book shelves go to: https://www.citizensjournal.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/District-Review-1.pdf.
Rich Lamken, a former California Assistant Superintendent of Schools, and now working with Citizens Defending Freedom spoke to Citizens Journal Florida in July and said it was “time to vote out the incumbents both of the Nassau County School Board and the Superintendent of Schools.” (To read more on his viewpoint you can go to: https://www.citizensjournal.net/local-citizen-questions-nassau-county-school-board-spending-budget-amendments-richard-lamken-time-to-vote-out-the-incumbents-unwilling-to-ask-questions/.)
The results of the Aug. 20 Florida Primary Election resulted in Nassau County Superintendent Dr. Kathy Burns winning over Nassau County Board Member Curtis Gaus (51.23 to 48.77 percent). In the Nassau County School Board races, Vice-Chair Gail Cook won over Roody Joinville (57.52 to 42.48 percent) in District 2. While
Challenger Kristi Simpkins won over Chair Dr. Cynthia Grooms (50.18 to 49.82 percent) in District 4.
Some leftist media have already been celebrating the Nassau library book returns as “defeating censorship”. Example: Florida county restoring dozens of books to school libraries after ‘book ban’ lawsuit
Superintendent Kathy Burns Spotlight: “We now have art teachers at all our elementary schools.”
Capital Projects 2024-2025 Budget: $111 million. “We are not spending $111 million this fiscal year,” said Gaus.
Other Board Actions:
- Memorandum of Understanding for Mental Health Services on School Campuses approved (Consent Item 10) between the district and Chrysalis Health.
- Memorandum of Understanding for the Implementation for Prevention Services via Botvin Life Skills (Consent Item 11) approved between the district and Starting Point Behavioral Healthcare.
- Student Progression Plans for Grades K-5, 6-8, 9-12 approved (Action Item 1).
- 2024-26 School Health Services Plan for Nassau County approved (Action Item 2).
- 2024-2025 Student Code of Conduct approved (Action Item 3).
School Board Members Comments
- Shannon Hogue (District 1): “A shout out to bus drivers for trudging through (the rain) to help us make sure kids are getting to school.”
- Gail Cook (District 2): “The campuses look wonderful, especially the art rooms.”
Sept. 12 Agenda
- https://www.boarddocs.com/fl/nassau/Board.nsf/PRINT-AgendaDetailed?open&id=D5XTA5723612
Sept. 12 Watch (55 minutes)
Special Nassau County Board Meeting: Sept. 11
- Approved Local Effort Millage as 3.081 mills.
- Approved Discretionary Millage as .748 mills.
- Approved Capital Improvement Millage as 1.5 mills.
- Approved Additional Operating Millage of 1.0 mills.
Sept. 11 Agenda
https://www.boarddocs.com/fl/nassau/Board.nsf/PRINT-AgendaDetailed?open&id=D8RJZ34F6578
Sept. 11 Watch (29 minutes)
https://nassaucountysd.new.swagit.com/videos/314842
School Board Members
Lissa Braddock (District 5): (904) 507-9522 / Email: [email protected]
Gail Cook (Vice-Chair) District 2: (904) 261-9127 / Email: [email protected]
Curtis Gaus (District 3): (904) 887-9071 / Email: [email protected]
Dr. Cynthia Grooms (Chair): District 4 (904) 845-8105 / Email: [email protected]
Shannon Hogue: District 1 ([email protected])
Supt Kathy Burns Phone: (904) 545-4756 / Email: [email protected]
Nassau County School Board: (904) 491-9900
Michael Hernandez, from California is co-founder of the Citizens Journal—Ventura County’s online news service. He is a former Southern California daily newspaper journalist and religion and news editor. Mr. Hernandez can be contacted at [email protected] and is editor of the weekly “Stories Speak Volumes,” “Nov. 5 Election Day Countdown” and “Revive America: Make America Great Again.”
