MIAMI (WSVN) - Possible changes may be coming for Miami-Dade County Schools months after a complaint caused several library books to be shelved, a matter that came up for debate at a school board meeting.
Opponents of the controversial decision spoke before school board members during Wednesday’s meeting.
At issue was the relocation of several books at the Bob Graham Education Center in Miami Lakes. Among those books, was “The Hill We Climb” by national poet laureate Amanda Gorman.
“Why did one mom who doesn’t know literature, who didn’t even read the poem or know who wrote it, get to trump the rights of everyone else in that school?” said a woman.
“We are elevating the most ignorant in our community to that of experts over the experts themselves, and that’s shameful,” said another woman.
“We believe her complaint is hardly representative of the many parents who want their children to know and understand the world around them,” said a third woman.
The outrage from some over the decision still burned at Wednesday’s school board meeting, as the board reviewed its policies regarding book challenges.
”We’re here because we want the process addressing books in our schools to be fair and allow for all sides to have a say in the ultimate decision,” said a woman.
Back in May, “The Hill We Climb,” was at the center of a South Florida book battle.
Gorman, 25, recited her poem at President Joe Biden’s inauguration in 2021.
“We, the successors of a country and a time where a skinny Black girl, descended from slaves and raised by a single mother, can dream of becoming president,” Gorman said as she recited the poem.
Daily Salinas, the parent who filed the complaint at the Bob Graham Education Center, spoke with 7News at the time.
“It’s about indoctrination, [critical race theory] and gender ideology,” she said.
“The Hill We Climb” and several other books were later relocated to a different section of the library.
“I don’t see anything that supported the curriculum, and that’s my point,” said Salinas.
Board member Dr. Steve Gallon believes that the parent’s complaint was insufficient.
“I think at the onset, the catalyst for the process to begin with was flawed,” he said.
Although school staff followed board policy, Gallon said, he would like to see more transparency and the process changed.
“I think we have an obligation where we make serious considerations for decisions that remove access to information to students,” he said. “We have to make sure that those are debated, that there’s a discourse regarding that, and that the individual that renders the challenge has to defend it.”
School staff will be back before the board in August to make recommendations for any policy changes.
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