District committee votes to retain book Mittelstadt’s fate could

The committee recommended that the novel ‘Sold,’ which is about human trafficking, has value and should be kept in school media centers.

Brent Woronoff Associate Editor

A Flagler School District review committee voted on March 6 to retain the book “Sold” on media center book shelves.

The novel, by Patricia McCormick, was challenged last year by two members of the Flagler County Chapter leadership of Moms for Liberty.

A joint committee of Matanzas and Flagler Palm Coast high schools voted in October to keep the book in the two media centers. The complainants appealed the decision, necessitating the district review.

The district committee, made up of administrators, media specialists, teachers, parents and community members, unanimously voted to retain the book in the high school media centers. Nine of the 11 committee members present voted to also allow the book in middle school media centers with parental consent required for student checkout.

LaShakia Moore, the district’s assistant superintendent for academic services, led the meeting. Moore said the committee’s recommendation to Superintendent Cathy Mittelstadt will be to retain the book in the high schools as well as in the middle schools with parents’ consent.

The complainants can appeal to the superintendent. If the superintendent agrees with the committee’s decision, the complainants can appeal again to the School Board.

During a Feb. 22 School Board meeting, board member Christy Chong said she expects the board will eventually decide all of the challenges.

“Our tax dollars should not be providing pornography in schools,” Chong said.

“Sold” is a fictional story about a girl from Nepal named Lakshmi who is sold into sexual slavery. The story is written from Lakshmi’s point of view.

The two school district challenges, made by different people, used the same exact language: “This book contains explicit aberrant sexual activities including rape of a minor; prostitution; and explicit violence.”

But on the district committee’s review questionnaire, the committee members said the book “brings awareness to the issue of human trafficking and the trauma faced.” A committee member also noted that “Florida has mandated human trafficking education. This novel could serve to work with this education.”

The committee members agreed that the book is suitable for students in grades 9-12 and appropriate for some middle schoolers, with parents’ permission. A committee member noted that Lakshmi is only 13 in the story.

The committee members agreed that the book stimulates growth in factual knowledge because although it is fiction, it is based on research.

“By creating awareness, a reader may be inspired to help stop trafficking,” a committee member said.

As for the book being

COMMITTEE MEMBER explicit, committee members said the prose is simplistic and even delicate, and that Lakshmi does not have the language to express what is happening to her, so a lot of it is implied.

Answering whether the material could be considered offensive, the committee checked the boxes for profanity, brutality, sexual behavior, violence, portrayal of any societal groups, and cruelty.

The committee noted on the questionnaire that Lakshmi is raped, but the novel is “critical of the societal norms that perpetuate this behavior.”

“There are some difficult things going on that may not be suitable for all readers,” one committee member said.

“Offensive terms bring light to sex trafficking. They have to be there to bring understanding,” the committee wrote.

The committee noted that there are warnings about the material on the book cover.

“To silence books about injustice is to silence the injustice,” a committee member said. “These books need to exist to be a catalyst to conversations. They bring awareness, which is the first step to bringing an end to it.”

The district review was the first this year for an appealed ruling. Another district committee is scheduled to review “Nowhere Girls” on March 13 at the district’s offices at the Government Services Building. The public is welcome, but cannot participate in the discussion.

Brent Woronoff Associate Editor

Superintendent Cathy Mittelstadt’s future with the Flagler County School District could be decided sooner than previously expected.

Mittelstadt’s three-year contract expires at the end of June. At the School Board’s March 7 workshop, four board members agreed to add the superintendent’s contract discussion to the April 4 agenda workshop, with a vote to be scheduled for the April 18 business meeting.

The board could vote to renew her contract for another three years, extend her current contract or decide to search for a new superintendent. The board members could also decide they still need more information.

Board member Sally Hunt brought up the issue during old business. She wanted to add the contract review to the March 28 board meeting or schedule a special meeting. But the other board members said that would be too soon.

Mittelstadt had told board members she would submit a self-evaluation to them by March 17, followed by oneon-one conversations with each board member.

“It’s my understanding that in the month of March, we’re going to get about as much information as we’re going to be able to get before the expiration of the contract,” said Hunt, who also asked to expedite the matter at the Feb.