Florida school board wants 7-year-old student as witness in book ban case

A school board in Florida is seeking testimony from a 7-year-old student with hope in the hope It helps to overturn a federal court lawsuit over its book ban decisions.

The case was brought by national free speech group PEN America, book publisher Penguin Random House, book authors and the parents of students who were denied access to books from the school library. They say giving evidence would be unnecessarily difficult for such a young child.

The students targeted in the lawsuit range from elementary school to high school students. The mother, Ann Novakowski, joined the lawsuit on behalf of her now seven-year-old son, “JN,” because she wants “her child to have access to these and similar books, among other things, so that he or she can learn about different perspectives and experiences and thus be better prepared to interact with a variety of people,” the lawsuit states.

The Escambia County School Board, meanwhile, argues that its own members cannot be removed, saying it has “the right to discuss the claims and defenses in this case directly with the students.”

A deposition is an out-of-court statement by a witness under oath, often given in a lawyer’s office as part of a court proceeding.

“A parent’s opinion of what their child wants to read and what interests them and what the child actually wants to read and what interests them may differ,” one defendant’s attorney wrote in emails to plaintiffs found in court records.

According to court records, the parties have agreed to allow older students to testify under certain restrictions and parental supervision, but the plaintiffs draw the line at elementary school-age children.

“Young JN would have to spend time away from family and friends preparing for her testimony and facing questions from opposing counsel – an experience that is enormously difficult and stressful for any adult, let alone a seven-year-old,” they wrote in a court filing last week.

The plaintiffs allege that JN and other students like her have been negatively affected by the removal of several books, including “And Tango Makes Three,” a children’s picture book about a same-sex penguin pair raising a chick together.

This comes at a time when the debate over “book bans” has gripped the nation. Florida is a flashpoint, and advocacy organizations have found that more books are confiscated and more books are challenged in the state than in any other state.

And Escambia, Florida’s westernmost county, has been one of the epicenters of the controversy. Two federal lawsuits have rocked the county that could set an important precedent for the nation regarding the First Amendment. County officials argue they have the right to remove any book from the school library for any reason.

Plaintiffs want judge to put nearly 200 titles back on the shelves

Plaintiffs in the PEN America case are asking U.S. District Judge T. Kent Wetherell to return seven of the nearly 200 disputed books that have been banned from sale in the district’s public schools since late June before he makes a final decision in the case.

“For more than a year, defendant, the Escambia County School Board, has restricted access to books in its school libraries based solely on discriminatory, viewpoint-based objections from local residents who do not like the messages contained in those books,” said a motion filed last week.

The books deal with LGBTQ or racial issues. Most of them were first blocked from review nearly two years ago.

The school district has also withdrawn hundreds of unobjectionable books for review, flagged as potentially violating one of the numerous laws passed by Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Republican legislative supermajority that led to the wave of book withdrawals from the state.

Immerse yourself in statements: The questioning can be heated

Depositions typically involve questioning by attorneys, which can be difficult or heated. The plaintiffs in this case say that this is not only harsh on the seven-year-old, but unnecessary, since her mother can answer the questions on her behalf.

They also argued that it is irrelevant whether the child has access to the banned books outside of school.

“Courts have consistently held that a student’s potential access to a book outside of school is irrelevant to the student’s standing to challenge restrictions on access to that book within school,” the plaintiffs also argued. “To the extent the panel seeks to examine JN regarding her ability to access those books outside of the school library (an issue they have raised in the students’ testimony thus far in this case), that is no basis for her testimony.”

If the court rules that the elementary school student must testify, her lawyers say it should be “significantly limited.” But the Escambia County School Board is also asking the court to block the testimony of its five members and the principal. The board members say they are protected by “legislative privilege.”

“It cannot be disputed that the panel’s decisions to remove or restrict certain books were legislative in nature,” said a document filed in late June. “Requiring panel members to explain their motives and underlying thinking in their decision to remove or restrict the books in question would defeat the purpose of the privilege, which is to protect the ‘legislative process itself.'”

The defendants also pointed to the legal protections enjoyed by some government officials and argued that witness testimony was unnecessary anyway since the deliberations were held in public.

District school officials are trying to avoid testifying in another high-stakes lawsuit, this time involving the authors of “And Tango Makes Three.”

The authors say board members removed “And Tango Makes Three” from school shelves “because of its positive portrayal of a same-sex couple and their family.” They provided emails showing that at least one member harbored “individual animosity” toward the book because of such content.

Two days before board members voted on whether to remove the title, a voter emailed board member Kevin Adams saying she opposed the book because it “promotes transgender choices and homosexual ideas.” Adams responded the next day: “I share your concerns and will vote accordingly.” He did not respond to a request for comment.

This reporting content is supported by a partnership with Freedom Forum and Journalism Funding Partners. Douglas Soule, First Amendment reporter for the USA Today Network-Florida, can be reached at [email protected].

Contributor: Jeanine Santucci, USA TODAY

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Florida school board wants 7-year-old to testify on book bans