Books by Bill O’Reilly and Dean Koontz challenged in Palm Beach County school
The appeals have been rejected three times at different levels, but will be heard by the Palm Beach County School Board on Wednesday.
Opponents of the book ban in front of the headquarters of the Palm Beach County School District
Several dozen opponents of the book ban waved signs into traffic in front of the school district headquarters
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A Boynton Beach man has challenged three books that he says contain sexual content and are inappropriate for students at Park Vista High School.
He called the works hypocritical because two of the books were written by authors who had either publicly supported Florida legislation allowing the challenge of books in schools or who had supported Republican candidates who supported the law.
The books in question include “The O’Reilly Factor for Kids: A Survival Guide for America’s Families” by Bill O’Reilly, “The Fountainhead” by Ayn Rand, and “The Taking” by Dean Koontz.
Kenneth Derrick, who does not have a child in Park Vista, is not pushing for the books to be removed from the library. Instead, he is suggesting that the school district add a label to the books identifying authors who support book contests but use sexual content in their own novels.
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His objections to the three books were rejected by Park Vista’s School Materials Review Committee and its principal and superintendent, Mike Burke. The rejections were based on the committee’s determination that the books were age-appropriate and that the school district does not normally place warning labels on books.
The Palm Beach County School Board will discuss the challenges at its school board meeting on Wednesday.
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Under Florida state law, parents of students and county residents may object to books if they believe they are pornographic or age-inappropriate for the students who have access to the books.
Individual schools manage their library collections according to school board policies. In Palm Beach County, few books have been challenged and even fewer have been removed from school libraries or classrooms for an extended period of time.
Last year, a parent at Olympic Heights High School unsuccessfully protested against the Bible, claiming the text contained “misogyny, violence, sexual conduct, rape, incest, animal cruelty, abuse, anti-Semitism, anti-science and indoctrination.”
In April, Governor Ron DeSantis signed a bill narrowing the scope of the law to limit appeals by residents who are not parents of students. Derrick filed his appeals of the law in March, before that law went into effect.
What prompted the Boynton Beach man to challenge three books at Park Vista High?
In The O’Reilly Factor: A Survival Guide for America’s Families, Derrick cites descriptions of sexual behavior in the book’s “Sex” chapter as the reason for his challenge.
“For example, on page 72: ‘And according to many experts and studies, quite a few of you like to pretend you’re in the Clinton White House. I mean, you casually practice oral sex, even in your early teens,'” Derrick wrote in his challenge, along with other examples from the chapter in the book.
He suggests putting a sign on the book stating that the author supports Florida laws “restricting the content of books in classrooms and libraries, but he became angry when his books were removed from the catalog because of inappropriate content.”
O’Reilly, a conservative television commentator and former Fox News host, was reportedly “furious” in January after two of his books were pulled from circulation by the Escambia County School District. He had previously supported Florida’s book review laws, which he said were necessary to “protect children from a far-left agenda.”
Derrick has also challenged “The Fountainhead” for its description of an apparent sexual assault. The book was written by Alice O’Connor under the pseudonym Ayn Rand and published in 1943. Derrick says in his challenge that “many persons who support Florida laws restricting the content of books in school classrooms and libraries often recommend that young people read this book.”
According to a report in the Orlando Sentinel, public schools in Orange County removed the book from their libraries last year.
Finally, Derrick challenged The Taking because of its depictions of violent sexual behavior, including pornography and gang sexual assault. The novel was written by self-described conservative and Catholic horror novelist Dean Koontz and published in 2004.
Derrick argues that Koontz “has donated money to politicians who support laws restricting the content of books in classrooms and libraries.”
Campaign finance records show that Koontz has supported several Republican congressional candidates in California over the past four years. None of those candidates appear to have any ties to Florida.
Katherine Kokal is a journalist who covers education for The Palm Beach Post. You can reach her at [email protected]. Support our work. Subscribe today!
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