In Collier County, students need permission to view certain books

NAPLES

Three books known for their sexual content spark outrage at a Collier County school.

The books “19 Minutes,” “Sloppy Firsts,” and “The Bluest Eye” will remain in the high school library, but students will need their parents’ permission to view the books.

Alethea Shapiro and her daughter are close. Shapiro thinks books like these three will help her daughter cope with coming of age.

But the Collier County School Board voted Tuesday to have librarians remove books from shelves and leave book covers in piles, but the actual books will stay with librarians.

Students will need parental permission to view them.

This happened after a few people complained about the books’ crude language and graphic depictions of sex and rape.

“It’s kind of, for lack of better words, like stupid,” said Shapiro’s daughter, Hailey, a student at Barron Collier High School.

“I feel like a student should be able to access all types of books they want to read,” Hailey said.

But people like Gayle Repetto want to protect students from mature themes.

She read some passages aloud.

“It’s embarrassing, I had to wash my mouth out with soap,” Repetto said. “I mean, they distribute pornography, and it’s sexually explicit.”

Repetto hoped Collier Schools would remove the books altogether, but school board member Jen Mitchell said it was a good compromise.

“We are never going to please both parties. But I think if we keep the students at the center of the decision and what’s best for the students,” Mitchell said.

The district stressed that it was not banning the books, but the 19 Minutes book was completely removed from all college shelves.