Florida Parents Decry Graphic Books Depicting Students Killing Teacher
Series celebrates low-performing, ‘misfit’ students tasked with killing their teacher as ‘heroes’
Parents have expressed their shock in discovering that a book series about killing a teacher is available in some Florida schools.
Days after three children and three staff members of The Covenant School in Nashville, Tennessee, were shot and killed by a 29-year-old former student, Florida parents warned the Hillsborough County School Board about a book series in their schools describing a classroom full of low-performing “misfit” students being tasked with killing their alien teacher before he destroys the earth. When they succeed, they are paid millions and celebrated as “heroes.”
According to the book summary (pdf), “Assassination Classroom” is a “Young Adult Graphic Novel.” A summary of concerns warns: “This book contains explicit violence; mild profanity; and sexual activities.”
The book series is rated “Minor Restricted” and bears a bold red “CONTENT WARNING” label.
“You are about to access material that may contain content of an ADULT nature,” the content warning advises. “These files may include pictures and materials that some viewers may find offensive. If you are under the age of 18, or if such material offends you, or if it is illegal for you to view these materials, please exit now.”
The book summary of Volume 7 (pdf) says, “Young students attempt to assassinate their teacher by setting several traps while on summer vacation.” There is more “graphic violence; mild profanity; and inexplicit sexual activities.”
‘Disturbing and Concerning’
Sarah Calamunci, state director for the Florida Chapter of County Citizens Defending Freedom (CCDF), calls the book series “disturbing and concerning.”
“We’re back at having to challenge books that, by all accounts, most citizens, parents, and teachers would not find acceptable to be in a school library to begin with,” Calamunci said.
However, while she is encouraged by legislation that has improved how books are screened in Florida’s schools, she said the aspect of forcing parents to take responsibility to monitor school libraries and hunt for specific, inappropriate material before it can be addressed “is something I think most parents and citizens didn’t think we would need to do.”
“We’re grateful for parents and teachers who find this content and bring it to the attention of the public. But what we really need is a solid system to review books before they get on the shelves,” she proposed, adding that “the challenge and removal process is tedious, lengthy, and often doesn’t result in having the books removed.”
“The content of these books, the violence, and even the graphics are extremely alarming,” she said of the “Assassination Classroom” book series. “I don’t think anyone could argue it would encourage positive behavior from students and children.”
Debbie Hunt, education division leader for Hillsborough’s CCDF, was shocked to find that such books were allowed into the schools. She said that CCDF works with around seven other groups—including advocacy group Moms for Liberty—who call themselves the Hillsborough grassroots group. It was one of the Moms for Liberty members who discovered the book a week prior.
After coordinating the team, emails were sent to school board members. However, rather than addressing their immediate concerns regarding the content of the books and the potential danger involved—particularly in the wake of the Nashville shooting—Hillsborough County School Board Chair Nadia Combs told them to file a book challenge.
Florida Department of Education Press Secretary Cassandra Palelis confirmed to The Epoch Times that pursuant to section 1006.28(2), F.S., “Parents and residents have the right to object to the use of a specific material and districts must have processes in place to address the objections. These processes should clearly describe how the district will handle all objections.”
However, Palelis also said, “School districts are responsible for reviewing library media materials and determining which items should be available to students.”
F.S. 1006.28(2)(a)1. also says, “Each district school board is responsible for the content of all instructional materials and any other materials used in a classroom, made available in a school library, or included on a reading list, whether adopted and purchased from the state-adopted instructional materials list, adopted and purchased through a district instructional materials program under s. 1006.283, or otherwise purchased or made available.”
More importantly, Florida’s Obscenity Statute clearly states that it is against the law to “knowingly distribute” such content “to a minor on school property.”
The Epoch Times reached out to Combs but did not receive a response by press time.
The Parents Speak
During an April 4 Hillsborough County School Board meeting, Moms for Liberty member Kelly Carling shared her thoughts on “Assassination Classroom,” describing how the series is rife with “very violent and disturbing scenes of school shootings, pedophilia, child rape, child sex trafficking, soft porn, prostitution, and suicide.”
She also addressed the matter of being told to follow a “book challenge” procedure challenge. Considering that a prior book challenge took seven months to complete, Carling estimated it would take 56 years to see all 139 books in the series removed.
“What kind of school employee would seek out and put this material before minors?” She asked the board. “What kind of adult would defend this being in public schools?”
Carling’s son Cato, a Hillsborough fourth-grader, reminded the board of why they have monthly lockdown drills at school.
“The fact that there are school shootings on average once a week scares me very much,” he said nervously. “It horrifies me that there’s a book series in our school libraries right now that condones school shootings.”
Molly Blanton told the board about a promotional phrase used “multiple times” for the series: “We are assassins and the target is our teacher.”
Pat McCalf suggested to the board that the books send “mixed messages of redemption” with an “intent to kill” that could could “inspire real-world harm, particularly among young, impressionable students.”
Nick, who did not give his last name, said he was “shocked, surprised, and appalled,” by what he found in the books. “The rape of minors, child molestation,” and “the child trafficking of minors.”
Fred Stone shared excerpts from Volume 21: “Always assassinate your target using a method that brings a smile to your face,” he read other excerpts that shocked him.
In light of the recent shooting in Nashville, Laura Kissak bluntly asked the Board to remove the books “immediately.” Kissak is the Moms for Liberty member who discovered that the books were in Hillsborough schools.
“How can anyone justify a tile like ‘Assassination Classroom’?” she asked.
A high school student skipped “leg day” of his workout routine to address the school board.
“I don’t even understand how this is in our schools,” he said. Having “two friends who almost committed suicide,” he found the promotion of the act in the books to be particularly disturbing.
“Then, I have to find out that my middle school little brother has to deal with this?”
Gay Jones was most disturbed that “the class and their creature teacher appear to be experiencing a mutual Stockholm Syndrome,” noting how “the teacher says, ‘I am happy to be assassinated by you.”
Of the 30 Hillsborough County residents who shared public comments, the majority came to talk about the books. But not all of them spoke in opposition.
‘Mirrors’ and ‘Windows’
Rather than adopt resolutions that prohibit “universal book banning,” Hillsborough resident Theo Townsend urged the board to develop a procedure to make parents “opt out of books for their own children.” He also said the board “should not be instituting authoritarian bans that limit parental freedom.”
Rene Bowser—a parent, educator, and elementary media specialist—said that while parents have the right “to decide what their own children cannot read,” they “should not have the right to decide what children are not allowed access to.”
She also said, “Students need books that mirror their own lives so they understand they’re not alone” and “books that are windows into lives that are different than their own to learn to be more compassionate.”
Nicole Huff—a parent, teacher, and media specialist—chastised the parents who opposed access to the book series, saying if they don’t agree with a particular book, “the first step is to talk to a media specialist.”
“If a parent calls her with an objection to a particular book,” then she “won’t check that book out to the student,” she said. If they don’t want their child to “read a book with the mention of sex in it,” she wouldn’t check out a book with any mention of sex to that student either. But she advised parents that they don’t have the right to keep books from other students or to “come and read select passages out of context.”
“Please trust your media specialist,” she pleaded.
Hillsborough teacher Jen Heart was also there to talk about “book banning.”
“It’s about people saying, ‘If I don’t like it, you can’t have it,’” she insisted, suggesting that, while a parent could make decisions about their own child, it was the media specialist who decided which books other students could read.
‘It’s Mind-Boggling’
“When I found out that this book series was in our schools, mostly in middle schools, I was horrified, especially in light of the Nashville shooting,” Carling told The Epoch Times after the meeting.
She was dumbfounded that “there are a few activist librarians who believe these books are mirrors into kids’ lives.”
“When I looked into the books, I discovered they not only promote school shootings, but they contain child sex trafficking, inappropriate relations between students and their teacher, prostitution, and rape,” she said.
Hearing school officials admonish parents for raising objections about these books made Kissak livid.
“It’s mind-boggling. I was just sitting there stunned,” Kissak said, saying these were among the worst speakers she had ever heard in her life. “This isn’t about opinions or what someone thinks is age-appropriate. This is about Florida law.”
Kissak also took umbrage with the accusation that the excerpts read at the meeting were taken “out of context.”
“How do you take a description of shooting up a teacher out of context?”
Kissak was particularly offended by Huff’s instruction to parents to “shut up and trust their media specialist.”
“That rattled me to my core,” Kissak said. “Trust us? No! We can’t trust you anymore. You’ve lost our trust.
“It started in the pandemic with masking. This opened up the eyes of a lot of parents. We can’t trust that you’re going to make the right decisions.
“We used to think we’d send our kids off to school and they were in good hands. They’re very strong about giving the LGBTQ community ‘safe spaces.’ But they’re not giving the average student ‘safe spaces.’”
“It’s funny,” Kissak said in closing. “When the American Library Association talks about removing a book from a school it’s called ‘Weeding,’ or ‘Refreshing the Canon.‘ When we say it, we’re ‘banning books,’ and ‘depriving kids of something they need.’”
