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TAMPA, Fla. – At a Tuesday night meeting, Hillsborough County<\/a> School Board members voted to remove “Blankets” and “Identical” from library shelves.\u00a0<\/p>\n Both books were challenged by parents who argued the material was too explicit for students, citing profanity and sexual content. Board members voted unanimously in favor of removal.<\/p>\n READ: Tampa Bay area public schools see sharp enrollment decline<\/a><\/p>\n The other side:<\/p>\n Parents and community members opposed to the bans said the books provide important life lessons and reflect real experiences that students can relate to.<\/p>\n “Book banning is the beginning of the danger zone for authoritarianism,” said one parent, who added that reading had helped her and her children navigate cycles of abuse.<\/p>\n The backstory:<\/p>\n Book bans in Florida have become a flashpoint in recent years. Hillsborough Superintendent Van Ayres was summoned to Miami earlier this summer after state leaders, including Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, accused the district of allowing “pornographic” material in schools<\/a>, and demanding another 50 titles be removed.<\/p>\n MORE: Hillsborough commissioners looking into building ice rink, hockey facility on MOSI property<\/a><\/p>\n Some board members, like Chair Jessica Vaughn, have criticized the pressure as unconstitutional coercion.<\/p>\n What’s next:<\/p>\n Dozens of titles remain under review in Hillsborough County. With both sides firmly entrenched, the debate over what belongs on school shelves is far from over.<\/p>\n The Source: This story is based on reporting from Tuesday night\u2019s Hillsborough County School Board meeting.<\/p>\n Hillsborough County<\/a>Education<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TAMPA, Fla. – At a Tuesday night meeting, Hillsborough County School Board members voted to remove “Blankets” and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":145639,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[55],"tags":[223,526,88,622,623,3,25],"class_list":{"0":"post-145638","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-books","8":"tag-books","9":"tag-education","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-fl","12":"tag-hillsborough","13":"tag-news","14":"tag-us"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145638","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=145638"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145638\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/145639"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=145638"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=145638"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=145638"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/hillsborough-book-fight-2.jpg\")
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