Man Seeks Court Order To Remove ‘Sexually Explicit’ Books From Schools

Updated: Tuesday, 3:21 p.m.

SARASOTA, FL — A man describing himself as “a natural person, free resident, free citizen (and) taxpayer” is taking the School Board of Sarasota County to court, accusing the school district of exposing children to “sexually explicit materials” and “child rape materials.”

In a petition for an emergency injunction filed against the board Friday, Robert Louis Craft asked a judge to order law enforcement to remove these materials from Sarasota County Schools and called for a grand jury investigation.

“The (board) has repeatedly ignored the public outcry for the removal and censorship of explicitly sexual materials from public schools. The people have been met by public officers/agents committing specific acts of willful and wanton reckless disregard of the law,” the Englewood man wrote in his complaint. (Read his entire complaint below.)

Craft added, “The defendant’s failure to take action establishes a public mental health crisis by facilitating sexually demonstrative materials to undeveloped minds. The defendant’s refusal to act in the protection of children is reprehensible. The defendant has perpetuated children’s exposure to obscene, lewd and lascivious materials purchased with public funds and available in public places.”

• Related Story: After Parents Read Rape Scenes At Board Meeting Schools Remove Books

According to court records, his complaint has been assigned to Judge Maryann Olson Boehm.

Daniel DeLeo, attorney for the school board, called the complaint “a ridiculous document full of sovereign citizen pseudo-law and nonsense, making improper and baseless claims” and told Patch that the lawsuit “is wholly without merit.”

He added, “Sarasota County like every school district in the state has an existing set of well-publicized and well-worn procedures that are consistent with our First Amendment and which any citizen can use to test the appropriateness of any material in a school library. The plaintiff should stop wasting taxpayer’s money with this silly, meritless lawsuit and avail himself of those procedures.”

In May, “The Bluest Eye” by Nobel Prize-winning author Toni Morrison and National Book Award-finalist “Sold” by Patricia McCormick were removed from school media center shelves for less than 48 hours at the direction of Dr. Asplen.

The superintendent’s decision to remove these books from shelves followed the May 3 school board meeting. During a public comment portion of the meeting, Alexis Spiegelman, chair of the Moms for Liberty’s Sarasota County chapter, read a scene from “The Bluest Eye” in which a young girl is raped by her father. She called the book very graphic, adding, “I’m embarrassed to even read this.”

Michael Conte also read a rape scene, sharing a passage from “Sold,” which is about a 13-year-old Nepalese girl sold into sexual slavery.

“It’s a little shocking. I remind you this is not a ‘Penthouse’ forum; this is in our schools,” he said. “If this doesn’t shock you, there’s something wrong with you. These books are being used in our schools. This is grooming. This is pornography. This is disgusting.”

Lisa Schurr, one of the founders of the organization Support Our Schools, was horrified to learn that the superintendent “apparently decided unilaterally without consultation of the school board and without a review process” to remove the books from media centers, which went against district policy.

After she launched a petition and emailed Asplen and school board members, threatening to seek a temporary injunction against the district, the books were back in high school media centers. It wasn’t a complete victory, she said, the students must now present parental permission before they can check out the titles.

“They flipped it and put the burden on the people that want to have access to these books,” Schurr said.

In his complaint, Craft references “The Bluest Eye” and “Sold.” A list of books attached to his complaint also includes “The Perks of Being a Wallflower,” “The Kite Runner,” “Michelle Obama: Political Icon,” “I Am Jazz” and “How to be an Antiracist.”

Read his entire complaint below: