One Little Book -- The Next Chapter

The Miami-Dade County Public School Board voted to appeal a federal judge's ruling that prevented it from banning a children's book from school library shelves.

In a 5-2 decision, the board said it wanted to protect the right of the district to determine the content of school libraries, rather than leave it up to a judge.

"Do we have a right to protect our children?" said board member Frank Bolaños, who joined Agustín Barrera, Perla Tabares Hantman, Ana Rivas Logan and Marta Pérez in voting for the appeal. "I think we have the right and responsibility to do that."

The appeal to the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta, which the board's attorney said will be costly, will likely be heard late this fall. Until then, the books must remain on shelves in dozens of schools, mainly elementaries.

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The board voted in June to remove the books, saying they oversimplify the foreign countries they portray for their 5- to 7-year-old target audience. Only the Cuba book was discussed in detail, lending fuel to the American Civil Liberties Union's lawsuit and suggesting to U.S. District Judge Alan Gold that the ban was based on politics, not pedagogy.

"They over and over stated that the reason they were doing it is because of a particular political ideology," said Virginia Rosen, president of the Greater Miami ACLU. "That political ideology reflects only some of their constituents."

There is more than just the faint whiff of politics in this story -- it reeks of it. Two board members, Agustin Barrera and Frank Bolaños, are in political races that center on this silly issue, and both of them are carefully tailoring their words and actions for the benefit of their political futures, not for the rule of law or the children of Miami-Dade County

This case is going to end up costing the school board a quarter of a million dollars -- win or lose -- to settle it. Chances are it will cost a lot more in terms of respect. This story has already made the national news -- NPR had a piece on it this morning -- and it's an embarrassment to the district when far more important issues like crumbling schools and overcrowded classrooms go begging because a 32-page picture book for first graders doesn't get into a discussion about the virtues of capitalism over the evils of socialism.

One of the harsh realities about living in free society is that you have to put up with opinions that you don't agree with and teach your children that hearing other points of view or no view at all is one of the blessings -- and curses -- of life in America.