Polk County Public School Board Members: It's NOT Working, Part 5: "Identical", by Ellen Hopkins

Updated on 3.21.2024 to add one additional image.

This is the fifth post in an ongoing series about the continuing saga of age-inappropriate books in the Polk County Public Schools.

This post is about one of books challenged in Polk County, Florida. The book, Identical, by Ellen Hopkins, is in 9 Polk County Public schools. Please read Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4 if you have not read them yet.

Starting on Thursday, September 21st there were book reviews started for a book called Identical, by Ellen Hopkins, first published in 2010. This book is about a FATHER BRUTALLY RAPING his MINOR AGED DAUGHTER repeatedly. She develops another personality so she can separate from the abuse.

This book contains explicit sexual activities including sexual assault on a minor child by a father, child molestation; violence including self-harm and suicidal ideations; profanity and derogatory terms; and drug and alcohol abuse. This book was challenged and removed in Clay County, Florida. You can see some of the content from Identical at the link below. By clicking the link you are verifying that you are an adult. Because the content of Identical is adult in nature, it is illegal for anyone under 18 years old to view.

CONTENT OF IDENTICAL, MUST BE OVER 18 YEARS OLD TO VIEW.

Here is a video excerpt from Governor Ron DeSantis’s February 15th, 2024 press conference.

As you read this article, keep this question in mind, “Why do we even need to have an argument about taxpayer funds being spent on public school library books about a FATHER RAPING HIS MINOR AGED DAUGHTER, graphic pedophilia and the trauma it causes?” Also important to note, removing this book from a public school is NOT banning the book, it is easily available for purchase from almost any online bookseller.

You can view some of the details on each schools review, including screenshots of many comments and forms later in this post.

Identical was reviewed at nine schools in Polk County. You can see a list of all of the challenged books that have been reviewed since September of 2023 at this link.

Identical is sometime categorized in a genre of books call Sick Literature, or Sick-lit, that uses trauma, abuse, severe illness, or torture that is realistic in nature. This is a term that is primarily seen in Young Adult texts, as the area of YA is often on par with popular cultural trends.

From the Amazon description "Kaeleigh and Raeanne are 16-year-old identical twins, the daughters of a district court judge father and politician mother running for US Congress. Everything on the surface seems fine, but underneath run very deep and damaging secrets. What really happened when the girls were 7 years old in that car accident that Daddy caused? And why is Mom never home, always running far away to pursue some new dream? Raeanne goes after painkillers, drugs, alcohol, and sex to dull her pain and anger. Kaeleigh always tries so hard to be the good girl -- her father's perfect little flower. But when the girls were 9, Daddy started to turn to his beloved Kaeleigh in ways a father never should and has been sexually abusing her for years. For Raeanne, she needs to numb the pain of not being Daddy's favorite; for Kaeleigh, she wants to do everything she can to feel something normal, even if it means cutting herself and vomiting after every binge. How Kaeleigh and Raeanne figure out just what it means to be whole again when their entire world has been torn to shreds is the guts and heart of this powerful, disturbing, and utterly remarkable book."

According to Polk Schools Policy 2522 (click link to download) each review committee is to consist of 1. Regional Superintendent supervising the school bringing the challenge; 2. Senior Coordinator for Library Media Services; 3. Director of Curriculum and Instruction and/or Curriculum Specialist (representative of content area); 4. A teacher from the appropriate content area and level - Secondary should have an English/Language Arts teacher; 5. A Library Media Specialist representative of the grade level of the material in question; 6. Three (3) parents - (one (1) SAC committee member from the school bringing the challenge, two (2) SAC committee members representing the same grade division in the District); and 7. Board member representing the school bringing the challenge.

No books challenged since December of 2021 have adhered to the above guidelines. No board member has ever participated in a challenge even though policy requires it. Every book challenge has 1 to 3 MINOR AGED STUDENTS on them, which is not allowed via the policy. No book challenge since 2021 has had a board member as part of the challenge committee, despite it being required by PCPS policy.

IDENTICAL REVIEW RESULTS (at the bottom of this article, you will be able to see the actual comments from the review committees, including many from those who voted to keep this book)

Kathleen HS Voted to Keep 8-0 The review committee consisted of 5 district employees, 1 Parent, 2 MINOR AGED STUDENTS and 0 SCHOOL BOARD MEMBERS. Everyone voted to retain, though the comments on the review forms repeatedly show the content is sexual, cruel, prurient, aberrant, brutal, and violent, which violates Florida Statute.

Lake Region HS Voted to Keep 5-2 The review committee consisted of 4 district employees, 1 Parent, 2 MINOR AGED STUDENTS and 0 SCHOOL BOARD MEMBERS. It is very telling that the English teacher from lake region who participated in this review was THE ONLY REVIEWER FROM 9 SCHOOLS to write on their form that they did not find any of the content to have no content that is sexual, cruel, prurient, aberrant, brutal, or violent. Identical is about trauma from a FATHER RAPING HIS MINOR CHILD!!! This says a LOT, and explains why this person is almost every school board meeting when content of books come up. A teacher and a minor student were the votes to remove.

Ridge Community HS Voted to Keep 5-3. The review committee consisted of 4 district employees, 2 Parents, 2 MINOR AGED STUDENTS and 0 SCHOOL BOARD MEMBERS. Both students, and a staff member voted to remove. All Library and media specialists voted to retain.

Tenoroc HS Voted to Keep 5-3. The makeup of the review committee was not provided, however, we know there were 2 MINOR AGED STUDENTS and 0 SCHOOL BOARD MEMBERS on the review committee. Both minor children voted to keep the book. If this committee had the mix of members as outlined by policy, this review probably would have had a different outcome.

Auburndale HS Voted to Keep 9-1 The review committee consisted of 4 district employees, 3 Parents or community members, 3 MINOR AGED STUDENTS and 0 SCHOOL BOARD MEMBERS. The vote to remove was from a community member.

Mulberry HS voted to Keep, vote was not provided. The review committee consisted of at least 7 adults and an unknown number of MINOR AGED STUDENTS and 0 SCHOOL BOARD MEMBERS. Two of the adults may possibly be related.

Davenport HS Voted to Keep 6-3. The review committee consisted of 6 district employees, 1 Parent, 2 MINOR AGED STUDENTS and 0 SCHOOL BOARD MEMBERS. The votes to remove came from the single parent on the committee, one of the two minor students, and an English Teacher. The keep votes came from Librarians, Media Specialist, a teacher, the Assistant Principal, the other student, and a theater/fine arts instructor.

Traviss HS Voted to Keep 7-1. The review committee consisted of 4 district employees, 1 Parent, and 2 MINOR AGED STUDENTS and 0 SCHOOL BOARD MEMBERS. The one vote to remove was from a teacher.

George Jenkins HS Voted to Keep 6-1. The makeup of the review committee was not provided, however we know there were students involved, since FOUR PERMISSION SLIPS were turned in to allow MINOR CHILDERN to participate. I don’t know yet how many students ACTUALLY participated. The permission slip sent to parents of MINOR CHILDREN clearly shows that the review committee is in violation of their own policy, PCSB Policy 2522. This violation is consistent with every book challenge made in Polk County since December of 2021.

The Review Committees at all schools voted to keep "Identical " on the shelf. So what did the review committees actually put on their forms? The forms clearly show Identical includes GRAPHIC RAPE AND PEDOPHELIA which are clearly in violation of Florida State Statute 847.012.

A reviewer at Kathleen HS thought could be helpful to a child who might be going through the same type of abuse at home. WHAT RAPE VICTIM WOULD BE COMFORTED BY READING ABOUT RAPE? One reviewer found the book very disturbing then said that they were very upset by it. One reviewer commented that pedophiles would really enjoy this book. On one of the review committees, a former teacher said this book was too mature for high school and it might be hard for even college students to read. Another former teacher said that she would never want this book in her classroom.

Most reviewers checked the box that Identical was overly sexual and violent, many Polk County School employees said that it was helpful to them as teachers because it would help them understand and recognize when someone might be sexually abused at home. These behaviors included drinking, someone cutting themselves, being sexually promiscuous, and being angry.

On the review form it lists the grade levels for minor children the book is appropriate for. THERE IS NO OPTION TO CHECK NONE! Completed forms are at the bottom of this article.

An appeal to all of these decisions was submitted to Superintendent Heid and each School Board member on Wednesday, October 18th. that same day Superintendent Heid responded by email saying “Thanks you for your email. I will have the team review the policy to ensure what next steps need to be taken and will reply to you promptly.”

Mr. Heid nor the team has responded to the complainant as of February 14th, 2024. A district appeal of Identical was added to the PCPS website in the last few days. Does this follow the Polk County School Boards own policy?

Does a 13 - 17 year old child need to know how to recognize when someone is being sexually abused at their home, or read about a child being raped? Or does a minor child deserve to just be a kid and enjoy high school without reading about someone's trauma and pain. When did we as a society decide to stop letting kids be kids?

If the original complaint with the content of Identical had just been sent to the School Board? When the Board saw the book is about a FATHER RAPING HIS MINOR AGED DAUGHTER, and the trauma the child went through, couldn’t they just have voted to remove the book? Florida Statute not only supports that, it demands it. It’s easily available elsewhere to those who want to read it.

Here’s why Polk County Schools doesn’t follow that easy, and inexpensive process: COMMON SENSE IS NO LONGER COMMON.

10 copies of the book “Identical” by Ellen Hopkins are currently available in Polk County Schools for MINOR AGED CHILDREN to read without their parents being informed or consulted.

Here’s a few screenshots from the reviews:

In closing:

Thanks for reading, more to come.