About Quinn’s challenge
DELAND — A Volusia County Schools graduate who serves as president of Central Floridians for Social Equality challenged the Bible in Volusia’s school district Thursday; come Tuesday, she learned that the book will remain in district buildings.
Christina Quinn, a Daytona Beach resident, does not stand for book banning but believes the Bible should be removed if the district is banning books with similar content.
Eighty-nine books were objected and two books — “Flamer,” by Mike Curato, and “Relish: My Life in the Kitchen,” by Lucy Knisley — were removed from Volusia County Schools during the 2022-23 school year, according to the Florida Department of Education.
“If we’re going to have some kind of protocol for books that are banned, then we have to make sure that the same rules apply across the board,” Quinn said. “That includes the Bible.”
But the Bible will not be removed from Volusia County Schools, according to Desirée Rybinski, Volusia’s coordinator of instructional materials, who cited Florida Statute 1003.45 as the reasoning. This statute allows students to study the Bible and religion in Florida’s K-12 public schools and requires teachers to hold a moment of silence in their classrooms at the start of each school day.
Quinn’s objection to the Bible is resolved, Rybinski said in an email Tuesday.
Central Floridians for Social Equality’s mission is to advocate for equality among all marginalized communities. And according to her press release, Quinn said that includes books.
“If a book is being removed from public school bookshelves due to its sexual content (which often includes stories of marginalized people), then so should books such as the Bible,” she wrote in a statement. “Heteronormativity and/or the character’s race should not be the determining factor for which books stay and which ones go.”
The Bible is housed in 15 of Volusia’s schools: Atlantic, Spruce Creek, DeLand, Seabreeze, Mainland, Pine Ridge and
University high schools; T. Dewitt Taylor Middle High School; Heritage, Hinson, River Springs, Silver Sands and Southwestern middle schools; and Friendship and Indian River elementary schools.
Portions of the Bible are also included in the Florida Department of Education’s B.E.S.T. (Benchmark for Excellent Student Thinking) Standards for English Language Arts. The reading list recommends the Book of Esther for seventhgraders, 2 Samuel for high school sophomores, and the Book of Psalms for high school juniors.
According to her request, Quinn specifically objected the following passages, noting that they are sexually explicit and should be removed from schools per Florida Statute 1006.28 2.b: Ezekiel 16:17; Deuteronomy 25:11-12; Ezekiel 23:18-21; Judah 38: 8-10; Song of Solomon (Old Testament); and Ezekiel 23:20. The statute Quinn cited says that each Florida school district’s objection process must allow county residents to provide evidence that their challenged material depicts sexual conduct as defined in statute 847.001(19).
Upon learning that her objection was resolved, Quinn was “perturbed.”
“It’s hypocritical. It’s a very hypocritical decision,” Quinn said. “They’ve chosen to pick the Bible over the statute that says they cannot have ‘pornographic’ material, or sexually explicit material. So it’s allowed for the Bible, but it’s not allowed when it’s describing marginalized communities and books.”