In Hillsborough County, students are being denied access to books that could help them feel seen, understood, and supported. On September 9, the Hillsborough County School Board voted unanimously to remove Blankets by Craig Thompson and Identical by Ellen Hopkins from school shelves—books that had previously been reviewed and kept in place after public challenges. This reversal didn’t come from new evidence or overwhelming community demand, but from increasing political pressure at the state level.

These two books aren’t obscene or dangerous. They deal with real-world issues like trauma, identity, and healing—topics that many students quietly wrestle with every day. Removing them sends a message that certain stories—and by extension, certain students—don’t belong in our schools. That’s not education. That’s censorship.

State officials may be pushing districts to act out of fear rather than facts, but we can still choose a better path. As community members, parents, and students, we call on the Hillsborough County School Board and Superintendent Van Ayres to stop banning books in response to political threats and start standing up for students' right to read.

Public schools should be safe spaces for learning and self-discovery—not battlegrounds for cultural control. Our educators, librarians, and students deserve thoughtful, transparent policies rooted in educational value, not political convenience.

We urge the board to:

• Reinstate Blankets and Identical in school libraries
• Commit to protecting access to diverse and challenging literature
• Refuse further book removals without a clear, public, and student-centered review process

Censorship doesn’t protect students—it silences them. Sign this petition to demand better for our schools and our kids.

Photo: Douglas Clifford/Tampa Bay Times