Collier County School District recommends racy summer reading list

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COLLIER COUNTY, Fla. – Some parents tell WINK News they’re outraged after sexually explicit novels wound up on a recommended reading list for middle school students.

Parents say several of the books contain profanity and pornographic content.

“I was shocked,” said parent Darcey Olscamp. “I was afraid to open it on my work computer when I saw it.”

Olscamp referred to the book, Beautiful Bastards. It along with the book The Truth About Alice were found on a school district recommended summer reading list for middle school students.

The cover of Beautiful Bastards even raves it’s the perfect blend of sex, sass and heart.  Parents say it’s fine for adults, but definitely not for middle school students.

“I couldn’t believe it was real, ’cause it’s almost like it can’t be real. But, it is real,” said concerned resident Jared Jones.

WINK News looked up Beautiful Bastards at the Collier County Public Library. They have it listed as an erotic novel. Some of the passages are so racy, WINK News can’t show them to you.

“If they can’t say the words at school it shouldn’t be in front of them in a class
room,” said Jones.

The books are on a website called Goodreads that was promoted by the Collier County School District. But, the site is user based, so readers get to vote and rank which books are on the list.

“There’s no question some of the content that was brought forward is inappropriate for any student,” said district spokesman Greg Turchetta. “We’ve stripped these links off of our webpage and quite frankly, we’re gonna stick to content that can be trusted.”

Parents say they’re still left wondering how district employees ever allowed this website in the first place and if it will happen again.

“I think taking it down afterwards is not the issue,” said parent, David Bolduc. “The issue is the vetting process.”

The Collier County School District is now linking the public to a reading list vetted by the Florida Department of Education.

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