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TAMPA, FLORIDA—A pastor and activist staged a protest during a Hillsborough County School Board meeting, questioning the presence of books with sexual content in school libraries and reading aloud some passages he considers inappropriate for students.

John Amanchukwu, founder of the organization I Know God, used his time during the public comment period to quote excerpts from “Survivor,” a novel by Chuck Palahniuk that, he noted, is available in the library at Alonso High School.

During his remarks, Amanchukwu also questioned the availability of another book at Sulphur Springs School, a K-8 school, and asked board members what the educational benefit was of young students having access to material that includes sexual references.

“What is the educational benefit of this?” the pastor asked the board members, according to reports about the meeting.

The intervention came amid an ongoing debate in the Hillsborough district about the criteria used to determine which books can remain available to students.

Another participant, Julie Gebhards, a parent advocate, also raised objections to several titles, including “Kingdom of the Feared,” “Kingdom of the Wicked,” and “Kingdom of the Cursed.” She also questioned the content of IQ 84, which, she told the board, includes a sexual situation between an adult and a minor.

The school district has a formal procedure for reviewing objections from parents and community members regarding library materials. The challenged books can be reviewed by district committees and subsequently appealed to the school board.

To date, the district has not announced a new decision regarding the removal of the titles mentioned during the meeting. The episode once again puts at the center of the debate in Florida the question of what materials are appropriate for school libraries and what criteria educational authorities should use to determine their availability according to the age of the students.