Teachers in Manatee County, Florida, are being told to make their classroom libraries — and any other “unvetted” book — inaccessible to students, or risk felony prosecution. The new policy is part of an effort to comply with new laws and regulations championed by Governor Ron DeSantis (R). It is based on the premise, promoted by right-wing advocacy groups, that teachers and librarians are using books to “groom” students or indoctrinate them with leftist ideologies.
Kevin Chapman, the Chief of Staff for the Manatee County School District, told Popular Information that the policy was communicated to principals in a meeting last Wednesday. Individual schools are now in the process of informing teachers and other staff.
Teachers in Manatee County lamented the news on social media. “My heart is broken for Florida students today as I am forced to pack up my classroom library,” one Manatee teacher wrote on Facebook.
Another Manatee teacher called the directive “a travesty to education” that interfered with efforts to “connect with books and develop [a] love of lifelong learning.”
In an interview with Popular Information, Chapman said that the policy was put into place last week in response to HB 1467, which was signed into law by DeSantis last March. That law established that teachers could not be trusted to select books appropriate for their students. Instead, the law requires:
Each book made available to students through a school district library media center or included in a recommended or assigned school or grade-level reading list must be selected by a school district employee who holds a valid educational media specialist certificate, regardless of whether the book is purchased, donated, or otherwise made available to students.
In Florida, school librarians are called “media specialists” and hold media specialist certificates. A rule passed by the Florida Department of Education last week states that a “library media center” includes any books made available to students, including in classrooms. This means that classroom libraries that are curated by teachers, not librarians, are now illegal.
The law requires that all library books selected be:
1. Free of pornography and material prohibited under s. 847.012.
2. Suited to student needs and their ability to comprehend the material presented.
3. Appropriate for the grade level and age group for which the materials are used or made available
Chapman says that school principals in Manatee County were told Wednesday that any staff member violating these rules by providing materials “harmful to minors” could be prosecuted for “a felony of the third degree.” Therefore, teachers must make their classroom libraries inaccessible to students until they can establish that each book has been approved by a librarian.
In response to the policy, some teachers packed up their classroom libraries. Others covered up the books students are no longer allowed to read with construction paper.
Restoring student access to classroom libraries is a complex process. First, someone must cross-check each book in their classroom library with the district library catalog. If the book is available in the district libraries, that means it was approved by a media specialist and can be made available to students again. But any book not currently held in the district libraries must be individually evaluated and approved by a librarian.
And that’s just the beginning. Materials prepared for an upcoming Manatee County School Board meeting include a 21-point list of procedures to ensure that classroom libraries comply with the new rules.
As a result, one Manatee teacher reported being forced to take Sneezy the Snowman and Dragons Love Tacos off the shelves pending review. Other teachers, fearing criminal liability, are telling students not to bring in “unvetted” books from home:
Chapman said he was not aware of teachers being told specifically to prohibit students from bringing books from home but, as a policy, “all materials we use in a classroom are all state approved.”
One high school teacher in Manatee County told Popular Information that they would not comply with the new policy. The teacher has spent the year carefully curating books donated by parents or sourced from their personal collection. “I’m not taking any books out of my room,” the teacher said. “I absolutely refuse.” The teacher spoke on the condition of anonymity, fearing that speaking out about the policy could put their job at risk.
Librarians in Manatee County are now expected to review thousands of books in classroom libraries to ensure compliance with the new law. Manatee County has 64 public schools and 3,000 teachers, many of whom maintain classroom libraries. Chapman said that every school in Manatee County has a media specialist but that the process could take a while because it is “one person” and “they are human.” Any book approved for K-5 students must also be included on a publicly available list.
Similar policies will be implemented in schools across Florida. Some Florida schools do not have a media specialist, making the process even more cumbersome.
That review must also be consistent with a complex training, which was heavily influenced by right-wing groups like Moms For Liberty and approved by the Florida Department of Education just last week. Any mistake by a librarian or others could result in criminal prosecution. This process must be repeated for any book brought into the school on an ongoing basis. But librarians and teachers are not being provided with any additional compensation for the extra work.
Stephana Ferrell, a co-founder of the Florida Freedom to Read Project, said the new policy followed “a pattern of fear-based decisions that prioritize staying in good favor with the Governor over doing the right thing for our students.” Ferrell said she blamed “the Florida Board of Education that passed this rule change last Wednesday without an ounce of consideration for its impact.” Now, “thousands of students are without classroom access to fun and engaging literature.”
Ironically, Manatee County is making thousands of books inaccessible to students just in time to celebrate “Literacy Week” in Florida, which runs from January 23 to 27. Only about 50% of students in Manatee County are reading at grade level.
“Err on the side of caution”
Popular Information asked Chapman if Manatee County librarians and teachers were expected to remove books that violated the Parental Rights In Education Act, known by critics as “Don’t Say Gay” or the Stop WOKE Act, which limits classroom discussion of racial issues. Chapman did not answer the question directly, saying only that librarians are expected to apply the “specialized training for media center specialists” approved last week by the Florida Department of Education. That training, Chapman says, includes “new definitions of inappropriate material.”
The Parental Rights In Education Act prohibits all instruction on “sexual orientation or gender identity” in K-3 classrooms and instruction in other grades that is “not age appropriate or developmentally appropriate.” But the law applies only to “[c]lassroom instruction by school personnel or third parties” — not library books. Similarly, the Stop WOKE Act is limited to classroom instruction.
The teacher training approved by the Florida Department of Education, however, does not inform librarians that the Parental Rights in Education Act and Stop WOKE ACT do not apply to library books. Rather, librarians are told: “There is some overlap between the selection criteria for instructional and library materials.” One slide says that library books and instructional materials cannot include “unsolicited theories that may lead to student indoctrination.”
A subsequent slide provides a list of “unsolicited theories that may lead to student indoctrination,” which includes information about “sexual orientation or gender identity.” It also includes a variety of topics related to race, including “Critical Race Theory” and material that might make someone feel “guilt, anguish, or other forms of psychological distress” as a result of their race. The training instructs librarians to “err on the side of caution.”
As Popular Information reported earlier this month, Manatee County schools have already removed several books from school libraries because they contain LGBTQ characters or themes.
This interpretation of the law runs directly counter to the arguments the DeSantis administration is making in court. In federal court filings, lawyers representing DeSantis insist that the Parental Rights in Education Act does not apply to library books. Nevertheless, the DeSantis administration, through its media specialist training, is encouraging a much more expansive interpretation of the law.
Kirk is a well know republican racist bigot. So he thinks a white centered white straight history is the only history to be taught. Hugs
“I am enthusiastically behind Ron DeSantis saying that Black-centered education has no place in Florida schools, obviously. It’s bigoted from its premise.
“First of all, Western culture is better and it’s a thoughtcrime to say it out loud. Number two, Blacks were sold into slavery by other Blacks. Can’t say that out loud, Thomas Sowell wrote that in great detail.
“Number three, when Blacks were given opportunities to return home, they did not want to return home. Blacks didn’t want to leave.
“I mean obviously, slavery is reprehensible and terrible and awful, but there’s a lot more to that story than people would ever want to acknowledge and admit, which is more Blacks have come to America voluntarily than ever came in the slave trade.
“More Blacks have come to America voluntarily since the 1980s, whether it be from West Africa, from the Caribbean, than ever came in the slave trade.” – Charlie Kirk, on yesterday’s show.
It doesn’t matter who sold them into slavery, and it doesn’t make it alright if black tribes sold members of other black tribes into slavery. SLAVERY IS WRONG. Also, the history courses are pretty much WHITE-CENTRIC. Why is THAT OK? Why shouldn’t black AND white children learn about black history? It’s as much a part of our nation’s history as white history. Go pop your zits in private, Charlie, and leave the rest of us alone.
“Number three, when Blacks were given opportunities to return home, they did not want to return home. Blacks didn’t want to leave.
WTF? Charlie, were first generation slaves offered the chance to return to their homelands? I think not. If this even happened it would have been generations later. That would be like someone offering anyone of us whose families have been here for generations the opportunity to return to the motherland. Ones family and life are now here. The lunacy of these bigots drives me crazy.
It’s how Liberia was setup, but they had to be able to pay to return there. It wasn’t a ‘free’ trip. So that’s why most Black people wouldn’t have ‘wanted’ to leave. Not to mention that people don’t like forced migrations… Once moved, why move again?
If someone wanted to “return” me to Scotland, I might take them up on it. I’d love to live where it rains most of the time, everything is deep fried, and men wear skirts to special events.
But if they just wanted to “return” me to a random chunk of Europe carved out as a dumping ground for anyone of European descent, where a non-English language was spoken by the locals and all the customs were foreign, that would be a completely different matter.
And that’s the kind of “return” that was offered to African Americans after the War of Secession.
I’ve made it a rule to not listen to dropouts tell me what to be ought included or excluded from school curriculum. I only listen to dropouts talking about school when they’re talking about ways to keep people in school.
Florida rejected a proposed Advanced Placement course focused on African American Studies because it included study of topics like the Movement for Black Lives, Black feminism and reparations, according to a list of concerns provided to CNN on Friday by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis’ office.
The state also said the course framework for the study of reparations – the argument to compensate Black Americans for slavery and other historical atrocities and oppressive acts – includes “no critical perspective or balancing opinion in this lesson.”
The state Department of Education on January 12 informed the College Board, the organization that oversees the Advanced Placement program, that the course violated state law and rejected its inclusion in Florida schools.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' administration has concerns with six topics of study on the syllabus for the new AP African American Studies class, according to a list provided to CNN, including the study of the Movement for Black Lives and reparations,https://t.co/Nbhi350j3W
I wrote up an acceptable black history curriculum for Florida:
– Once upon a time, there was a kind of embarrassing practice where some people were forced to do jobs — even though it wasn’t as bad as some people like to say. And the same thing existed in Africa too, so it wasn’t the Americans’ fault.
– All of the divinely-inspired Founding Fathers wanted to end it.
– Eventually, the North invaded the South, and the South fought back valiantly. But the North overwhelmed it by throwing overwhelming, sacrificed bodies of soldiers at the brave defenders — who only wanted to be able to have their own laws and culture without woke, federal interference.
– Then the North told all those workers they didn’t have jobs anymore.
-The North tried to make those people serve in government for about 10 years, but everyone agreed that it was a disaster, and things went back to normal.
– Those people liked to call themselves “colored.” Some of them had some good qualities like Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglass, who were both Republicans and loved guns. They opposed the Ku Klux Klan, which was created by the Democrat Party.
– Eventually, there was a guy named George Washington Carver. He invented peanut butter. He was also a Republican.
– Not much happened for a long time. Eventually there was the great Martin Luther King, Jr. He was a Republican too. He taught everyone that it is wrong to talk, or even think, about skin color.
– Then Obama became president and brought Democrat racism back.
Neo-Confederates in the US have been pushing their bizarre ,revisionist history of the Civil War and slavery for as long as I can remember.. This is the first tine a state government has turned those lies into an official state sanctioned history..
The thing is, every revisionist lie about slavery, and the cause of the Civil War they tell is contradicted by contemporary documents from the Civil War: the articles of session by the various states, the constitution of the Confederacy, the Congressional record of the Confederacy, public speeches by confederates, such as the infamous Cornerstone Speech.
If the media examined what happened in the Nazi murder camps using the “both sides” approach they’ve adopted today, they wouldn’t denounce the Holocaust as evil. They’d tell us what happened and then insist on getting the Nazis’ “point of view.”
A previous draft version of the concerns sent to CNN by DeSantis’ office included an objection to the study of “The Black Power Movement and The Black Panther Party.” The draft version asserted that “The Black Panther Party (BPP) was based on the ideology of Marxism- Leninism. Goal of the BPP was to fundamentally change or overthrow the American government.” However, in an updated version of the state’s concerns, the references to the Black Panther Party were removed and replaced with an objection to the study of “Black Queer Studies.”
There is NOTHING in education, especially higher education, that students should not be exposed to so they have a good knowledge of WHAT IT IS. That is what education is about, for Christ’s sake, not keeping people in ignorance! Any student of history, certainly of U.S. history, should know what the Black Panther Party was. Any high school student should be familiar with what it was, should know what Marxist-Leninism is! And why should they not be made familiar with contributions made to society by gay people in the Black community?!
Two hundred fifty years of slavery. Ninety years of Jim Crow. Sixty years of separate but equal. Thirty-five years of racist housing policy. Until we reckon with our compounding moral debts, America will never be whole. By Ta-Nehisi Coates
I went to university at one of NYC’s city colleges and it was possible to major in religion. In fact it is possible to major in religion at many public universities. I probably disagree with much of what is taught in thise departments, but I would never approve of the state banning the classes. Which is just another example of how the right wing engages in cancel culture and stifling free speech. Yet the media would have us believe the left engages in it.
Yet the right says the democrats are the ones indoctrinating students. These are upper levels of schooling, college and universities, that they are removing any talk of equality, racism, and so much more. Professors having to scrub their courses and presentations of anything that might upset the ruler / dictator DeathSantis. Imagine this country wide. Talk about the Taliban or moral / vice police. This is stunning and worse it is not getting any national attention or scrutiny. It is scary how fascist the state of Florida has become in several short years. With DeathSantis making Florida a maga white Christian paradise the state is being flooded with intolerant people who won’t accept any social advance since the 1850s. Plus notice the drive is to make a public school be just like a conservative Christian college. Hugs
Yovanna Pineda, hired more than a decade ago to teach Latin American history at the University of Central Florida, rebranded one of her signature courses last fall. Striking references to “dictatorships” and “human rights” from the title, she decided to simply call her class “History of South America.”
Pineda said many of her colleagues are making similar changes, either because they fear blowback from state leaders who say they are trying to eliminate “indoctrination” from university campuses or because they don’t want the hassle of additional scrutiny.
DeSantis continued his campaign last week, appointing far-right activist Christopher Rufo to the Board of Trustees at New College of Florida. Rufo is best known for launching a national campaign against critical race theory. Rufo told The New York Times he and his new colleagues seek to transform New College into a public version of Michigan’s Hillsdale College, a conservative Christian school.
Read the full article. That’s Rufo standing appropriately on the far-right in the screenshot above.
UCF professors are renaming courses and removing phrases like “human rights”, “social justice”, “equity” and “equal” to avoid being targeted or tracked by the state.
This is happening in 2023 in the United States under the new McCarthyism of Ron DeSantis.https://t.co/Z7Xrzx8WNp
UCF professors are renaming courses and removing phrases like “human rights”, “social justice”, “equity” and “equal” to avoid being targeted or tracked by the state.
This is happening in 2023 in the United States under the new McCarthyism of Ron DeSantis.https://t.co/Z7Xrzx8WNp
“And faculty members say they’ve seen other signs that the governor has gained a foothold on their campuses, including the removal of the words “social justice” from the name of an office at UCF, which has been rebranded as the Office of Civil Discourse.“https://t.co/Z7Xrzx8oXRpic.twitter.com/VI4WkSlCWu
If you want to see true hypocrisy, look no further then Cuban Republicans in FL who scream about how evil socialism and Castro are while applauding everything DeSantis does. They hate socialism but love fascism.
Like openly gay Florida state Rep. Carlos Smith (seen above), I am a graduate of UCF, which is now the nation’s largest public university by enrollment.
So the ‘academic freedom’ they’re so loudly in favour of just means the ability of professors to use slurs and misgender their students without being talked to by HR. I mean we knew that, but nice to see it actually being confirmed in real time.
In the Fascist State of Florida, the remaking of education continues on course. Henceforth, all institutions of learning will be used to groom children into fascism and eliminate anything that does not support/agree with fascist theory.
What I don’t understand is why the ACLU or some other organization hasn’t brought suit against the governor for violation of the First Amendment. This is exactly what the amendment was designed to prohibit: governmental interference with free speech.
Why even send your children to Florida universities at this point. Soon none of the institution live up to the normal standard of operation. Moron Death Sentence is hell bend on turning Florida into a shit hole state.
And the administrations of these schools are unable to protect academic freedom for their professors because of fear of retribution and firing. DeSantis is Big Brother.
All public educators, at all grade levels, should simply walk out. There is no way Florida would be able to replace every single teacher and college professor in the state. The federal government would be forced to step in.
There will be no diversity or inclusion in Florida. Only straight white Christian people will be seen in society or promoted in employment. Those icky others shouldn’t be here or get jobs. Notice that DeathSantis spokes person claimed that discrimination wouldn’t be tolerated in Florida and they would stomp out the woke agenda. I asked myself what discrimination they were talking about, but reading the article it became clear that having a job fair directed to anyone but white straight people was the offence the DeathSantis administration couldn’t tolerate. What is woke that the right hates and works so hard to wipe out? It is respect for other people and other ideas. It is the new politically correct that the right fought against so hard because again it was about respecting other people and other ideas. The right / republicans can not tolerate anything / anyone that is not a clone of themselves. This is a complete regression to before the civil rights laws were passed. This is an open attempt to return or to enforce a white straight in charge society. This is repackaged white supremacy racism. This is the US attempt to create a version of South African Apartheid. Hugs
Hockey league scuttles criteria after administration criticism.
The Ron DeSantis administration is able to declare victory over a major sports league, which changed plans for a diversity job fair in South Florida.
Fox News Digital first reported that the National Hockey League has abandoned plans to hold a job fair that would have opened up opportunities to various groups historically marginalized in the United States.
The so-called “Pathway to Hockey Summit,” to be held Feb. 2 in Fort Lauderdale during the NHL’s All-Star Weekend, was originally tailored to “diverse job seekers who are pursuing careers in hockey,” according to a now-deleted LinkedIn post that raised the ire of the DeSantis administration.
“Participants must be 18 years of age or older, based in the U.S., and identify as female, Black, Asian/Pacific Islander, Hispanic/Latino, Indigenous, LGBTQIA+, and/or a person with a disability. Veterans are also welcome and encouraged to attend,” asserted the previous event description, which drew the ire of a DeSantis spokesperson.
“Discrimination of any sort is not welcome in the state of Florida, and we do not abide by the woke notion that discrimination should be overlooked if applied in a politically popular manner or against a politically unpopular demographic. We are fighting all discrimination in our schools and our workplaces, and we will fight it in publicly accessible places of meeting or activity,” Bryan Griffin told Fox News Friday.
The revised posting eliminates any reference to ethnic, gender, sexual orientation, and military veteran status.
“The Pathway to Hockey Summit is a career event, especially to encourage those that historically have not been exposed to hockey and all who are interested in learning more about career opportunities in the sport.”
The NHL distanced itself from the previous language as “not accurate,” suggesting that the intent was really to reach out to people unfamiliar with hockey.
“The Pathway to Hockey Summit is an informational and networking event designed to encourage all individuals to consider a career in our game – and, in particular, alert those who might not be familiar with hockey to the opportunities it offers,” the NHL spokesperson said.
The NHL seems to have extended its deadline for registration in light of the revised criteria.
Florida’s Voicereported that the original deadline for registration was Friday the 13th, with accepted applicants to be told on Tuesday Jan. 17. The updated posting says that they will now be told a week later, on Jan. 24.
Though the wording has been changed, reminders of the previous job search remain on career boards, such as ones from the University of Southern California and the University of Pennsylvania. These postings still maintain that participants “must … identify as female, Black, Asian/Pacific Islander, Hispanic/Latino, Indigenous, LGBTQIA+, and/or a person with a disability,” or be military veterans.
The Ron DeSantis administration is able to declare victory over a major sports league, which changed plans for a diversity job fair in South Florida. The NHL has abandoned plans to hold a job fair that would have opened up opportunities to various groups historically marginalized in the United States.
The so-called “Pathway to Hockey Summit,” to be held Feb. 2 in Fort Lauderdale during the NHL’s All-Star Weekend, was originally tailored to “diverse job seekers who are pursuing careers in hockey,” according to a now-deleted LinkedIn post that raised the ire of the DeSantis administration.
The revised posting eliminates any reference to ethnic, gender, sexual orientation, and military veteran status. “We do not abide by the woke notion that discrimination should be overlooked,” said DeSantis spokeman Bryan Griffin to Fox News Digital.
Read the full article. Attention to the job fair was first raised by the far-right Florida’s Voice, which was founded by a January 6 attendee.
Penalty box: @NHL backs down from diversity job fair posting after @GovRonDeSantis administration pressure
Dishonest media like @RawStory are already trying to cover up progressive discrimination. Glad the @NHL has done the right thing and changed the invite, but shame on those media rushing to lie about what happened. https://t.co/iHXOW1mKROpic.twitter.com/iHlg9VTR61
It’s “progressive discrimination” to encourage *more* people to apply than the group already mostly doing the applying? Yeah, sure, you poor straight white dudes who can’t compete.
I think Rick Wilson and the author of this NYTs opinion piece are underestimating deathsantis’s ability to overtake trump for the 24 rethug nomination, but they do a good job in pointing out Florida’s shitty economic and political situation: https://twitter.com/TheRick…
Most criticism of Mr. DeSantis’s national electability has been centered around his lack of charisma, which Mr. Trump crystallized by giving him the cumbersome nickname Ron DeSanctimonious. But focusing on personality and style obscures the governor’s real failings: Florida is not a model for the nation, unless the nation wants to become unaffordable for everyone except rich snowbirds.
There are three big secrets about Florida people don't get.
1. There is no state more lavishly corrupt. Crony capitalism writ large.
2. Our Legislature is wholly-owned by the lobbying corps.
I have to wonder how many companies & organizations are quietly moving their special meetings events to other locations? Many of them liked having such winter events scheduled in warm weather climes, but with Gov Performative Politics at the helm, how many have decided or will decide to go elsewhere? It would be interesting to see how these stunts have hurt Florida’s entertainment industry.
We’re all literally watching DeSantis take down the republic within the State of FL. At some point it will be obvious what’s going on there to the rest of the nation.
“The South Will Rise Again” as granny would say in the Beverly Hillbillies. I always thought that was funny growing up….not so much anymore! White supremacy coupled with christofascism, is alive and growing in America.
Extremists get power as individuals and organizations cave into their bulling. The bully gets stronger and stronger as each individual and organizations cave into their demands and the nation winds up with Trump and then DeSantis as POTUS.
“Nah, Floriduh is were uneducated neanderthals go for vacation, Christian Nation Indoctrination a la Kim il Jung, and MAGAts wait to die, before eternity takes them to the deepest regions of Satan’s Hell.”
Maybe the NHL needs to pull the hockey summit and All Stars Weekend out of Fort Lauderdale and move it to another location. I know it’s probably too soon at this point with all the planning involved, but I would imagine there are an awful lot of less awful places that would love to host such an event. Can they at least decide they won’t have anything to do with Florida outside of Tampa Bay Lightning or Florida Panthers games? And then make sure everyone knows DeSantis is the reason why? Hey, a guy can dream, can’t he?
Hockey lover here. The NHL has been pretty good (for a sports league) on DEI. I was extremely disappointed that they chose Florida for the All-Star game, for reasons just like this. Everything is a political opportunity for DeSantis, and they walked (skated) right into his trap.
It’s becoming very clear that, for the right, “woke” means anything they don’t like, which usually means anything liberals like. I recently saw a video in which a stick-in-the-mud old Brit called Harry and Meghan woke. What does that mean, besides the fact that he just doesn’t like them?
Like when that idiot demanded all Florida universities report “woke actions.” What the fuck is a “woke action”? A protest for women’s rights on campus? A meet-and-greet for LGBTQIA+ students? A right-wing creep’s roommate who dares muse aloud that we maybe shouldn’t be murdering the environment?
Scottie's Playtime 