Florida teachers told to remove books from classroom libraries or risk felony prosecution

[demmiblue]

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." 

https://popular.info/p/florida-teachers-told-to-remove-books

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[mopinko]

1. teachers should strike. hard.

if i taught there, i’d make sure i had every book on their crooked lil list in my classroom.
and the 1st teacher to get cuffed should trigger a statewide walk out. and parents better damn well be right there.
fuck the courts. the line must be drawn.

[LaMouffette]

60. Yes, they should strike, and if that doesn't bring about changes, they should all quit,

like Florida teacher Janet Allen did. Just a massive, all-at-once resignation.

[link:https://www.news-press.com/story/opinion/2022/10/25/florida-teachers-why-so-many-leaving-their-jobs-ron-desantis/10565180002/|

Here's an excerpt from the article, written by the teacher's father:

Though sad to leave Lake View after seven years, she and husband Kevin Allen moved to Florida to live near us, before giving birth to her own daughter, Summer.

Still needing to teach, she was awarded a position at Venice High School, where she became known for the college level rigor of her instruction and was asked to teach Advanced Placement English Literature for college bound seniors. Administrators routinely showcased Allen’s classes when V.I.P.'s visited.

Additionally, she founded and became faculty sponsor of Venice’s first Gender and Sexualities Alliance (GSA), to help LGBTQIA+ students who faced intensified bullying after Trump became president.

This past year, Janet Allen’s AP students earned the highest scores in the district; she received the “highly effective” evaluation for superior teachers; and GSA members had finally begun to feel that they belonged.

So it was a shock to many when she announced she must resign

The reason? Governor Ron DeSantis’s inserting himself into school classrooms with his anti-woke hatred, with bans on books, on critical race theory, and on sexual orientation and gender identity discussion and instruction.

Allen believes DeSantis’s stranglehold killed the creativity, autonomy, and motivation that made her profession fulfilling, and helped give Sarasota schools its annual A rating.

She had been warned, for example, to stop using Maya Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings and Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye, and other highly acclaimied novels containing truths related to sexual orientation or racism.

[TheBlackAdder]

83. A MAGAt parent, with a librarian chip on their shoulder, could easily plant a book to 'punish them.'

[mopinko]

85. or a magat principal who wants to get rid

of a troublesome liberal teacher.
there’s sooooo much room for mischief here.

[TheBlackAdder]

93. Or someone could target the MAGA principle or holy roller teacher. Even set up the PTA ass-kisser.

[secondwind]

2. What a horror...........surely, this cannot be legal ??

[atreides1]

7. But it is legal...

Just like slavery, child labor, sterilization...were all legal!

[appalachiablue]

50. +1

[Best_man23]

37. To paraphrase Emperor Palpatine

DeathSentence will "make it legal."

There is going to be a Scopes trial coming out of this, there will be a teacher somewhere who resists this wholly immoral and illegal edict from an overbearing tin plated dictator with delusions of Godhood.

[IronLionZion]

44. RWers pass shitty laws, making it legal

[FeelingBlue]

3. Across Florida...

I hope that teachers will discuss this ban on classroom libraries, leading students in think about the implications of this, the purpose, etc. Juniors and seniors are getting ready to be voters. Time for the teachers to do their thing and get students to THINK about choosing people on the ballot who actually represent them. Between this and the news about George Santos and Elisa Stefanik, teachers have a lot of material from which students can learn about how things work- -that isn’t even in books yet.

[electric_blue68]

20. Woah, not quite awake yet...was Thinking it Only Applied to...

Grade School! (which is still problematic!)


But...omg...High School...HIGH SCHOOL??!!!! 😮😑🤬

[ShazzieB]

90. And not just high school.

It sounds like AP classes, which are supposed to be college level, are being subjected to the same constraints. How long will it be before high school kids in Florida will no longer be able to get college credit for so-called AP classes taught under the repressive and retrogressive DeSantis regime? It's bound to happen, because there's no way college level instruction can take place in such a restrictive environment.

When fully accredited institutions of higher learning figure out that they can't count on AP classes offered in Florida public schools being taught at a true college level, they're not going to be comfortable awarding college credit for them. Which defeats the purpose of offering such classes. This will open a whole can of worms that no governor wih a lick of sense would want to open (but that of course will not stop DeSantis).

Seems to me that an awful lot of Florida parents are going to be massively displeased if their kids get to college and find out they have to retake courses they took as AP classes in high school.

[Irish_Dem]

4. In America, teachers, librarians, doctors go to jail for doing their jobs.

In an autocracy it is important to get control of educated professionals.

When Hitler invaded Poland he shot all the intelligentsia first thing.

[SheltieLover]

35. Yup!

[Deuxcents]

45. Yes..that is what we know b/c of history but they are repeating

The beginnings of the 1930’s n they don’t want to teach it. This governor is killing our public education system

[Irish_Dem]

84. Yes that is the point, to kill education.

A successful democracy depends upon an educated populace.

The GOP does not want a successful democracy, so education must go.

Oh yes, history is a big threat to fascists. The people must not know what
happened in the past when fascism took hold.

[SergeStorms]

61. And Trump still walks the earth, a free man.

Makes a bunch of sense, doesn't it?

[Irish_Dem]

87. It tells us criminals are in charge and can commit crimes with impunity.

While law abiding, hard working Americans doing their jobs risk going to jail.

[Caliman73]

86. That is true for almost every authoritarian dictatorship.

Pinochet in Chile, The Taliban in Afghanistan, Saddam Hussein in Iraq, the Ayatollah's in Iran, etc...

All of them went after teachers and students. Knowledge is the enemy of tyranny. What does it say about your ideology when you have to persecute those who seek to pass on knowledge and wisdom?

Conservatives cannot survive in a world where they do not control the narrative.

[ShazzieB]

91. And this is what some people call Making America Great Again!

[Irish_Dem]

92. Making America better for Putin and the GOP crime syndicate.

[cyclonefence]

5. I guess removing books beyond the students' level of comprehension

endangers all supplemental textbooks and study guides for subjects like math and chemistry. And is the level of students' comprehension based on the dumbest kid in the class's comprehension or that of the brainiac?

I believe reading books beyond one's level of comprehension is the first step in learning something new.

[electric_blue68]

23. By HS (maybe earlier) I was reading 4 grades above my level...

this could be particularly boring for the brighter students, plus any student trying improve their skills! 😑

[csziggy]

62. Yes, by the time I got to fourth grade I was reading material at young adult level in the library

By the time I was in seventh, I was allowed (by request of my parents) to read anything I wanted in the public library. M

[electric_blue68]

77. Cool! I was in fourth grade when I asked my dad if I could read the SF book he had on his side of...

the long bureau they had. (such a beautiful bureau!)

So maybe by 6th grade+ my reading level went up.

[niyad]

25. In 2nd grade, I was reading at 8-9th grade level, far beyond many adults these days

(who, according to studies, read at or below 6th grade).

I would ask, WTAF, but we all know the answers.

[Hope22]

72. Dumbest kids....

That’s a little harsh.

[bucolic_frolic]

6. Josef Stalin would be proud of such a policy

[jaxexpat]

36. Great pioneer of modern education, Joseph Stalin.

He brought Russia out of the dark ages and straight into the bright search lights of re-education.

[Diamond_Dog]

8. As if any teacher

has shelves full of pornography or sexually explicit books on shelves in their classrooms! This is just ridiculous!

[dewsgirl]

12. I don't think that's it, I think it's leftist views.

[Diamond_Dog]

14. I'm sure it's several things they hate

But “pornography” was mentioned in the first bullet point.

[dewsgirl]

17. I and my children are lifelong Floridians, this is just beyond what I

ever imagined. I wonder what they consider to be pornography? It's likely something we would never imagine to be porn. I think they already challenged a Shel Silverstein book, one I read a thousand times since the 2nd grade, I have no idea why they banned it.💔

Edit: shockingly it's Shel Silverstein's the Giving Tree of all things.💔

[woodsprite]

33. If it was titled "The Grifting Tree" it probably would have been fine. nt

[dewsgirl]

97. Indeed, LoL that would be perfect.😁

[LakeVermilion]

9. There was a time when America competed for the best minds.

There was a time when diverse thoughts led to unparalleled creativity. Its obvious for all of our exceptionalism, the Right is determined to create a country that limits free thought and opportunity.

History is repeating itself. Florida and the "red states" are moving to "The Dark Ages Redux."

[Chipper Chat]

10. They should just remove ALL books.

Just make students go to the Internet for help. Cause ya know they are safe from any porn there.

[Rebl2]

40. My thought too

Think I would quit teaching actually. Become a private tutor in subject you feel you are strong in.

[Diamond_Dog]

80. What's the next logical step?

Box up all the books, take them outside, and burn them, I suppose.

[sinkingfeeling]

11. So much ''freedom' in Florida (and Texas). I've vowed never to

step foot in either state again. Lived in south Florida 1977-1979 and near Dallas 1986-1989.

[Eyeball_Kid]

30. Who wants to teach in these states???

How are these two states going to recruit teachers?

Who would voluntarily sign up to teach in a fascist educational system? Fascists?

[Lonestarblue]

71. More fascists. No education or teaching experience required, just repeat Republican propaganda.

Florida students are being seriously shortchanged with this stupidity. Schools in blue states that are finding it difficult to hire enough teachers should go on recruiting campaigns to Florida. With help paying moving expenses, I suspect they might be able to fill their vacancies with fed-up Florida teachers. I think it was Arizona that was recruiting teachers from the Philippines.

The Republican dumbing down of US education continues. According to Pew Research:

“The most recent PISA results, from 2015, placed the U.S. an unimpressive 38th out of 71 countries in math and 24th in science. Among the 35 members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, which sponsors the PISA initiative, the U.S. ranked 30th in math and 19th in science.”
https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/02/15/u-s-students-internationally-math-science/

Republicans will argue that their removal of books from classrooms and libraries has nothing to do with science and math, but they’re wrong. Some of the books that will be removed will include any that mention of climate warming or alternative energy. And they may get around to demanding that biology books no longer illustrate the human body or have any mention of sexual organs. Eventually, textbooks will have to contain fake photos showing fetal development, as well as anti-abortion propaganda spewed by right-wing evangelicals. And let me not forget the topic of evolution, which evangelicals have been trying to get rid of for decades. Earth science may be required to teach the Biblical version of Earth’s age rather than the facts that contradict the Bible. And of course there were no humans on Earth before Adam and Eve.

Math requires reading to understand how to apply mathematical concepts, and denying children the opportunity to read books that interest them results in fewer kids interested in reading at all. Teachers have also been trying to introduce more diversity of writers in their classrooms so that students see that ideas and value come from writers with many different ethnicities and experiences. Minority writers will be banned as teaching CRT. Literature will return to a curriculum based only dead white guys, as if only white male ideas are important.

This whole movement is so discouraging because people with children are allowing and encouraging Republicans to deny their children and all children in a state a well-rounded education.

[SergeStorms]

63. Freedom to be a stupid shit.

Why don't they just have some good, old fashioned book burnings down in Florida? Get all the books together that Governor DeSatan doesn't approve of and burn those damned things!

What the fuck is wrong with people down there? Has the sun cooked their brains into refried shit?

[Chipper Chat]

82. I taught school in Mesquite in 1986.

Never ever felt like a Big Brother was watching me

[Johnny2X2X]

13. Insane

Books, we're banning books. Only the state gets to decide what your kids get to read, not you, not their teacher, but the state, politicians in your state capitol.

The party of "Freedumb" wants absolute control over the thoughts of your children. They decide, not you.

[Initech]

32. It's truly fucking insane.

When I found out that my local school board was banning and any mention of CRT, I just about blew a gasket. Even worse, I knew the exact fucking assholes responsible for this. It's unbelievable that the same people who cry about their freedoms being taken away want to live in a fascist theocracy.

[dewsgirl]

15. As a life long Floridian (until 2 yrs ago) born and raised,

my education was in FL. as were my children, the education system has been in a slow slide down for a very long time, but this is beyond infuriating and breaks my heart. I truly never imagined things could get this bad, I fear it's only going to get worse.😥💔

[Baitball Blogger]

16. Ron De Santis: Doing the devil's work.

[Initech]

54. Rupert Murdoch is Satan.

[Hortensis]

18. Terrible, but remember a majority of FL voters chose him. They WANT imposition,

or "restoration" as they foolishly imagine, of their own vague notions of old-fashioned conservative Christian religious and social moral codes. Even conservatives who worry about this going too far are satisfied that it at least is in the "right direction": at war with the liberalism supposedly destroying our nation.

People who could elect tRump twice would be incapable of understanding their own religions' moral codes even if they hadn't rejected them, but in FL and across the nation they imagine this is what good, moral people do.

FL's "the people who have spoken," most authoritarian leaning and worse, will approve the prosecution of teachers who refuse their mandate. And worse.

[DFW]

19. I'm waiting for "Inherit The Wind" to be forbidden from Florida theaters n/t

[marmar]

21. Florida has become a fascist state.

[Lovie777]

22. Majority of the immigrants fled their respective countries to the USA.......

because of shit like this, abusive and the lack of freedom, lack of choice, and constant fear, and yet, Florida and other red states and headed into the realm of fascism.

[Beetwasher.]

24. Sickos

[niyad]

26. When I was in the flaccid phallus state in the mid-90's, it was ranked in the

bottom 5 in education. What is lower than 50th (and are we counting the territories?)?

[louis-t]

27. Felony prosecution for having books.

Welcome to Fahrenheit 451. Will Desatan send the fireman to burn all the books?

[Akacia]

78. exactly.

[AverageOldGuy]

28. ". . . seeking volunteers to assist . . . "

I think we all know where this is going.

[Initech]

29. This is some straight up Nazi shit.

The Christian right has gone way too far. I personally would be extremely happy to see some of these fuckers prosecuted for crimes against humanity.

[avebury]

31. They should start by removing the Bible from any school/classroom. nt

[SergeStorms]

65. Bingo!

First book to go! Put them all in a pile and torch them.

[kacekwl]

34. What nonsense. Why bother

anymore jut close the damn schools and turn them into right wing media watching /reading room. Complete with shrines to DeSantis and trump and be done with it.

[Ferrets are Cool]

38. Because that would be TOO obvious....oh wait.

[treestar]

52. Like North Korea

I bet they really envy NK. Able to block anything they don't want to hear and have citizens who simply worship them.

[SheltieLover]

39. They should all quit!

Easier said than done, I realize, but they work way too hard to be threatened for doing their jobs!

Do they have a union?

Guessing pootin found another loophole to have his stooges exploit.

[Aviation Pro]

41. Fuck Guv. Man Bewbs

Fuck this piece of phlegm.

[RealityBasedNewYorkr]

42. They better remove the Bible too

Full of forbidden descriptions of incest, rape, etc.

[plimsoll]

43. Students leaving Florida schools should be assumed to have not graduated HS.

From this point forward students leaving Florida colleges should not be assumed to have met the requirements of their degrees or certificates. All Florida medical and dental students should be treated as having graduated from non-certificated schools. Sure the Red states will not adopt that, but the blue states don't need to accept Floriduhs word for anything henceforth.

[moniss]

46. Can the

armbands be far behind?

[IronLionZion]

47. Banning books in schools, smoking indoors in the US Capitol again

GOP is really making America great again

[lindysalsagal]

48. And Floridians keep electing this monster.

[treestar]

49. a clear sign of stupidity

is the approach to ideas that you need to stop them by keeping people from hearing about them.

If you need the book with leftist views off the shelf, you are stating that you can only keep people from having leftist views by blocking their access to other expressions of the views.

And they will still come up anyway.

[Hekate]

51. Felony? This is absolute madness.

[BradBo]

53. No wonder there's labor shortages.

Who wants to be a teacher with these restrictions. Who wants to be a cop too? Way to many guns out there.

[Jim__]

55. Remember Fahrenheit 451?

[fightforfreedom]

56. The Republicans will lose this battle in the end.

They can't control their extremism and they always go to far in the end. From what I have been hearing they have banned some books that have ben around for a very long time. They are fucking idiots and Desantis the Dork is one of the biggest idiots.

[Bettie]

57. Seems like Florida Republicans dislike most books

so, what do the kids get now? Bible picture books, the works of Ann Coulter, and other right wingnuts?

[MiHale]

58. They should lie about what they have...

Doctor the lists, hide the books, get another copy of the books give them one, say you did then don’t, have reading “field trips” get away from the school.

Fight fire with republicanism.

[The Unmitigated Gall]

59. The desert of conservatism.

[twodogsbarking]

64. Mainstream medias will avoid extended coverage.

Get it?

[Richard D]

66. How long until the book buring starts?

Are there any environmental laws against it in Florida?

[Wednesdays]

67. The Big, Brave GOP

is afraid of books and ideas.

[DBoon]

68. Are they going to have children snitch to their right wingnut job parents?

How are they going to enforce this?

[geardaddy]

69. Welcome to fascist Florida

[YoshidaYui]

70. Ron DeSantas has this planned for the ENTIRE UNITED STATES

once in office as PRESIDENT, BT we mut NOT let him win... fuck him!

[cbabe]

73. Kids can bring their own books from home. Parents get busy stuffing those book bags.

[Torchlight]

74. I think the first, adult-type book I read was Watership Down.

It was available in my sixth-grade homeroom class, and I'd read ten minutes of per day (until I was halfway through it and the teacher asked if I wanted to take it. Thank you, Mrs. Pomeroy!). I finished reading it, and thought, "Wow! Adult books are way better Dynamite Magazine!"

Next year, I'm in the neighborhood middle school and I find out the same author wrote another book called Plague Dogs. Went to school library and found it in card catalog, went to get it from the shelves and turns out that previous summer, PTA had gotten infested with adults whose knowledge of the reading material was limited to book covers, but no matter-- Plague Dogs, Charlotte's Web and Bridge to Terabithia had been removed from the shelves, in addition to a dozen other titles I can't remember.

Last week, wife told me our state of Texas has banned 801 books, spanning 22 school districts, in the past year — more than any other state. The assertion that conservatives are more afraid of ideas than they are of hunger (loose attribution to Pres. Carter) seems more and more concrete every day.

She followed that up with one grim statement: "If you block access to opinions and knowledge, you block access to education." I think she's right, a slow defunding of education is part of the conservative agenda (so everyone is as unlearned as they?).

[Martin68]

75. Fascism.

[zanana1]

76. Fahrenheit 451 doesn't seem like fiction anymore.

[Hekate]

79. Ever since DeSantis took office in 2019 I've thought he's using Florida as a test case for how far

… he can go. He is a seriously dangerous man.

STUDENTS GATHER BOOKS FOR BOOK BURNING
Across Germany, students took books by truck, furniture van, even oxcart, and heaped them into pyres on public squares.



STUDENTS AND MEMBERS OF THE SA UNLOAD MATERIALS FOR BOOK BURNING
Students and members of the SA unload books deemed "un-German" during the book burning in Berlin.

[Timeflyer]

89. He absolutely is. And his conservative corporate donors love it.

And most teachers don't make enough money in FL to face all the consequences of crossing the Tallahassee Tyrant. The Proud Boys' Ladies Auxiliary, Mom's for Bigotry, have taken over school boards. Corporate charter school minions are running the state Board of Ed., helping push school privatization. Intimidating teachers and librarians is just one tactic. US beware.

[mercuryblues]

81. I think I should get Dr Suess on the banned list.

His children's books are a way to groom kids into read about his pornographic book.

7 naked sisters who vowed never to marry and be true to themselves.

[ZonkerHarris]

88. Republicans are scared of books, ideas, ideals, and actual history. Such cowardly snowflakes.

[Marcuse]

94. "Build the Wall and make Mexico pay for it."

[geretogo]

95. Dasantis is a good Nazi .

[Takket]

96. I hope some teacher(s) is brave enough to stand up to this........

I can understand the fear in doing so. Being threatened with prison is scary, I have to admit I wouldn't be brave enough to risk this, but there are many braver than me. Someone needs to fight it, and rally the public behind them.

Also it should be noted the library can stay accessible as long as the books are listed on the schools website. Though it says nothing about what this "vetting" process is. Can the teachers compile the list? a parents? a 3rd part contractor? who gets to say if the book is allowed or not? It's absurd no instructions are given... but hopefully they play along for now since kids need their books back, even if they have to jump through these absurd hoops to get them.

[flyfreebird]

98. AP AfroAmerican Studies Course

First they came to ban books, then they came to ban AfroAmerican studies. what´s next, Hispanics, Asians studies? He keeps up with his "bannings, eventually shit is going to hit him in the face.