Teachers are scared, and schools’ books have become contraband. This is Florida? | Opinion
The damage being done by the new Florida law that is supposed to stop teachers from using books that contain “bias or indoctrination,” “pornography” or content “harmful to minors” became all too clear this week.
First came the viral photos. Teachers posted photos on social media of classroom bookshelves in Manatee County schools that they’d covered up with construction paper so students couldn’t see the books (let alone read them) until they are officially approved. “Farewell, classroom library,” one posted.
Then came the confusion — and the chilling effect.
At a Manatee School Board meeting Tuesday to address the turmoil, board chairman Chad Choate, said, “As far as I know, there aren’t any book cops going school to school and classroom to classroom.” But then he added: “Just don’t go allow your books to go out right now until they’re all vetted.”
The president of the county’s teachers union, Patricia Barber, meanwhile, noted that, “The information that was disseminated was not consistent in every single school. And like it or not, some principals’ interpretation of ‘do not allow student access to your classroom libraries until they’ve been vetted’ was cover them, box them or do whatever to keep your students from having access.”
That led to School Board member Mary Foreman wondering aloud, “Are we telling them leave the blanket on or off?”
Third-degree felony
Keeping the blanket — or construction paper or whatever — draped over classroom bookshelves is exactly the problem. After Manatee County sent a memo to school leaders saying failure to comply with the new rules could result in a third-degree felony charge, teachers began erring on the side of caution: When in doubt, keep all the books away from the kids until the government gives the nod.
Who can blame them? Fear is creeping into the classroom. And it’s well-founded, under a law that has essentially criminalized providing an unapproved book to a student.
School boards in Broward and Miami-Dade apparently haven’t directed teachers to remove books from their shelves, but media specialists are going through state-mandated training on the law.
The law, HB 1467, was championed by Gov. Ron DeSantis, part of his push for parental rights in Florida classrooms. It makes it easier for parents to challenge the use of any book. And the very vagueness of the law — how do we define “indoctrination”? — makes it perfect for those in power. And dangerous. It means whatever they want it to mean.
There are other, more pragmatic issues. Getting all those classroom books through the new approval process is mighty slow in a place like Manatee County, where volunteers are being pressed into service to do the work — after they are background checked, a process that can take 10 days.
Foreman, the School Board member, told the Bradenton Herald that she spent two days helping check books in one school and only got four classrooms done. “It takes forever,” she said.
But beyond those complications, there’s an important thing to consider: What is this doing to our school systems and the trust we place in teachers — who are, after all, trained for their jobs, including the appropriateness of what they share in class?
It’s damaging, probably seriously so. Teachers who dare to question the law and its application run the risk of being targeted, as became abundantly clear from this comment by Manatee County parent Paula Lohnes at Tuesday’s meeting: “For those teachers who are protesting so much, thank you. Now we know who some of the radicals are.”
