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Written by Steve Cannon for USSA News.
Florida educators are now struggling to balance the newly signed law requiring all classroom books to be approved by a “certified media specialist,” and the district’s chief of staff’s instruction to remove any unapproved books from the classrooms. This new development is in response to Florida governor Ron DeSantis signing HB 1467. The law requires all school reading material to be vetted and approved by an appointed education media specialist, who must ensure that the books are “free of pornography” and “appropriate for the age level and group.”
The Consequence of Book Banning
As a result, many Florida teachers are now having to remove entire libraries of books or cover them up so they cannot be accessed by students because they have not yet been approved. Don Falls, a history teacher in the Manatee School District, said “It is not only ridiculous but a very scary attack on fundamental rights.” Jean Faulk, a history and journalism teacher at Bayshore High, went as far as to call it “a political move by the governor” and said “it has nothing to do with the students.”
The law also states that the Board of Education must train these media specialists to censor any books or other reading materials with “unsolicited theories that may lead to student indoctrination.” Whether teachers agree with the law or not, they now have to cut off their students’ access to books, and this is raising concerns about the freedom of speech and education.
The Sarasota Herald-Tribune reports that teachers in all grade levels in the Manatee County School District have been instructed to remove any unapproved books, for fear that any teachers found in violation of the book-banning law could face felony charges.
No Access to Books
Teachers have expressed their frustration at the new law, saying that it is not practical to run all their books through the vetting process. “If you have a lot of books like I do, probably several hundred, it is not practical to run all of them through (the vetting process) so we have to cover them up,” Falls said. Faulk, who was forced to remove books on democracy and writings by John Adams, simply because they have not yet been vetted, said, “all that’s left on her classroom shelves are reference books.”
The Implications of the New Law
The new book-banning law in Florida is raising concerns about the freedom of speech and education. It is also putting teachers in a difficult position, forcing them to choose between following the law or providing their students with the education they deserve. The fact that teachers face the possibility of facing felony charges for violating the law is not only outrageous but sets a dangerous precedent for the future of education in Florida.
