The "great Florida classroom library freak-out of 2023" is based on faulty reporting, confusing directives from local school officials and political hysteria, writes Ryan Mills on National Review.
Stories, such as this one in the Washington Post, claim teachers face felony charges -- five years in prison and a $5,000 fine -- for displaying unapproved books in their classroom libraries. Under orders from administrators, fearful teachers are covering their classroom libraries to avoid violating House Bill 1467, which requires school instructional materials to be approved by media specialists and listed on the school's web site.
But the new law includes no criminal penalties, writes Mills. A different Florida law, on the books for years, makes it a felony for any adult to provide children with “explicit” materials — depictions or recordings of “nudity or sexual conduct, sexual excitement, sexual battery, bestiality, or sadomasochistic abuse.”
So nobody's going to jail for an unvetted copy of Frog and Toad, even though the author's daughter says the amphibious couple were more than just friends.
Education commissioner Manny Diaz suggested that teachers use common sense. "If there’s something in a gray area that you think could be an issue, pull that book aside and have it vetted by the process to make sure that indeed it should be in that library,” he said. “That doesn’t mean that you cover your library or shut it down.”
confusing directives from local school officials
You would think the governor and the legislators would be intelligent enough to delineate this.
But we are talking about Republicans who follow the Murdoch model of his Page 3 topless pinup titillation.
Here in America, we won’t put up with the nipple, so the Mothas of Liberty rile people up with stupid false crap.
Here is the guidance from the state. https://info.fldoe.org/docushare/dsweb/Get/Document-9557/dps-2022-83.pdf
The curating of the classroom library is also there for the equity agenda. In the past, a 'fast finisher' was told to read their library book. Many of course read the textbooks, as they had finished the school library book before the day they were allowed to check out a new one. Of course they were not permitted to leave the school library area for the designated grade level or bring in their own book. And of course the textbooks as well as dictionaries have been removed from the classroom. Now, the time to read has been cut, in favor of whole class instruction. No child can get ahead of the favored group on the school's time.
They're not panicking, and the reporting wasn't "faulty." They're screaming the party line propaganda.
But it doesn't matter. A society that won't stop Heather from having two mommies or a boy from becoming a girl isn't capable of picking truly virtous literature for children, because hedonism and gnosticism are the new values.
Why in God’s name does someone who’s all allegedly an educated trained professional have to be told it’s wrong to expose preteens to pornography?