Contacts from some school districts to teachers have highlighted the risk of legal action. Her January email from Manatee County Superintendent Cynthia Sanders. washington post, said that violating the law of the book could be a “third-degree felony.” Duval County Public Schools administrators also directed faculty and staff to cover or remove classroom libraries, video How to comply with HB 1467.
Most teachers believe that criminal prosecution is unlikely, but a very real problem remains. Possible professional influenceA spokesperson for the Florida Department of Education told The Washington Post that failure to follow HB 1467 could result in “penalties” for teachers’ licenses, and that violations could be severely punished. suggested. As many Florida teachers are employed, annual contractSchool districts can simply choose not to rehire those teachers for no reason, rather than tenure.
“This year has been like walking on eggshells,” said an Orlando-based middle school English teacher who requested anonymity over safety concerns. slander teachers as “groomers”, target them, and even bragging About firing a teacher – A teacher posted a TikTok parodying a book ban. As a result, he was given paid time off, and the school said it was because a student appeared in the video.
Already the English teacher found himself in hot water. Earlier this month, he showed the class two episodes of him. proud family — One from the original series and one from the Disney+ reboot – a lesson in how representations of pop culture have changed over the years. One student’s mother complained to school administrators about the inclusion of her LGBTQ and Muslim characters in the episode.recent reaction conservative anger The mother denounced the series of events as “critical racial theory” and said she “didn’t want her students exposed to the ‘awakening'”.
Not wanting to escalate the issue — further angering the mother and possibly even filing a lawsuit — the administrator canceled the lesson and the student was removed from the class.
“It’s a slippery slope. Let’s say a student stays in my class. Parents will definitely want to see the books on my library shelf,” said the English teacher. He doesn’t mind telling parents what their children are learning, but he sees how easily these laws can be used to stifle lessons that don’t fit a particular worldview. increase.
Even before these laws came into force, teachers across the state were already struggling.On average, public school teachers in Florida 48th lowest salary Nationally, according to data from National Education Association. like many statesFlorida is also in the midst of a serious labor shortage, and the Florida Education Association and estimate Over 5,000 teacher vacancies in January (state education ministry saysmythology”).
Teachers are not the only ones affected. Educators say students may also be disadvantaged by the new restrictions. This is especially true for students who are prohibited from revealing their identity from classroom discussions. The English teacher was disappointed to learn that many of the banned books were about her LGBTQ. “I have LGBTQ-identifying students and these books represent them,” he said.
