By: Stephanie Susskind Posted at 5:01 PM, May 25, 2023 and last updated 2023-05-25 17:01:56-04 WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. —
Retired almost nine years from my thirty-eight year, Florida teaching career…
From my own personal experience here in Florida; We must be extremely concerned… Governor Ron DeSantis most definitely is not a unifier…He promotes such a polarizing agenda only for his benefit…He is an ill equipped governor…
He does not care about all the dangerous repercussions on our precious children …
We must protect our precious children… and Vote!!
We must be extremely aware and not allow him to become our next president!!
With Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis officially in the race for president, WPTV is taking a deeper look at his education policies — some of which have been his most controversial — to see how they would stack up nationally.
Restricting discussions of sexual orientation and gender identity and targeting critical race theory are just some of what DeSantis would call his victories over the past few years.
But not everyone would agree…
SPECIAL COVERAGE: Education
“We’ve had a few decades now of fundamental changes in education in Florida, but no one has moved as hard or as fast as Ron DeSantis,” WPTV political analyst Brian Crowley said.
Crowley said the two-term Republican governor is known across the country for his aggressive approach to education reform…
“Ron DeSantis made it clear that if he becomes president, he plans to bring these reforms nationwide,” Crowley said. “Use the power of the federal dollar, federal grants, and even accreditation of colleges as a way of enforcing his agenda for how he wants to make schools more conservative and, in his view, back to basic learning.”
Some of DeSantis’ decisions have been celebrated across party lines, like eliminating Common Core standards…
But the culture wars have caused a divide.
“When you vilify teachers and staff, when you limit their ability to do what they know is best for students, they’re not going to stay,” said Andrew Spar, president of the Florida Education Association.
Spar said much of the contentious legislation in Florida is leading to a critical teacher shortage.
But Moms For Liberty member Jennifer Pippin supports the governor’s moves.
“This is great for education. It’s great for parental rights,” Pippin said. “I absolutely think he will take his policies and the things he’s been advocating for nationwide.”
But will it work?
The non-profit free speech organization PEN America researched what it called “educational gag orders” in August of 2022, looking at legislative efforts to restrict teaching certain topics.
The study showed 36 different states introduced 137 of these bills in 2022. But only six states passed them….
“There’s some really huge changes underway, and I think in some of those states that are very cautious about those changes, Ron DeSantis is going to have to be very careful if he wins the nomination to bring those people to his side,” Crowley said.
And decide what direction they want for our nation’s schools.
“We’re suddenly hearing Donald Trump talk a little bit more about the anti-woke issues and other conservative issues that were not big on his agenda when he first ran, or when he ran in 2020,” Crowley said. “But he understands this is a hot button issue among hardcore conservatives.”
Back when I was getting ready for retirement… summer of 2014, Florida was heading in crisis… Reflecting back then….
My first thought, this year especially, is acknowledging how exhausted I am; All the extra demands of testing and keeping up the pace of a more challenging curriculum…While striving to keep the children motivated and engaged…
I do also worry how my children spend their summer’s free time…
Throughout the school year, I spent my teaching time encouraging them the “love of reading”; encouraging parents to take their child to the public library…And now with this extra time, I so do hope my parents “if” they have the time in their challenging lives… to take their child to the public library… to become the owner of their personal library card, that will open up their “World” to all the joys of the Public Library; Summer Programs..Movies…Reading Books…And free Computer time!
There’s definitely a loss of our precious children’s innocence…
How these last nine years have definitely manifested into that crisis…Due to the authoritarian government lead by our governor, Ron DeSantis…
Teacher shortages due to lack of pay and authoritarian policies Book Bans Lack of inclusion Funding our public schools…with critical mental health and free meal resources… Gun safety reform…
Florida students and teachers will no longer have to “declare” their pronouns in school or be forced to use pronouns not based on biological sex.
There is definitely a loss of innocence… Because: Your Divisive Political Policies Teacher shortages Book Bans Lack of inclusion Funding our public schools…with critical mental health and free meal resources… Gun safety reform… https://t.co/t1JY639J6t
"I showed it because of its earth elements…It shows how the Earth really is alive. It has a heart in this movie."
— Jenna Barbee, a Florida teacher under investigation for showing Disney's 'Strange World' with a biracial, gay character, defends her choice to show the PG film pic.twitter.com/U7XIZfkqpx
And this is what our Florida’s teachers are up against…
This summer must be that time for reflection…And begin this critical moment for change…Our public schools must be strong and vital…To survive and thrive!!
Today, on the eve of Earth Day, we’re announcing $562 million in funds to make communities more resilient in the face of climate change.
Thanks to @POTUS’ Investing in America Agenda, we’re building a climate-ready nation and creating good-paying jobs across the country. pic.twitter.com/WusT3RD3U2
Florida sees new deluge of legislation targeting trans rights and controlling public education as governor steps up courtship of Trump voters…
Ron DeSantis is highlighting his crusade to ‘reform’ public education. Illustration: Mark Harris/The Guardian by Joseph Contreras in Florida Thu 13 Apr 2023
No public school teacher or college professor in Florida has been more outspoken in his criticism of Governor Ron DeSantis than Don Falls…
In the spring of 2022, the 62-year-old social studies high school teacher became the lead plaintiff in a lawsuit against the governor to block enforcement of the recently approved Stop Woke (Wrongs Against Our Kids and Employees) Act…
The DeSantis-backed legislation banned the supposed teaching of critical race theory – a scholarly examination of how social conceptions of race influence laws, political movements and history – in the Sunshine state’s public schools and universities. When Falls heard that a Jacksonville law firm was drafting litigation to stop the new law from taking effect, the grandfather of five decided to raise his head above the proverbial parapet.
“One thing I’ve taught my students is that there are certain fundamental values associated with a democracy, and if they’re going to work, you’ve got to stand up for them,” recalled Falls, who has taught for 38 years. “I couldn’t have taught that to my students and then, when the ball was in my court, pass it on to somebody else.”
In his first year as Florida’s chief executive, DeSantis raised public school teachers’ salaries and paid tribute to the mostly gay, lesbian and transgender victims of one of the country’s most deadly mass shootings in recent times. But as he built his national profile, attracting attention for his controversial views on masks and vaccines during the Covid-19 pandemic, he took a sharp swing to the right and stepped up his courtship of the party’s Trump-loving base.
Now, with rumors he is close to launching his presidential bid, DeSantis is highlighting his crusade to “reform” public education in Florida and restrict the rights and freedoms of the state’s transgender population as centerpieces of a nationwide agenda for what he calls “America’s revival”.
Last year, DeSantis and his Republican allies went further and rammed house bill 1467 through the state legislature, requiring all reading material used in public schools to be reviewed by a “trained media specialist” to ensure that the material be “free of pornography” and “appropriate for the age level and group”. Critics say it empowers conservative groups to ban books whose contents they disagree with, even if they are age appropriate.
Falls continued to resist. Confronted with a choice of either removing the estimated 250 to 300 books in his classroom or submitting them to the vetting process, he and other colleagues at the school opted to conceal their covers by enveloping them in plain brown paper, thereby shielding themselves from possible criminal prosecution or civil liability.
He posted a wryly written sign inside his classroom that read: “closed by order of the governor”.
Book bans, pronoun bans
On 23 February hundreds of college students walked out of their classrooms at six public universities to protest against DeSantis’s decision to abolish diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs and policies that had been mandated in 2020 in all of Florida’s dozen institutions of higher education by other political appointees, including the former governor Rick Scott.
Demonstrations were also held in early March to denounce HB 999, legislation that would eliminate college majors and minors in “critical race theory, gender studies or intersectionality”, render a professor’s tenure subject to review at any time, and require colleges to offer general education courses that “promote the philosophical underpinnings of Western civilization and include studies of this nation’s historical documents”. It would also formally outlaw spending on DEI programs, which seek to promote the participation and fair treatment of people from all walks of life.
Demonstrators protest against Governor Ron DeSantis’s plan to eliminate advanced placement courses on African American studies in high schools. Photograph: The Washington Post/Getty Images
“We’re seeing more and more students who, emboldened by some faculty members, shout people down and shut down viewpoints they don’t agree with,” the chief sponsor of the legislation, state representative Alex Andrade, told the Guardian. “People are forgetting that public universities are a component of a state government’s executive branch, and when we’re trying to encourage and enforce discrimination in the name of diversity and equity, we’re getting it wrong.”
The sweeping scope of that legislation, coupled with three other education bills that would, among other things, forbid school staff and students from using “pronouns that do not correspond with a person’s sex”, has left educators in Florida feeling incensed and dumbfounded…
“There aren’t actually any majors in critical race theory or intersectionality,” noted Andrew Gothard, an English instructor at Florida Atlantic University and president of United Faculty of Florida, the union that represents more than 25,000 faculty members in the Sunshine state’s dozen public universities and 16 state and community colleges. “The goal is to eliminate all thought that diverges from the governor’s political platform, and it’s absolutely terrifying.
“Any time you’re telling people they can only teach history in a way that praises the motherland, you’re straying into Hitler Youth territory.”
Multiple requests from the Guardian for an interview with Governor DeSantis went unanswered. But in a recent statement, DeSantis defended HB 999 because it seeks to push back “against the tactics of liberal elites who suppress free thought in the name of identity politics and indoctrination”.
DeSantis called a press conference on 8 March to debunk what he termed “the ‘book ban’ hoax” in relation to the Stop Woke Act, asserting that books containing pornographic content and other kinds of violent or age-inappropriate content had been discovered in libraries and classrooms in 23 school districts statewide. These included Maia Kobabe’s widely acclaimed Gender Queer: A Memoir, one of 10 books that received an Alex Award from the American Library Association in 2020 for having “special appeal for young adults ages 12 through 18”…
DeSantis’s education bills would forbid school staff and students from using a person’s chosen pronouns. Photograph: Giorgio Viera/AFP/Getty Images
“Our mantra in Florida has been education, not indoctrination,” DeSantis wrote in his recent memoir, The Courage to Be Free: Florida’s Blueprint for America’s Revival. He hailed Florida as one of the first states to enact a parents’ bill of rights, which in his telling guarantees mothers and fathers “the right to inspect the materials being used in their kids’ schools”.
Yet DeSantis also omits any reference to the state’s grossly underpaid public school teachers, who rank 48th nationwide in average salaries according to the National Education Association…
‘Slate of hate’
Another target of the 44-year-old governor is the state’s LGBTQ+ community and, in particular, the transgender population. A new bill, house bill 1421, titled “Gender Clinical Interventions”, would prohibit transgender individuals from amending their own birth certificates and eliminate transition-related care such as hormone therapy and puberty blockers for minors.
The chief sponsor of the bill, state representative Randy Fine, tweeted in March that the legislation would outlaw the “butchering of children” and free Florida taxpayers from having to subsidize “the sexual mutilation of adults”. In reality gender-confirming surgical procedures are seen as lifesaving, and are mostly offered to teenagers who are at least 15 years of age or older. Even among this group such operations are “exceedingly rare”, according to the National Center for Transgender Equality.
Not to be outdone, state senator Clay Yarborough introduced senate bill 254 that would allow the state to take temporary custody of children who may be receiving gender-affirming care now or in the future. (Yarborough declined the Guardian’s request for an interview.)
The barrage of bills focusing on transgender people is part of a broader onslaught by far-right thinktanks and consultants on democracy, abortion rights and racial progress, according to Nadine Smith, a co-founder and executive director of Equality Florida, an LGBTQ+ community rights organization.
“It’s not surprising to see this slate of hate introduced,” said Smith. “This rightwing shift has everything to do with usurping Trump on the right in the forthcoming Republican presidential primary elections. DeSantis is not driven by convictions or a core set of values, he is driven only by ambition and his desperation to become president.”
The civil rights advocate remembers a different Ron DeSantis four years ago. Elected governor for the first time in 2018 by a razor-thin margin of about 32,000 votes, the former congressman and co-founder of the rightwing House Freedom Caucus gravitated towards the center-right during his early time in office.
DeSantis issued a proclamation on the third anniversary of the 2016 mass shooting in an Orlando gay nightclub that paid tribute to the 49 people who died but failed to mention the targeting of the LGBTQ+ community as a possible motive of the killer.
The governor came under fire for that omission and reissued the proclamation with amended wording. He even met with a survivor of the shooting and other members of the city’s LGBTQ+ community as a sign of solidarity.
“The DeSantis we are seeing now doesn’t sound like the DeSantis who ran for governor the first time,” said Smith. “He went from being someone who went to the Pulse nightclub and responded to the criticism to someone who routinely calls LGBTQ+ people groomers and incites violence towards us.”
The number of anti-LGBTQ+ demonstrations in Florida has soared in recent months. The Armed Conflict Location and Event Data (ACLED) project documented 17 such episodes during 2022, up sharply from the six that the organization chronicled in 2021 and the five that were recorded in 2020. Some degenerated into riots. Nationwide, Florida ranked third in these incidents, surpassed only by California and Texas.
Members of the state’s transgender population say they are feeling the intensifying heat…
Morganti (not his real name) moved to the Gulf coast city of Bradenton from Louisiana in 2016. The 35-year-old New College of Florida student still identified as a woman at the time, and struck up a relationship with a local woman. “She and I could hold hands walking through a shopping mall, and when I first came down here it wasn’t a big deal,” said the third-year marine biology major.
But the bearded trans man has noticed a palpable change in the political climate during the intervening six years. No violent confrontation has occurred to date, but he has dealt with comments about his voice and body.
The hostile takeover of New College by six of DeSantis’s rightwing allies on its board of trustees earlier this year has not helped matters, and Morganti says he will move abroad to obtain his master’s degree once he has finished his undergraduate studies in January 2025…
“If Ron DeSantis doesn’t make it to the White House, he will still be our governor – and that means Florida isn’t going to be a safe place to live in,” he said.
The young people of today… Generation Z, are becoming extremely vocal in the needed changes to gun reform, since the adults in the room are doing absolutely nothing!!!
Touches my heart so… As a retired teacher… I can definitely tell how proud you are of this Young and powerful generation… I am hopeful!!! Thank you for being there with them… 💜🪄✨🌟🇺🇲 https://t.co/kyCGZmUPiE
Kamala Harris praises courage of ‘Tennessee Three’ on visit to Nashville | Kamala Harris | The Guardian
Becca Andrews in Nashville, Tennessee Sat 8 Apr 2023 09.58 EDT
About 500 people packed the chapel at Fisk University, a historically Black college in Nashville, Tennessee, and sang the civil rights anthem This Little Light of Mine while they waited for US vice-president Kamala Harris to appear. When she did, the crowd erupted in cheers.
US vice-president shows support for Democrats ousted by Republicans from state house as scandal rages on…
Harris and her listeners were there to show support for her fellow Democrats and state lawmakers Justin Jones, Justin Pearson and Gloria Johnson – Jones and Pearson were ousted from the Republican-controlled Tennessee house of representatives after joining a protest in favor of gun control at the capitol in Nashville, and Johnson narrowly survived an expulsion vote.
“We are here because [Jones, Pearson and Johnson] and their colleagues in the Democratic caucus chose to show courage in the face of extreme tragedy,” Harris said, alluding to how the targeted representatives stood with gun control advocates after the killings of three students and three staffers at the Covenant elementary school in Nashville on 27 March. “They chose to lead and show courage and say that a democracy allows for places where the people’s voice will be heard and honored and respected.”
The vice-president said they also added another chapter to a vibrant local history of civil rights activism that previously saw sit-ins at segregated lunch counters led by the late US congressman John Lewis and his movement colleague Diane Nash, saying it was on their “broad shoulders upon which we all stand”.
Harris’s visit punctuated a dramatic week for the so-called “Tennessee Three”, who faced expulsion proceedings after talking without being given the floor by the Republican house speaker Cameron Sexton. Johnson, Jones and Pearson said they spoke out in that manner because capitol staff had cut their microphones off when they attempted to bring up gun control and regulation efforts in response to the shooting deaths at Covenant…
Jones and Pearson led chants from protesters in favor of their proposed measures with a bullhorn while Johnson stood by them silently in solidarity.
Their colleagues then drew up papers to expel all three from the seats in the chamber to which they were democratically elected. Votes on Thursday left Jones and Pearson – two Black men and the house’s youngest members – ousted while Johnson, a 60-year-old white woman, managed to keep her seat by a single vote…
Such expulsions are exceedingly rare even in today’s ultra-divided political climate, and they are generally used against lawmakers accused of misconduct more serious than a decorum breach. For instance, the body had previously expelled one lawmaker accused of spending federal nursing school grant money on a wedding and another who allegedly had improper sexual contact with more than 20 women in four years in office. Meanwhile, the state legislature opted against expelling a Republican representative accused of sexual misconduct in 2019.
County commissions in Jones and Pearson’s districts are now set to pick someone to serve in the newly vacant seats until special elections can be held. Jones and Pearson remain eligible to run in those special elections and could also possibly be appointed by the county commissions to stay in their seats until those contests, though the commissions are reportedly facing pressure to choose interim replacements.
To be sure, Jones and Pearson’s expulsions have given both men significant national platforms. In addition to Harris’s remarks, Joe Biden met with them and Johnson virtually. The president tweeted a photo of the meeting, saying: “Our country needs to take action on gun violence – to do that we need more voices like theirs speaking out.”
The chapel was warmly receptive to the vice-president, responding to her statements with the sort of affirmations that are familiar in the halls of Black churches.
“Some things are up for partisan debate,” she said. “Sure. But regarding the issue of gun safety laws, background checks, the policy is really pretty straightforward.”
“Facts!” someone shouted from one of the pews…
“Assault weapons … are weapons of war,” Harris continued. “These are weapons that are designed to kill a lot of people quickly. They have no place on the streets of a civil society.”
Murmurs of “amen”, and “I know that’s right”, moved through the crowd.
Young Black women – Fisk students – lined the aisles of the chapel wearing pearls and bright pink-and-green apparel signifying their association with the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority of which Harris is also a member. One of them, Kayla Willis, told the Guardian it was “an honor to see our legacy as a sorority and also as a Black-founded organization to be put at the forefront, especially in this political climate”.
Willis is a senior studying political science and Spanish, and she said she was deeply disappointed with the expulsion of representatives Jones and Pearson. Still, the turnout, the speeches from local activists and officials, and Harris’s appearance lifted her spirits…
State representative Torrey Harris – who, like Pearson, is a Black Democrat representing Memphis – was similarly affected. He noted how he was the legislature’s youngest member after the expulsions which targeted two men whom he referred to as “brothers” and people whom he had “grown to love”.
Harris said he had no doubt race factored into Jones and Pearson’s expulsions as well as the more favorable outcome for Johnson.
“We have to be honest and transparent that race plays a huge part in a lot of the decision-making that happens not only in this state, but in other states,” Harris said. “To cut off somebody else’s belief and ability to fight for their people is wrong. We live in a country that is built on democracy, and I would hope that we will one day get back to that place.”
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who was promoting his new book at a Georgia sporting goods store that bills itself as the world’s largest gun store, vowed to act quickly on the legislation. | John Bazemore/AP Photo
Florida lawmakers hand DeSantis political win on guns “You don’t need a permission slip from the government to be able to exercise your constitutional rights,” the governor says.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — The Republican-controlled Florida Legislature on Thursday voted to let gun owners in the nation’s third most populous state carry guns without a state permit, delivering on a campaign promise by Gov. Ron DeSantis as he ramps up his expected run for president.
When will our precious children be able to be safe?
She didn’t know her clothes were hand me downs…or that her home wasn’t a Mansion… She had a loving family, friends,a cat and lived in the Best Place Ever…
America’s kids are failed again Analysis by Stephen Collinson, CNN Updated 9:09 AM EDT, Tue March 28, 2023
People gather at a makeshift memorial for victims outside the Covenant School building at the Covenant Presbyterian Church following a shooting, in Nashville, Tennessee, on March 27, 2023.
When will our children be a priority? All this political divisiveness at the sake of our precious children’s lives… Something must be done now…How many more deaths?All the rhetoric does not mean much….
A more heartrending and quintessentially American scene is hard to imagine.
A human chain of children, hand-in-hand, shepherded by police officers, fled the latest school struck by unfathomable tragedy. On Monday, it was Nashville’s turn to join the roster of cities made notorious by a mass shooting epidemic much of the country seems prepared to tacitly accept as the price of the right to own high-powered firearms…
The reality of what unfolded inside was inhuman, but it can unfortunately be imagined given the gruesome insider accounts that emerged from previous school shootings – in Uvalde, Texas, last year, or at Sandy Hook Elementary in Connecticut in 2012.
Evelyn Dieckhaus, Hallie Scruggs and William Kinney, all 9 years old, were gunned down by a shooter armed with two AR-style weapons and a handgun, two of which police said were bought legally. Their names – known only to the rest of America in death – were released by police about the same time as they should have been going home from Covenant School for the day
Three staff, all half a century older, also died. They were Cynthia Peak, 61, Katherine Koonce, 60, and Mike Hill, 61…
They were all murdered in the place that should be the safest: where kids go to school. But a plague of recent classroom rampages, distinguished even among America’s gun violence by their depravity, shows that nowhere is really secure. That’s why millions of parents often drop their kids off with a nagging fear about whether their school is next. And it’s why a generation of kids has endured active shooter drills that will mark them – just as children halfway through the last century dived under desks in duck-and-cover practices in case of atomic warfare. The difference now is that the danger comes not from a foreign nuclear rival but from within…
Firearms are the leading cause of death in American kids aged 1 to 19, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation based on 2020 data. And while many guns claim kids in violent neighborhoods, not in the classroom, schools seem to be increasingly vulnerable…
According to data from the Gun Violence Archive, the Nashville horror was among at least 130 mass shootings so far this year – more than this point in any previous year since at least 2013. (The GVA, like CNN, defines a mass shooting as one in which at least four people are shot, excluding the shooter.) Such events are now so frequent that there are some cases of people who survived one such event getting caught up in the aftermath of a subsequent one.
Ashbey Beasley, who escaped the July Fourth mass shooting last year in Highland Park, Illinois, was visiting Tennessee on a family trip when Monday’s shooting occurred. She made an unannounced appearance on live television and asked, “How is this still happening? Why are our children still dying?”
Revealing another tragic web of gun violence consequences, Beasley later told CNN’s Erin Burnett that she had arranged to have lunch with a friend whose son was killed in a mass shooting at a Waffle House in Antioch, Tennessee, five years ago, who called her to let her know her living son was in lockdown in a Nashville school because of Monday’s mass shooting..
“This is where we are at, we have children living through multiple mass shooting (incidents). What are we doing?” Beasley told Burnett. Former President Barack Obama tweeted a video of Beasley’s original comments, writing, “We are failing our children.”…
Futile rituals…
Monday’s shooting in Illinois was so frustrating to people like Beasley because the rituals that followed it were so familiar – and so futile. Everyone knows that they will be going through the same routine again soon. Republican politicians quickly offered “thoughts and prayers” or stayed silent. Their Democratic counterparts demanded gun reform. Calls for an improvement in mental health care, which spring up after every mass shooting, are likely next…
At the White House, President Joe Biden diverted from remarks at a previously scheduled event highlighting the role of women in small business to address yet another school shooting...
We have to do more to stop gun violence. It’s ripping our communities apart, ripping the soul of this nation,” the grim-faced president said. Biden made the call for action that is now a defining feature of the ineffective political maneuvering that always follows mass shootings, whether they are in schools in Texas or Tennessee or a supermarket in Buffalo or on a university campus in Michigan.
“I call on Congress again to pass my assault weapons ban. It’s about time that we began to make some more progress,” Biden said. The president understands perfectly that such a step was impossible in the past Congress and will be in the present one, where Republicans control the House and Democrats are still well short of 60 votes in the Senate. A presidential call for action has almost become a custom of mourning as much as a plea for political coalition building. Biden will likely be doing something similar again very soon…
America’s frozen guns debate…
One of the top Senate Republicans, Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, quickly tamped down any ideas that the deaths of three small kids and three adults who looked after them would make any political difference. “I would say we’ve gone about as far as we can go – unless somebody identifies some area that we didn’t address,” Cornyn told CNN…
The Texas Republican was a vital player in passing bipartisan gun legislation last year despite some fierce opposition from gun rights activists in his home state. The new law, which was the most significant federal firearms reform in decade, followed the horrific shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde that killed 21 people. While it doesn’t ban any weapons, it includes measures offering states more incentives to fund red flag laws, which allow courts to temporarily seize firearms from anyone believed to be a danger to themselves or others. This was all a fragile Senate coalition could bear.
Despite his previous role, Cornyn also expressed some frustration with Biden’s remarks. “The president just keeps coming back to the same old tired talking points. So he’s not offering any new solutions or ideas. If he does, I think we should consider them, but so far, I haven’t heard anything.”
In one sense, Cornyn – who predicted no action on guns until at least the next election – was simply stating the facts. Biden does call for an assault weapons ban after most mass shootings. But to hear such a suggestion described as “tired talking points” is still jarring after Monday’s shooter was carrying two AR-style weapons and killed six people.
The Texas senator also encapsulated the reality, frustration and limitations of the guns debate. He said that such bans would affect “law-abiding citizens” adding, “I don’t believe those law-abiding citizens are a threat to public safety.”
Cornyn is right that most Americans who own such firearms never infringe the law, use their weapons recklessly or much less launch mass shootings. But at the same time, some of these weapons designed for the battlefield have the capacity to cause enormous carnage in just a few moments. The assailants that open fire with them in schools, shopping malls or bars have sometimes been law-abiding until their attacks…
The political argument on guns is essentially about the rights of which Americans take priority. Is it those of citizens who own such weapons, even though a tiny minority of them use them to create mayhem and murder? Or should it be the victims of gun crime, like those kids and adults gunned down in Nashville, who had their rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness eradicated in a few seconds of terror?
“Our message here is very, very clear: Enough is enough. We need to see action in Congress,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins on “This Morning” Tuesday, rejecting Cornyn’s remarks…
A political tragedy underlies many of these mass shootings. In a bitter political climate, where any attempts at gun legislation are portrayed as an attempt to illegally snatch away firearms, there is no reachable common ground between upholding the constitutional right to bear arms and the wishes of many Americans who want stricter gun laws…
The late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, a hero of the conservative movement, wrote in the Heller opinion in 2008 that it was permissible for the government to regulate firearms while remaining faithful to the Second Amendment. He wrote that the right secured by the amendment was not “a right to keep and carry any weapon whatsoever in any manner whatsoever and for whatever purpose.”
That’s a position that has long been overtaken by the Republican Party’s march to the right – a fact that Cornyn implicitly underscored in his comments.
This lack of any common ground on an issue of deadly importance parallels the wider disconnect in a politically polarized society that increasingly lacks a common cultural understanding…
This political paralysis means that there are almost certainly some young kids going to school as usual on Tuesday morning, who, one day, won’t come home after class.
Now-closed historic Hungerford school in Eatonville opened doors for Black students…
Eatonville is a town in Orange County, Florida, United States, six miles north of Orlando. It is part of Greater Orlando. Incorporated on August 15, 1887; oldest self-governing all-black municipalities in the United States. The Eatonville Historic District and Moseley House Museum are in Eatonville…[ Author Zora Neale Hurston grew up in Eatonville and the area features in many of her stories…
EATONVILLE, Fla. — Any day now, the community expects to learn what will happen to 100 acres of land in one of the oldest historically Black towns in the United States, Eatonville…
Eatonville’s Town Council recently voted against rezoning the land, which would have cleared the way for development that many residents say would erase the town’s history and price current residents out.
Many residents, including alumna Vera King, simply want the land back to decide on their own what gets built there…
“I would hear the bell in the morning,” King says. “It was a boarding school at that time.”
“Hungerford and Jones High School were the only two Black schools in Orange County,” King says.
Grabbing a stack of school yearbooks is the perfect way for her to take a walk down memory lane. She chuckles and flashes a bright smile as she points to a picture of herself in one of the yearbooks.
“Aww…I was a cheerleader, and that’s in one of these books right here,” she says as she flashes a bright smile, chuckles and points to a picture of herself.
The memories come flooding back…
King was born in the town of Eatonville in 1937.
“It’s a very special part of me,” she says.
A short walk into her backyard these days provides proof of the winds of change. King remembers as a curious child not the distinctive roar of traffic, like you hear now around Robert Hungerford Preparatory High School, but something else as clear as day…
Years later, she attended the school from the eighth grade to the 12th grade…
“We had teachers who reached out to us in ways that had nothing to do with the books,” she added. “It put a lot of people into the working world. They encouraged you, if you could — if your parents could afford it — to go to college. But they also knew that there were a number of us who could not afford to go, so they gave us skills that would help us to get jobs.”
King was one of those students…
“I really give my business ed(ucation) teacher credit for putting me into the working world,” she says. “She was very strict. You didn’t touch her typewriter until you knew the keyboard.”
King eventually landed a job at the high school “because my principal was still there, and he needed a secretary,” she says.
In 1999, she retired…
There’s not much left of the school now, King says.
Walking up to the land where the school once stood, King can peer through the chain-link fence. “And go straight down. That would be the front of the school. That’s where the office was.” There’s not much left of the school now.
“There’s nothing out here,” she says. “They didn’t even save the bell.”
She says she longs to see something in its former location that pays homage to the school — more than just a plaque, something that rings true to the spirit of the historic Florida town, just like that old school bell.
“Even if they had some vocational classes out here,” King says.
The Southern Poverty Law Center recently wrote a letter to Orange County Public Schools, saying that if the school board continues with the sale, it could be a violation of civil rights for the residents of Eatonville because it could have an adverse impact on the residents. SPLC also maintains that before OCPS takes any action, it needs to conduct a study on what those effects could be…
By Jack Forrest, CNN Published 7:45 AM EDT, Fri March 17, 2023
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis answers questions from the media in the Florida Cabinet following his “State of the State” address during a joint session of the Florida Senate and House of Representatives at the Florida State Capitol in Tallahassee, Florida, on March 7, 2023.
CNN — A federal appeals court on Thursday ruled that a temporary block on a portion of a law pushed by Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis restricting what can be taught in Florida’s public colleges and universities will remain in place.
The three-judge panel of the 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals denied a request from the DeSantis administration and officials with the state university system to stay an injunction from US District Judge Mark Walker, who called the law “positively dystopian” in a 138-page order, while the case plays out.
Last April, DeSantis signed into law Florida’s Individual Freedom Act, better known as the “Stop WOKE Act,” but it has faced a number of legal challenges since taking effect on July 1. The law is a key component of DeSantis’ war on “woke ideology,” and was intended to prevent teachings or mandatory workplace activities that suggest a person is privileged or oppressed based necessarily on their race, color, sex or national origin.
With the law, Walker wrote in November that Florida “lays the cornerstone of its own Ministry of Truth under the guise of the Individual Freedom Act” – invoking George Orwell’s novel, “1984.”
“The Court did not rule on the merits of our appeal. The appeal is ongoing, and we remain confident that the law is constitutional,” DeSantis’ spokesman Bryan Griffin said in a statement.
The Legal Defense Fund, which represented the plaintiffs in the case, celebrated the decision.
“Institutions of higher education in Florida should have the ability to provide a quality education, which simply cannot happen when students and educators, including Black students and educators, feel they cannot speak freely about their lived experiences, or when they feel that they may incur a politician’s wrath for engaging in a fact-based discussion of our history,” Alexsis Johnson, assistant counsel of The Legal Defense Fund, said in a statement.
Opponents of the law are fighting it on three fronts: the law’s effects on K-12, higher education and employers.
Last August, Walker granted an injunction filed by two Florida-based employers, who wanted to require diversity and inclusion trainings for staff, and a consultant who provides such training. Walker at the time called the law “upside down” when it comes to the First Amendment because it allows the state to burden freedom of speech.
CNN’s Joe Sutton, Sabrina Clay, Nicquel Terry Ellis, Steve Contorno and Kit Maher contributed to this report.
If we all could see the world through the eyes of a child, we would see the magic in everything….
Let's bring that magic back...
Today’s times for our precious children are so challenging…Here in Florida, the divisiveness of our political climate because of Governor Ron DeSantis…
Retired now eight years, I feel my passion for our children more than ever…
I was doing my weekly shopping at my go to store “Walmart”…
A happeningstore…Wherein my teacher past, Walmart and Dollar Tree helped furnish my school treats and prizes...
Waiting in a very long line… Because Walmart, now does not hire enough cashiers, only for more profits…The sign of these times…
The young cashier was doing all he could do, doing his job… Admitting to me, he now makes $16 an hour…I told him… He should be making $20!!!
While the very long wait and our frustration, I did have a blessed opportunity to talk with the lovely black woman behind me, also wearing a mask…
I was pleasantly surprised to find out she was a teacher for over forty years!! Teaching in a small community here in Flagler County…She had taught first grade, like myself, for many years, and was presently the school librarian… teaching four days a week…
I was surprised to learn that being a Republican leaning district, she reticently did reveal that the current divisive political policies have not affected her library… We did not elaborate…
However…she did share, Our precious children, are acting out more…They are dealing with so much…
Governor of Florida Ron DeSantis visits Pio Hot Bagels in Staten Island, New York on February 20, 2023.
Gov. Ron DeSantis wants Florida’s K-12 educators to do as they’re told… On top of low pay, difficulties in securing long-term contracts, the stress of high-stakes testing, and increases in student mental health issues, public school teachers must stick to the governor’s conservative script or risk being fired..
That script includes the Parental Rights in Education Act, colloquially known as the “Don’t Say Gay” law, the Stop WOKE Act, and the recent statewide ban on College Board’s Advanced Placement African American studies curriculum.
These developments have contributed to the highest teacher vacancy rate in the country by creating a climate of paranoia that has exasperated many teachers, chased others out of the profession entirely, and deterred aspiring educators. Culture-war turmoil combined with the pandemic era’s tight labor market means that Florida and most Deep South states have struggled to recruit teachers. When the far-right Republican became governor in 2019, there were 2,217 vacant teacher positions in Florida. As of early January, there were about 5,300 openings statewide, with an additional 4,631 support staff openings (excluding Miami-Dade County), the Florida Education Association told the Prospect.
In 2022, Florida allocated an additional $250 million over the previous fiscal year to increase teacher salaries. While the funding boosted the base salary for new teachers to $47,500, the pay increase for experienced teachers did not even cover cost-of-living increases. Overall, the pay raise bumped the state up from 49th to 48th in average teacher pay nationwide, according to the National Education Association. DeSantis has proposed $200 million in more funding for teacher pay in his fiscal 2023-2024 budget, which according to the FEA, will hardly move the needle. “Pay in the third-largest state can and should rank in the top 10 nationally,” FEA President Andrew Spar said in a statement.
More from Luca GoldMansour
Florida’s vacancy issue has its roots in the state’s decades-long role as a laboratory for the right’s assault on public education, with its Republican governors playing key parts. Former Gov. Jeb Bush made school choice and high-stakes standardized testing his signature issues in the 2000s, before his brother President George W. Bush took “reforms” like the No Child Left Behind Act to the White House. DeSantis’s predecessor, Rick Scott, now the state’s junior senator, also expanded charter schools and voucher programs while chipping away at long-term contracts for teachers. But DeSantis has not only built on his predecessors’ devotion to privatization and exploitative salaries, he has also squelched teaching, learning, and productive dialogues on American history, race, and gender.
The teacher shortages exhaust the remaining educators, and buttress DeSantis’ conservative takeover of public-school curriculums by whittling down institutional resistance to his culture-war inspired edicts. Educators are “frustrated to the point where they don’t have a sense of hope anymore,” said Steve Frazier, Executive Director of the Florida League of Middle Schools, who worked as a teacher and principal in Broward County for over three decades. “It’s like anything, you keep getting beat down, eventually you just wave the white flag and say I can’t do it anymore.”
Florida’s vacancy issue has its roots in the state’s decades-long role as a laboratory for the right’s assault on public education, with its Republican governors playing key parts. Former Gov. Jeb Bush made school choice and high-stakes standardized testing his signature issues in the 2000s, before his brother President George W. Bush took “reforms” like the No Child Left Behind Act to the White House. DeSantis’s predecessor, Rick Scott, now the state’s junior senator, also expanded charter schools and voucher programs while chipping away at long-term contracts for teachers. But DeSantis has not only built on his predecessors’ devotion to privatization and exploitative salaries, he has also squelched teaching, learning, and productive dialogues on American history, race, and gender.
The teacher shortages exhaust the remaining educators, and buttress DeSantis’ conservative takeover of public-school curriculums by whittling down institutional resistance to his culture-war inspired edicts. Educators are “frustrated to the point where they don’t have a sense of hope anymore,” said Steve Frazier, Executive Director of the Florida League of Middle Schools, who worked as a teacher and principal in Broward County for over three decades. “It’s like anything, you keep getting beat down, eventually you just wave the white flag and say I can’t do it anymore.”
Tawanda Carter, a literacy coach in Broward County for 23 years, took a classroom position this year because of the shortages. To support her students in the long run, Carter realized that she must pick and choose her battles to avoid burnout, especially when a parent objects to certain topics like learning about the experiences of other racial and ethnic groups. “At the end of the day, I recognize in myself and others that you just do what you can do,” she says.
Teacher vacancies also give DeSantis and Florida state lawmakers an opportunity to seed schools with instructors whom they believe would be more amenable to far-right positions. Under Florida’s Military Veterans Certification Pathway program, which came into effect on July 1 of last year, veterans with at least four years of service, an honorable or medical discharge, 60 college credits, and a minimum 2.5 GPA can apply for a temporary teaching certificate after passing a subject-area exam of their choice.
Florida teachers should have the leeway to design appropriate lesson plans for their students and not be shackled to politically imposed curriculums…
New teachers hired under the program are assigned a mentor teacher for at least two years, and will have five years to fulfill the requirements for permanent certification, including obtaining a bachelor’s degree. Many experienced educators worry that the program will not help fill vacancies but instead lower the standards for people entering the profession. DeSantis has also proposed offering bonuses to veterans and retired first responders who agree to teach full-time for at least two years. Such recruitment drives are a disservice to veterans and first responders seeking second careers, as well as to current students and teachers. The state has processed hundreds of applications, but only twelve veterans have been hired so far, the Florida Department of Education told the Prospect.
Herman Bennett, a historian of the African diaspora at the City University of New York, helped the College Board draft the African American Studies AP curriculum. He says the Florida moves remind him that fifty years ago a teacher’s credentials were irrelevant for some schools. “It’s reminiscent of what history teaching once was in my generation, there was the idea that the historian could be the football coach,” he says. “Because it really didn’t matter. You could have a knucklehead who was responsible for the civics course.”
For Bennett, DeSantis’s rejection of the College Board’s African American studies course signals the debasing of teaching and learning loud and clear. “If the AP course was simply Black names, dates and facts, DeSantis wouldn’t have a concern about it because that would just produce an inert and passive citizen.” Bennett said. “Afro-American studies demonstrate that there are histories of struggle, and if you don’t have those understandings, then you see the possibility of change as limited.”
With the College Board caving into DeSantis’s demands, the state’s educators can only do so much to get around these obstacles. By removing African American and other racial, ethnic, and gender studies topics from public school curriculums, and diluting discussions of contemporary issues like Black Lives Matter, another Republican governor is once again trying to export new limitations on learning across the country. Florida teachers should have the leeway to design appropriate lesson plans for their students and not be shackled to politically imposed curriculums. Stifling creativity in classroom instruction ultimately means that teachers can only teach exactly what they are told to teach and nothing more—if they decide to stay in the profession at all
The Florida Department of Education releasing a list of approved books, but spelling “ninth” and “twelfth” wrong on the document, is the most Florida thing I have seen… pic.twitter.com/tDfvLFXPMc
The big story: Florida’s dispute with the College Board continued to broaden, with Gov. Ron DeSantis’ suggestions that perhaps the state can do without the organization’s courses and exams beginning to take shape.
Top state officials said they had been in conversations with Classic Learning Test — developed in part by DeSantis appointee to the New College board of trustees Mark Bauerlein — to implement that exam as an alternate to the College Board’s SAT. The Classic Learning Test supporters tout it as being focused on the “great classical and Christian tradition,” a movement that has been gaining traction in some charter and private school circles…
A move away from the College Board would not come without consequences. Tens of thousands of teens take Advanced Placement courses annually with the hope of earning college-level credits. They also take the group’s SAT test to help them earn university entrance and Bright Futures scholarship eligibility. Here are four things to know as the state ponders the role of the College Board.
The discussion about the organization’s future in Florida arose as an offshoot of DeSantis’ objections to some of the content in the proposed AP African American studies course. He called for changes before he would allow the Department of Education to consider approving it for use in Florida’s public schools. Much of the dispute centered on key ideas and phrases that have become politicized. The Washington Post examines how the course language changed over time.
Four other states now are reviewing whether the course meets their policies and laws on teaching about race, Axios reports.
The argument has become much more than academic. Black leaders and activists are vowing to take to the streets to fight against what they view as DeSantis’ assault on civil rights. The conservatives are standing firm in their effort to advance a counter-revolution and purge what they call “woke-ness” out of the schools, government and society…
The Rev. Al Sharpton speaks to a crowd of hundreds from the steps of the Senate portico during the National Action Network demonstration in response to Gov. Ron DeSantis’ rejection of a high school African American history course, Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2023 in Tallahassee, Fla…
Some people have asked whether DeSantis took any AP courses while attending Dunedin High. The Daily Beast published a page from his yearbook indicating that he was given an AP American History Award in 1996…
(Alicia Devine /Tallahassee Democrat via AP) [ ALICIA DEVINE | AP ] staff
I was recently summoned to serve on jury duty here in my community, Flagler County…I felt it would be my responsibility as a citizen and a privilege…
Never visiting our court house, Arriving at around 8:00 AM…I was screened by the officers on duty, who were all to be welcoming and appreciative…
The judge from the Seventh Circuit met us in a preliminary room where he spent a great deal of time going over our schedule and responsibilities… He said we may be there for 2 to 3 days…He was extremely knowledgeable and appreciative that we were there to serve…
There were about 25 of us, about 17 white men, and 8 female, one of whom was the only black… several Hispanic, one Asian…
We were then escorted to the Hearing room where all attorneys were present…A white, female prosecutor; and at the defense table 2 males, one of whom was black… Learning, one was the public defender and the other was the defendant, a young black male…
What struck me so, not having any previous knowledge about this case…Since both males were wearing suits, I assumed, at first, the black male was another attorney...
This is not how he looked during the trial…He did have a suit on, however his hair was uncovered…And he had affect…
How wrong I was…He was the defendant…My impression was, he definitely could have been one of my students…What went wrong in his life that led him to this place in his life?
I was so relieved that I was not chosen to be part of this jury…All 7 were white, with one being a female…
My heart breaks for our children…
Jury did find him guilty of the charges…
He is in for life…for his orevious crime and there is an appeal pending..This current crime will Just add more time to a life sentence for his crimes…Where there was no loss of life…
@NatlHeadStart #BlackHistoryMonth During this “era” Inspiring my becoming an elementary school teacher in 1972 Specializing in early childhood education… Beginning at a federally funded school… teaching migrants…
Then…Even having the opportunity to lead a Headstart Parenting Group in1974…
And much of my 38 year teaching career.. teaching children of diversity through Federal Funded Programs… 💜💫🌟💫📚
BY SOMMER BRUGAL AND ANDRE FERNANDEZ UPDATED FEBRUARY 02, 2023 6:40 PM
Florida’s children who are the most vulnerable; those in need of inclusion the most … are being targeted; singled out by Governor Ron DeSantis only to bring national attention in his quest for power, securing his candidacy for president in 2024…
This latest requirement for Florida’s high school female athletes sharing their personal menstrual history goes beyond what anyone…other than family or a doctor, should know!!
He does not care how his authoritarian actions hurt Florida… especially our children…
He only became our governor by voter suppression and a lack of strong support of the Democratic candidate, Charlie Crist…
I myself remember, living in Flagler and Volusia County where he was our representative, and did absolutely nothing…
Now, with his divisive agenda, he has a strong support of those with money giving him the national stage…
This latest attack is once again hurting our high school athletes…
A proposed draft of a physical education form in Florida could require all high school student athletes to disclose information regarding their menstrual history, which opponents are pushing back against. Richard Bagan via Unsplash
When I began my teacher journey back in the seventies…Even though our pay was quite inadequate… We had such hope, and a surplus of teachers…So much so, I had to travel 90 miles a day, just to teach…
Being apolitical, I did not realize, nor appreciate our teacher’s union…For years, stayed away from joining…
I then realized by those “No Child Left Behind ” years …We sure needed that unity of the union for our advocacy… And especially now in these divisive times it is critical…
So for me, doing my part, now, even though I am retired, I am proudly a member of my local, ACEA; Alachua County Education Association, FEA; Florida Education Association and AFT; American Federation of Teachers….
Divide and Conquer… Governor Ron DeSantis is once again using his authoritarian control over our Teachers Union…
Delaney Johnston January 23, 2023
Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday unveiled a series of proposals aimed at school boards and teachers’ unions, the latest salvo in his battles over education policy in the state.
At an event in Jacksonville, DeSantis unveiled what he called a “Teachers Bill of Rights,” which would give teachers the green light to stand up to their school boards if they felt their policies violated state law.
He also proposed banning teachers’ unions from automatically deducting dues from paychecks, imposing stricter term limits on school board members, and amending the state constitution to allow school board candidates to reveal their political parties in the now bipartisan races.
DeSantis said he wants an additional $200 million for the special fund created to increase teachers’ salaries, bringing the total for teachers’ salaries in his recommended budget for next year to $1 billion.
A total of $3 billion has been spent on salaries over the past three years, he said.
Much of that money, however, went to raising starting salaries for new teachers, so the state still ranked 48th for average public school teacher salaries last year, according to the National Education Association, one place lower than when DeSantis took office in the year 2019
The state also had 5,300 vacant teaching positions this month, more than double the number two years ago, according to the state teachers’ union.
DeSantis’ proposals to the school boards came after he got involved on an unprecedented scale in local board races for governor and promoted conservative candidates across the state. That included Orange County, where Moms for Liberty member Alicia Farrant won a seat on the board.
“What we’ve seen over the years is that you have … counties in Southwest Florida that voted for me by about 40 points, and yet they vote people into school boards that’s like a completely opposite philosophy,” DeSantis said. “…And sometimes it’s hard not to know because you have all these names on one ballot.”
State Rep. Anna Eskamani, D-Orlando, wrote on Twitter that eight-year term limits on school board members instead of the current 12 and partisan elections aim to “essentially get rid of current members over time and improve public education partisan.” This goes way deeper than just culture wars — this is an educational power grab.”
The new proposals would have to be approved by the legislature or, in the case of a constitutional amendment, by state voters by referendum.
They come just days after DeSantis and Education Commissioner Manny Diaz made national headlines by banning an AP African American Studies course in the state and announcing plans for the state to fund all parents who send their children to voucher schools, regardless of income want to send.
His proposal on teachers’ rights is modeled after the Parents Bill of Rights, which allowed parents to ignore COVID restrictions in schools. DeSantis said the state will “protect” teachers from their boards or unions.
“[If] A teacher must either obey state law or listen to a school board or school union or administrator telling them to break state law. If they comply with state laws, they are protected,” DeSantis said. “…And it doesn’t matter if a school board or a superintendent disagrees.”
It could potentially affect teachers who squabble with their school boards over the interpretation of issues ranging from the so-called “Don’t Say Gay” law to the “Stop WOKE” law banning critical race theory, both of which are broad.
The educators and board members speaking at the event spoke out against their boards’ vaccination mandates and other anti-COVID measures.
“At my current charter school, I am free to choose whether or not to wear a mask, and ‘social distancing’ and quarantining healthy children due to proximity are foreign words,” said Leah Hannigan, a former public school teacher in Duval.
Charlotte Joyce, a member of the Duval School Board, said: “During the pandemic we have seen teacher unions push for mask requirements and vaccinations. Because of our amazing governor, he just put an end to it and said, ‘We’re not going to have that in the state of Florida.’”
DeSantis’ proposal to end the automatic deduction of union dues also targeted teachers’ unions, which he felt had too much power.
“That’s your choice,” DeSantis said of paying membership dues, a critical funding source for unions. “If you want to do it, send money, that’s fine. But automatically deducted when you sign a power of attorney form? They don’t even tell you how much is deducted.”
He added that union officials “should not earn more than the highest-paid teacher. You have these people making huge sums of money, and the teachers make half of that amount. how is that fair How is that something that makes sense?”
However, he did not say if he would attempt to pass legislation mandating it.
Diaz continued to attack teachers’ unions after the event, writing on Twitter that unions are “standing in the way of teachers getting the raises they deserve.”
A spokeswoman for the Florida Education Association. the national teachers’ union, did not return a request for comment…
State’s new bill goes into effect prohibiting material unless deemed appropriate by a librarian or ‘certified media specialist’
School teachers in Florida’s Manatee county are removing books from their classrooms or physically covering them up after a new bill went into effect that prohibited material unless deemed appropriate by a librarian, or “certified media specialist”.
If a teacher is found in violation of these guidelines, they could face felony charges.
The new guidelines for the Florida law, known as HB 1467, outline the books be free of pornographic material, suited to student needs and their ability to comprehend the material, and appropriate for the grade level and age group.
In order to determine if the books meet these guidelines, certified media specialists must undergo an online training developed by Florida’s department of education.
With only a few or even one media specialist present in each school, the process to vet books is lengthy.
Scrutiny of teaching material in Florida schools heightened under the leadership of the rightwing Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, whose administration says it is actively working to “protect parental rights”, which includes a prohibition on childhood education on gender, sexual orientation and critical race theory.
DeSantis has emerged as a legitimate rival to Donald Trump in the Republican party. The former US president has already declared his 2024 candidacy for another White House run, while DeSantis is widely expected to do so later this year.
As part of his appeal to the party’s rightwing base DeSantis has sought to portray himself as a culture war warrior, cracking down on LGBTQ rights and taking conservative stances on the fight against Covid-19 and a host of other issues such as immigration.
In 2021, he announced the Stop Woke (Wrongs to Our Kids and Employees) Act to “give businesses, employees, children and families tools to fight back against woke indoctrination”.
Teachers have condemned the new guidelines.
The Manatee Education Association union president, Pat Barber, told local TV station Fox 13: “We have people who have spent their entire careers building their classroom libraries based on their professional and educational experience and understanding of the age of the children they teach.”
Barber added: “Now, their professional judgment and training are being substituted for the opinion of anyone who wishes to review and challenge the books. We’re focused on things that cause teachers to want to walk away from education because they can’t focus on their mission of educating children.”
Some teachers are even covering up their library books with paper…
Don Falls, a history teacher at Manatee high school, told the Herald-Tribune newspaper: “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.”
More school districts in Florida are expected to follow suit as a result of such policies this year. The state’s education department issued a deadline of 1 July 2023 for when “the superintendent of schools in each district must certify to the FDOE Commissioner that all school librarians and media specialists have completed this training”.
When government faces a problem, the response often goes through three stages before its tackled.
Step 1: Deny that the problem exists. It’s just a few noisy people lying to you for their selfish political interests.
Step 2: The problem exists but not to the extent or for the reasons critics claimed.
Step 3: The problem is real and we’ve been addressing it for some time despite the harping of critics…
Florida now has a teacher shortage problem. And unsurprisingly, the state of Florida is in Stage 1 with one foot in Stage 2.
A recently released Florida Education Association survey tallied 5,294 vacancies in Florida public schools. The survey noted that five years ago, the state had only 1,492 vacancies.
The Florida Department of Education disputed the number, talked about the “myth” of a teacher shortage, and blamed the teachers union for twisting number to create a fake problem. Nothing to see here, folks. Move along. Pay no attention to that substitute teacher wandering the halls trying to find the right classroom….
Help from abroad?Volusia school board considers hiring international teachers to address critical shortages
Another district could look overseas:Could international teachers address critical shortages? Flagler Schools is considering it
Yet this report of shortages jibes with other surveys. Like a report issued last summer by Brown University’s Annenberg Institute that found the teacher shortage to be more than a passing pandemic problem and that Florida had the worst shortage of any state.
Closer to home, this also jibes with measures local school boards are forced to take as they scramble to staff classrooms. The Volusia County School Board, for instance, discussed importing teachers from abroad to fill the staffing gaps. The school system started the school year with 272 instructional vacancies which it managed to whittle down to 141. And it has 239 support vacancies. And even the district’s recruitment and retention coordinator has left…
Flagler County, too, is looking at importing teachers from abroad to fill some of its vacancies.
All this probably jibes, too, with what you probably heard from any kids, parents and teachers you know.
Gov. Ron DeSantis has announced the state is tackling this situation — which is not really a problem — by allowing military veterans to teach without getting a college degree. As of the start of the year, a total of — wait for it — 10 had been hired statewide.
So, yes, there really is a teacher shortage. Maybe not in every school, maybe not in every subject area, or in every grade, but enough that it’s clearly a problem. This is not fake news.
And as a believer in the wisdom of free markets, I generally regard teacher shortages as nature’s way of telling us that we aren’t paying teachers enough.
Or more accurately, that we aren’t rewarding teachers enough.
FLORIDA Florida teachers move to block DeSantis questions on CRT Associated Press
Published: January 11, 2023 at 9:40 PM
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – A group of Florida college professors on Wednesday asked a federal judge to block Gov. Ron DeSantis from requesting spending data on diversity, equity and inclusion and critical race theory programs in state universities.
The filing comes as part of a lawsuit against the so-called “Stop WOKE” Act, which restricts certain race-based conversations and analysis in colleges. Tallahassee U.S. District Judge Mark Walker has blocked the law, though DeSantis’ office is appealing the decision.
The Republican governor in late December requested that state colleges submit spending data and other information on programs related to diversity, equity and inclusion and critical race theory, which examines systemic racism. The schools were asked to submit the data by Friday.
The college educators, who are represented by the American Civil Liberties Union and Legal Defense Fund, argue the governor’s request violates the court order blocking the “Stop WOKE” Act.
“This is just another step towards enforcing this unconstitutional law and is clearly intended to continue to chill the speech of instructors and students in Florida. We cannot allow these threats against free speech to continue,” Jerry Edwards, staff attorney of the ACLU of Florida, said in a statement.
DeSantis’ office did not immediately return an email seeking comment.
The law prohibits teaching or business practices that contend members of one ethnic group are inherently racist and should feel guilt for past actions committed by others. It also bars the notion that a person’s status as privileged or oppressed is necessarily determined by their race or gender, or that discrimination is acceptable to achieve diversity.
The governor began pushing for the law late last year and the Republican-controlled Legislature passed it during the 2022 legislative session.
Critical race theory was developed during the 1970s and 1980s in response to what scholars viewed as a lack of racial progress following the civil rights legislation of the 1960s. It centers on the idea that racism is systemic in the nation’s institutions and that they function to maintain the dominance of white people in society.
Conservatives have rejected critical race theory, arguing the philosophy racially divides American society and aims to rewrite history to make white people believe they are inherently racist.
Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
I can not believe Congress will finally tackle the issue of teacher pay inequities…
When I began in 1972, I was making only $5,000 for the year… Traveling 90 miles a day just to teach…
We now have such a critical teacher shortage…With all the major issues teachers face today …
Young, creative people are not willing to go into teaching only to deal with gun and health safety, such that the divisiveness of politics continuously permeates curriculum and inclusion of all children…
Leaving our children and schools in crisis….
Rep. Frederica S. Wilson (D-Florida) introduced the American Teacher Act to incentivize states to increase the minimum K-12 teacher salary to $60,000 and adjust for inflation.
Wilson, the chair of the Higher Education and Workforce Investment Subcommittee, said the financial incentive supports ongoing state efforts to provide competitive wages for teachers and address the national teacher shortage.
“Teachers deserve a raise. Unfortunately, our nation’s teachers have been underpaid, overworked and deprived of resources for too long,” Wilson stated. “That’s why I’m filing the American Teacher Act, to give our nation’s teachers the raise they have earned and deserve.”
Wilson called teachers the backbone of America’s education system and economy. She noted that they play a foundational role in the development of children.
“For seven hours a day, they help shape and inspire young minds as well as nurture students academically and socially,” Wilson said.
“As the COVID-19 pandemic brought the world to a standstill, teachers continued to play a critical role in our recovery, underscoring their indispensability,” she said.
The nonprofit Teacher Salary Project helped Wilson draft the bill, which they said responds to a national teacher shortage and low professional morale.
The bill creates a four-year federal grant program to increase teachers’ annual salaries to a minimum of $60,000 nationwide.
Additionally, it would create a four-year federal grant available to states and local educational agencies to guarantee the $60,000 minimum wage.
The bill wouldn’t reduce salaries for those already making more than $60,000 and wouldn’t replace existing federal, state, or local funds used toward teacher pay
Earlier this year, EducationWeek estimated that more than 36,500 teacher vacancies exist in the United States.
They noted that uncredentialed teachers filled more than 163,500 positions. Meanwhile, the Teacher Salary Project pointed out that 74% of teachers don’t believe they receive fair pay.
“How do we get (teacher pay increases) to happen when people in the position to make change are so scared or intimidated by the price tag and the controversial topics associated with higher pay, like performance-based pay and increases in taxes?” Ellen Sherratt, board president of the Teacher Salary Project, told Education NC.
Wilson said teacher shortages count among the most pressing threats to education access today, with districts across the country forced to radically adjust school offerings to respond to turnover and prolonged vacancies.
“While teachers have never received the wages and respect commensurate with the work they do to help all children reach their promise and potential, the culture wars and stagnant wages of the last few years have made this worse,” stated Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT).
“Recruiting and retaining a diverse teaching force has become increasingly difficult—indeed, most parents say they wouldn’t want their kids choosing teaching as a career,” Weingarten remarked.
The president of AFT added that Wilson’s bill addresses challenges by providing states with federal funding as incentives for teachers and school districts.
“It also funds a national campaign highlighting the value of the teaching profession and encouraging young people to become teachers, using many of the recommendations in the AFT’s Teacher and School Staff Shortage Task Force report ‘Here Today, Gone Tomorrow?’ for recruiting the best candidates into teaching, including increasing compensation,” Weingarten said.
“This bill says put your money where your mouth is,” she continued. “We thank Rep. Wilson for her bold legislation addressing the low starting salaries that have plagued the teaching profession for generations, and we are proud to support this legislation.”
I am extremely sad and concerned over the restrictive policies that are affecting our public schools due to republican leadership here in Florida…
Losing this election…
We did not elect the more empathetic, democratic candidate Charlie Crist, who would have prioritized our children and their right to a strong public school education…
Hope and Faith…
#floridaelection Our precious children… Women’s rights… Seniors… Where did it go wrong???
If What’s Ahead Scares You… And What’s Behind Hurts You…
Such a blessing… Hurricanes… Rain… Sleet…Snow… Got my mail in ballot Saturday!!!
Goes in Monday’s mail… “Florida” more than ever… All those impacted by #ianrecovery #VoteBlueForSoManyReasons #DemsDeliver 🌊💙✨💫 @CharlieCrist @KarlaforFlorida @valdemings
Florida’s educator shortage is a longstanding and worsening problem that impacts children and families daily…
The good news is, we can fix this.
President of Florida’s Education Association…Andrew Spar believes….
Working together, we can keep great teachers and staff in our schools while creating a climate that encourages more talented candidates who love kids to enter education.
Dragging culture-war politics into schools is a great way to stir up drama, but it’s terrible for students.
House Bill 7, aka ‘Stop WOKE’ HB 7 allows for the teaching of African-American history but prohibits classroom instruction and curriculum being “used to indoctrinate or persuade students to a particular point of view.”
HB 1557 also HB 7 have both sparked outrage and protests around the state. In Alachua County and statewide, high school students staged a walk out in protest of the HB 1557 after it passed the Florida House in a 69-47 vote.
DeSantis signed the measure into law March 28
HB 7 led to the Florida Department of Education rejecting some math textbooks after it was claimed the books “contained prohibited topics” that included references to critical race theory.
Alachua County Public Schools will soon have a better idea of how new laws restricting discussions around race, sexual orientation and gender identity will affect classrooms.
The county School Board will hear from school district attorney Francine Turney about recommended updates to a number of board policies, including those changing due to Florida House bills 7 and 1557, at a Wednesday workshop at 1 p.m. Already parents are seeing the effects of the latter law in requirements for their permission for health screenings.
House Bill 1557, known as Parental Rights in Education and called the “Don’t Say Gay” bill by opponents, also prevents classroom discussions about gender identity and sexual orientation in kindergarten though third grade. House Bill 7, known as the Individual Freedom bill and dubbed the “Stop WOKE Act” by supporters, prohibits classroom discussions on certain topics regarding race and gender.
Trans youth at risk:Medicaid for Florida’s transgender youth at risk under Gov. DeSantis
‘Don’t Say Gay’ protest:Alachua County students mobilize in protest of the controversial ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill
Textbook ban:School board approves 4 of 11 math textbooks after DeSantis’ crackdown on critical race theory
The measures were signed into law earlier this year by Gov. Ron DeSantis. The district has to update its instructional learning materials to fall in line with state standards, according to backup materials for the meeting.
House Bill 1557, aka ‘Don’t Say Gay’ HB 1557 prohibits classroom discussions surrounding gender identity and sexual orientation in kindergarten through third grade classes, while requiring instruction to be age appropriate in other grades.
The district implemented this policy for kindergarten through third grade classes on July 1, when the law went into effect, according to the district. For grades four and up, it takes effect only after the Florida Department of Education develops rules or guidance on age-appropriate instruction.
The law also requires parents to be made aware of health care services offered and allows for parents to deny or accept them. It further gives parents the right to file a complaint with the school district if there is any violation of the law.
On Aug. 9, Alachua County Public Schools sent a message home to families regarding health care, stating that parents must give active consent for their child to receive care for chronic health health conditions, vision screenings, dental screenings, hearing screenings and other services.
My heart is breaking for our children and teachers dealing with this…Our children are not being educated with the necessary culture and curriculum…Teachers live in fear they could lose their job …
We are still living with Covid, and our children still are being affected!!!
Many teachers have left teaching and we have a critical teacher shortage…Yet Governor DeSantis is reaching out to veterans and retirees who may not have any teacher preparation classes, nor have experience….
I myself was retired at thirty years due to health issues, was extremely fortunate to resume my teaching career for another eight more years … Before doing so, I had to take another teacher prep class, and take the requred teacher exam before being allowed back into the classroom…
If they gave teachers the respect and paid what they deserve…we would not have a teacher shortage here in Florida or anywhere!
Hope is here for our precious children here in Florida! If we are united and vote for Charlie Crist and Karla Hernandez!!
@andrewsparfea… President of the Florida Education Association…
Let’s go out and work hard to make sure that we have an educator working at the highest levels of our state!
And make Val Deming’s Senator…
She is running against Marco Rubio.. who has done nothing for our children..
At the start of the 20th century, labor in America was in short supply, and laws concerning the employment of children were rarely enforced or nonexistent. While Americans at the time supported the role of children working on family farms, there was little awareness of the other forms of labor being undertaken by young hands. In 1908, photographer Lewis Hine was employed by the newly-founded National Child Labor Committee (NCLC) to document child laborers and their workplaces nationwide. His well-made portraits of young miners, mill workers, cotton pickers, cigar rollers, newsboys, pin boys, oyster shuckers, and factory workers put faces on the issue, and were used by reformers to raise awareness and drive legislation that would protect young workers or prohibit their employment.
After several stalled attempts in congress, the NCLC-backed Fair Labor Standards Act passed in 1938 with child labor provisions that remain the law of the land today, barring the employment of anyone under the age of 16…
Child Labor in America 100 Years Ago ALAN TAYLOR JULY 1, 2015…28 PHOTOS IN FOCUS….
We have some very exciting news. I am not sure if you saw already, but yesterday Congressman Charlie Crist announced his pick for lieutenant governor. He selected a teacher and a mom of two public school students. She is someone who cares about kids, families, and our communities. He selected ONE OF US! His pick for lieutenant governor is our very own FEA Cabinet member and the president of the United Teachers of Dade (UTD),
“Karla Hernandez”…
We knew that Karla was on the short list, but it is so incredible that someone running for governor would pick a teacher, let alone a leader in the union movement. By picking Karla, Congressman Crist has sent a clear message that public education, families and communities are at the heart of his campaign. He has shown that he understands the importance of who we are and what we stand for. Crist is making it clear that the education of our children is the paramount duty of the state of Florida and, under his administration, teachers and staff will have a true friend and ally in the governor’s mansion.
Karla is a first generation American born in Miami to parents of Honduran decent. She spent 10 years teaching exceptional education students in Miami before joining with Fed Ingram at the United Teachers of Dade as their secretary-treasurer. She went on to serve, and continues to serve, as president of UTD, as chair of the AFT Woman’s Rights Committee, as an AFT vice president and as an FEA Cabinet member.
We needed this exciting news. This shows that we are valued and respected for the work we do. And it shows that Charlie cares about us! We have a chance to truly change the landscape for Florida’s public school students, teachers and staff as well as Florida’s colleges and universities.
Help us get the word out: Repost my tweet. Share my Facebook post. Tell your friends and colleagues.
Let’s go out and work hard to make sure that we have an educator working at the highest levels of our state!
In solidarity,
In Solidarity,
Andrew Spar, President Florida Education Association NEA, AFT, AFL-CIO
Thank you for listening… Our precious children need for a strong public school education… #Florida @CharlieCrist @KarlaforFlorida 💙🌊🍎📚
In the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s annual report evaluating states on indicators of child well-being, Florida — after modest improvements in rankings over time — remains 35th in the nation…
Each year, the Foundation uses 16 publicly available indicators of child well-being organized into four domains: economic well-being, education, health, and family and community. All of these come from publicly available national data so the states can be directly compared. Trend data is also presented for each variable to show change over time.
Below, FPI looks at each domain as compared to 2008-20121…
These findings are extremely disturbing…Our children have been dealing with so much… pandemic, divisive politics and poor leadership…
We have a governor who has refused to expand Medicaid…and from my own personal experience…My daughter who has mental health issues has been denied assistance…
We must vote for our precious children…
We in Florida must vote blue for our precious children… Having taught 38 years in Florida… We so need a fighter…with heart…. right now more than ever.. #SomethingNew @NikkiFried #VoteBueforOurKids🌊💙🍎📚🇺🇸 https://t.co/LjSHn15Sxa
Florida’s 9000+ teacher shortage is a policy decision, and it’s the result of the hypocrisy and divisive Republican leadership in our state…
Florida Deserves Better!!! All our precious children… Need schools with enough Teachers and Staff…and a curriculum that is unbiased, and developmentally appropriate…
“I, so love your energy! You are just what our children need here in Florida… A strong, caring governor that will bring Florida back to where we once were…
Mailing in my ballot Monday!!! “ And I voted early for … #SomethingNew @NikkiFried 💙🌊🙏🏾🇺🇸
Some school officials have been accused of warning teachers not to wear rainbow articles of clothing and to remove pictures of their same-sex spouses from their desks…
As Florida’s Parental Rights in Education law — or what critics have dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” law — goes into effect Friday, some of the state’s public school districts have begun rolling out new policies to limit LGBTQ issues and identities from being discussed in the classroom….
Members and supporters of the LGBTQ community at the “Say Gay Anyway” rally in Miami Beach, Fla., on March 13.
As Florida’s ‘Don’t Say Gay’ law takes effect, schools roll out LGBTQ restrictions June 30, 2022… By Matt Lavietes
Janis Sexton...Teacher...Advocate 