For Those Who Care About Educating "Our Children" for their future's success…
Author: Janis Sexton
Retired elementary public school teacher; all thirty-eight years in Florida... Now spending my time advocating for our children and their right to a strong public school education...With an appreciation for the arts, and the magic in each day✨...
Having such an authoritarian governor, who uses our precious children as pawns for his own greed for power and control…
My heart is filled with worry and frustration for our precious children, teachers, and staff…Yet, I feel many of us, especially here in Florida are willing to speak up and vote!!
Jill reminds me all the time that teaching is not just what you do, it’s who you are.
So as educators head back into schools and classrooms across the country, I wanted to say: Thank you.
Thank goodness for our Educational Unions for Support!!!
Ron DeSantis is a disgrace. It's not shocking that his extreme, hateful, and unpopular policies have made him a failure not just as a governor, but as a politician at the national level.
In these most challenging of times, our parents have to bare that burden of responsibility for providing that much needed love, guidance and support for their child’s future of happiness and possibilities..
Thus, hopefully relying on our schools for that assistance; essential programs for support with a strong, safe, nurturing environment, and a developmentally appropriate, inclusive curriculum so their child will feel empowered to find their path to succeed…
Moreover, I as a teacher was able utilize, from my own childhood an empathetic spirit, coming from a challenging home environment…
Back in those fifties when I was only five … My life drastically changed…My parents divorced…
I was then raised by a single parent; my mom…Having an older sister, who was developmentally challenged…I was put in charge… Looking out for “me and my sister”… With the careful eye from our caring neighbors…
My mother needed to work 9 to 5…And I, just a second grader had to get myself ready for school each day…I was referred to as a “latchkey child”…Crossing a busy Miami street without a crossing guard, nor the safety of cross walks…just to get to school…
It certainly was not easy…Yet, I made it to school and home, each and every day…
To reach my children, I would share childhood stories….
My young first graders, eyes wide open , understood and appreciated my personal story…
I wanted them to know I loved them, and believed whatever their situation was…They could be strong enough to find their way…
Strength
Is removing your kids from a toxic environment,
Not learning to live with it “for the sake of the kids.”
I do not recognize our state anymore… Florida’s children are being targeted by such fascism…We must keep speaking out…for our children…
And #VoteBlue for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris…in 2024…
Shekinah Hall reviews a students presentation on black change makers in history during her AP African American History class on Tuesday, March 29, at the McLain High School in Tulsa, Oklahoma…
Florida Board of Education approves new Black history standards that critics call ‘a big step backward’
By Nicole Chavez, CNN Updated 5:22 PM EDT, Thu July 20, 2023
The Florida Board of Education approved a new set of standards for how Black history should be taught in the state’s public schools, sparking criticism from education and civil rights advocates who said students should be allowed to learn the “full truth” of American history.
The curriculum was approved at the board’s meeting Wednesday in Orlando.
It is the latest development in the state’s ongoing debate over African American history, including the education department’s rejection of a preliminary pilot version of an Advanced Placement African American Studies course for high school students, which it claimed lacked educational value…
The new standards come after the state passed new legislation under Gov. Ron DeSantis that bars instruction in schools that suggests anyone is privileged or oppressed based on their race or skin color. DeSantis has used his fight against “wokeness” to boost his national profile amid a national discussion of how racism and history should be taught in schools…
The new standards require instruction for middle school students to include “how slaves developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit,” a document listing the standards and posted in the Florida Department of Education website said…
When high school students learn about events such as the 1920 Ocoee massacre, the new rules require that instruction include “acts of violence perpetrated against and by African Americans.” The massacre is considered the deadliest Election Day violence in US history and, according to several histories of the incident, it started when Moses Norman, a prominent Black landowner in the Ocoee, Florida, community, attempted to cast his ballot and was turned away by White poll workers.
“Our children deserve nothing less than truth, justice, and the equity our ancestors shed blood, sweat, and tears for,” Derrick Johnson, president and CEO of the NAACP, said in a statement condemning the new standards. “It is imperative that we understand that the horrors of slavery and Jim Crow were a violation of human rights and represent the darkest period in American history.”
We are proud of the rigorous process that the Department took to develop these standards,” Alex Lanfranconi, director of communications for the Florida Department of Education, said in a statement, noting the standards were created by a group of 13 educators and academics.
It’s sad to see critics attempt to discredit what any unbiased observer would conclude to be in-depth and comprehensive African American History standards. They incorporate all components of African American History: the good, the bad and the ugly. These standards will further cement Florida as a national leader in education, as we continue to provide true and accurate instruction in African American History,” Lanfranconi said..
The Florida Education Association, a statewide teachers union, called the new standards a disservice to students and “a big step backward for a state that has required teaching African American history since 1994.”
“How can our students ever be equipped for the future if they don’t have a full, honest picture of where we’ve come from? Florida’s students deserve a world-class education that equips them to be successful adults who can help heal our nation’s divisions rather than deepen them,” Andrew Spar, the association’s president, said in a statement. “Gov. DeSantis is pursuing a political agenda guaranteed to set good people against one another, and in the process he’s cheating our kids. They deserve the full truth of American history, the good and the bad,” Spar added.
How do we expect our precious children to do better than we, when they are the focus of such divisive rhetoric from our governor, Ron DeSantis, manifesting into such critical ramifications impacting their school experience…
Book bans, negative labels on those that are considered different, over testing, and no real restrictions on gun safety…
What happened to having fun at school, learning,art,creativity, music and play…
Teachers of today… especially here in Florida are struggling with such a divisive political climate…
From my own reflection, just eight years ago… before retirement…Teaching was quite challenging, yet…I believed in hope for a better day for our precious children…
Our classroom was that loving, safe place…My class was that beautiful representation of diversity… Learning was that essential component to success..
And moreover, my children wanted to learn … It was my job to provide a developmentally, relevant curriculum…
Parents were essential…We were a team…Our school wanted our parents to be involved… Programs and volunteering were a part of the day…We so appreciated our parents…
Our governor, Ron DeSantis describes Florida as the “education state”…We definitely are not…Our schools are in crisis…
He will be putting more money in our schools, however because of his book bans, lack of inclusion and gun reform…We have a shortage of teachers…Our precious children are scared to come to school..
DeSantis called Florida’s budget the “capstone” of a highly successful legislative session as he signed the appropriations into law.
JOSH MILLER June 15, 2023 . 2:00 PM
FORT PIERCE, FLORIDA — Today, Governor Ron DeSantis signed Florida’s “Framework for Freedom” budget for the 2023-24 fiscal year at a news conference in Fort Pierce.
“We’ve done more in the last six to eight months since the election than any – I think – state has done in our lifetime to move the ball forward and be bold and take on these issues, and that’s one of the reasons why people, you know, keep flooding down here,” DeSantis said, referring to people leaving other states to move to Florida…
But he also line-item vetoed more than half a billion in spending. The budget passed by the Legislature was $117 billion. In comparison, the original proposed budget by DeSantis was $114.8 billion.
On tax relief, DeSantis reminded Floridians of the “Freedom Summer” sales tax holiday that began in May. He also emphasized sales tax exemptions on baby and toddler items which start July 1, toll rebates and two hurricane-preparedness sales tax holidays that he says will save Floridians $144 million…
“We also in the budget include $130 million for targeted pay increases for people in state law enforcement and public safety agencies,” DeSantis said. “Different parts of the country have slashed police spending, attacked law enforcement – we’ve consistently in Florida stood by people in law enforcement, not only with good policy but also with good compensation.”
Lawmakers set K-12 funding at a record $26.8 billion, allocated $635 million toward workforce education programs and provided $1.1 billion in raises for teachers – money DeSantis said he didn’t want “going to bureaucracy or to unions.”
Mitigation response and recovery efforts total $2.3 billion in the budget, which includes funding to continue to cover costs associated with Hurricane Ian. But the governor also said the state had set aside $500 million for the state’s Emergency Preparedness and Response Fund to allow the state to respond quickly and cut through red tape as he did last year.
See the final veto list and the Governor’s transmittal letter below:
After holding the state budget hostage for weeks and failing to immediately disclose line-item vetoes, the governor finally took a break from running for president to do his actual job.
