Last month, the state of Florida urged schools to “err on the side of caution” to make sure “they’re complying with new Florida laws regarding books and materials available to children in school libraries and classrooms.” In response to this directive, many teachers and other staff removed or covered numerous books from their classrooms and libraries “to make sure all books and literature are approved by the state.” This has resulted in empty shelves with no reading material for the students.
We did direct teachers to temporarily reduce their classroom library collections to titles that were previously approved while waiting for media specialists to curate a more expansive list of approved titles,” DCPS Superintendent Diana Greene stated Thursday in a letter to district employees. “However, at no time should a classroom have been without reading resources.”
Last month, substitute teacher, Brian Covey, posted a video on Twitter that showed rows of empty bookshelves at Mandarin Middle School’s library. Dictator DeSantis came undone, called the video a “fake narrative,” (everything is ‘fake’ when a GQPer doesn’t like it…like facts), and on Wednesday, the school district fired Mr. Covey.
Duval County Public Schools offered the following statement:
In discussion between the district and ESS regarding this individual’s misrepresentation of the books available to students in the school’s library and the disruption this misrepresentation has caused, it was determined that he had violated social media and cell phone policies of his employer. Therefore, ESS determined these policy violations made it necessary to part ways with this individual.
Original Video:
