A Florida teacher has been fired after a video she filmed of empty school library shelves went viral amid outrage over Gov. Ron DeSantis’ alleged efforts to ban the books.
Brian Covey, a parent and substitute teacher at Mandarin Middle School, filmed the video to show the consequences of Florida’s new “curriculum transparency law.” It has since been viewed over 13 million times.
Days after Mr. Covey’s firing, Mr. DeSantis directly denounced the video as “fake fiction” as he denied that the books had been removed from school shelves, despite evidence from teachers and librarians .
A reporter in Duval County on Tuesday asked the governor about ordering the district’s schools to remove all books from shelves so they can go through a “recheck” process to ensure compliance with the law, which was passed in Florida last year. it was done.
“Actually that video, that was a fake story,” the governor said in reference to Mr. Covey’s video.
“It’s trying to create some narrative, like … they didn’t even put the books out to begin with. So, there’s no need for all this stuff. What they’re trying to do is is that they’re trying to act somehow, you know, we don’t want books,” the governor said Press conference,
Duval County Public Schools addressed Mr. Covey’s termination in a statement. first coast news on Wednesday. It confirmed that ESS, the organization that contracts with the district to hire substitute teachers, had “parted ways” with Mr. Covey.
“In a discussion between the District and ESS regarding this individual’s misrepresentation regarding books available to students in the school library and the disruption caused by this misrepresentation, it was determined that she had posted information on her employer’s social media and cell Violated phone policies. Therefore, ESS determined that these policy violations made it necessary to part with this individual,” the statement read.
Independent Is previously reported that school Teacher’s And librarian In Duval County, where Mr. DeSantis was visiting to speak about judicial reform, school districts were ordered to remove non-curriculum books from their shelves.
Many of them took to social media share images From empty bookshelves.
The revision was ordered by the district in response to “curriculum transparency”. Law Last year passed by Mr. DeSantis. That law requires schools to ensure that their book selections are “free of pornography and material harmful to minors, adapted to the needs of students, and appropriate for the grade level and age group.”
the law has sown confusion in some schoolsAnd the task of interpreting the guidelines is left to “media experts” or librarians.
Seeking to ensure compliance with the new rules, the Duval County School District sent a memo to teachers last month instructing them to “temporarily store the books until they are reviewed.” The memo also informed teachers that “dramas and poems performed in the classroom” should also be “linked to the state’s statutory language.”
The purpose of the law, according to Mr. DeSantis Office, “This is to ensure that parents are aware of what their children are being taught in the classroom.” School districts are now racing to meet those guidelines.
But educators and free expression advocacy groups, such as pen americahas said that “vague laws, harsh penalties and confusing instructions” have made schools operate under a “cloud of fear” that is harming students’ ability to learn.
a librarian told Independent At the school where she worked, the library was closed to students while waiting was in progress.
“The books are sitting out on the tables, they’re being boxed up and thrown away,” said Kerry Clark. “It’s just it’s a really sad sight. Lots of kids keep looking through the window and it’s just awful I can’t let them come in and take the books.”
Books not vetted by librarians were removed from school libraries to comply with Florida censorship laws.
(Independent )
Mr. DeSantis said at his press conference on Tuesday that the purpose of the law is to prevent pornography from reaching children, but among the titles that have been removed and banned during vetting in Duval County are Toni Morrison bluest eye, the kite Runner by Khalid Hussaini Stranger by Albert Camus, rebel rhymes by Roald Dahl, and a skateboarding magazine called Thrasher.
The reasons for these restrictions are mentioned in the document seen by Independent, are brief and unclear. They include details such as “racial profile”. [sic]”Rude/offensive” and “inappropriate behavior.”
At Tuesday’s press conference, Mr. DeSantis said it was not the state’s intention to ban the books.
“If there’s anything that any of these schools, the superintendents, say is prohibited, present it and our Department of Education will look into it thoroughly, and I can guarantee you that as long as 99 percent People don’t realize it’s wrong, chances are it’s not an issue at all,” he said.
Florida’s Department of Education did not respond to a request for comment. Independent.
Mr. DeSantis’ press secretary, Brian Griffin, said in a statement on Tuesday that the state had not ordered the removal of the books from school shelves.
“There has been no state directive to clear out libraries or cover up class books. However, we are taking a stand against pornography and sexual content in the classroom,” he said in the statement.
In a separate response to a request for comment from Independent, He stated that “the intention is not to empty the libraries, but to ensure that pornography is not made available in the classrooms.”
Last month, teacher Andrea Phillips Said Independent She removed all the books from the shelves in her classroom in response to Duval County’s revision process.
“The autonomy that has been stolen from me. I’m a certified teacher, I’ve been doing this for over a decade. I have done training after training. I have worked with children for years. I know what I’m doing,” she said.