Florida teachers rush to hide and audit books in wake of DeSantis law
Ryan King
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Officials in Florida’s Manatee County School District are scrambling to comply with the state’s recently implemented law demanding transparency in school libraries.
Teams of volunteers have been combing through and cataloging the books in the county’s roughly 60 schools. They flag any questionable books for review by certified specialists.
Some teachers have covered up their classroom libraries out of fear they could face felony charges under the law that was enacted last year.
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“We’ve got to go classroom by classroom and start to catalog all the books in these classrooms to make sure that they’re in our system if they’re an approved book,” Kevin Chapman, the district’s chief of staff, told the Washington Examiner. “Because that’s the law of the land right now in Florida, and if you’re found to have an inappropriate book in your classroom, you can be now charged with a third-degree felony.”
The law, HB 1467, mandates reading materials in schools to be vetted by an employee with a media specialist certificate. In most cases, these are school librarians, which the county has in most of its schools. Explicit material, particularly pornographic material, is prohibited from classrooms under the policy, which was signed into law last year by Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL).
Although the law was enacted late last year, the state provided training guidelines for schools earlier this month, according to Chapman. The guidelines don’t list specific books that are banned but rather provide definitions for what constitutes pornography or other illicit material that must be taken off classroom shelves. So far, the district has flagged a limited number of books during its review, according to Chapman.
“Have we found some inappropriate books in our schools? Sure we have. And we might during this process of going classroom by classroom. But we’re confident that our classrooms are great learning environments and are safe for our kids,” Chapman added.
Under the policy, parents can bring forward complaints about any material in classrooms to ensure that material is appropriate for their children. DeSantis touted the legislation last year. It was part of a slate of policies he championed during his foray into the culture wars.
“In Florida, our parents have every right to be involved in their child’s education. We are not going to let politicians deny parents the right to know what is being taught in our schools. I’m proud to sign this legislation that ensures curriculum transparency,” DeSantis proclaimed at the time.
A priority for Chapman is to ensure the rights of the district’s parents are “respected” while providing adequate resources for teachers and staff to comply with the law. A number of teachers within the district have complained about Florida’s new law.
“The vetting process for new books is cumbersome, so even accepting donated books from parents and community members will not be allowed. The process of finding the list of approved books is also incredibly difficult,” one teacher wrote on Facebook.
“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,” Don Falls, a history teacher at Manatee High School, told the Herald Tribune. “It is not only ridiculous but a very scary attack on fundamental rights.”
Photos circulating social media highlighted how teachers have been concealing books to err on the side of caution and avoid any possible third-degree felony charges.
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The Washington Examiner contacted Florida’s Department of Education for comment. Schools across the state were not given a grace period to comply with the rules, according to Chapman.
“There is no deadline. It’s actually the opposite. If you think about it, the law went into effect on November 22, 2022. So [it’s] the law right now,” Chapman contended.
“We probably are one of the first school districts to get everybody trained, get communication out, and start this process,” he added. “But we’re making sure we’re complying with this law because it has no deadline.”