You're saying to a student that what you are is so bad, your teacher would go to jail. “When you forbid a word or a concept to the extent that a teacher will go to prison, what you’re really doing is demonizing. “I feel like we’re increasingly asking teachers to do immoral things like out students, refuse to use a student’s correct gender pronouns, Black voices or queer voices from the curriculum or not allow LGBTQ students to have equal access to books,” Carver told Motherboard.Īs Motherboard previously reported, schools in some states have enacted book bans that specifically target titles by Black and LGBTQ+ authors, which conservative politicians and groups have described as “pornographic.” When Carver saw the posts from Florida teachers with empty classroom bookshelves, he thought about the queer and transgender students he’s taught over the years, including a former trans student who had recently committed suicide.
According to a Florida Department of Education training document, material that is “harmful to minors” is defined as any book with depictions that “Predominantly appeal to a prurient, shameful, or morbid interest” and that is “patently offensive” and “without serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value for minors.” The law also creates liability for teachers who “knowingly or unknowingly” provide access to a book that is deemed harmful to a minor, allowing them to be charged with a third degree felony. The new rule is part of a training policy for school librarians which was recently approved by the Florida Board of Education after months of campaigning on the part of right-wing groups such as Moms for Liberty, which have strategically placed their members on school boards across the state. The notices follow the passage of a controversial law signed by Florida governor Ron DeSantis last year, which requires each book made available or assigned to students in schools to be selected by a school district employee who holds a valid “educational media specialist” certificate.
Representatives from the School District of Manatee County did not respond to a request for comment.
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