In the new school year, some are organizing to make sure conservative materials like PragerU stay out of the classroom.
George M. Johnson’s “All Boys Aren’t Blue,” meaning that, though records showed the book was in stock, students requesting the book would be told it was unavailable for checkout. In response, activists with the Florida Freedom to Read Project have been speaking at board meetings in defense of having diverse bookshelves, filing FOIA requests to retain information on the censoring process, and organizing parent groups across the state.
“[We] decided we weren’t going to tolerate this ignorant thinking in our districts,” Ferrell said. “We were going to push back. We were going to fight for the rights of students to have access to these books.”of parents are actually interested in censoring their children’s access to certain books. According to opt-out data from 35 counties in the state, only five districts had parental opt-out requests. Of those five, the number of requests was, at most, 1.54% of the county’s total population. Some districts, like Clay County, have even forced parents to fill out a form to allow their children to have access to the library. “These districts that are implementing restrictions … are doing so to appease a very small segment of the population,” Ferrell said. “Our districts are erring on the side of caution, not education, to appease the most conservative voices in the community.”and are removing books that appear on the Moms for Liberty website for review. Ferrell’s child’s classroom library in Orange County is also closed. “I don’t hold it against them; they could lose their jobs over having a book in their classroom library,” Ferrell said. “We should not make that assumption that parents want this dystopian level of control over their children, especially adolescents, especially young adults.” A provision in HB 1069 says that parents have the right to publicly read passages from any book as part of their objection to that book. If the school board denies a parent from reading passages because of sexual content, the district is required to discontinue the use of the material. Conservative parents are now attending school board meetings and reading passages from books they want banned aloud to break decorum.at the Indian River School Board meeting, resulting in board members asking them to stop, saying it was inappropriate for students. The next morning, 20 books were banned from the district. Ferrell says they will likely see this strategy at play more often and that more parents need to attend school board meetings to object to book banning. “Public schools are the heart of our communities,” Ferrell said. “Teaching inclusion and acceptance and the importance of entertaining civil debate and being able to think critically about the context in which an argument or a topic is being presented to us — all of these things are so very important to the community as a whole.” is an independent and nonprofit newsroom led by journalists of color. We report from the ground up and at the intersections of injustice.Truthout is non-profit and funded almost entirely by readers like you. For over two decades, we’ve published the latest developments in politics, uplifted movements for social justice, and uncovered wrongdoing wherever it hides. Today, along with many independent media organizations, we’re facing a shortfall in our fundraising efforts. The deficit we’re experiencing is frightening and could have a long-term impact on our work.No matter your gift size – whether $5, $10, or $50 – it all makes a difference for our small newsroom.
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