How one Florida school district is trying to satisfy Ron DeSantis
Estimated reading time: 2m 47s
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This week's Reckon Report has been adapted from our Instagram post on the same subject last week. For more like this, follow Reckon on Instagram. In Escambia County, Florida, more than 2,800 books — including reference materials like dictionaries and encyclopedias — have been banned from being checked out by K-12 students. Escambia County is at the tail end of the Florida panhandle and includes the city of Pensacola.
The district claims these texts could violate H.B. 1069, which DeSantis signed into law in May 2023. |
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(Image credit: MLive.com) |
HB 1069, which is an expansion of the state’s infamous "Don't Say Gay" law, gives residents the right to demand the removal of any library book that "depicts or describes sexual conduct," as defined under Florida law, irrespective of whether the material is classified as explicit. Instead of addressing individual grievances, the Escambia County School Board adopted an emergency rule last June, mandating that district librarians thoroughly assess all library books and withdraw those that might violate HB 1069. |
Of the 2,800 books that have been shelved in the district, only 67 have reportedly completed review. In the meantime, students do not have access to the thousands of titles still awaiting a decision. The school district started removing books from shelves last summer, and at the time the superintendent told a local newspaper that they hoped to have a formal decision rendered for all books pulled by May of this year. It's difficult to see how they're going to reach this goal if only 2.4% of the removed books have completed reviews. Publishing giant Penguin Random House, the nonprofit group PEN America, five authors and parents of two Escambia County students sued the school board last year on First Amendment grounds. Last week, a federal judge ruled that the lawsuit can move forward. |
The irony of Bill O'Reilly's outrage aside, what's happening in Florida is scary. The very building blocks of knowledge and academic self-reliance (Don't know a word? Look it up in the dictionary!) are being snatched away from children because the governor is appealing to the most far-right groups he can to bolster his national reputation as he runs for president. Regardless of how his campaign goes, the students of Escambia County – and the state of Florida as a whole – are the ones who have to suffer from the fallout of DeSantis' decisions. |
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Got something you want us to dive into soon? Let me know at avelasquez@reckonmedia.com.
That's all I've got for this week!
Thanks for reckoning with me, Aria |
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