Judd Legum: Florida book bans are not a hoax

[Nevilledog]

https://popular.info/p/florida-book-bans-are-not-a-hoax


For months, Popular Information has documented how thousands of books have been removed from the shelves of Florida school libraries or have otherwise been made unavailable to Florida students. These actions were taken in response to new laws and regulations championed by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R). But last week, DeSantis held a media event where he complained about the "leftist activists’ hoax of empty library bookshelves."

DeSantis claimed it was all a "false political narrative."

During the press conference, DeSantis falsely claimed that a video of empty book shelves recorded by former Duval County substitute teacher Brian Covey was a "hoax," noting that Covey was fired. It's true that Covey lost his job for recording the video, but the video was not a hoax.

A spokesperson for Duval County Public Schools (DCPS), Tracy Pierce, told Popular Information in February that the empty shelves in Covey’s video once housed “the fiction titles” in the school media center, but all those titles were removed pending review by a media specialist. That review was mandated by a "curriculum transparency" law signed by DeSantis last year.

Many schools in Duval County, including Mandarin Middle School, where Covey worked, do not have a media specialist. So the process is taking a long time. According to the most recent data released by DCPS, just 10,000 of the 1.6 million titles in Duval County schools were approved for student use. That means more than 99% of the books in the DCPS system remain inaccessible to students.

In addition to making false claims about Covey's video, DeSantis smeared teachers, claiming there was a "concerted effort to bring some of this sexualization into the classroom, particularly in these young grades."

*snip*

[mn9driver]

1. Fascism 101:

Get up on stage and lie, lie, lie. Trump showed that it works on Republicans. DeSantis is taking advantage of that characteristic.