Below is the new proposed rule about libraries in public schools. It won’t apply to voucher schools, and like many rules’ charters may be exempt, but in public schools, there the beatings will continue, and classroom libraries in those classrooms will become a thing of the past.
Can you imagine a teacher at a garage sale, flea market, or, heaven forbid, a bookstore buying books for their classes? Knowing they must get them reviewed before putting them out first and it's not like this will be an easy feat. DCPS has like 60 media specialists who already have their own jobs. Now let’s add checking thousands of classroom libraries, or anytime a teacher picks up a book to the list. It’s going to be a disaster, and kids will suffer, but the thing is, the powers that be already know this, in fact, they are counting on it.
The Republican party has a pathological hatred of public education. I don’t know if it is because it is a female-dominated field or their unions dared ask for a living wage and benefits or something else, but after all, Tallahassee has pulled. Can there be any doubt?
I mentioned it above, but people should know charters are exempt from just about every onerous law or rule passed, and there have been a lot, and voucher schools, paid for with public money, are exempt from them all. Don’t ay gay, voucher schools can say as often as they want, the WOKE act, voucher schools can teach whatever they want, WHATEVER! Now are they going to spend a lot of time on the horrible treatment of black and brown people, but more than a few are going to teach man and dinosaurs lived together, and slavery wasn’t that bad if slaves had Jesus in their hearts.
Finally, we have over 5k teacher openings statewide; how is this constant disrespect and micromanaging going to play? My guess is not well, and a horrible situation is just going to get worse, or what they like to call their plan all along.
Media specialists will be held legally responsible if "pornography" is found in their collections. Seems like a no brainer until you ask what constitutes pornographic materials. While there is no legal definition for something so subjective media specialists are referred to the Merriam Webster definition for the word:
ReplyDeletethe depiction of erotic behavior (as in pictures or writing) intended to cause sexual excitement
Are you serious? We'd be better off going with the Supreme Court Justice "I know it when I see it" nebulous definition of the word. Media specialists are encouraged to err on the side of caution when it comes to selecting materials thus self censoring themselves much like the district has been doing since the passage of this law.