Teachers, Superintendent Greene does not have your back.

 One of the most laughable things Greene said when defending the district's incompetent handling of books was they were doing it to protect teachers. Greene has never had teachers' backs, and let me prove it to you.

Masks, when returning from the pandemic, she fought against using them time and time again. It was only a rare bit of backbone by the school board that made even our tepid mask policy happen.

Pay, when the governor announced his scheme to increase starting pay, he did so by cutting two admittedly flawed programs, but programs that put money into veteran teachers' pockets, meaning many veterans took pay cuts. Then the new system ensured that tenth-year teachers and first-year teachers would have practically the same salary.

Now you might be saying what about the milage rate increase and that is a good thing, but in reality, where it may be two steps forward, it is also one step back. The district sold to the public that the need was so important, it had to be done now, but after it passed, the district said, okay, see you next year. 

Then way back when the district was selling the referendum, I initially didn't want to support it because you couldn't spend that money on salaries, which along with infrastructure was also a pretty major problem. Millage money you can spend on anything, sales tax money you can't.

I could also make the argument the millage increase was self-serving as DCPS is hemorrhaging teachers and her leadership hasn't been drawing replacements in, so throwing money at the problem is probably the only solution she could come up with.

A representative from the district told me we were spending 500k a month on emergency maintenance, and once the referendum passed, that money could go to other things like teacher salaries, in an effort to get me to support it, which I did partly based on that conversation and then, nothing happened, for the next two years. It was nothing but lip service. Now don't get me wrong, the referendum was and is uber important, but taking care of the staff, at least in my mind, is more so.

Pediohiles and groomers, for a year now, teachers have been called groomers by a segment of the public, sorry influential segment of the public, and Greene has, as far as I can tell, never said a word. She has never gone; that's stupid; our teachers are great, and to accuse them of something like this is just plain wrong. What an easy lift for Greene but one she couldn't bother to do.

The governor last spring also said teachers were trying to get students to switch genders, and again rather than Greene talk about how ridiculous that is and stand up for teachers, she just shrugged her shoulders. Leadership matters, and we have had zilch from her. 

Finally, there is Amy Donofrio and Brian Covey, two teachers who were sacrificed by Greene for standing up for their students. Both of them should still have their jobs, and firing them is probably going to cost the district north of a half million.

Greene doesn't have teachers' backs; we are nothing but easily replaceable cogs to her; well, make that formerly easily replaceable.   

How couldn't we be doing better?

School board members Coker and Pearson make DeSantis's enemies list

 In Florida republican politics, you are useful until you aren't, and Coker and Pearson just lost their utility.

I don't know if Coker is a republican or not, but I have my suspicions. Pearson, on the other hand was endorsed by the Republican Party in 2020, and they spent thousands of dollars on her campaign. She is pretty far to the right and uber-religious, and the space between her and the DeSantis agenda has been nonexistent, and yet she is on the list to be replaced. 

So yeah, that happened, but maybe it's not all that bad. maybe it will be a wake-up call for the ladies. Maybe the knowledge that they aren't in the club and the powers that be want them kicked to the curb will empower them, after two long years of silence, to do what is right and stand up for students, teachers, and schools. Maybe right? Maybe?

A boy can dream. 

Will the media hold DCPS accountable for their "false book naratives."

I sent below to numerous members of the local media in the hopes they will let the public know about the district's shenaignas. 

DCPS firing Brian Covey the day after DeSantis called his video a fake narrative is bad, but then DCPS lied about it, making it much worse. 

DCPS's spokesperson Tracy Pierce said there were lots of books in the library for students, but that's not true, and you should ask the school's media specialist if they had one that is. Like many district middle and high school libraries, it has been closed since the Vitti era.

When I tweeted about the library being closed for almost a decade, here are some responses I received.

That picture is TRUE. I've posted this before - after my oldest 2 kids left Elem school, they never went to a school library to check out a book again. Sandalwood's library has had no books for more than 5 yrs; Mandarin HS emptied their library in 2019.

Exactly. There may be a member of UOPD allowing the library door to be unlocked, but no one is updating the collections or checking out books to students. You won't find empty shelves in my school's library; it got a makeover over the summer and the shelves were removed! 

 My middle schooler (at a magnet) only goes to the media center to get his laptop at the beginning of the year.

True indeed. Two sons through DCPS. One Stanton grad, one DA. Although both were voracious readers, neither checked out a book past elementary at Chet's Creek. Never heard them ever mention being in a media center either. 

I think why we have so few libraries and why they aren't used would be a good story, but this is about the district lying.

I spoke to several teachers at Mandarin Middle, and this is what they told me about the library that DCPS and Tracy Pierce said was fully functional.

 The district is lying when they said the library was functional, and they were lying when they said Covey was putting out a false narrative. I don't think it's right, and I hope you hold them accountable. Then like when the district fired Donofrio, I imagine a lawsuit is coming.

Finally, Covey wasn't just a sub, he was a permanent sub in a classroom with a vacancy, and the district fired those student's teacher, and now those kids will be without a teacher again, and for what? To appease DeSantis and cover up for their own ineptitude is what. 

Greene's constant submission to DeSantis is sickening

 When DeSantis says jump, Greene always asks, how high. When DeSantis hits the district, Greene always asks, can we have another. Her slavish fidelity to the man dismantling public education is quite frankly gross, and this week it cost a teacher their job, as Greene sided with DeSantis over the truth.

So on Wednesday DeSants engaged in some first-rate gaslighting as he talked about a viral video showing an empty library in DCPS. 

DeSantis doesn't mention that books are being removed not just for porn but also if they might make some fragile white parent feel uncomfortable. I.E., any book about a person of color's struggle. 

That's bad; what happened next was worse; the person who put the video up, and I am going to refer to him by his Twitter name JagsfanBrian was fired. The media has been referring to him as a sub, but he was more than that; he was a permanent sub in a classroom with a vacancy. He was those kids' teachers who will now go without.  

The district just said, %@$# those kids, AGAIN! First, because they didn't find them a teacher, and now because they took the one person away who had shown up. And that's what is so infuriating about all of this; nobody cares what all of this is doing to children, not DeSantis and certainly not Greene and DCPS.

Why was he let go? They gave some bull sh*t reason, but the real reason is Greene's slavish fidelity to our fascist-in-chief, and shame on her. SHAME ON HER!

DCPS would rather lie to you than reveal the awful truth

Oh, the lies DCPS weaves, book edition

First, let me say, I can’t imagine any of this happening if the state didn’t pass destructive and confusing laws aimed at hurting public education. That being said, why does DCPS always have to make things worse? Which they have done by firing a substitute teacher and parent who exposed the district’s book removal policies.

Three weeks ago JagsFan Brian posted a video of an empty library disputing the state and district’s narrative that books weren’t being removed. They were and had been to some degree or another all year long. He was right and wrong.

I have been told that Mandarin Middles library had been dormant since at least when the previous superintendent, Vitti was here, and before you freak out, it’s far from the only school that hasn’t had an active library. Many middle and high schools do not. I was also told that books that were kept there for storage had been recently packed up.

So all of that’s bad, and JagsFanBrian may have misinterpreted the empty library though as teacher after teacher was covering or removing their classroom libraries who can fault him especially since teachers were told this?

That based on a new law all classroom libraries have to be approved by a certified media specialist before students have access to them. If a child receives material or access to the materials that have pornographic content, we could be charged with a 3rd degree felony.

So classroom libraries should be removed/covered until they are approved by a media specialist.

So this is a sad situation with no winners but rather than admit it, DCPS decides to lie. District spokesman Tracy Pierce said the video was misinterpreted, and rather than saying, yeah, that library has been closed for nearly a decade, he said there were plenty of books to check out, and nothing could be farther from the truth.   

Then think about this, if they are going to lie about this, then what else are they willing to lie about?

DCPS is trying to gaslight you about books, don’t let them

 In a new web page where DCPS says it doesn’t ban books, it admits to banning books. They then ask, please don’t believe your lying eyes.

Below is the web page and my commentary in bold.

Much of this misinformation was due to two separate but interdependent topics:

1. The purchase of almost 1,300 books from Perfection Learning (including almost 180 books from their Essential Voices Collection)
2. The current effort to review all media center and classroom library books, which is now required under state law.

This Team Duval News article will address both topics comprehensively to help clarify the misinformation that has spread.

Topic One: Books from Perfection Learning

1. The district purchased almost 1,300 titles in 2021. When we received that order, more than 1,100 titles went directly to the classrooms.
2. The order included almost 180 book titles from the Essential Voices collection, which we purchased to increase diversity of writers, characters, topics, and viewpoints in our classroom libraries.
3. When we received those books, we quickly became aware that the delivery included titles we did not order. We collected those books from schools and held them in district storage until our media specialists and others could review them. (Note: We have two media specialists at the district level, and their primary responsibility is to support school instruction). Only two media specialists at the district level? Um, whose fault is that? For a district with a reading problem, we can’t pretend the district cares about, checks notes, reading.
4. When we reviewed the books, we sent 105 titles from this diverse collection to classrooms last fall.
5. We sent 47 book titles back to Perfection Learning. Fourteen of these were sent back because we didn’t order them. Others returned were titles that we ordered but upon review, we determined they would not comply with new legislation or were not appropriate for elementary aged children. So you only banned 34 books? cool, cool, cool
6. We held 27 titles as we awaited state guidance to determine the appropriate grade levels and placement (classroom library or media center) for these books.
7. Media specialists received training from the Florida Department of Education in January 2023 after returning from winter break.
8. As of February 13, 2023, all 27 of those titles have been reviewed and approved for designated grade levels, including the books about Roberto Clemente and Hank Aaron. (Note – beyond these specific titles from Essential Voices about Roberto Clemente and Hank Aaron, classroom libraries and media centers throughout the district already possessed dozens of books about these individuals, as well as hundreds of titles that featured black and brown stories.) Um, but you know, they can be problematic right and those aren’t my words, those are superintendent Greenes. https://jaxkidsmatter.blogspot.com/2023/02/superintendet-greene-open-mouth-insert.html

Topic Two: State-required review of classroom libraries

1. State law now requires that every book in our classroom libraries and school media centers be reviewed by certified media specialists. Yes, to be done by July 1st
2. Since the law passed, our small team of certified media specialists (about 54 across all schools and the district) have taken on the task of reviewing more than 1.6 million titles. Um 54, for 167 schools, 100 thousand kids, and thousands of classrooms? Who thought that was adequate and why do they still have a job?
3. Based on state training on multiple laws dealing with gender and racial ideology in books, we are reviewing for three things:
1. Material which could be considered pornographic is not allowed. State trainers reminded our team throughout their presentation that this is punishable as a third-degree felony and that reviewers should “err on the side of caution.”
2. Material which could be considered instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity is expressly forbidden in state law for students in grades K-3.
3. Material that could violate Florida Statute 1006.31(2)(d) and 1003.42(3) which, among other requirements, includes material that might describe a person or people as “inherently racist, sexist, or oppressive, whether consciously or unconsciously, solely by virtue of his or her race or sex.”
   
   (Sidenote on item c. above: Since Dr. Greene arrived in 2018, the district has invested more than $1 million in classroom books from diverse authors and about diverse groups of people. Our goal was—and continues to be—to put books in the hands of children in which they can see themselves and learn from a broad array of perspectives. What that now means is that we have thousands of titles that we must review to ensure our teachers do not unintentionally violate Florida Statutes.) Side note, who cares?

 

4. We did direct teachers to temporarily reduce their classroom library collections to titles that were previously approved while waiting for media specialists to curate a more expansive list of approved titles. However, at no time should a classroom have been without reading resources. At all times, students should have had access to state approved books, already approved civics literacy books, Benchmark Advance small group books, Reader’s Theatre, and extensive online resources in our curriculum. Um reduce? Is that a synonym for clear and cover? As for reading resources, um you should have added, except for books kids might actually enjoy.

 

5. We did have a small number of principals interpret directions and guidance more intensely, out of an abundance of caution. We have provided additional guidance to those leaders and they have appropriately adjusted their message to teachers.  In their defense, the state training also stressed the accountability of the school principal with respect to the books and materials made available to students. I.E. our communication is terrible, and we will throw anyone under the bus to deflect responsibility from the Greene administration.
6. We informed principals clearly that media centers should not be closed. However, because we need all certified media specialists to review books, hours of media centers open to students, along with the availability of media specialists to support teachers, has been considerably reduced in some schools. Um except for all those schools that no longer have media centers am I right here?
7. Through this process, we now have almost 6,000 book titles approved for classroom use, including aforementioned books about Roberto Clemente and Hank Aaron. In addition to our 2021 order from Perfection Learning, we already had multiple titles in classroom libraries and media centers about these historic figures, as well as dozens of books about Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks and other icons of the Civil Rights movement. 6k cool, cool, cool, um didn’t you say there were 1,6 million that needed to be reviewed?
8. Another new requirement is creating a searchable, online database of all elementary classroom library books for each of our schools so that parents and the public can see all titles available to students. We also have a process and a committee that will review books if they are challenged by a member of the public.  All of this is required by law and adds to the effort and time it will take to comply with the law.
9. Duval County Public Schools will continue this intensive process of reviewing books both to comply with state laws and to ensure teachers and school leaders do not have to worry about jeopardizing their career because a book may be construed to be in violation of Florida law. Hahahahhahaha please don’t pretend you care about teachers. This is the craziest thing the district has ever said. Wow, that was crazy.

 

As an educational institution, the district’s main goal is this To help children learn to read. Says the district with 54 media specialists where many schools don’t have libraries. That quite frankly is hard to believe

https://www.teamduval.org/2023/02/17/facts-about-library-books-in-duval-county-public-schools/

In the email version of the above to teachers Greene said several times, but you decide.   

You decide what’s real, what the district is saying abover or what teachers and families have been saying.

Superintendent Greene, open mouth, insert foot.

 First, let me say being the superintendent of a large school district must be an incredibly hard job, a job made a lot harder by a state that often works to undermine public education, that being said, shouldn't we want our super to do that job well? Or should we go, you know it's a tough gig, so I guess we should be happy somebody showed up. I prefer the former, and without a doubt, Greene is not doing the job well.

So there is a lot going on, so please try and bear with me.

Last week, insurrection Barbie, April Carney, despite the superintendent being a dutiful little mom for liberty, threw Greene under the bus, basically accusing her of closing classroom libraries as a political stunt to embarrass Manny Dias and DeSantis. This is silly because anyone who is paying attention knows it is run-of-the-mill DCPS incompetence.

Then this week DeSants, while visiting Jacksonville, despite the fact Greene has asked how high over and over again, when Desantis has told her to jump, through Greene under another bus, with some first rate gaslighting on his part. He knows the vague bills and lack of direction from the state were going to cause chaos, and in fact, he counted on it. Want some proof? DCPS has been clearing libraries for a month, and we didn't get a peep out of little boot until he made his way to Jacksonville. 

That would be worthy of its own blog until Greene opened out and inserted foot.

At a DCPS board meeting to discuss books, Greene said some interesting, and by interesting, I mean alarming and racially insensitive things.     

Greene said, when reviewing Captain Underpants, it should only take you five minutes (um, what ?!), but then it got worse from there. Captain Underpants should only take five minutes to review unless it's Mexican Captain Underpants because then, clear the calendar and break out the magnifying glass and Spanish-English dictionary because themes based on the Mexican culture, well we all know how dubious they can be. Books for white kids are great and easy to review; books for kids of different ethnicities, well they can can be problematic. 

Yes, I did put my little spin on above to try and make it a little funny because if I don't laugh, I might cry. The thing is, check out the video; it's even worse because it's a fifty-something-year-old woman who should know better, painfully showing us she doesn't.

Plug below into a browse 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1BcWNX6m0-WmGXVPL3qQfI1-TulopKKEa/view?fbclid=IwAR0aN-4AAX5RY3bEPGieicYfNyPBhLMMd3YOCB32CdJibPgKUNYQEsx3UpE

Is DCPS teaching the positive aspects of slavery?

When asked about teaching slavery, I was told DCPS admin Amy DiBias said, it’s all right, but try and teach the positive side of it as well. The positive side of slavery? What about the positive side of the Holocaust, the trail of tears, or any genocide? Should teachers be teaching them as well? Well, friends, your student might be about to find out.

Jed Lugum, brought up some of the questionable book reviews that DCPS has been making.

From Popular Information:

One book reviewed in Duval County and banned from school libraries was The Best Man, a book "about a boy's journey into the middle school years and the male role models in his life." The reviewer was Michelle DiBias, the Supervisor of Instructional Materials and Media Services for Duval County Public Schools. In that role, DiBias supervises all librarians in the school district — that is, the people who will make decisions on every book. 

DiBias objects to the fact that in The Best Man "2 men marry and the young man is made the ring bearer." DiBias says while that wedding is celebrated, other weddings "are looked down on by the narrator in the tone and expression."

DiBias concludes that the book should be rejected because it violates Florida's pornography statutes. She writes that the book "is portraying sexual excitement and is damaging to students." That means DiBias believes that, based on the book's content, a teacher or librarian that made The Best Man available to students could be charged with a third-degree felony. She finds that the book "is not appropriate for any group of students" and must be removed "from all schools."

The review conducted by DiBias is completely inconsistent with other reviews of the book. Common Sense Media, an independent non-profit that evaluates books and other entertainment for parents and schools, gives The Best Man its lowest rating for "Sex, Romance, & Nudity," meaning that reviewers found nothing objectionable:

Some talk among the kids about dating, but nothing serious or sexually charged. A gay relationship between two adults figures into the plot. Archer makes a few references to his pregnant teacher and her sonograms. Archer's mom jokes with him about finding him in a cabbage patch, but they skirt the talk of where babies really come from.

Overall, Common Sense Media found that Best Man stood out for "positive messages" and "positive role models." Moreover, the "content is tame overall."

https://popular.info/p/this-book-is-considered-pornography?fbclid=IwAR0u26t_DPWz5ozim5hMEJNNYNlU70_X2xR6EUMnwV4pwEOwmgcZ8AkeDGE

 

Jud Legum, has been pretty spot on, so I asked people in the district familiar with DiBias, who is the Supervisor of Instructional Materials and Media Services for Duval County Public Schools, about her book reviewing justifications, and they revealed some pretty troubling information.

 

At a meeting, someone brought up teaching the topic of slavery in elementary schools with the new statute. DiBias said that we should look for material that showed both sides of the issue. I believe her exact words were the "positive side" of slavery. The meeting came to a grinding halt & you could've heard a pin drop. We were all shocked. Someone in the meeting said "it was slavery....there were no positive aspects.

 

Another person told me, We would like to say we were shocked but we have heard she has a similar feeling about having LGBTQ+ books in K5. Her husband is a pastor too...

Positive side of slavery? Anti-LGBTQ? Sounds like she will fit in nicely with the Greene administration.

Here are some facts you should know. I wasn’t at the meeting where she supposedly said the “positive side of slavery.” I couldn’t pick DiBias out of a lineup, I had never heard of her until a few months ago, and most importantly, I wouldn’t want to be anywhere near the book review job with all the contrary and often confusing guidance the state has put out. For all I know, she is just a hard-working administrator trying to do an impossible job.

That being said, I do know DCPS; I know when put in a hole by the state and friends, we are in a deep hole; DCPS likes to keep digging, and it wouldn’t surprise me if it was district policy to try and teach both sides of slavery, to try and find the “positive aspects” of it.     

The thing is, there are no “positive aspects” to any of this, and the professionals in charge should know that, and they shouldn’t pretend they are.

One district spends tens of thousands of dollars and dozens of hours to review one book. Welcome to DeSantis's Florida

 This should be the wackiest and craziest story you read this month, but since we are in Florida, it has practically gone unnoticed. The long and short of it is one parent complained about a book their kid didn't have to read, and a district spent tens of thousands of dollars and dozens, maybe hundreds of hours over it.

Steven Walker education reporter for the Herald Tribune covered a recent Sarasota Public Schools school board meeting which was all about one book, Stamped, Racism Antiracism and You.

At the meeting, a parent of a middle school student and one parent of one middle school student protested the book, and she was given ten minutes to defend her position. TEN MINUTES!!!! 

She rambled on about critical race ideology and marxism in her ten-minute-long word salad. It was about 8 minutes and thirty seconds longer than she needed. The board declined to ask her any questions. 

A district employee spoke next and said the parent could have requested their child not check the book out, and they would have complied, and that friends should have been the end of the story.

All over the state, books are being taken off shelves because a handful or maybe one parent doesn't like the book because they are bigots, homophobes and rascists for whatever reason. These ignorant and mean few are deciding for every family what their kids can and cannot read. Why can't we send home a form that says, my child can't check out any book without my permission, or one that says, I trust my child's teacher to look out for them because they are ^%#$ing professionals and they can check out whatever they want? The first letter might get 2 percent returned. The second is somewhere in the high nineties. 

It gets worse. The employee then said it took three weeks to review the book because of schedules, and the district spent 5,000 dollars in legal fees to make sure everything was done right. All of that, including this meeting, was because one parent complained about one book their kid did not have to read. 

I said in the title tens of thousands and dozens of hours, because staff couldn't do their real jobs must have spent that by now on this monumental fool's errand and again all for one book, complained about by one parent that their one child did not have to read. Oh, and the book had gone problem free since 2019.

This is the chaos that DeSantis has created. 

 After that, public comment started, and it was overwhelmingly for leaving the book in the library because unless you are a member of Moms for Liberty or a republican politician, you understand that is where books belong, even if you don't like it, and even if it may make little Johnny, who does not have to read it if he does not want to uncomfortable, belongs.    

To read Steven's Twitter thread, which is amazing, click the link:

https://twitter.com/swalker_7/status/1622996777241640960

Here is some more from WUSF public media

The Sarasota County school board voted unanimously Tuesday to keep a book in middle school libraries that had been challenged by one parent for teaching critical race theory.

However, by a 3-to-2 vote, the board will require parental permission for middle schoolers to check out "Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You".

The book, written by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi, was challenged in May 2021 by the mother of a Venice Middle School student.

Her complaint alleged that the book taught that all white people are inherently racist, and that allowing it in schools was akin to allowing books that support Nazi ideology.

A review committee comprised of media specialists, school principals, teachers and parents ruled in November that the book doesn't violate Florida laws.

https://wusfnews.wusf.usf.edu/education/2023-02-07/sarasota-school-board-rejects-request-to-ban-book-from-middle-school-libraries

I don't think for a second all white people are inherently racist, but I can think of at least one.

Welcome to DeSantis's Floridumb

Florida potentialy outlaws every book about people of color, every single one.

According to new Florida law, the stop WOKE act, it is literally impossible for any book about black Americans or any American of color who had to overcome an obstacle put in front of them by a white person or by the power structure of our nation to ever be in compliance with the law.

From the Tallahassee Democrat:

“Stop WOKE” was approved in March, mostly along party lines in the Republican-led Legislature. It prohibits any teaching that could make students feel they bear personal responsibility for historic wrongs because of their race, color, sex or national origin.

https://www.tallahassee.com/story/news/politics/2022/06/16/desantis-florida-stop-woke-act-challenged-universities-free-speech/7630033001/

Could make. Think about that, just, could make.

I felt bad after I watched roots as a kid. I was broken up about the tail of tears, and as somebody whose great great great great grandfather came from Germany, and it didn't matter it was two hundred years before it occurred, learning about the Holocaust broke me for a moment.   

If you didn't become upset learning about Jim Crow and civil rights in school, it was because your teacher wasn't teaching it right. 

Think about this, every book where a person of color had to overcome an obstacle, usually put in their way by a white person of the time, could make students, sorry white students feel like they bear personal responsibility, especially if they have shrugged their shoulders while similar occurrences have happened around them.

I may not have committed the same sins that many members of the white race did, but that doesn't mean I can't feel some regret, remorse, and even personal responsibility for those sins, the sins my tribe has committed. Learning about those things has made me a better person and if we don't allow the next generation to learn them it will rob them of the chance to be better people as well.

 And in case you think I am being to hyperbolic ask the authors of Roberto Clemente, Pride of the Pittsburgh Pirates what they think.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/roberto-clemente-book-removed-florida-public-schools-rcna70081  

Children are the true victims in DeSantis's education culture wars

The damage DeSantis will do as he runs for president by ginning up his fact his wilfully fact-free base will be incalculable, and most of that damage will be done to children.  

DeSantis doesn't have any ideas that will actually help people; see skyrocketing rents, insurance costs, and 1.1 million uninsured Floridians as examples of that; no, he is all grievance and culture wars, and many of those battles are being fought in Florida schools where children aren't just collateral damage they are the main victims.   

The attacks on LGBTQ children and the whitewashing of history are well documented, but we also have the mass banning of books, the canceling of plays, the dismantling of classroom libraries, and the attacks on the teaching profession, which will only ensure fewer people become teachers and now the state has all but ended the Youth Risk Behavioral Study, which gave the district important information on the well-being of the states children. That last one may save actual lives but is now just another casualty in the governor-made culture war. 

What do all of these things have in common? Children are being hurt, children are being hurt, and children are being hurt.

And again, for what? So a petty and selfish man can advance himself is what. 

Adults will be fine. Teachers will get other jobs, and some people may move; personally, I can vent by blogging, but children, what besides suffering are they able to do? Victims of a war they didn't start and definitely don't deserve.  

Ugh...

The Greene administration doesn't want to hear how bad its doing or hiw kids are doing for that matter

 Surveys survey my kingdom for a survey.

After a year of attacking LGBTQ kids, whitewashing history, banning books, canceling plays, and general malaise, you might think Greene and her administration might want to know how people think they are doing, but you would also be wrong.

Neither the teacher nor parent surveys ask a solitary question about Greene and the administration, not a one and speaking of surveys. 

So we have a survey that gives us some pretty upsetting/concerning news, and what do we do with it? Bury our heads in the same is what. Why would we want to learn about things that negatively affect our students when it's easier to blame CRT, DEI, or WTF? Okay, that last one isn't real, but seriously, WTF?

From News4Jax

 The Commissioner of Education sent a letter to the Duval Schools’ Superintendent, Dr. Diana Greene, “strongly urging” that the district end its participation in a CDC youth-risk behavior survey (YRBS).

The letter states, “The CDC survey asks leading questions phrased in a way that may actually introduce risky behaviors to students, prompting them to engage in potentially detrimental activities.”

It continues, “This letter serves to share my grave concerns with your continued participation in this survey, as such an inflammatory and sexualized survey is not in the best interest of Florida students.”

The district also received notice that the Florida Department of Health is terminating its contract with Duval County Public Schools for providing data collection and evaluation related to the YRBS.

https://www.news4jax.com/health/2023/02/10/duval-schools-youth-risk-behavior-survey-terminated-by-state/

This has nothing to do with the CDC and everything to do with Floirda's war against science and decency, and Greene shrugged her shoulders and said sure, we don't need to know if some kids are miserable or thinking about doing the unthinkable. 

The Florida department of health is run by an insane grifter who makes Ben Carson look normal.

There are to many articles about him to site, but if you are interested, here are a few.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2023/01/04/ladapo-surgoen-general-university-florida/

https://floridapolitics.com/archives/579031-joseph-ladapo-used-seriously-flawed-science-to-warn-against-vaccines-uf-faculty-peers-say/

https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/desantis-surgeon-general-joseph-ladapo-spreading-covid-vaccine-misinfo-n1282191

No serious person should listen to him, so Greene or course asks how high he wants her to jump, and because of it, kids will pay the price. 

Actual picture of Greene at recent SB meeting 

    

Dr. Greene went all in with Moms for Liberty, and then they @#%$ on her!

Not to be that guy but why would a professional black woman think a bunch of day-drinking soccer moms with a superiority complex would ever have her back? Holy miscalculation Bat Man.

At the last school board meeting, insurrection Barbie, April Carnie, fighting back crocodile tears spoke about how so many teachers had reached out to her about what was happening in their classroom libraries and what a shame it was. Apparently completely unaware (sic) that it was her group Mom’s for Liberty that made it happen.

Then she implied it was a nefarious plot by the district to make Manny Diaz, and the state look bad. Oh sweetie, you are like the dog who caught the car. It wasn’t a plot, it wasn’t something nefarious, it was run of the mill every day, Greene administration incompetence. Nothing more, nothing left.

When the state put DCPS and all of public ed in its book hole, rather than reaching out, I am, sure as I am the sky is blue and puppies are cute, and getting clarification like 65 out of the other 67 districts did, they chose to keep digging, AS THEY AWAYS DO!!!!   

There are a lot of great things going on in the district, thousands of teachers working with tens of thousands of children, succeeding, often despite the state and district, but if there is one thing DCPS does better than any other district, it makes problems worse.

Enough of that. Greene sided with Moms for Liberty when they attacked teachers, marginalized LGBTQ children, endorsed the whitewashing of history, banned books, and canceled plays. She betrayed teachers, students, and education itself to run with the mean girls. When they said jump, Greene dutifully asked how high, and for all that fidelity, they just %@$# on her.

Watch the video here.

https://twitter.com/AGGancarski/status/1623487827538489344

ugh

Greene completes bungles book bans. It is worse than you know. (draft)

 If you thought all the classroom libraries being shuttered and books being banned was bad, put your trays in the upright position and buckle up because it is a lot worse than you know.

Jax Today reported what the other local districts are doing. In St. Johns county, they sent out a banned list of a few dozen books but left classroom libraries for the most part alone. In Clay county, they said, well, we have till July first, so we will take our time and figure it out. Um, JULY 1st!? Do you mean DCPS didn't have to do this during the school year? Do you mean DCPS has 6 months to figure it out?

What the everloving $#@$!!!!

Here is some more from Jax today,

Duval School Board member Darryl Willie says his third grade daughter came home one day after school recently and said she had a horrible day because they had to pack up their classroom books. “So I’m experiencing this just like other parents are,” Willie says. “I have a feeling it’s going to be detrimental to many of our kids. Where are we pulling books from? Some of our kids do not have access, and now we’re expecting them to do great on a test, but they don’t have text to read in a classroom.” 

https://jaxtoday.org/2023/02/07/most-florida-school-districts-arent-requiring-teachers-to-hide-schoolbooks-duval-is/

Gee Darryl, if only you knew somebody who could do something. Checks notes; what, he is on the school board? He could do something about it???? Oy vey, why is he there again? You know, I thought he was going to be terrible, but the reality is, he has been alright until @^%$ing now! Is up down, is black white, did D-Wilie forget he was one the school board?

Deep breaths, deep breaths.

Jax Today also reported in the last two weeks, the district's 51 media specialists, sigh, 51, had reviewed 2k books, with 1,598,000 books to go, which at this rate will take about 31 years. 

Let's review, DCPS, a district with a reading problem, only has 51 media specialists; how the beep does that make any sense? Greene chose to shutter classroom libraries during the school year when the district had over six months to figure it out; meaning they did not have to. SB member Darryl Willie is upset, but what can he do? It's not like he is on the school board, oh wait he %$@#ing is. And it will take almost 31 years at the rate we are going to review all of DCPS's books. 

We could and should be doing better. Our leadership has utterly failed us. 

The stunning cognitive dissonance of Florida education policies.

DeSantis has said teachers are encouraging elementary school-aged children to switch genders. May of his closest allies have been calling teachers pedophiles and groomers. The state legislature says the system is so beyond repair they must pass universal vouchers even for the children of millionaires too. The Republican party constantly attacks public education, calling these gov’ment schools and railing against their monopoly, which they don’t have, not even close. So, what does all this have in common? The Republican party has been in complete control of public education in Florida for going on 24 years. Not the unions, not Mrs. McGuiicuty at P.S. 109, but the republican party.     

Then think about this. There has always been homeschooling, and private schools and charter schools have been around for decades, long enough for over 700 of them to open, take public money, and close, leaving families and taxpayers in a lurch. If this hasn’t generated the competition they scream is necessary now to create innovation, I would say that ship has sailed.

The Republican party attacks, and marginalizes, blames, and lies about public education at every opportunity possible, and for what? It isn’t because they care about poor and minority children, that is for sure. Is it so millionaires can get vouchers to send their children to exclusive private schools where we could never send ours? Maybe because that’s what will happen when HB 1, the universal voucher bill, passes.

Is it to indoctrinate children in religious education? I mean #%$@ the first amendment because they think only the second amendment and then just part of it means anything. Probably because most voucher money goes to private schools that are allowed to openly discriminate against LGBTQ and disabled children.  

Is it because the unions are so mean? I am a union member, make that proud union member but let’s think about where they have gotten us. Florida is near the bottom of teacher salaries and school spending. Anybody under 15 years of experience can be fired for any and no reason at the end of the year, and my 13-year-old car with 140k miles is where. Attacking unions, which can’t strike in Florida, is punching down.   

How about because public education is dominated by women? Maybe, we know what they think about a woman’s bodily autonomy, and there is this.

Better cover your shoulders, ladies, and take whatever they want to give you and be thankful for it.

Why do they hate public education so much? I bet many of them couldn’t articulate why, using facts anyways.

Now there are problems in public education, that is certain, but after nearly 24 years of complete control, shouldn’t the republican party be responsible for them? Heck, they created most of them by starving schools or resources and saddling them with terrible leadership and poor programs. And instead of fixing those problems, their solution is to blame unions and throw all the babies out with the bathwater.

Things are about to get a lot worse. Lives are about to be ruined or hamstrung, and a I told you so, you all should have known, is the best we can hope for.   

It is past time to say "no more" to Ron DeSantis

 What state celebrates National Literacy Week by having all of its teachers cover or remove their books in the classroom library?

Sadly ironic.

What state has created a law that scares elected school boards and district leadership into acting like this book review policy is a normal occurrence in the US?

Very un-American.

What state is on track to take $2B out of public classrooms next year to give to parents who already send their children to private schools?

Most creative welfare program for the wealthy

What state filled the spot of the president of one of the most nationally recognized universities with a candidate with only college leadership experience of leading a private college smaller than our local Community College?

The beauty of hiring someone while skirting Florida's sunshine laws legally...

What state denied an AP Black History class?

Nothing says we do NOT support a rigorous college education than this...

What state moved the education commissioner from the state board of education to the president of the college, knowing that he lacks education credentials but is a big fan of the governor?

Always nice to see how many overpaid jobs a brown noser can get..

What state increased new teachers' pay last year by taking away the performance pay of veteran teachers?

Sound bites can get you far because people do not know the details...

What state offers signing bonuses to select new teachers who actually do not meet the regular requirements of the job?

If you pick a program that benefits the military or their families, you can get away with anything, regardless if it impacts the problem.

If you have not guessed, I'll give one final hint: Desantis is the state governor.

We are very fortunate to have all of the excellent teachers that we have. They are passionate about education and children to endure this continued disrespect from our state government.

Thank you to all of the teachers - public, charter, and private. You are teaching the leaders of our future.

At some point, people need to become more informed and say No. No, we are not going to defund public schools anymore. No, we will not listen to talk about public schools being woke and pushing CRT. No, we are not going raise new teacher wages without being fair to veteran teachers and be committed to bringing all of their salaries in line with market wages. No, we will not allow a work culture that burns teachers out by expecting too much to be done in their off time or for them to feel obligated to buy supplies. No, we will not entertain having more poorly trained armed guardians because we know where that will lead. No, we will not continue to fund any new charter schools - make them get creative and replace the struggling ones.

From Bush to Scott to Desantis, we have really done a lot of damage. It is time we said no, no more.