The only thing Indecent about the play Indecent is DCPS canceling it (draft)

When I went to high school, we had an annual event called Mr. Ugly, a beauty pageant of sorts where high school boys dressed up as women. I wonder if this decades-old event is going to be allowed to continue or not.  

I ask because last week, inexplicably DCPS made Douglass Anderson school for the performing arts cancel their spring play Indecent. The reason they gave was it had adult themes.  

From the Jax Today newsletter 

A high school production of “Indecent,” a play about censorship featuring a prostitute and gay Jewish characters, has been canceled due to what Duval County Public Schools describes as “inappropriate” content. 

https://news.wjct.org/first-coast/2023-01-06/high-school-play-indecent-sexual-content 

Hmm, a story about a Jew and prostitute, does that sound familiar to anyone? Maybe from a little book called the bible? 

DCPS has sure embraced Governor DeSantis’s don’t say gay mantra, and they are doing so with the flimsiest of excuses.   

Douglas Anderson has put on plays with adult themes before.  

A look at the Boosters site shows stills from Brighton Beach memoirs which are described as, A comedy built around the Jerome family during the Depression and focusing on fifteen-year-old Eugene, preoccupied with sex and the Yankees. 

Sex seems like a pretty adult theme to me, but I guess since it is hetero, not homo sex, then it's okay.  

I bet if we looked back at DA’s past, we would find plenty of productions with adult themes, but suddenly they are no longer permissible, or rather some adult themes, that is. 

Greene has said over and over that she supports the LGBTQ community but over and over, her actions tell a different story, a story that wants to send them back to the closet, a story that is okay with bigotry and segregation.  

Then friends does it matter if Greene is a homophobe something I believe or if she is just a coward unwilling to stand up to a small vocal group hell-bent on changing education to fit their narrow views because the result is the same? No it doesn’t.  

Then think about this, maybe its not just the LGBTQ that is facing this bigotry from DCPS, maybe it’s the Jewish community as well.    

The story of DCPC canceling the play made the Jewish Telegraphic Times. 

“The 100-year anniversary of Sholem Asch’s ‘God of Vengeance’ being shut down on Broadway is the same week that our production of ‘Indecent’ would have opened,” said Madeline Scotti, the student who first drew attention on Instagram to the censorship by her local school board of the “queer Jewish love story” in which Scotti had been cast. “One hundred years — 100 years — and we are still fighting the same injustices that Sholem Asch and his company did.” 

Scotti is a student at Douglas Anderson School of the Arts in Jacksonville, Florida, where students had been planning to perform Paula Vogel’s “Indecent” this spring — until officials told them on Thursday, the first day of rehearsals, that their show could not go on. Scotti attributed the censorship to Florida’s new law limiting classroom instruction and discussion about sexual orientation and gender identity — what opponents call the “Don’t Say Gay” bill. 

Vogel said she, too, was first concerned about homophobia — then added other worries as she heard from people in Jacksonville. 

“Parents who live in the community have written to me and said, ‘There is rising antisemitism in our community,’” Vogel told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency on Sunday. “I very much think that what the school board may not be able to express is their concern about presenting a play that shows how censorship is the first step to the Holocaust.” 

https://www.jta.org/2023/01/09/culture/florida-school-board-cancels-paula-vogels-indecent-a-queer-jewish-love-story-about-a-censored-yiddish-play 

This is on the heels of DCPS banning books, including ones from Jewish Authors 

From the Jerusalem Post 

Mara Rockliff’s “Chik Chak Shabbat” has become a standard for Jewish children since its 2014 publication. The picture book intended for young readers tells a whimsical story about a group of diverse neighbors who help an observant Jewish woman make her cholent — a stew traditionally served on the Sabbath — when they realize she doesn’t feel well enough to cook it herself. 

 

So why did a school district in Jacksonville, Florida, purchase copies of the book only to keep it from students for 15 months? 

 

That’s what happened at Duval County Public Schools. The district initially ordered Rockliff’s book for its students in July 2021 as part of a larger diversity-themed collection of books called “Essential Voices,” which is offered to educators by Iowa-based educational company Perfection Learning. 

 

https://www.jpost.com/j-spot/article-725105 

Once again, does it matter if Greene and DCPS are antisemitic or just cowards looking out for themselves? The outcome, Jewish voices being banned, is the same. 

There is no doubt the district is in a hard place, DeSantis is anti-public education as much as he is anti-LGBTQ; the thing is DCPS saying they are just following orders will not be forgiven by history.  

Right is right, and wrong is wrong, and Greene is consistently wrong, and at this point, after years of her being so, the reasons don’t matter.   

This week in anti-LGBTQ and fascism in Florida

So Florida hasn't just made a hard right turn; it has gone full-on Hungary (the country) as it seeks to oppress independent thought and LGBTQ rights. This week's examples are DCPS forcing the performing arts high school to cancel a play with queer characters and the governor appointing an anti-trans activist (and five of his buddies), Christoper Rufo, to the board of the New College with the aim of making it the Hillsdale of the south.

Let's start with DCPS continuing its attacks against the LGBTQ community by forcing Douglass Anderson to change its spring play.

Activist Mat Hartley posted both of these on his twitter page

Douglas Anderson School of the Arts production of the play Indecent, which is a Queer Jewish love story, and a cautionary tale about censorship… Censored, shut down by

@DuvalSchools

due to Don’t Say Gay bill concerns?

I am going to go ahead and say Greene is a homophobe because, after all she has done attacking the LGBTQ community, there can be no other possibility and shame on her.

The later DeSantis, another raging homophobe, appointed Chufo to the board of the New College. That name may sound familiar, as John Oliver did a show talking about how dangerous he is.

Rufo started his 15 minutes railing against critical race theory by has recently transitioned to attacking trans children and adults.

Rufo used to admit what he was doing is nothing but a schtick because nobody on the right cares what is true and not true. 

From the Daily Beast

“What Rufo has been cleverly doing is cherry-picking the worst examples that he can find of lessons in classrooms or training materials for teachers and saying, that is CRT,” explained Oliver. “And he’s openly admitted that he’s been engaged in a deliberate rebranding exercise, tweeting, ‘We have successfully frozen their brand—“critical race theory”—into the public conversation and are steadily driving up negative perceptions… The goal is to have the public read something crazy in the newspaper and immediately think ‘critical race theory.’”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/last-week-tonights-john-oliver-expertly-debunks-the-rights-critical-race-theory-panic

Rufo has no business being anywhere near education at any level, but like many of DeSantis's appointees, being deplorable is a requirement

King DeSantis doesn't care who he hurts as he seeks to turn Florida free; as long as you only do what he wants and don't question him, being an educator and LGBTQ are problematic as well.

You get a gun, I get a gun, all teachers get a gun, coming soon to DCPS

 Guns in classrooms, sigh, why is the solution to gun violence often more guns? Is the solution to cancer more cancer? What bad thing can be solved with more of that bad thing? Despite this, guns in the classroom may be coming to DCPS, especially after superintendent Greene’s hard right turn and embracing the indefensible. 

In the Florida Voice, school board member Lori Hershey was asked about any upcoming community meetings and this is what she said. 

 Q: Do you have any community meetings planned?
A: Yes. We will have a community meeting on Jan. 17 from 6 p.m. – 7 p.m. at Loretto Elementary School specifically to discuss an upcoming safety topic. With the apparent desire of the Florida Commissioner of Education to expand the Guardian Program to include the ability for teachers and coaches to carry a gun in schools, I’d like to get the community’s input. Presently, Duval County Public Schools is operating under a resolution we passed about five years ago that limits gun carry to the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office and our security guards. This possible expansion is something I’d like the community to learn about and give their input. I hope to learn what District 7 thinks of this proposal at this meeting. 

https://www.floridanewsline.com/mandarin/q-a-with-duval-county-school-board-member-lori-hershey-district-7-22/ 

I have always liked Mrs. Hershey, now don’t get me wrong, I was befuddled and disappointed when after thinking about a run for the state house, she played to a far-right base and voted against changing the names of schools named after confederate generals, but overall she has been a solid though not very vocal supporter of public education. However, with that part, she has plenty of company. 

So should I be glad she is having a community meeting to discuss it? Probably not, as we have seen how the right-wing base turns out recently to fight against LGBTQ protections, sex ed, and books, yes, books. I can imagine a mob of gun-nuts showing up demanding their teachers have guns even though this will undoubtedly lead to a tragedy and don’t take my word for it, take facts and evidence instead. 

From the University of Connecticut 

There is extremely limited evidence on the effectiveness of SROs in deterring violence. There is no empirical support for the suggestion that SROs prevent school shootings.^[lvii] Research on averted school shootings – incidents planned by students and then prevented – suggests that the key is having trusted adults whom other students can inform.^[lviii] 

In the triad model concept advanced by NASRO, in addition to their law enforcement role, SROs will act as another mentor, educator, or counselor. However, this assumption ignores the fact that Black youth, Latine youth, immigrant youth, indigenous youth, and youth living in poverty often come to school with harmful experiences with police that may perpetuate racial inequalities in educational, health, and social outcomes.^[lxii] By putting police in schools, we are exacerbating these issues 

 https://education.uconn.edu/2020/10/27/the-prevalence-and-the-price-of-police-in-schools/ 

Guns in classrooms is a manifestly stupid idea. Having overworked, underpaid, and stressed-out teachers with minimal training make the idea exponentially more stupid.   

The acted-upon solutions to gun violence, turning schools into prisons and arming more people, are destructive and will do more harm than good, and evidence proves that just doesn’t work. Which is truly maddening because there are solutions out there. 

Smaller classes so teachers can know their students better, and teachers aren’t overworked, allowing them to catch the signs of potential trouble. 

School psychologists and social workers to intervene with children in trouble and full-service schools where we can make sure children get what they need would all prove more beneficial. 

So, kudos to Mrs. Hershey for having a meeting but a raspberry too for not saying, no, not on my watch, under no circumstance will I entertain the idea of arming teachers.  

We should use facts and evidence to make decisions, especially lifesaving or life-endangering ones, not the angry voices of willfully ignorant mobs.  

If Diana Greene won't stand up for her veteran teachers, what makes you think she will stand up for anybody? (draft)

 As somebody who has written thousands of blogs and been published hundreds of times, I have a smidge of a voice, just a smidge; nothing I have said or written could possibly have the impact of a sitting school board member or current superintendent, nothing. I get it. What I don’t get, however, is why they don’t use their voices. I don’t understand why they are content with DeSantis and his fascist administration dismantle public education and the teaching profession; I don’t get it, not one bit. As example number one, let’s look at teacher salaries, especially veteran teacher salaries. 

Before I start, let me say I am glad that new teachers have seen their salaries go up quite dramatically over the last few years. Heck, I am elated. That being said, everybody should understand that, at least initially, those salaries went up only because mostly veteran teachers saw their salaries slashed.       

When DeSantis made his initial proposal to raise starting salaries, he took the money from two admittedly flawed programs, Best and Brightest, and school recognition funds and dumped it all into starting salaries. As flawed as these programs were, they put real money into many veteran teachers' pockets, real money they would no longer see. 

DeSantis could have said, we are going to give every teacher from year 1 to year 30 and beyond a 2,300 dollar raise, but instead of doing that, and just so he could get a sound bite on the evening news, he said, let's raise starting salaries to 47,500 and veterans, well %@$# em. I blogged about this. I wrote letters about this, and I told everyone I could about this monumental disservice; this would do, as well. But you know who didn’t say a GD word? Superintendent Greene. Not one word. 

She shrugged her shoulders as veteran teachers, people who proved they could do the job, people who made a career out of helping other people’s children, teachers with double-digit years of experience were now making just a few more dollars than the new teacher in the building, a teacher I might add who would most likely have to depend on those disrespected veterans for their success.          

Aren’t leaders supposed to lead? Aren’t they supposed to stand up for their people? Aren’t they supposed to fight to make sure they are respected and fairly treated? Or, you know, the exact opposite of what Greene routinely does.  

Greene could have used her position to educate people bout how unfair the proposal was. She could have used her pulpit to let people know, and I have always believed once people know what is happening, they would want, no, they would demand better.   

The super has a tough job made tougher by a state that seems bound and determined to destroy public education, but it’s a tough job she chose, and it’s a tough job that includes taking care of her teachers because the better things are for teachers, the better they will be for students, and Greene doesn’t seem to know that. 

She could have spoken up. She could have informed people what DeSantis's proposals actually met. SHE decided not to and whether that makes her a coward wallowing in silence or she doesn’t care about her staff it doesn’t really matter because in the end the results are the same. 

Leanna Cumber fails to mention her anti-public education bonifides in her run for mayor

 Leanna Cumber is running for mayor, and she would be a disaster. Never one for following city politics beyond whom to vote for mayor, all that changed in 2018 as the mayor and city council rallied against public education, read that again, rallied against public education, all so some of their mega-donors who had invested in charter schools could get paid. Their depravity sunk so low that the office of the general council changed the meaning of the word shall to, do whatever the 4%@# you want, and it was around then I first heard of Leanna Cumber.

Many city council members fought against the referendum that would benefit the severely underfunded public school system, including members Tommy Hazouri (who sold his soul) and Brenda Priestly-Jackson, who should have known better. There was something about Cumber, however that made her stand apart. She not only fought against the referendum but was often, and seemingly gleefully so, against public schools in general, talking about school grades and reading rates and anything she could to put public education in a bad light. It didn’t matter to her that public ed, especially public ed in Jacksonville, which has never benefitted from impact fees, as every other city provides, was grievously underfunded.  

There was even a city council meeting where she started her comments, accusing the school district of being disrespectful to the city council, and I remind you that the council’s role was supposed to be purely ceremonial, which led to a ruckus and the eventual clearing of the meeting which was packed.

Okay, that’s bad enough, but it doesn’t stop there. Her fighting against our schools which will ultimately cost the city’s taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars, and shrugging her shoulders at the OGC changing the meaning of the word shall to defend their indefensible position, both should be disqualifying, but she said hold my beer and has sought the endorsement of Mom’s for Liberty, a small fascist group seeking to redefine public education.  

Mom’s for Liberty has spent the last year calling teachers pedophiles and groomers, claimed teachers are actively trying to get small children to switch genders, attacked the LGBTQ community, supported the whitewashing of history, and banned books. They are led locally by school board member April Carney who won’t say if she was at the insurrection one way or another. This is Cumber’s base; these are the people she is depending on to get her elected. This basket of deplorables is her go-to.  

There is a commercial painting Cumber as a liberal, she’s not, but neither is she a conservative; what she is, is a parasite pretending to be whatever she thinks will help her advance, and I have to say, I believe that dream is about to come to a crushing end.

The city can do a lot better than Cumber, and after looking at her record, we can’t afford not to.

Superintendent Greene deserves coal in her stocking

We have all heard the old saying, with friends like these, we don't need enemies. Well, superintendent Greene has repeatedly said she supports our LGBTQ students, but her actions speak a lot louder. With a  friend like her, the LGBTQ community definitely doesn't need any enemies.  

Over the summer, she had her district apparatchik scratch off rainbow stickers from classroom walls and doors, followed by district changing policies which now say teachers could no longer post items like safe place stickers and rainbow flags in their classrooms. Shortly thereafter, the district LGBTQ  support guide was gutted, and anti-bullying videos were taken down.

Recently the district ended an over twenty-year relationship with JASMYN, a local nonprofit that serves LGBTQ youth. She did so based on so-called media reports from far-right blogs known for spreading misinformation. She also did so without consulting the school board, and the less-than-compelling defense of her actions could be summed up by saying she said she did so because she could. 

Where all of that is indefensible, the worst thing she did was remain silent. As the superintendent, she has a pulpit she could use to inform and educate people, but time and time again, she has refused to do so. So when the "don't say gay" law was passed, she remained silent rather than speaking about its unnecessary and harmful consequences. 

Time and time again, the LGBTQ community was attacked, including by school members Carney and Joyce, and rather than stand up for and educate the public, Greene piled on, making things worse.

She can say she supports the LGBT community, but her actions speak otherwise.   

Joyce and Carney supporter Raymond Johnson call people pediohiles and groomers at the SB meeting and gets away with it.

Wouldn't it be nice if an SB member stood up to people who called teachers pedophiles and groomers and told them they were wrong and to go pound sand? Maybe the reason they don't is that it is their close supporters doing it. At the 2:06 mark of the SB meeting, noted bigot and homophobe Raymond Johnson spoke and said some horrible things. The SB just shrugged.

Some low lights are, he said, the new sex-ed curriculum promoted sodomy with minors, and JASMYN was a pedophile group that sexually grooms children. How his mic wasn't cut is beyond me.

Here is a little bit about the pro confederate flag and anti-HRO Raymond Johnson

https://jaxkidsmatter.blogspot.com/search?q=Raymond+Johnson

Then earlier this year, Carney and Joyce proudly appeared with him

It seems to me that too many members of the SB would rather stand with him rather than with outstanding civic organizations like JASMYN. Though if their silence is any indication, maybe more than a few do believe our schools are filled with pedophiles and groomers.  

Greene's lackluster defence of her own actions

Greene took a sledgehammer to the district's 20-year relationship with JASMYN, the local group that provides services to the LGBTQ community. She did so without consulting the board or the community and instead citeing media reports. The media turned out to be a far-right blog known for publishing false and misleading pieces. Other than an email to principals, there has been a lot about her decision until the last school board meeting, when the defense of her indefensible actions could have been better, to say the least. 

Her presentation started at the 47-minute part, and she jumped right into it, pointing out that board policy gives her the power to approve or dismiss any contract under 75k, which the JASMYN contract was. In her speech, she doesn't mention the media reports. She just said she heard about it a few days after Thanksgiving, meaning her process took less than 48 hours.  

Sadly she seems to think that despite all her attacks on the LGBTQ community, refusing to speak out against the DSG bill, taking down anti-bullying videos and gutting the LGBTQ community, her words of support mean something.

She went on to speak about how as a constitutional officer, she is obligated to protect children. However, that obligation doesn't stretch to reporting unsafe behavior to the authorities.  

Following, she said children will be able to receive the same services they had been all along though that seems highly doubtful. She wants to speak to other organizations to see if they can pick up what the district is losing, something that maybe she should have done before listening to a far-right blog and then summarily ending a 20-year relationship.  

Basically, she said she saw something she didn't like and terminated the relationship because she could. 

I encourage you to listen to her remarks; just be prepared to be underwhelmed. 

Board meeting

The so called media Greene used to end a decades old partnership with JASMYN

 Greene reported to reports in the "media" as a reason she summarily ended the decades-long relationship with JASMYN, the local support agency for LGBTQ youth.  

On November 18th, two rags published stories about JASMYN, the Post Millennial, which seems more of a copy-and-publish piece, and the Florida Standard, both of which are known for publishing false and misleading pieces. I will concentrate on the Florida Standard and the author of their piece, Zac Howard.

Here are a couple of tweets from his Twitter page.

If you look at his Twitter page, Zac really seems preoccupied with the sexualization of children, which is probably more projection than reporting. Either way above is a lie.

They announced nothing close to this, but what do facts matter when you are part of the Media. 

Hillsborough county would disagree with the assertion; they want to keep grooming children, and on a side note, I missed Zac's election to the overlord of everything decent and right. Also, if Zac has any experience with what is developmentally appropriate for children, his resume is very light on it.

My only comment is gulp.

He is also okay with spreading covid misinformation.

Counselors, I wasn't at the training. Were any of you trained to tell kids to lie to their parents? 

Zac apparently thinks Candice Owens is "media," too. 

Tell me you don't understand what teachers do without telling me you know what teachers do?

Over the last few months, I would say about a third of his pieces had something to do with sex a third. The preoccupation is troubling. I then went back to 2020 (he is missing about two years' worth of tweets which makes me think, for some reason, he deleted a whole bunch, probably COVID misinformation but that's just a guess), and it seems he was a regular, if slightly boring guy, and it wasn't until he got to the Florida Standard that he went all take a loose string and turn it into a tapestry of lies, i.e., what most far-right media does. Fortunately, his pieces don't make much of a dent, except inexplicably with superintendent Greene and he seems to have the same amount of readers I do when I post what I had for lunch. 

I guess the bottom line is for anyone in a position of responsibility and authority to make a decision based on what he wrote is a manifest miscarriage of sanity and decency, and if Greene and the SB don't get that, then they are a big part of the problem.  

Greene replies to my concerns about DCPS ending its relationship with JASMYN, she doesn't give a #@!%

 Hey, am I media? I mean, if the Florida Standard and Post Milineal count as media, so must Education Matters, right?

So I sent the five levels of sane members my concerns about the district ending its relationship with JASMYN.

Many people were dismayed at the sudden announcement that the district had ended its decades-long relationship with JASMYN based on some "media" reports. First, if you google JASMYN no such media reports come up, but more outrageous is Dr. Greene's dereliction of duty.

She is a mandatory reporter. If she feels JASMYN has been showing pornography to children, she is required to report it, and the fact that she hasn't made me and many others believe this is part of her anti-LGBTQ agenda. 

The school board sets policy; you can overrule her, which is what you should do as soon as possible. Please prove me and large swaths of the community wrong that you not only don't care about LGBTQ children and staff, but you are against them.

And I guess one of them forwarded it to the super, and she replied

I imagine the only difference between my response and every other response that will be sent out is the Mr. Guerrieri at the top.

No effort to address the source of her so-called concerns or why she hasn't reported JASMYN, nothing,  but yada, yada, yada, I don't care.

The district has taken a far-right turn that should alarm us all, and for what? Not to improve education or protect students; that's obvious; the only reason is to appease and side with bigots and public eduction haters. We should and could be doing better.