Florida teachers forced to remove books from their classrooms—or face felony charges

Teachers across all grade levels in Florida’s Manatee County School District are closing off students’ access to their classroom libraries due to the Florida books ban.

The Sarasota Herald-Tribune reports that teachers have been instructed to remove all books from their classroom libraries that have not yet been approved by a certified media specialist.

Kevin Chapman, the district’s chief of staff, made the announcement on Monday, January 23. He says that the district directed teachers to remove any and all books that have not gone through the proper vetting by a specialist.

The directive is in response to Florida’s Governor DeSantis signing of the bill, HB 1467. This requires all school reading material to be approved by an appointed education media specialist with the appropriate certification. The message that the district sent out states that the material must be, “free of pornography” and “appropriate for the age level and group.”

The State Board of Education will also reportedly be giving new training to media specialists so that they can censor materials with, “unsolicited theories that may lead to student indoctrination.”

Several teachers across the district have resorted to covering up their bookshelves out of fear that they could face prosecution.

“If you have a lot of books like I do, probably several hundred, it is not practical to run all of them through (the vetting process) so we have to cover them up,” says history teacher, Don Falls.

“It is not only ridiculous but a very scary attack on fundamental rights,” he added.

Jean Faulk, a history and journalism teacher, says she had to remove John Adams’ writings and other books about democracy because they weren’t approved yet. She only kept reference books on her shelves.

“This is totally a political move by the governor,” Faulk said. “It has nothing to do with the students.”

The Manatee Count School District is the latest to implement new rules that limit kids’ access to books. Last year, the Sarasota County School District, also halted students’ access to books because they were awaiting guidance from the Florida Department of Education, following the announcement of bill HB 1467.