Fired Jax teacher: No parent has right to decide what is appropriate for another’s child

What content is “age appropriate” for children? Parents confront this question every day, whether monitoring devices, checking movie ratings or researching library books with interesting titles.

One of the greatest joys of being a parent is the responsibility of raising independent minds within our values and priorities, hoping they develop into well-rounded adults. Most parents trust the professional judgment of librarians and teachers to curate inclusive libraries that act as “windows, sliding glass doors and mirrors” to our diverse communities.

On Jan. 26, my children informed me of the sudden removal of all books from their classroom as we were walking into an after-school state-sponsored Literacy Week event. They explained how the school collected books that students were reading from classroom libraries.

These books were then put into storage or covered and the media/guidance resource ― where the librarian is a consistent educator working on reading comprehension — was canceled indefinitely.

Duval County Public Schools tasked 54 certified media specialists to approve thousands of titles. One librarian told me she cried when she had to instruct her colleagues to pull all their books.

While checking in at the middle school where I was teaching math, I was venting about what I had witnessed the night before when I was told to “check out what we did to our library.” There I was confronted with empty bookshelves on one side of the room and media equipment turned over to bar access to the books on the other side.

I took and posted a 17-second video to Twitter (now known as X), confident this was a mistake that would be remedied if people were made aware. Given the historical significance, my hope was that putting a visualization to students' new reality would help school boards and leaders recognize the consequences of their collective chain of actions.

For the sake of transparency, I am a Christian man who has consistently voted Republican over the years. Sometime after having kids, I registered as “No Party Affiliation” to focus my time on family and devoid my life of the inconveniences of politics. I didn’t post the video because of politics. Quite frankly, I did it to support teachers and defend my children’s freedom to read at school.

Unfortunately, in our hyper-politicized, social media culture I quickly became the “substitute teacher fired over videos showing empty bookshelves” and realized my children’s education was ground zero for a culture war attack. New laws allow for “any parent or resident of the county” to challenge the judgment of professionally certified educators.

When legislators convoluted the consequences of existing laws regarding pornography to minors with new laws targeting race and gender, it was the responsibility of the state board to provide clarification. Instead, the Florida Department of Education training focused on the consequences of felonies and lost certification without clarifying “age and developmentally appropriate” outside of instructions to “err on the side of caution.”

Our state has now earned the dubious distinction of leading the nation in restricting books. In fact, over 40% of book restrictions in the 2022/2023 school year — a total of 1,406 cases — came in Florida, according to a new PEN America report. That’s up 33% from the prior school year. What’s more, only a handful of serial complainers are responsible for over 60% of the book challenges.

Our neighboring district, Clay County, has the most officially banned books in the U.S. while Duval County started the year with over 75% of 1.6 million titles inaccessible to students.

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Education is a public good that offers transparency in our children’s education. All discussions are publicly broadcast and communication is subject to FOIA requests. In exchange for public funding an elected school board is responsible for enacting the laws and standards provided by the state Department of Education to the needs of the community.

This was never about pornography in elementary schools. These unfunded mandates exempt charter schools, which receive the same public funds. Florida is serving as a blueprint being replicated by extremists across the nation. This past legislative session expanded these laws to books and subjects in higher grade levels while “universal school choice” allowed public funds to be used to purchase TVs, kayaks and Disney tickets.

These uncapped (and tax-free) vouchers to millionaires have no public accountability and are going to schools without obligations to provide accommodations for disabled students.

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We can all agree that no parent has the right to limit the books and subjects that are off-limits to another’s child. Book restrictions are not a unique or sophisticated tactic, but an exercise in fear and compliance used by extremist admirers of fascist principles.

A 1953 American Library Association’s statement says, “The freedom to read is essential to our democracy. It is continuously under attack. Private groups and public authorities in various parts of the country are working to remove or limit access to reading materials, to censor content in schools.”

This is a teaching moment. We must hold true to the real meaning of “liberty” and “freedom” so that our kids can create the “more perfect union” our founding fathers envisioned.

Brian Covey is a parent and former substitute teacher at Mandarin Middle School in Jacksonville.

This guest column is the opinion of the author and does not necessarily represent the views of the Times-Union. We welcome a diversity of opinions.

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Kids' education is "ground zero" for culture wars in Duval and beyond