Removing books from school libraries violates students' rights
Book bans: Tyranny in the schools
In December, Florida’s U.S. House Rep. Maxwell Alejandro Frost, a Democrat, introduced a bill to help school districts fight book bans. It is fitting that the Florida delegation takes the lead as Florida leads the nation in book bans.
In May 2022, H.B. 1467, the curriculum transparency bill, took effect, allowing the removal of a book if a single parent finds it objectionable.
School districts around the state responded with an excess of caution under the guise of protecting teachers from legal action. Over 1,400 books have been removed from school libraries across the state.
Write to us: How to send a letter to the editor
In July, the Charlotte County School District ordered its libraries to remove any book or teaching material that made any mention of LGBTQ+ themes or content – a move done to comply with the state’s May 2023 expansion of the “Don’t Say Gay” law.
Data from across the state and country show that these types of restrictions are unpopular with parents and students. The bans infringe on students’ right to learn about their world, and often books are being judged on their parts rather than their entirety.
Letting a single parent decide what can be on a library shelf isn’t democracy, it’s tyranny − and a waste of taxpayer money.
Dawn Mann, Port Charlotte
Bars could take over if rules change
A recent column from a developer’s agent called residents’ concerns about the proposed zoning text amendments (ZTAs) to relax the rules on bars, and to allow outdoor bars in mixed commercial and residential zones, “fearmongering.”
I wonder how many bars that are open until 2 a.m. – with amplified sound and drunken patrons partying – are located directly above, below or beside his living room or bedroom window.
The proposed rule changes further complicate the definitions of various places where alcohol is sold and consumed, and they will make it easier for bars, noise and disruption to proliferate.
Next stop Planning Board: Zoning amendment could mean more affordable housing, but some fear overgrowth
No other city in Florida – not even tourist-centric Orlando – uses this kind of loosey-goosey language to regulate bars. Retail merchants and galleries are leaving as bars proliferate downtown.
Sarasota needs to be vibrant and livable to sustain the success of our city. The city should avoid reinventing the wheel and adopt the same sensible definitions and standards used elsewhere to conceptualize and regulate consumption.
No one is saying no bars – just keep the right uses in the right locations.
And when it comes to bars and noise, that means indoors.
Shirl Gauthier, Sarasota
Gauthier is the founder of CityPAC, a Sarasota-based nonpartisan municipal political committee.
This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: One parent should not remove a book from library shelf
