To the editor:

The following letter has been sent to Dr. Bernier, Attorney Bruno, and School Board Members:

You really can’t make this up. According to many news sources Governor DeSantis is now saying that “… some school districts have overreacted and are incorrectly interpreting state laws.” He belittles a Manatee teacher for covering the books in her classroom library so that students can have no access to them.

Why would a teacher or a district restrict access to classroom libraries? Well — hello, Governor – you signed a bill into law in 2023 and it’s now a State Statute — 1006.28. Remember that one? That law says that all books in a teachers’ classroom library may not be available to students until they are “vetted” by a Qualified Library Media Specialist. Teachers are professionals trained to select books for students. Experienced teachers use their libraries for those teachable moments and find the perfect book, for a student, at the perfect time. We used to believe that an outstanding classroom was a place rich in books that represented all the students and their families in our community.

But, it’s a law. Let’s vet all those books because the state doesn’t trust those professionals we hired, whose classrooms we visit, whose lesson plans we review, those teachers we see with students and talk with every day and have known for years. The “state” assumes the worst based on NO DATA.

“Vetting” should be easy enough? BUT — Wait — In Lee County alone more than 130,000 classroom books were either removed or covered — waiting for the vetting necessitated by law to take place. In Lee we have 16 Certified Library Media Specialists. Who used to have other responsibilities. At this point in the school year there are still approximately 50,000 books not “vetted.” Teachers were told by Principals who, I guess were told by their “superiors,” that if they allowed students access to those classroom books they might lose their license to teach anywhere. Principals also were told they could lose their license. How would you react? Just the way these educators did — they need to feed their families, they value their careers — they covered the books.

Now the Governor wakes up to the fact that keeping books from students is both an administrative nightmare (costing thousands of dollars in teacher/ administrator time spent on useless activities while reading scores plummet) and a public relations nightmare — would you like to go down in history as the governor who presided over 1,406 book bans in the 22/23 school year? What does he do? He blames the school administrators and teachers, calls them “bad actors” and warns that the DOE will find a way to punish them.

I could go on. But, here is the best way for the Governor to do away with this egregious law and save face at the same time. Tell your friends in the legislature to deregulate statute 1006.28. Give teachers back control over their classroom libraries by removing them from the statute.

We stand up for public schools, students, parents, and educators in Lee County. Let the teachers do their work. Keep politicians out of our schools.

Madelon V Stewart, Ed.D

For The Purple Group

Fort Myers