Florida school district rejects dictionary donations amid ‘indoctrination’ law

Hundreds of dictionaries will likely remain unopened for the fall term after a Florida school district informed donors that their offering would have to wait until January 2023 to be processed under the state’s recently passed education bill, which places stricter oversight on materials used in classrooms.

Officials in the Sarasota County School District made the decision to stop all donations and purchases of new books for libraries and classrooms ahead of the school year, deciding it would be wise to wait for additional guidance from the Florida Department of Education about how to navigate a new law signed by the Governor Ron DeSantis back in July.

HB 1467, which requires the revision of a school’s selection process for classroom materials and places term limits on school board members, was approved by state legislators months before it was signed into law in the summertime and has been characterised by the Florida governor as a check on ensuring “curriculum transparency”.

“In Florida, our parents have every right to be involved in their child’s education. We are not going to let politicians deny parents the right to know what is being taught in our schools,” wrote Mr DeSantis when signing the bill – marketed as preserving “the rights of parents to make decisions about what materials their children are exposed to in school” – into law.

The bill is part of the governor’s wide-ranging campaign in the state over the past year to stop so-called “woke” agendas from “indoctrinating” the students of the southern state, with a large share of the legislation drawing the ire of critics for targeting and marginalising the LGBT+ community and other minority groups.

In the springtime, the state passed the so-called “Don’t Say Gay” bill, which prohibits instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity in kindergarten through third grade and any curriculum deemed inappropriate in other grades.

And more recently, the firebrand right-wing politician – widely seen as a 2024 GOP contender – signed the “Stop WOKE Act”, a bill that was written with the outset goal of pushing back against so-called “woke indoctrination” in Florida businesses and schools by forbidding trainings about race or sex that could make individuals feel “guilt” or “anguish”.

For the Venice Rotary Club, the group that has collectively donated more than 4,000 dictionaries to Sarasota elementary schools for more than a decade in partnership with the non-profit the Dictionary Project, the recently passed education bill meant that for the first time in 15 years, their donation was, at least temporarily, rebuffed.

“I would suspect somebody, anyone, could approve a dictionary in less than one minute,” said Gar Reese, a 69-year-old member of the Venice Suncoast Rotary Club, in an interview with the Sarasota Herald Tribune. “Why are we going through all this trouble?”

The trouble, it would appear, stems from the fact that the school district where the dictionaries are sent each year has yet to appoint a certified education media specialist, a position that is required by the new law to oversee the selection of books – both purchased and donated – for the school year.

“Each book made available to students through a school district library media center or included in a recommended or assigned school or grade-level reading list must be selected by a school district employee who holds a valid educational media specialist certificate,” the bill in its final form states, noting that this rule holds “regardless of whether the book is purchased, donated, or otherwise made available to students”.

Knowing that their donation might require new approval before the school year with the recent change in law, the Venice Rotary Club approached the Sarasota School District before the onset of the 2022-2023 year to see if their donation would be accepted.

Instead, however, the group was informed that the hundreds of reference books would need to sit tight until January, as the district had initiated a freeze on all book acquisitions in the district, regardless of the materials’ content.

Because of this freeze, however, the group is considering sending their donations elsewhere, looking at both private schools and even just waiting until the next school year entirely.

“It’s really it’s just kind of disappointing,” Mr Reese said. “Nobody wants to have an argument over a dictionary.”

The Venice Rotary Club has also attempted to bypass this seemingly tedious piece of legislation, reaching out to the district’s school board chair earlier this month, but ultimately not getting any closer to resolving the issue.

Kelsey Whealy, a media relations spokesperson with Sarasota County Schools, said in an emailed statement shared with The Independent that the hold on the donated reference books is ultimately temporary and will resume once the board hires a certified media specialist.

“The School Board approved the District Media Specialist job description which was necessary for hiring. Freezing purchases and donations of all books used in school media centers and classroom libraries allows time for hiring and working through existing materials as well as time for the FDOE to provide rules and the district’s curriculum team to provide interpretation and additional guidance on the legislation,” said Ms Whealy in a statement.

“Once we receive guidance from our legal team and receive direction from FDOE we will certainly reach out to our education partners with updates,” she added. “We value their support and don’t wish to jeopardize the wonderful relationships we have in place.”