In late April, weeks after the district removed two books from school shelves, the committee voted to recommend that books stop being pulled until the laws go into effect and the Florida Department of Education provides more guidance. Members of the school district’s Diversity and Equity Committee agreed. “They feel like they’re being erased,” said Rizzo, who spoke as a concerned citizen. Reading over the school district’s book survey, history teacher Bill Rizzo - who also sponsors the gay-straight alliance at his middle school - said the legislation would have a chilling effect on public education.Įven before the laws take effect, he said, books are being pulled from libraries, classroom conversations are being stifled and people are seeing their own identities and experiences fading from schools. And after signing HB 7, a bill that targets Critical Race Theory and bans certain instruction on racism, sexism and privilege, the governor said he would “not let the far-left woke agenda take over our schools and workplaces.”
