(C) Florida Phoenix This story was originally published by Florida Phoenix and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . State education meetings forecast tumultuous school policies in upcoming gubernatorial debate [1] ['Danielle J. Brown', 'More From Author', '- October'] Date: 2022-10-21 In a fell swoop, Florida’s State Board of Education has approved a swath of rules that claim to improve transparency in education and bolster so-called parental rights. But LGBTQ+ advocates say the new rules are discriminatory. In the backdrop, two gubernatorial candidates will gear up for a televised debate on Monday: Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, who helped usher the controversial education rules into play, and Democrat Charlie Crist, a former education commissioner who promises to undo those education policies set by the DeSantis administration. The eventful two-day board of education meetings demonstrate the widespread and branching impact of Florida’s massive school system and who will take the reins when the November election is over. The Thursday portion of the state board meeting featured a guest speaker: First Lady Casey DeSantis, whose relationship to the governor provides her an opportunity to help shape certain aspects of the education system. She was there to promote a new rule that promotes a “resiliency” approach to mental health among students. “We will be empowering thousands of students to have hope,” Ms. DeSantis said Thursday. “You know, that life is not easy. That you are not immune from hardship you are not alone, but you are also not a victim. You are not damaged goods. You just need to learn how to persevere. How to overcome, because you can. “No problem is insurmountable. all you need is a little help to become resilient and by passing the rule today we will help solidify the foundation from which our students will benefit for generations to come,” she said. According to the board’s new rule approved Thursday, the “resiliency” mental health standards will “develop healthy characteristics that reinforce positive core values and foster resiliency.” The standards include: — Empathy, perseverance, grit, gratitude and responsibility; — Critical thinking, problem solving and responsible decision-making; — Self-awareness and self-management; — Mentorship and citizenship; and — Honesty. There was not much discussion about what would be done if a student is going through a serious mental health crisis. Vice Chair Ben Gibson also praised Ms. DeSantis’ work and referenced her husband, Gov. DeSantis. “It’s really going to be helpful and I think, in conjunction with Governor DeSantis’ leadership and the legislature really paying attention to mental health, you have been a shining star and leading us in that direction.” The board went over a handful of other agenda items over the Thursday meeting, but closing arguments partially focused on the fallout of the meeting from the day before, which tapped into heated and impassioned public comments around the LGBTQ+ community and so-called parental rights. “Yesterday was just, I think, it was difficult in some instances because there was some controversy. But we did a lot of great work in giving parents the resources that, quite frankly they deserve,” Gibson said. He continued: “When parents send their kids to a public school and entrust, you know, school districts and teachers to teach their children, they have a right to know, number one, what the children are being taught, right? That’s kind of a basic principle. They also have a right to have insight and knowledge and to be empowered, that the parent is the one making the decisions for what is best for their child, not us, not the school district or the teachers. So I think yesterday was very good.” Wednesday’s meeting hit the boiling point The Wednesday board meeting served as recap of some of the most recent wedge issues in public education policies: LGBTQ+ inclusion, so-called parental rights and censorship of classroom and library books. The rules resulted in hours of public testimony. One controversial rule that passed requires classroom teachers to catalogue their classroom books in a searchable database for parents to review, which teachers at the meeting argued would be burdensome for already busy teachers and will result in books being removed from classrooms until they are properly catalogued. Another controversial rule requires that there be parental notification on how bathrooms, locker rooms and other shared spaces used by students are designated by gender or sex. LGBTQ+ advocates argued that the new rule discriminates against transgender students and creates an unsafe learning environment for those students, as schools that want to accommodate trans students will need to notify parents there are policies in place to make the student more comfortable, potentially outing a trans kid. One speaker, a trans man named Sebastian Cook who said he recently graduated, told the board that while in school, he just wanted to focus on learning, but instead his “life, identity and worth was constantly being debated.” “Why does it matter what bathroom I use? Why is the school system more concerned about where I pee than my academics?” he asked the board rhetorically. But the tense board meeting hit a boiling point during discussion about a new rule involving teacher licenses. The rule requires that a teacher license be revoked for not complying with new curriculum restrictions outlined in new laws such as HB 1557, which prohibits certain classroom instruction on gender identity and sexual orientation, and HB 7, which restricts how classroom teachers can discuss race and gender in classrooms. Revoking an educator’s license can be a difficult and lengthy process. Tiffany Justice, co-founder of Moms for Liberty, was supportive of the rule which she says “is about accountability.” “You’re going through rule-making process now to understand how teachers are handled when they break the law,” Justice said to the board Wednesday. “For heaven’s sake, we are talking about teachers who are breaking the law. Yes, they should lose their license, Commissioner,” she said, addressing Education Commissioner Manny Diaz, Jr. “They should not be allowed to teach in schools.” ‘You are going after public school teachers’ Carmela DeToma, an Orange County teacher, was escorted out of the meeting after she went well over her allotted one-minute of public testimony to speak against implementing the teacher-license rule. “It’s very clear that it’s an election year. The current governor wants to look like a fighter, fighting for so-called grassroots parents’ groups that are saying that the schools are taking away their rights, they’re snatching their rights away from them,” DeToma said. She noted the members of the board collectively do not have much in-classroom experience between them, and that they were appointed by DeSantis. A buzzer at the podium notified that her designated one-minute speaking time was almost up. “I’m sorry — I’m probably one of the only teachers here today because the rest of them are working — so I would like my time to speak. I have a three minute speech.” Grady warned her that she only had one minute to speak, but she pushed on. “You are going after public school teachers. You are accusing us of perpetrating a socialist, elitist agenda.” The crowd also got rowdy, with hecklers trying to discourage her from continuing her public testimony. Grady tried to push forward to the next public commenter by calling their name, but DeToma rose her voice to speak over him. “You are accusing us of pushing a socialist agenda — but this is a mirage of your own making,” she said. As she continued her opposition to the rule, and the room continued to get rowdy, law enforcement approached her and removed her from the room. The audience hollered as she left. Gov. DeSantis has promoted some of these “pro-parents’ rights” laws as a platform for his reelection campaign. Both DeSantis and Crist have endorsed local school board members in the 2022 election — a way to help frame Florida’s educational environment. At the televised debate Monday, DeSantis and Crist will make their case to parents and taxpayers for their visions on Florida’s public education system. [END] --- [1] Url: https://floridaphoenix.com/2022/10/21/state-education-meetings-forecast-tumultuous-school-policies-in-upcoming-gubernatorial-debate/ Published and (C) by Florida Phoenix Content appears here under this condition or license: Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/floridaphoenix/