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Op-Ed: Florida Woke Substitute Teacher Fired For Trying to Smear Gov. DeSantis – It Didn’t Work

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First Coast News asked Gov. Ron DeSantis about Covey video
First Coast News asked Gov. Ron DeSantis about Covey’s video, to which DeSantis replied, “That’s a fake narrative.” – Image credit: Firstg Coast News / YouTube.

PORTSMOUTH, OH –  Brian Covey, a substitute teacher at Mandarin Middle School in Jacksonville, Florida, has been fired from his teaching position, according to First Coast News.

Covey posted a video about Florida school books on Jan. 27, 2023 showing rows of empty bookshelves in the school’s library. He claimed “every single book” was removed from his classroom. The video quickly went viral and racked up over 13 million views and made national headlines.

Obviously, Covey sent out a dramatic political ruse to show his objection to the STOP W.O.K.E. Act by Team DeSantis.

Watch on YouTube. Substitute Duval teacher behind viral video showing empty bookshelves in middle school library fired. 

First Coast News asked Gov. Ron DeSantis about Covey’s video, to which DeSantis replied, “That’s a fake narrative.”

Of course, a segment of pinheads on social media responded in outrage instead of following up on facts.

“That video, that was a fake narrative, that was not true,” the governor said according to the Orlando Sentinel. “What they’re trying to do is they’re trying to act like somehow we don’t want books.”

Duval County Public Schools gave First Coast News the following statement regarding Covey’s termination:

In discussion between the district and ESS regarding this individual’s misrepresentation of the books available to students in the school’s library and the disruption this misrepresentation has caused, it was determined that he had violated social media and cell phone policies of his employer. Therefore, ESS determined these policy violations made it necessary to part ways with this individual.

Now, Covey is jobless and crying in his alphabet soup. Moreover, he received an “F” grade on the video farce. And permanent school detention for misleading the public. Hopefully, his spouse will ground him from social media and make him write apology letters to the school and to DeSantis.

So, fact or fiction that all books are being removed from classrooms?

“We did direct teachers to temporarily reduce their classroom library collections to titles that were previously approved while waiting for media specialists to curate a more expansive list of approved titles,” DCPS Superintendent Diana Greene said in a statement, according to First Coast News. “However, at no time should a classroom have been without reading resources.”

Fiction is the correct answer.

A 43-page Florida Department of Education document notes that the targeted books are those that “predominantly appeal to a prurient, shameful, or morbid interest,” and are “patently offensive” “without serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value for minors.”

Excerpts:

House Bill 1467 Section (s.) 1006.29(6), Florida Statutes The department shall develop an online training program for school librarians, media specialists, and other personnel involved in the selection and maintenance of library media and collections or materials maintained on a reading list. This training must assist reviewers in complying with the requirements of s. 1006.31(2). The department shall make this training available no later than January 1, 2023. No later than July 1, 2023, and annually thereafter, each superintendent must certify to the department that all school librarians and media specialists employed by the district have completed the online training program.

Criteria for Selection of Library Materials Section 1006.40(3)(d), F.S. All materials in a school library or included on a reading list must be: 1. Free of Pornography and material prohibited under s. 847.012, F.S. 2. Suited to student needs and their ability to comprehend the material presented. 3. Appropriate for the grade level and age group for which the materials are used and made available.

Pornography. While there is no statutory definition of pornography in the Florida Statutes, the Merriam-Webster dictionary defines it as “the depiction of erotic behavior (as in pictures or writing) intended to cause sexual excitement.”

Materials Prohibited by Section 847.012, F.S. An adult may not knowingly distribute to a minor on school property: Any picture…or visual representation of a person or a portion of a human body which depicts nudity or sexual conduct, sexual excitement, sexual battery, bestiality, or sadomasochistic abuse and which is harmful to minors. Any book, pamphlet, magazine [or] printed matter…that contains…explicit and detailed verbal descriptions or narrative accounts of sexual excitement, or sexual conduct and that is harmful to minors.

Let this be a lesson to the Lefty liberals in the Sunshine State.

Florida is where woke goes to die.” –Gov. DeSantis

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