{"id":11663,"date":"2023-09-10T15:07:10","date_gmt":"2023-09-10T15:07:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lonecandle.com\/?p=11663"},"modified":"2023-09-10T15:07:10","modified_gmt":"2023-09-10T15:07:10","slug":"floridas-restrictive-sex-ed-rules-are-causing-back-to-school-mayhem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/?p=11663","title":{"rendered":"Florida\u2019s restrictive sex ed rules are causing back-to-school mayhem"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\n\n“Thanks to a vague law and even vaguer directions from Florida\u2019s education department, some school district leaders remain unsure if the course is even legal to teach. It\u2019s a situation that highlights how difficult \u2014 and confusing \u2014 it has become for schools to navigate the state\u2019s increasingly restrictive education policies.”
…
“Florida, the College Board declared, had \u201ceffectively banned AP Psychology.\u201d<\/a>“
…
“D\u00edaz sent a letter to district leaders on August 4 to clear things up. \u201cThe Department of Education is not discouraging districts from teaching AP Psychology,\u201d it read. When district leaders asked for further clarification, D\u00edaz responded in a follow-up letter on August 9 \u2014 just a day before the school year was set to begin in much of the state<\/a> \u2014 insisting, \u201cIt is the Department of Education\u2019s stance that [the] learning target \u2026 can be taught consistent with Florida law.\u201d D\u00edaz again rejected the assertion that the state had banned the course.”   
…
“Districts have had to do a frenzied dance to keep up with the quick changes. One day, Mike Burke, Palm Beach County\u2019s school chief, apologetically announced that he was removing AP Psych, stating, \u201cIf there was a way we could teach this course and not have our teachers get arrested, we would do it in a second,\u201d according to the Palm Beach Post<\/a> \u2014 and he reversed that decision just days later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other districts aren\u2019t adding back AP Psychology, having already ordered textbooks for alternate courses, while some are refusing to re-adopt the course because they\u2019re fearful that teachers could still face legal consequences. Meanwhile, some districts were prepared to just ignore the state\u2019s mixed messages all along. \u201cI have communicated to our staff to respect the law and follow the law, but not to fear the law and do more than it requires,\u201d Leon County Schools Superintendent Rocky Hanna said in a statement<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For many, however, the fear had already taken hold. Seven of the 11 districts with the largest enrollments in the course said they would make the switch to an alternative class, rushing to catch teachers up on the new material”…
” A series of laws signed by Gov. DeSantis in the past two years have created significant challenges for educators. The laws, which critics call \u201cclassroom gag orders,\u201d build on one another, creating a web of restrictions that educators must navigate to avoid legal consequences. The AP Psychology course could technically be considered illegal under three of the state\u2019s restrictive education laws \u2014 the \u201cDon\u2019t Say Period\u201d law, the \u201cDon\u2019t Say Gay\u201d law, and the Stop WOKE Act, which bans schools and businesses from teaching anything that could make anyone feel \u201cguilt, anguish or any form of psychological distress\u201d because of their race, gender, sex, or national origin.”
https:\/\/www.vox.com\/23835634\/florida-ap-psychology-education-dont-say-gay<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“Thanks to a vague law and even vaguer directions from Florida\u2019s education department, some school district leaders remain unsure if the course is even legal to teach. It\u2019s a situation that highlights how difficult \u2014 and confusing \u2014 it has become for schools to navigate the state\u2019s increasingly restrictive education policies.”<\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

“Florida, the College Board declared, had \u201ceffectively banned AP Psychology.\u201d”<\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

“D\u00edaz sent a letter to district leaders on August 4 to clear things up. \u201cThe Department of Education is not discouraging districts from teaching AP Psychology,\u201d it read. When district leaders asked for further clarification, D\u00edaz responded in a follow-up letter on August 9 \u2014 just a day before the school year was set to begin in much of the state \u2014 insisting, \u201cIt is the Department of Education\u2019s stance that [the] learning target \u2026 can be taught consistent with Florida law.\u201d D\u00edaz again rejected the assertion that the state had banned the course.” <\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

“Districts have had to do a frenzied dance to keep up with the quick changes. One day, Mike Burke, Palm Beach County\u2019s school chief, apologetically announced that he was removing AP Psych, stating, \u201cIf there was a way we could teach this course and not have our teachers get arrested, we would do it in a second,\u201d according to the Palm Beach Post \u2014 and he reversed that decision just days later.
\nOther districts aren\u2019t adding back AP Psychology, having already ordered textbooks for alternate courses, while some are refusing to re-adopt the course because they\u2019re fearful that teachers could still face legal consequences. Meanwhile, some districts were prepared to just ignore the state\u2019s mixed messages all along. \u201cI have communicated to our staff to respect the law and follow the law, but not to fear the law and do more than it requires,\u201d Leon County Schools Superintendent Rocky Hanna said in a statement.<\/p>\n

For many, however, the fear had already taken hold. Seven of the 11 districts with the largest enrollments in the course said they would make the switch to an alternative class, rushing to catch teachers up on the new material”<\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

” A series of laws signed by Gov. DeSantis in the past two years have created significant challenges for educators. The laws, which critics call \u201cclassroom gag orders,\u201d build on one another, creating a web of restrictions that educators must navigate to avoid legal consequences. The AP Psychology course could technically be considered illegal under three of the state\u2019s restrictive education laws \u2014 the \u201cDon\u2019t Say Period\u201d law, the \u201cDon\u2019t Say Gay\u201d law, and the Stop WOKE Act, which bans schools and businesses from teaching anything that could make anyone feel \u201cguilt, anguish or any form of psychological distress\u201d because of their race, gender, sex, or national origin.”<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.vox.com\/23835634\/florida-ap-psychology-education-dont-say-gay<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[1281,356,471,357],"class_list":["post-11663","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article-share","tag-desantis","tag-education","tag-florida","tag-school"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11663","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11663"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11663\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11664,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11663\/revisions\/11664"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11663"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11663"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11663"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}