Why are there even school libraries in Florida anymore … we'd been assured that all of the books had been banned and the shelves emptied out.
The Washington Post's Ruby Cramer has a really terrible sob story about one school librarian in Florida who quit because she just "couldn't take it anymore." A school librarian quitting doesn't sound like national news to us, but we're not journalists. How hard could it be to make sure that books with graphic illustrations of oral sex weren't available to school children? Apparently, it's very difficult, and exhausting.
"The librarian who couldn’t take it anymore," by @rubycramer:
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) November 11, 2023
"She loved books. And in a time of spreading book bans in public schools, that’s why this Florida librarian had to quit." https://t.co/OilIfWn9xy
"Had to quit." No, she didn't have to quit. She chose to quit over laws about keeping sexually explicit books out of school libraries.
Ruby Cramer reports:
Tania [Galiñanes] had planned to spend the rest of her career in the Osceola County School District. She was 51. She could have stayed for years at Tohopekaliga, a school she loved that had only just opened in 2018.
The library was clean and new. The shelves were organized. The chairs had wheels that moved soundlessly across the carpet. The floor plan was open, designed by architects who had promised “the 21st century media center.”
That was before the school board meeting on April 5, 2022, when Tania watched parents read aloud from books they described as a danger to kids. It was before she received a phone call from the district, the day after that, instructing her to remove four books from her shelves.
It was before a member of the conservative group Moms for Liberty told her on Facebook, a few days later, that she shouldn’t be allowed anywhere near students. It had been 18 months since then. Nine months since she had taken Florida’s new training for librarians, a mandatory hour-long video, and heard the state say that books in the library must not contain sexual content that could be “harmful to minors” and that violating this statute would result in a third-degree felony. “A crime,” the training had said. “Districts should err on the side of caution.” It had been seven months since she began collecting Florida’s laws and statutes in a purple folder on her desk, highlighting the sections that made her mad, and also the ones that could get her fired. Six months since she broke out in hives, since eczema crept up the side of her face, since she started having trouble sleeping and got a prescription for an anti-anxiety medication. Five months since she stood in her house crying and her husband said it wasn’t worth it anymore. He could work two jobs if he had to. “You need to quit,” he’d told her.
Six weeks since the start of another school year. Five weeks since she had given her notice.
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We told you … it's a literally sob story, with a school librarian crying and losing sleep and breaking out in hives after being directed to keep sexually explicit materials out of the library. We have to admit, we imagine being a school librarian doesn't rank up there with the most stressful jobs. Maybe she should go into coal mining or construction, something easier.
Look at all the scare quotes Cramer puts into her story. "Harmful to minors." "Err on the side of caution." Wouldn't a school librarian want to remove material that was harmful to minors?
This is just ridiculous. Pull "Gender Queer" and "This Book Is Gay" off the shelf and take a smoke break.
Are these the books that couldn’t be shown on TV due to indecency?
— Chris G (@ChrisGThree4) November 11, 2023
Why stick around if you can't corrupt kids? What would be the point?
— John DiCarlo (@JohnDicarlo20) November 11, 2023
Wait…she’s retiring because she’s not allowed to keep sexually explicit books on the shelves of a school library?
— Chris McKeever 🇺🇸🇮🇱 (@TheRealMcKeever) November 11, 2023
She never should have been a school librarian. Good riddance to her.
My grandma was a librarian, and she would be ashamed of this woman. You serve your community not yourself.
— Alty Alterson (@DefNotASynth) November 11, 2023
So sad. Another groomer big mad they can't peddle porn to kids.
— OutdoorsWI (@outdoorswi1) November 11, 2023
So her passion was providing pornography to minors? Interesting.
— Conservative Political Scientist/Server Engineer (@VCPMCSEMCSA) November 11, 2023
— Tony Ellis (@Ellis727) November 11, 2023
Restricting access to 3rd Graders of pornography and inappropriate content, including propaganda, is NOT “book banning”.
— TheBuriedLedeR (@The_BuriedLedeR) November 11, 2023
Stop lying and spreading disinformation, #Potato.
Imaging trying so hard to convince people that banning porn to kid libraries is a "book ban". You're one sick fuck, little @brianstelter #Groomer
— White Civilization (@White_Civ) November 11, 2023
Do you know what this editor can't take anymore? All of the sob stories in the media about teachers and librarians in Florida fearing that they're going to be sent to prison just because they want to sexualize young children.
Good riddance.
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