Disclaimer: This article was written for informational and entertainment purposes only.
I love a dictionary. Childhood memories of 4th grade spring to the surface.
Balanced on the corner of the teacher’s desk sat the massive dictionary for students to use with permission. Its heavy cover held tissue-thin pages that we respected and handled with care.
Escambia County School District in Florida increased its list of books to check for inappropriate content. Bye-bye dictionary, at least until otherwise approved.
“Book Smart” is Passé
In 2022, Florida school districts started removing books from classroom shelves and libraries to be reviewed. A district spokesperson told a newspaper that the books pulled for “further review” are not necessarily banned or even removed.
Reviews must be conducted to ensure compliance with the law.
“There is not a banned book list,” said Cassandra Palelis, press secretary for the Florida Department of Education. “Any bare bookshelves in a media center or classroom are simply staged for political messaging.”