Seminole yearbook dispute reveals pain to come
Gov. Ron DeSantis and ideologues in the Legislature are trying to draw Florida into a culture war. Their primary battlegrounds are public school, and they’re targeting racial and sexual minorities, people who disagree with DeSantis’ dictates and books that challenge their far-right dogma. Worst of all, they’ll be shoving local officials, communities and students into the line of fire.
Tuesday night’s meeting of the Seminole County School Board was a preview of what the coming battles might look like. The elected members of the board did their constituents proud, standing in defense of intellectual freedom and vulnerable students. But they shouldn’t have been forced into this fight at all — and it’s only beginning.
Errors born of fear
At issue: A spread in the Lyman High School 2022 yearbook, depicting a studentled walkout in protest of a bill that restricts discussion of LGBTQ+ issues in classrooms. Dubbed the “don’t say gay” bill, the legislation (HB 1477) allows parents to protest any discussion of gender roles or sexual identity that is not “age appropriate,” an intentionally vague invitation to inject homophobia into classrooms.
The text in the yearbook does not take a stance on the bill. But it does emphasize the support Lyman students felt for their LGBTQ+ classmates. The colorful, exuberant layout depicts students waving rainbow flags, with headlines like “love is love.” After the yearbook was printed, an apprehensive administrator questioned the protest’s inclusion and whether it implied the protest was sponsored by the school. Superintendent Serita Beamon said the decision was made, after conferring with the board’s attorney, to order large stickers that would be pasted over the offending content. She denied that there was any intent to target students based on what they were protesting
That was a mistake, and we have a hard time understanding why Beamon — who served as the school district’s attorney before becoming superintendent — didn’t seek a less drastic, controversial option. At the same time, however, we can see how school officials across the state will decide to over-correct on the side of caution, intimidated by the poisonous rhetoric coming from DeSantis’ office and key lawmakers even before the worst of his agenda takes effect.
But the anguish coming from audience members was equally compelling.
Heartfelt pleas
For more than two hours, Seminole board members heard from students, teachers and community members — pleading with them to stop the defacement of the yearbook.
Yearbook staff members were courageous and prepared to defend their work. A yearbook photographer read out the district’s restrictions on yearbook content. An editor quoted case law that protected students’ freedom of speech. Another described her sense of outrage at the threat to erase a moment that was deeply significant to many students.
Madison Koesler, a Lyman High School graduate who took the photos of the protest, was among many speakers whose voice trembled as she implored board members. “They were protesting to be heard. To be seen, to be cared about. To beg to be told it’s OK to simply exist,” she said, of the students whose photographs would be covered. “If you cover these pictures you are hurting the people you are supposed to protect.”
Then it was the School Board’s turn to talk. And they made it clear that they were dismayed and disgusted to be caught in hyper-partisan crossfire. They quickly settled on a far less onerous option — small stickers to be pasted on the page, saying the protest was not a school-sponsored event. They won’t cover any photographs or text.
“I will personally write the check to order different stickers,” chairman Amy Pennock said. “I will drive to 10 different stores and buy stickers.” Other board members were quick to agree.
Worse to come
This is what it’s going to look like, for the coming months and until the “hate slate” of laws passed in the recent session are repealed or struck down. There’s one new law that punishes the teaching of a concept known as “critical race theory” — and is likely to stifle discussion of the many ways racism can manifest in today’s world. Others make it easier for ideologues to challenge the availability of books that address bigotry. Recently the state went through an embarrassing exercise where dozens of math textbooks were rejected because of “objectionable” content — that a review by the Sentinel and the South Florida Sun Sentinel revealed wasn’t even present in most of the canceled books.
Florida’s elected school officials, who can expect to be buffeted by emotional and sometimes accusatory scenes over the coming months, deserve better than this. So do teachers, who are afraid to speak out freely less they run afoul of the new law. So do taxpayers, whose resources are being wasted by these divisive distractions.
But those who will pay the most of all are the students, bewildered and betrayed by the decisions of adults they trusted. Tuesday night’s meeting ended in a moment of triumph, but leaves a lingering fear: There is more pain ahead for students across Florida. And they did nothing to deserve it.
The Orlando Sentinel Editorial Board consists of Opinion Editor Krys Fluker, Editor-in-Chief Julie Anderson, Viewpoints Editor Jay Reddick and El Sentinel Editor Jennifer A. Marcial Ocasio. Contact us at insight @orlandosentinel.com