SARASOTA COUNTY – Dictionaries are being denied by Sarasota County schools.
According to the Herald-Tribune, the Sarasota County School District stopped all donations of books for the 2022-2023 school year. The district is waiting for more guidance from the Florida Department of Education on how to the state’s new education laws. The book freeze lasts until at least January.
Right now, hundreds of dictionaries a Venice Rotary Club were going to donate are not going to Sarasota County students.
The club donates about 300 dictionaries a year and 4-thousand to date.
The pause on donations is an unintended consequence of new laws passed by Florida’s legislature and championed by Governor Ron DeSantis, particularly HB 1467. The law requires all reading material in schools to be selected by an employee with a valid education media specialist certificate. The district was still looking to hire three media specialists to vet books as of Friday.
