Florida Politicians Are Putting Public School Teachers Through Hell

Ring of Fire's Farron Cousins responds to the following question from one of our YouTube Community members: "How do you maintain your sanity as the husband of a Florida Teacher? I left public education because I could not get help with induction, got told I could not grade homework, I could not teach any kind of discipline... oh and the class sizes I had were insane... you don't have to share, but I was in Duval county with average class size of 28. I went private sector and never went back."

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*This transcript was generated by a third-party transcription software company, so please excuse any typos.

We'll start off with a question from Robin Wood who asks, how do you maintain your sanity as the husband of a Florida teacher? I left public education because I could not get help with induction. I got told I could not grade homework, I could not teach any kind of discipline. Oh, in the class sizes I had were insane. You don't have to share. But I was in Duval County with average class size of 28. It went private sector and never went back. Um, that is a great question, and to be honest, you know, it, it is difficult with the atmosphere down here in the state of Florida. The massive attacks we have on teachers, uh, coming from Republicans, like not just the constituents, but obviously from the lawmakers as well, and those are the ones that are the most terrifying. Teachers are pulling books off their classroom shelves to avoid being hit with felony charges from Ron DeSantis administration because it is now illegal to have a book, like a regular book in your classroom that has not been pre-approved by a certified librarian or media specialist.

If you are caught with one, you will face felony charges here in the state of Florida. So it, it is terrifying. It's terrifying thinking that my wife might get hauled out in handcuffs because she didn't realize a kid in her classroom had a book that wasn't supposed to be there, allegedly. Um, and, and you know, I've, I've been very open before. She has had issues. She's been accused of pushing critical race theory, uh, all because she had one single book that was about, uh, immigrants coming into the United States. It was a fiction book and it told the story of two brothers that came into the United States seeking a better life for themselves. It was actually a very pro-America book, but parents got, caused a whole backlash, you know, investigation, all kinds of stuff. It was terrible. So I do worry because all it takes is one right wing idiot, which is what this area is filled with to go in there, file a complaint, because they don't understand the subject matter.

By the way, my, my, my wife has totally vindicated in this. The county, uh, agreed they stood up for her, but it still caused a big thing because one parent caused a big stink about all of this based on something they didn't even understand. And yes, they did use the words critical race theory in the complaint. So it's terrifying. It's terrifying. Again, to think that my wife could be jailed for this. It's also terrifying. Just in general with the state of guns across the country, I have had to sit down with my children and, and explain to them what to do if someone with a gun enters their school. Those are conversations we shouldn't have to have with our kids. They've gone through active shooter

Training. My wife has gone through the faculty active shooter trading, which includes, by the way, barring the doors and not letting any screaming students in you, you have to leave them out there in the hallway with the shooter. It's horrifying. Every aspect of being a teacher in the state of Florida right now is, is terrifying. And I will say another teacher at my wife's school, a conservative, had a conservative book in her classroom by a well-known conservative author. It was in the teacher, it was on display, I believe for parents night. Uh, the about me things I liked the teacher set up a little table of things. She likes that book was there, parent made a complaint, caused a big stink. So it does go both ways and it's not fair to any of these teachers, right, left center, doesn't matter.