Escambia County Public Schools opens the 2023-24 school year on Thursday, Aug. 10. Students may find few books in their classroom libraries and limited selections in their school libraries.
Cody Strother, coordinator of communications, confirmed the school district is reviewing books in relation to House Bill 1069.
In an email, he wrote, “We intend to have at least some books ready to circulate at all of our school libraries when students return. Some of our elementary-level libraries may be able to open with access to all books from day one, but not all will be ready—but all of the elementary libraries, even those without certified media specialists at this time, should be able to open with access to some titles.”
Classroom libraries will remain closed until media specialists review the collection. Strother said media specialists will be permitted to “check out collections of already-approved titles to teachers for students to select for independent reading.”
Why this matters: According to the Florida Department of Education, only 42% of Escambia County’s public school students are at or above their grade level for English Language Arts. Okaloosa and Santa Rosa counties have 58% at grade level or above.
Dig Deeper: HB 1069 makes objecting to books and instructional materials easier for the public. The bill requires forms to be “easy to read and understand” and accessible on school district websites. If anyone objects based on possible pornographic content or material that describes sexual conduct, schools are required to remove the material within five days and remain unavailable to students until the objection is resolved.
- Further restrictions in HB 1069 include prohibiting instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity. The bill states “a person’s sex is an immutable biological trait and that it is false to ascribe to a person a pronoun that does not correspond to such person’s sex.”
Insulin Price Fixing
Thirteen pending insulin price-fixing lawsuits against the companies that dominate the insulin manufacturing and pharmacy benefit management markets have been consolidated into multidistrict litigation.
- “The consolidation is definitely going help us,” said attorney Troy Rafferty, whose firm, Levin Papantonio Rafferty, is one of the lead firms in these cases. “It’s going help us take on these massive corporations. There are 13 right now, but there will be hundreds and hundreds more because, as we find out, these corporations have been milking patients, taxpayers, everybody for decades.”
He added, “The consolidation in New Jersey in front of Judge Brian R. Martinotti allows us to take on these large corporations for what they’ve been doing.”
——-
The defendants in these cases include insulin manufacturers Eli Lilly and Company, Novo Nordisk, Inc. and Sanofi-Aventis U.S. LLC, and, on the PBM side, CVS Caremark, Express Scripts, Optum Rx and their various corporate affiliates.
Rafferty explained the cost of insulin has soarted in the last 20 years, even though the product hasn’t changed since it was discovered in 1921.
“These pharmaceutical companies aren’t spending money on research and development, and the cost of production has gone way down,” he said. “They’re spending money on marketing, rebates and kickbacks. These pharmacy benefit management companies, some of the largest corporations in America, have increased the price of it across the board, over a thousand percent in the last 20 years.”
What’s next? “The judge will set an initial case management conference, and we’ll propose trial dates and set schedules for discovery. It’s really up to the judge how fast it goes. We’re going to be pushing this because it’s costing taxpayers and patients millions of dollars. I hope to get something on the trial docket in 2024.”
No Need To Brush Up Your Shakespeare
Hillsborough County students won’t be allowed to read “Macbeth,” “Hamlet” and “Romeo & Juliet” in their entirey in class – may not even find the plays in their school libraries, if their high school has a library.
The Tampa Bay Times reports school district officials said they redesigned their instructional guides for teachers because of revised state teaching standards. Teachers that include the more Shakespeare more racy parts might have to defend themselves against a parent complaint or a disciplinary case at their school.
