Progressives are not happy about Florida’s effort to ensure that small children are not being exposed to inappropriate material in schools. Ever since the state’s legislature passed the Parental Rights in Education legislation, they have been railing against Gov. Ron DeSantis and Republican state lawmakers, claiming, without evidence, that they are targeting members of the LGBTQ community.
In the latest episode of “Let’s Get Mad at People Who Don’t Want Pornography In Schools,” a Florida teacher was placed on administrative leave after he filmed a series of TikTok videos featuring his students spreading his “pro-pornography for kids” propaganda.
Florida’s Voice reported:
Orange County Public Schools announced a middle school teacher would be placed on administrative leave after using students as “political props” in TikTok videos that implied Florida schools were banning books such as dictionaries.
Howard Middle School Language Arts teacher Ethan Hooper posted videos of skits with his students acting out that Florida had banned books such as dictionaries and Harry Potter.
Libs of TikTok posted a montage of the videos on Twitter. The educator removed the videos, after Florida’s Voice reached out to the school district asking “whether it was appropriate behavior for a teacher.”
Superintendent Maria Vazquez said she was “appalled at the behavior and judgment of the teacher” who used “students as political props.”
“This is not free speech — it is the exploitation of our students for political purposes and it will not be tolerated in our school district,” she added.
Orange County Public Schools Media Manager Michael Ollendorf insisted that the district would “not tolerate” teachers exploiting children for political purposes.
“Any employee of who creates videos or other content with students in an effort to exploit them for political purposes will be immediately removed from the classroom, placed on administrative leave and swift action will be taken to terminate employment,” he said.
The videos were titled “P.O.V. A Florida Classroom” and showed the teacher encouraging students to repeat that they “shall not read books” and that “books are bad.”
In another video, he pretended to ban “Harry Potter,” books with “a black boy,” along with others.
“About to run up on these kids and start banning these books right away,” Hooper said in one of the videos, before going into his classroom.
It appears Hooper was parroting one of the talking points that progressives are using to defend inappropriate materials in classrooms and school libraries. They claim conservative politicians like DeSantis are guilty of “book banning,” in a not-so-subtle reference to Nazi Germany.
DeSantis’ administration recently announced that over 20 schools removed books in the past school year that “contained pornography, violence, or were not appropriate for the grade level,” according to Florida’s Voice.
The Daily Signal reported that “[a]n overwhelming majority of books removed from Florida Schools since the beginning of the academic year in September 2022 were pornographic, violent, or inappropriate for students’ grade levels.”
This number comes from the state’s Education Department.
Indeed, Jeremy Redfern, a deputy press secretary for Gov. DeSantis, posted images of some of the books in question. One of these was a book titled “It’s Perfectly Normal,” which is intended for 10-year-old children. The book features graphic depictions of sexual acts and encourages readers to masturbate.
“Many people masturbate. Many don’t. Whether you masturbate or not is your choice. Masturbating is perfectly normal,” one section reads.
In another, the author notes that “Most often, people have sexual intercourse because it feels good.”
Another passage reads: “Another kind of sexual intercourse happens when the sexual parts of two people who have female bodies touch or when the sexual parts of two people who have male bodies touch.”
Redfern’s thread also shows other books featuring material that is inappropriate for small children.
Nevertheless, progressives still continue to cry foul against schools removing sexual content from the classroom, claiming that the issue is overblown. But the fact that folks like Libs of TikTok and other continue exposing videos made by teachers boasting about discussing their sexuality with children has blown up that particular narrative.