A Florida teacher that DeSantis fired has promised to hold the governor accountable for what the teacher sees as removing books from a school. Brian Covey was a full time substitute math teacher who posted a viral video about empty bookshelves. There are new laws involving “book bans” and Covey wanted to show the world that books were being removed from Florida classrooms.
The teacher got booted
The governor eventually terminated him but Covey isn’t stopping. He’s trying to expose “the reality of public schools”, insisting that DeSantis’ rule is a reign of terror.
The video came from his elementary school in Duval County where there was a book fair during Literacy Week in January. His son told him the school was pulling books.
Since y'all wanna play the "this isn't really happening" game https://t.co/bVUFOXPc6a pic.twitter.com/fUUkJgi5ls
— JagsFanBrian✊🏿✊🏽✊ (@JagsFanBrian) January 27, 2023
The teacher tweeted late January
Covey wrote, “They removed every single book from my children’s classrooms. I read books about the consequences of this when I was in school.”
Covey continued, “It just didn’t sit right with me, and I couldn’t figure out how, as a parent, to explain why this was happening to my kids. My kids are avid readers, and it just seems so beyond belief that this is the reality of public schools.”
The viral video you are sharing shows less than half the story. Yes, those shelves were empty. But they were in a room full of books. See the video below for the full story. pic.twitter.com/fy50zNS7Ab
— DCPS (@DuvalSchools) February 17, 2023
The teacher posted the clip to Twitter
His own middle school library was bare of books. The video captured millions of eyes overnight. Covey captioned it with “Since y’all wanna play the ‘this isn’t really happening’ game”. In January Duval County school were told to “err on the side of caution” as to what would be “developmentally appropriate for student use.”
Florida educators are alarmed about potentially violating the law and risking their licenses. Nothing was said to the teacher til his viral video caught the governor’s attention. DeSantis is being painted as somebody who doesn’t want books. “What they’re trying to do is they’re trying to act like somehow we don’t want books.” Covey explained, “I went to school the next day, and nothing was said to me. They had the option to just remove me from Mandarin Middle School, but they terminated my access countywide, and they terminated my employment with them.”
