FL School District Removes Dictionaries From Libraries

Popular Information reports:

The Escambia County School District, located in the Florida panhandle, has removed several dictionaries from its library shelves over concerns that making the dictionaries available to students would violate Florida law.

The American Heritage Children’s Dictionary, Webster’s Dictionary for Students, and Merriam-Webster’s Elementary Dictionary are among more than 2800 books that have been pulled from Escambia County school libraries and placed into storage. The Escambia County School District says these texts may violate HB 1069, a bill signed into law by Governor Ron DeSantis (R) in May 2023.

Along with dictionaries, the books removed from Escambia County school libraries as a result of this process include eight different encyclopedias, two thesauruses, and five editions of The Guinness Book of World Records.

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The @JuddLegum just reported that Florida schools are removing dictionaries — you read that right — from their libraries for fear of running afoul of Ron DeSantis’s absurd laws. Not that kids just can’t Google stuff, but this is still ridiculous. https://t.co/OYEvwuivxO

— James ٩( ᐛ )و Mielke (@LimitedRunJames) January 10, 2024