If you want to understand why more and more people are losing faith in the media and public education, look no further than Broward County School Board member Sarah Leonardi.
Leonardi tweeted what appeared to be a collection of books that the Florida Department of Education had “approved” for use in public schools — amid a controversy over books that may be removed for unsuitable content, as outlined in a new state law.
“The FL Department of Education released a list of approved books for K-12 probably to distract from all the books being banned in this state,” Leonardi tweeted on Thursday.
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“The list has ninth and twelfth grade misspelled in a moment of symbolism that shouldn’t be lost on any of us.”
While Leonardi didn’t expound on what that “moment of symbolism” — if meant to be symbolic, why not purposefully misspell all the grades? — may be or represent, her tweet turned out to be wrong.
The list had nothing to do with the ongoing debate over appropriate books.
Leonardi said in a second tweet that she got the list from an “unassuming” story done by First Coast News earlier this month.
Turned out they got the list wrong.
Education Secretary Manny Diaz Jr. addressed the manufactured controversy on Monday.
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“This document was not written by the Department, so you might want to delete this,” he tweeted to Leonardi.
“If you really want to see the books in our standards, they haven’t changed for 3 years,” he added, providing Leonardi a link to the real state list.
“As a school board member you should know better.”
The conservative website Florida’s Voice noted on Monday that First Coast News had obtained the list from Duval County Public Schools, which in recent weeks has been a hotbed of fake news about the state’s effort to keep quasi-pornographic and anti-white race-baiting books out of the hands of Florida’s youngest students.
First Coast News reported that the list it received from the school system was created this year — which coincides with the increased attention given to a new state law calling for reviews of library books for objectionable material.
Yet Florida’s Voice noted that the guide dated to 2020, as Diaz indicated.
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Moreover, the list was created in 2020 “as a guide for teachers, curriculum developers, and test makers as they prepare their instructional units and materials for Florida students,” a handbook accompanying the list said.
“It is not intended to be exhaustive but to serve as a foundation for educators when selecting additional rich and meaningful texts.”
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