According to a FOX News report, ‘woke’ teachers in Florida need not worry about any legislation that is passed nor any parental outrage as one Florida school board member, Tom Edwards from Sarasota, ‘reassured’ teachers that “there are coalitions forming to protect you.” Edwards added that teachers can be reassured because work is being done by the ‘woke’ teachers on the “inside” who have the power in the classroom to do what they want. Navigating loopholes is not difficult for professionals who entered a field in which creativity and thinking outside-of-the-box are among the strongest qualities that make great teachers, and ‘woke’ teachers have thus far been effectively curtailing many of the efforts taken to stop them from teaching their agendas. 

This article is just one of many that proves that there is no refuge from ‘wokeness’ as long as ‘woke’ teachers are the ones in the classroom. Though Governor DeSantis is taking immense efforts to pass legislation to prevent a radical wave trickling through each Florida school, his work will only be in vain if we fail to make any changes on the inside. Step Up For Students is one organization that is brilliantly staying prevalent in Florida, even working with the Governor’s office itself, and one will find after deep research that it is incredibly ‘woke’ being run by radicals who admire figures like Malcom X and Ibram X. Kendi, and are supporters of Black Lives Matter. After we uncovered the radical leftist agenda and inspiration behind Step Up For Students, they appeared to have made changes to their staff and website in an effort to continue shielding their true intentions.  

The FOX News article also highlighted one Florida school board member, Ashley Gilhousen, who shared that she is “disgusted” by the pornographic books in her school’s library who shared her experience trying to get them removed from the shelves. She noted that the books that appear on the shelves begin with the school library media specialist whose purchases are then signed off by an administrator who is accountable to the superintendent – if all participants are radical leftists, the check-marks make themselves. Though Gilhousen is challenging the school to take inappropriate books off the shelves in the school library, it is uncertain whether or not they may appear in a classroom library or in one of Scholastic’s flyers that is sent to the school, let alone the teacher’s independent lessons. While getting inappropriate books removed from school libraries is an effort worth making, parents should not surrender their concerns at the point they are successful, but continue to closely monitor as best they can what their child is being exposed to in other parts of the school. Ultimately, the library media specialist is responsible for the books in the school library, but while monitoring the school library is important, there are organizations who send books directly to teachers’ classrooms and those are not as easily monitored. 

Although parents must always be aware of their child’s education and express concerns when they arise, their viewpoints are typically not sincerely considered or appreciated. As unfortunate as it is to say, teachers, administrators, and other faculty do not readily accept advice from those who are not in their field, including those who are from the government and have never taught in a classroom before. Part of what makes a teacher effective is being able to word their statements without giving away an answer, and when responding to parents, if they should respond in agreement, it may simply be a conversation that in the end leads to nowhere. 

As Edwards asserted, a coalition in Florida is forming, teachers will be protected, a ‘woke’ curriculum will be implemented, and at the end of the day, outraged parents will not make the difference they believe they are making. The only group of people who can make real and lasting change are the teachers in the classroom, and until conservative and moderate teachers start working inside these schools, the radical left will only grow stronger, more prevalent, and it will be increasingly difficult to save our children and save our country.