William Shakespeare has become the latest victim of the rules that restrict the reading and educational content of students in the Florida public schools.
With a view to the new school year, the language teachers of the schools of the condado Hillsborough have received instructions that they will only be able to read certain passages in class of plays like “Hamlet” or “Romeo and Juliet”chosen for not having sexual or racial content.
Hillsborough school authorities limited access to Shakespeare’s works under the Parental Rights in Education Actpromoted by the governor Ron DeSantis and popularly known as the “Don’t Say Gay” law, because it prohibits educational contentions about gender identity and other issues.
The law punishes with disciplinary action against teachers that break the rules, but also parents can sue.
“the teachers are scared. (…) They don’t know what they can and can’t do and they walk like that on a thin layer of ice when they meet the needs of students,” Rob Kriete, president of the Hillsborough County Teachers Association, told WSLN channel, ” This is a huge challenge for all of us in public education right now,” he added.