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Reposted by Kara Yorio

Florida Freedom to Read Project @flfreedomread.bsky.social · 22h

Public school parents overwhelmingly trust the curation of library professionals.

When we enroll our children at a school, we assume the school will give them every opportunity to access the same resources available to other students without unnecessary barriers to entry.

We are still working on gathering data from across the state, but the trends that we saw the last three years don’t appear to have changed much regarding public school parents and their desire (or lack thereof) to restrict their children’s library access.

When the district assumes parents will want their children to access the library (most districts do), there’s usually less than 1% of parents choosing to set restrictions. While this data only reflects seven districts, six of seven (yes, we know what we did there) are “red” districts politically and the four with 100% access are very “red.”

Those that know that state well, also know that Sarasota and Hernando are also considered very “red” and they also have a lot of special interest activity and influence in their districts. These districts created a policy where they don’t want to assume to know what parents want, so the default denies students access to resources otherwise made available to the majority of students that have gained parent permission.

Sarasota’s form is part of the annual electronic paperwork that parents must complete, so they were able to retain 92.7% of returned forms. If parents completed the form in the past, the prior selection remains in the system until a parent makes a change. Hernando is a different story, and it’s why they only have 51.56% of forms turned in.

Denying library access until a form is turned in creates an unnecessary barrier to entry for students.

The truth cannot be denied: public school parents overwhelmingly trust the curation of library professionals. When we enroll our children at a school, we assume the school will give them every opportunity to access the same resources available to other students.

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Reposted by Kara Yorio

Martha Hickson @sassylibrarian.bsky.social · 1d

THE LIBRARIANS is a Critics Choice Awards nominee for "Best Political Documentary"! @thelibrariansfilm.bsky.social

Nominees for Nest Political Documentary, Critics Choice Documentary Awards.
The Alabama Solution
Apocalypse in the Tropics
Deaf President Now
The Librarians
My Undesirable Friends
Orwell 2+2=5

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Kara Yorio @karayorio.bsky.social · 2d

share.google/DSBQhqJm26WK...

A Secret Weapon for Improving Student Outcomes: Better Air Quality

Carel: Research shows that test scores and attendance improve when schools install air filters and upgrade ventilation.

share.google

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Tracy O’Connell Novick @tracynovick.bsky.social · 2d

it is not an exaggeration to say that schools in the U.S. are left to cope with all of societies undersupported needs.

Here's today's:

Cincinnati Public Schools set to open Safe Sleep Lot for homeless students and families

www.wlwt.com/article/cinc...

Cincinnati Public Schools set to open Safe Sleep Lot for homeless students and families

One of the parking lots at Taft Elementary will transform into a safe sleep lot for families in a couple of months, helping to meet a growing need in the district.

www.wlwt.com

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Reposted by Kara Yorio

ProPublica @propublica.org · 3d

NEW: Following public outcry, the Department of Education has reversed its decision to cut funding for students who have both hearing and vision loss, opting instead to reroute grants to an organization that will provide funding to these students.

Education Dept. Reverses Decision to Halt Funds for Deafblind Student Programs

Following public outcry, the Department of Education has reversed its decision to cut funding for students who have both hearing and vision loss, opting instead to reroute grants to an organization that will provide funding to these students.

www.propublica.org

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Kara Yorio @karayorio.bsky.social · 4d

This Until It’s Done series has been so good. Sharing history while putting forward policy plans for the future.
“In a time of darkness, New York City must be the light.”
In a time when history is being erased, these videos documenting the past are vital.

Zohran Kwame Mamdani @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social · 4d

UNTIL IT’S DONE, Ep. 4: Sylvia Rivera

In the 1970s, queer New Yorkers had been pushed to the margins of NYC. Our trans neighbors faced immense cruelty. But in Sylvia Rivera, they found a champion.

As we combat Trump’s politics of darkness, her legacy can light the path forward.

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The Bulwark @thebulwark.com · 5d

George was just trying to get to work.

ICE pepper-sprayed him, dragged him from his car, locked him in a detention center, and placed him on suicide watch. He even missed his young daughter’s birthday in the process.

This man is a veteran and American citizen. Don't look away.

The Bulwark @thebulwark.com · 5d

"They put me on suicide watch and they put me in the cell, I'm naked, in like a hospital dress and just a concrete bed with like a mattress, like a thin mattress and, they leave the light on 24/7."

@timmiller.bsky.social talked to a veteran who ICE wrongly detained and brutalized

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Maggie Tokuda-Hall @maggietokudahall.bsky.social · 5d

Today my daughter's preschool is holding a farewell assembly for one of her classmates whose mother has no choice but to self deport. The school is hoping it will be joyful in tone, so we might make this less upsetting for this 3 year old.

There's just no words for the uselessness of this cruelty.

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Christopher Webb @cwebbonline.com · 6d

Sometimes we need a moment, but if you tune out completely, they win. Fascism doesn’t need your support, just your silence.

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Kathy Ishizuka @kishizuka.bsky.social · 5d

Stickers emblazoned with “censorship is so 1984,” the ALA’s 2025 Banned Books Week theme, were also confiscated from the Lihue library. - KWXX

State Library System Bans Displays Referring to 'Banned Books Week | KWXX - Hilo, HI

Last week Lani Kawahara, who oversees the young adult section at Kauai's largest library, set up her annual display to mark Banned Books Week, a national campaign that kicked off Sunday to spotli

www.kwxx.com

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ProPublica @propublica.org · 6d

The Education Department has hired at least 9 people from the America First Policy Institute, co-founded by Secretary Linda McMahon.

The think tank’s listed goals include ending the separation of church and state and “plant[ing] Jesus in every space.”

These Activists Want to Dismantle Public Schools. Now They Run the Education Department.

Under Trump, the Department of Education has been bringing in activists hostile to public schools. It could mean a new era of private and religious schools boosted by tax dollars — and the end of publ...

www.propublica.org

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David Corn @davidcorn.bsky.social · 6d

That got dark quickly.

Juno Rylee Schultz @junoryleejournalism.com · 7d

David Simon, creator of ‘The Wire’, being interviewed by Ari Shapiro (NPR)

SHAPIRO: OK, so you've spent your career creating television without Al, and I could imagine today you thinking, boy, I wish I had had that tool to solve those thorny problems...
SIMON: What?
SHAPIRO: ...Or saying...
SIMON: You imagine that?
SHAPIRO: ...Boy, if that had existed, it would have screwed me over.
SIMON: I don't think Al can remotely challenge what writers do at a fundamentally creative level.
SHAPIRO: But if you're trying to transition from scene five to scene six, and you're stuck with that transition, you could imagine plugging that portion of the script into an Al and say, give me 10 ideas for how to transition this.
SIMON: I'd rather put a gun in my mouth.

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Fallon Farokhi @thestoryspectator.bsky.social · 6d

What does author Derrick Barnes Hope children get from his books?

“They have the power to change things where they are. You don’t have to wait until you’re an adult.” ⤵️

#SLJDOD #schoollibraries

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Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 6d

Hey, the NJ gubernatorial election is less than a month away.

If the Democrats here want to start rolling out any kind of ad campaign that tells voters what Mikie Sherrill will do, that'd be super.

And no, "I can fly a helicopter" doesn't count.

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Kara Yorio @karayorio.bsky.social · 7d

Good Comics for Kids Review: Refugee: The Graphic Novel
goodcomicsforkids.slj.com/2025/10/07/r...

Review: Refugee: The Graphic Novel

In this graphic adaptation of his best-selling middle-grade novel, Alan Gratz weaves together three stories of refugees in different times and places and brings them to a stunning conclusion.

goodcomicsforkids.slj.com

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southpaw @nycsouthpaw.bsky.social · 7d

This South Side Weekly report on the Chicago building raid is well worth reading. Most striking to me are the indications of collusion between federal authorities and the building owner and management to effect a mass eviction at the blighted property. southsideweekly.com/federal-agen...

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Jacob Soboroff @jacobsoboroff.bsky.social · 8d

“I’m just trying to find any clues, ideas, see where they took him, why they took him. And what’s the whole purpose for this?”

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Frank Strong @frankstrong.bsky.social · 8d

GREAT NEWS from Leander ISD. To Kill a Mockingbird, House on Mango St, and Narrative of Life of Frederick Douglass will be returned to classrooms after a massive outcry. Thanks to everyone who spoke up!!!

From an email to teachers today:

*An important update regarding the books that
were previously paused from curriculum use as a
result of concerns around Senate Bill 12.
Thirty-six of the forty books are being reinstated
to the secondary curriculum book list, with
revisions made to the curriculum to ensure TEKS
alignment and compliance with SB 12. Four
titles, Stamped, Melissa (George), Gracefully
Grayson, and The 57 Bus, will remain paused for
additional review of curriculum alignment. Please
note that all books, including these four, should
remain available, or be returned if removed, to
classroom libraries for individual student choice
reading.

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Ryan Marino, MD @ryanmarino.bsky.social · 8d

“Conversion therapy” is a euphemism for child abuse, and every mainstream medical and mental health organization has rejected this practice for decades. There is no evidence that it does anything besides harm children. It is one of the few subjects where there is an overwhelming medical consensus.

Conversion therapy is universally opposed as harmful by major medical organizations, including (but not limited to) the American Academy of Child Adolescent Psychiatry, American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy, American Medical Association(AMA), American Psychiatric Association, American Psychological Association (APA), and the American School Health Association.
Links: https://www.hrc.org/press-releases/medical-experts-lgbtq-people-agree-conversion-therapy-is-no-replacement-for-health-care

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Banned Books Week @bannedbooksweek.bsky.social · 9d

“This concept that small group of people, whatever their motivations, get to choose for the overwhelming majority of people is absurd. It is tyranny.”

@halseanderson.bsky.social speaks up from the Big Chair!

w/ @sagepub.com

youtu.be/dhsqHBpU2Pk?...

#BannedBooksWeek #CensorshipIsSo1984

BBW 2025 from The Big Chair - Author, Laurie Halse Anderson

YouTube video by Banned Books Week

youtu.be

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God @thegodpodcast.com · 9d

Please watch her final words to us all. They are beautiful and have given me a grounding sort of hope. Maybe they’ll help you too.

Bless Dr. Jane Goodall’s Final Message To Humanity

In which she tells us who she'd launch into space.

www.thegodpodcast.com

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That Librarian: Amanda Jones @librarianjones.com · 10d

Take at least ONE action to help defend books from censorship and speak up for those who make them available. Find resources/tools + actions you can take in just 5 mins: uniteagainstbookbans.org/let-freedom-read-day #BannedBooksWeek #UniteAgainstBookBans @la-cac.org @aaslala.bsky.social

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Waldo Jaquith, but Spooky @waldo.net · 10d

The Trump administration has cancelled 4,304 deliveries to food banks so far this year, refusing to deliver 94 million pounds of contracted-for food. Food banks simply can’t feed people enough anymore. Millions of Americans are going hungry as a result.

Trump Canceled 94 Million Pounds of Food Aid. Here’s What Never Arrived.

ProPublica obtained records from the Department of Agriculture that detail the millions of pounds of food, down to the number of eggs, that never reached food banks because of the administration’s cut...

projects.propublica.org

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jenn m. jackson @jennmjacksonphd.bsky.social · 11d

The Vice President of the United States used his social media page to tell Joy Reid, a private citizen with no connection to the government, that she should express "gratitude" for how this country has treated her.

Black women remain the most consistent targets in all of this.

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Science Magazine @science.org · 12d

As government websites go dark, educators across the country have been reworking lesson plans and searching for reliable sources of up-to-date scientific information. https://scim.ag/46Vlwxu

Science teachers scramble as U.S. climate resources vanish

As government websites go dark, some nonprofits are trying to fill the void

scim.ag

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