Florida students and teachers have a whole new list of rules to follow when they return to the classroom.
Student pronouns and bathroom choices are all things that headlined the State Board of Education meeting Wednesday.
TikTok was also formally banned in Florida schools. It also banned students from using the restrooms they identify with.
Teachers are also banned from recognizing students by the pronouns they use. Many students went to the Orlando meeting to protest.
Lola Smith is 12 years old and told the state education board they are sacrificing education for an anti-woke agenda.
“The victims are the students! Shame on you,” Smith said.
She is upset that teachers will not be allowed to refer to pronouns that students like her identify as.
Mack Bruderman, who is a trans man, agreed.
“It’s just flat-out rude and disrespectful to make it a requirement to refuse to call someone by their preferred name and pronouns,” Bruderman stated.
Mental health counselor Dr. Laura Streyffler warned against the message the state is sending to students by instituting the new rules.
“It’s the teacher saying ‘I don’t see you. I don’t care what you want. I don’t care how you see yourself’…and that it is the concerning part,” Dr. Streyffler said.
Arlene Goldberg runs an LGBTQ+ community center in Fort Myers and said the new rules also instill fear.
“They’re very afraid to come forward and talk because of what can happen to them,” Goldberg noted.
The state also requires students to use the bathroom according to the sex they were assigned at birth.
Those rules that Lee School Board member Armor Persons supports.
“We’ll come up with some kind of a resolution that is good for all. It’s usually a bathroom that is unisex in the clinic or elsewhere. It’s obviously a two-sided thing,” he said.
Schools are also banned from using TikTok to communicate with parents and they forbid it on any school devices.
Students can use TikTok on their personal phones, however, they cannot use the district’s WIFI to access it.
Rob Spicker with the Lee School District said these are all rules teachers are being made aware of.
“Training with administrators and guidance started in the summer and continues on after the school year starts,” Spicker noted.
The state also banned drag queens from going into schools and teachers are forbidden to take students on field trips to see a drag queen.