Florida school district to only teach excerpts from Shakespeare under new regulations
Pupils in a Florida school district will only be reading excerpts of Shakespeare rather than the full plays after new guidelines regarding sexual content in the curriculum were brought in.
Hillsborough County informed teachers that parts of the Bard’s classics contain sections which are sexual in nature and therefore cannot be taught following the passing of the Parental Rights in Education Act.
The legislation, dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” law by its opponents, limits classroom materials that “contain pornography or obscene depictions of sexual conduct”.
Other reasons included revised state standards and an effort to get students to read a wide variety of books for new state exams, the school district said in an emailed statement on Tuesday.
Several Shakespeare plays use suggestive puns and innuendo, and it is implied that the protagonists have had premarital sex in “Romeo and Juliet.”
The playwright’s books will however be available for checkout at media centres at schools, the district said.
“First and foremost, we have not excluded Shakespeare from our high school curriculum.
“Students will still have the physical books to read excerpts in class,” the statement said.
“Curriculum guides are continually reviewed and refined throughout the year to align with state standards and current law.”
The decision in Tampa is the latest fallout from laws passed by Florida’s Republican-controlled Legislature and championed by Governor Ron DeSantis over the past two years.
The first was passed last year and prohibited classroom discussion about sexual orientation or gender identity in lower grades.
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The second law passed this year extended the prohibition on gender and sexual orientation discussion to other grades.
It also prevents students and teachers from being required to use preferred pronouns that don’t correspond to biological sex and strengthens the system by which people can lodge challenges against school books.
Republicans said at the time that the bill was intended to shield children from sexualised content.
Underscoring the confusion over what is allowed in schools, Florida Education Commissioner Manny Diaz on Tuesday put “Romeo and Juliet” on his list of books he is recommending that students read in August.
“This month’s book recommendations provide a variety of reading materials that students will find uplifting and will spark a love for literacy,” Diaz said in a statement.
Dozens of supporters were outside court as the man accused of fatally shooting the chief executive of UnitedHealthcare made his first appearance.
Luigi Mangione has pleaded not guilty to multiple counts of murder following the 4 December killing of Brian Thompson, 50, outside a midtown Manhattan hotel.
The 26-year-old is accused of ambushing and shooting the executive as he walked to an investor conference.
Luigi Mangione supporters stand outside the Supreme Court. Pic: AP Photo/Stefan Jeremiah
Dozens of people who showed up in court to support the suspect including former army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning who was jailed for stealing classified diplomatic cables.
Dozens more queued in the hallway.
Mangione is also facing federal charges that could carry the possibility of the death penalty.
The judge set a deadline of 9 April to submit pre-trial motions.
Luigi Mangione is accused of fatally shooting Brian Thompson. Pic: Steven Hirsch/New York Post via AP
In addition to the New York cases, Mr Mangione also faces charges of forgery, carrying firearms without a licence, and other counts in Pennsylvania, where authorities arrested him at a McDonald’s.
Police say he was in possession of a gun, bullets, multiple fake IDs and a handwritten document that expressed “ill will” towards corporate America.
He is being held in a Brooklyn jail alongside several other high-profile defendants, including music mogul and rapper Sean “Diddy” Combs, and disgraced crypto entrepreneur Sam Bankman-Fried.
The killing prompted some to voice their resentment at US health insurers, with Mangione attracting a cult following.
A poll taken in the wake of the shooting showed most Americans believe health insurance profits and coverage denials were partly to blame for the incident.
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