Luisa Santos- Miami-Dade District 9
1. Please share your thoughts related to the importance of the school library/media center and the role of a certified, trained librarian/media specialist in schools.
As Miami-Dade County’s School Board Member for District 9, my priority for the past four years has been attending to our students' needs, including the need for an enriched learning environment. I believe that school libraries, media centers, and their trained specialists are a cornerstone of a brighter future for South Dade. I trust our certified, trained librarians and media specialist to curate engaging collections for students of all ages. I can’t help but smile when I think of the joy that the media specialist at Kendale Elementary and Dr. Henry E. Perrine Elementary brought to me as a child. Whether it was introducing me to new ways to break my accelerated reader records or teaching me how to properly conduct research. Every child deserves to experience this and to foster their love of reading. Beyond our school libraries, the Miami-Dade Public Library System (MDPLS) was another place of refuge for me growing up. It was an honor to recognize them with a School Board proclamation, for spearheading innovative work to bridge the gap between our residents and the resources they need to grow. This recognition was both a testament to MDPLS’s continuing success, and my commitment to our shared mission of creating opportunities for lifelong education, exploration, and discovery. Libraries are an important part of our social fabric. They have become even more important as misinformation runs rampant and our society struggles with how to find reliable information. I will continue to champion our media centers and the trained professionals that run them.
2. Florida school libraries/media centers have always supported parents' rights to direct their students' education. How would you balance parental rights and student access to library materials, especially given that some books trigger different reactions among parents, all of whom deserve rights?
As an advocate for education, I believe that the role of our schools extends beyond the scope of in-class instruction. I have remained steadfast in my commitment to structural change within our district that affords our students opportunities to grow into well-rounded individuals by prioritizing equitable access to information outside of the classroom as well. I believe in upholding parents’ rights to direct their individual students' education can go in tandem with my efforts to protect all students’ rights to access comprehensive library collections. I have supported the parent choice transfer process, allowing parents more agency their children's education and made my work and office accessible through live-streaming of School Board meetings, office hours throughout the community, and the Night in D9 event bringing in more than 1500 attendees. My mission for the next four years will be to continue to uphold my promise of access to information that allows for continued growth and learning. I will continue fostering equitable access to diverse reading materials that benefit all of our students, while always respecting parents’ rights to direct their child’s education. I am continuously looking for solutions, rooted in conversations with our community, to ensure we maintain the upmost transparency and trust with all parents and educators within my district.
3. Students have access to reading material through captive classroom instruction, read-alouds and novel studies, as well as through self-selection in libraries where they choose their own book. How would you differentiate between the appropriateness of reading material in a captive classroom vs. self-selection in the school library?
Captive classroom instruction, due to being consistent for all students, is heavily determined by our adopted curriculum, while self-selection, due to being more individualized, is meant to offer a secondary source of information and a broader scope of topics to choose from. I have always supported our instructional materials adoption recommendations from the experts that sit on those review committees. Simultaneously, I plan to continue supporting extensive self-selection collections that allow students the freedom of choice to discover their passions and interests across their educational journeys.
4. As written in Florida House Bill 1069, “Parents shall have the right to read passages from any material that is subject to an objection. If the school board denies a parent the right to read passages due to content" deemed unsuitable as defined in the bill, the school district must discontinue use of the material. If a reader is denied, explain why you would interpret the law by supporting or opposing a fair and public review of the book, as outlined in each district's objection policy.
Florida House Bill 1069 has allowed bad actors to abuse the review process and has led to unnecessary censorship and book banning in Florida schools. In the face of this new law, I supported the now legally necessary review process – which in the Miami-Dade County Public Schools system, takes into consideration educational significance, appropriateness, accuracy, among other factors in the evaluation of reading materials. I am proud to say that in our Miami Schools this fair and comprehensive review of material has led our experts to turn down the overwhelming majority of challenges. I firmly believe in, and am devoted to fostering an educational environment that celebrates diversity and provides an inclusive education for all students. This bill has eroded those efforts, by allowing extremist to dictate what materials all students can and cannot have access to. This has only strengthened my resolve to work towards creating a curriculum that embraces inclusivity, diversity, and equal representation; one that is conscious of the local community and not reflective of an alienated state capital.
As Miami-Dade County’s School Board Member for District 9, my priority for the past four years has been attending to our students' needs, including the need for an enriched learning environment. I believe that school libraries, media centers, and their trained specialists are a cornerstone of a brighter future for South Dade. I trust our certified, trained librarians and media specialist to curate engaging collections for students of all ages. I can’t help but smile when I think of the joy that the media specialist at Kendale Elementary and Dr. Henry E. Perrine Elementary brought to me as a child. Whether it was introducing me to new ways to break my accelerated reader records or teaching me how to properly conduct research. Every child deserves to experience this and to foster their love of reading. Beyond our school libraries, the Miami-Dade Public Library System (MDPLS) was another place of refuge for me growing up. It was an honor to recognize them with a School Board proclamation, for spearheading innovative work to bridge the gap between our residents and the resources they need to grow. This recognition was both a testament to MDPLS’s continuing success, and my commitment to our shared mission of creating opportunities for lifelong education, exploration, and discovery. Libraries are an important part of our social fabric. They have become even more important as misinformation runs rampant and our society struggles with how to find reliable information. I will continue to champion our media centers and the trained professionals that run them.
2. Florida school libraries/media centers have always supported parents' rights to direct their students' education. How would you balance parental rights and student access to library materials, especially given that some books trigger different reactions among parents, all of whom deserve rights?
As an advocate for education, I believe that the role of our schools extends beyond the scope of in-class instruction. I have remained steadfast in my commitment to structural change within our district that affords our students opportunities to grow into well-rounded individuals by prioritizing equitable access to information outside of the classroom as well. I believe in upholding parents’ rights to direct their individual students' education can go in tandem with my efforts to protect all students’ rights to access comprehensive library collections. I have supported the parent choice transfer process, allowing parents more agency their children's education and made my work and office accessible through live-streaming of School Board meetings, office hours throughout the community, and the Night in D9 event bringing in more than 1500 attendees. My mission for the next four years will be to continue to uphold my promise of access to information that allows for continued growth and learning. I will continue fostering equitable access to diverse reading materials that benefit all of our students, while always respecting parents’ rights to direct their child’s education. I am continuously looking for solutions, rooted in conversations with our community, to ensure we maintain the upmost transparency and trust with all parents and educators within my district.
3. Students have access to reading material through captive classroom instruction, read-alouds and novel studies, as well as through self-selection in libraries where they choose their own book. How would you differentiate between the appropriateness of reading material in a captive classroom vs. self-selection in the school library?
Captive classroom instruction, due to being consistent for all students, is heavily determined by our adopted curriculum, while self-selection, due to being more individualized, is meant to offer a secondary source of information and a broader scope of topics to choose from. I have always supported our instructional materials adoption recommendations from the experts that sit on those review committees. Simultaneously, I plan to continue supporting extensive self-selection collections that allow students the freedom of choice to discover their passions and interests across their educational journeys.
4. As written in Florida House Bill 1069, “Parents shall have the right to read passages from any material that is subject to an objection. If the school board denies a parent the right to read passages due to content" deemed unsuitable as defined in the bill, the school district must discontinue use of the material. If a reader is denied, explain why you would interpret the law by supporting or opposing a fair and public review of the book, as outlined in each district's objection policy.
Florida House Bill 1069 has allowed bad actors to abuse the review process and has led to unnecessary censorship and book banning in Florida schools. In the face of this new law, I supported the now legally necessary review process – which in the Miami-Dade County Public Schools system, takes into consideration educational significance, appropriateness, accuracy, among other factors in the evaluation of reading materials. I am proud to say that in our Miami Schools this fair and comprehensive review of material has led our experts to turn down the overwhelming majority of challenges. I firmly believe in, and am devoted to fostering an educational environment that celebrates diversity and provides an inclusive education for all students. This bill has eroded those efforts, by allowing extremist to dictate what materials all students can and cannot have access to. This has only strengthened my resolve to work towards creating a curriculum that embraces inclusivity, diversity, and equal representation; one that is conscious of the local community and not reflective of an alienated state capital.