In Florida, anyone who meets the age requirement, has a traditional high school diploma or passed the GED exam, is eligible to apply as a substitute teacher. And military training will also let you in.
The days when substitutes needed a college degree to teach are long gone.
And with the growing teacher shortage, more substitutes will likely be needed. So, substituting, in many cases, will be a full-time job.
Here is more difficult news for public education:
Linda McMahon, a former pro-wrestling executive, appears to be President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to head the nation’s Department of Education.
This department was founded to protect and improve public education. McMahon believes in charter schools, parochial schools and private schools. She has supported taking taxpayer school dollars away from public schools and putting them in the hands of private operators.
By alluding to the bankruptcy of the public school system, the incoming administration will claim that public schools are a disaster and that private and privately run schools will save us.
As executive director of the Stonewall National Museum, Archives & Library in Fort Lauderdale, one of the nation’s leading gay archives in America, I believe we need a revitalization of public education, the best way to combat prejudice and hate and the depleting pool of talent needed to survive the 21st Century and beyond successfully.
Education is the way to combat people who scapegoat those who are different; those who espouse hate and anger. Without a robust educational system, how do we fight these destructive behaviors and habits that hurt our social fabric, economy and quality of life?
We do it by improving the education system, encouraging curiosity, engagement, reading, creativity, all the things we lose when anger and fear are our primary motivators.
Florida has been a proving ground for just how destructive hate can be.
The government has used hateful language and legislation to divide the public. It has divided the state; it has hurt children and families, and it has made enemies where there once were neighbors. The attacks on teachers, schools, books, libraries, films and children have been fierce.
In 2023, Florida enacted a record six expressly anti-LGBTQ+ bills into law, more than the last seven years combined.
This year, six anti-LGBTQ+ bills were introduced in Florida; only two passed.
This is evidence of a constant reframing of the First Amendment to the Constitution, practically reinventing it to politicize the very notion of free speech, freedom of religion, and freedom to think.
More and more hateful and uninformed language is used across all borders and boundaries. It is not the prerogative of one group, but the staple of many. It comes from people in leadership positions and from those on line in the grocery store, dimming the light on a civil society.
This Thanksgiving weekend, we have a window of opportunity to smile, extend our hands in friendship and address issues of shared concern, like flooded roadways and failing bridges.
We can join together to fix our public schools without defunding them and find ways to build stronger neighborhoods and relationships with our neighbors.
Smile more, listen better, offer to help without expectations. Making a better community is not rocket science, but it does take intentional actions.
Let us get back to doing the modern equivalent of hanging clothes on the line and talking over the fence, taking time away from the telephone screen and taking a walk with the person who lives down the street.
Say hello and hold the door for a stranger, and do not cast blame; accept responsibility. Say, thank you to those who work towards making this a better place to live and work and join them.
Robert Kesten is executive director of the Stonewall National Museum, Archives & Library (https://stonewall-museum.org/)