Fact Check: Was Amanda Gorman’s Poem Banned From a Florida School?
AllSides Summary
Poet Amanda Gorman said her poem for President Joe Biden's inauguration was "banned" from an elementary school in Florida.
Claim: “I am gutted,” Gorman said in a tweeted statement, “Because of one parent’s complaint, my inaugural poem, The Hill We Climb, has been banned from an elementary school in Miami-Dade County, Florida.”
Facts: According to a statement from Miami-Dade Schools, the poem was moved from the elementary school section of the library to the middle school section following a parent's complaint that it's “not educational” and can “cause confusion and indoctrination,” but it was “never banned or removed from one of our schools.” Another statement to parents further clarified the change– elementary students can still access the poem, but must request it from a media specialist and demonstrate a middle-school reading level.
Response: “They won't call it a ban,” Gorman tweeted in response to the added steps for elementary students. “All these hurdles for a young reader just to access a poem in history written for them.”
For Context: In March 2022, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) signed HB 1467, which mandates district school boards to have a process for parents and country residents "to contest the district school board’s adoption of specific instructional material."
How the Media Covered It: Some right-rated sources framed Gorman's claim as an exaggeration, and media coverage of it as biased. Some left- and center-rated coverage largely reflected Gorman's description of the situation.
Featured Coverage of this Story
From the Center
Amanda Gorman says her inaugural poem has been banned by Miami-Dade school
American poet Amanda Gorman said Tuesday that the poem she recited during President Biden’s inauguration has been banned by a school in Florida’s Miami-Dade County.
“I’m gutted. Because of one’s parent’s complaint, my inaugural poem, The Hill We Climb, has been banned from an elementary school in Miami-Dade County, Florida,” Gorman said in a statement posted to Twitter.
Gorman noted in her statement that, while not new, book bans have been on the rise in recent years. The American Library Association found nearly 2,600 titles were targeted for censorship in...
From the Right
The Media’s Latest ‘Book Ban’ Story Appears To Be Completely Unfounded
Numerous major media outlets quickly seized on a story claiming that a Florida school had “banned” a poem, but according to a message sent to school parents and obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation, the book is accessible to “all students.”
The Associated Press, USA Today, NPR, Politico, The New York Times, CNN and the Guardian ran headlines claiming a school within Miami-Dade County Public Schools (MDCPS) had “banned,” “block[ed]” and “restrict[ed] access” to “The Hill We Climb,” a poem read at President Joe Biden’s inauguration, after a parent complained...
From the Left
A Fla. school restricted poet Amanda Gorman’s book. Here’s what to know.
As a wave of book challenges spreads across the country, poet Amanda Gorman said she felt “gutted” after learning that a Florida school restricted access to the poem she read at President Biden’s inauguration. The school district denied that the book was banned or removed but acknowledged moving it so that elementary school students had limited access to it.
The youngest inaugural poet in U.S. history said Tuesday that restrictions like the one placed on her book “The Hill We Climb,” which contains a single, 32-page poem, are on the...
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