Astatula Elementary School in Central Florida’s Lake County already had a daily moment of silence in place long before a new law demanded it.
Prior to the current school year, Astatula students would stand for the daily Pledge of Allegiance, and remain standing for another 10 to 15 seconds for a moment of silence.
But now, public schools across Florida are under a new requirement to hold a daily moment of silence for at least a whole minute and up to two minutes, according to a law signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis in June. How that plays out could mean less instruction time for teachers, improved mental health for students or maybe just a waste of time.
The new school year is only about a month in, and schools are still experimenting with how the moment of silence will be incorporated into daily school life.
Will more schools choose one minute or the full two minutes? Does the moment of silence seem especially lengthy? How will students benefit?
Anne Leatherbarrow, a staff member at Apopka Middle School in Orange County — she is retiring Wednesday– told the Phoenix that the school uses the one minute of silence after the Pledge of Allegiance.
“We love it,” she said.
The seemingly simple law was actually a contentious topic during the 2021 legislative session, with critics saying it took away from classroom instruction or was a sneaky way to put prayer back into schools. In fact, some members of atheist organizations spoke out against the measure during the 2021 legislative session.
But legislation pursued in the session said it was a way for students to get “even a moment of quiet reflection” and that, “young persons are particularly affected by the absence of an opportunity for a moment of quiet reflection,” according to language in the bill.
In addition: “The Legislature finds that our youth, and society as a whole, would be well served if students in the public schools were afforded a moment of silence at the beginning of each school day.”
Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the legislation into law at the Shul of Bal Harbour, a synagogue in Miami-Dade County, promoting the idea of protecting religious freedom. The law involves only public schools.
“The idea that you can just push God out of every institution and be successful – I’m sorry but our founding fathers did not believe that,” DeSantis said. “So we have an opportunity here to protect the religious freedom of everybody going to school, K-12, in the state of Florida.”
The law requires at least one minute devoted for a moment of silence and not exceeding more than two minutes. That means a moment of silence every school day, roughly 180 days in the academic year.
In Leon County’s school district, elementary school kids do the moment of silence in the morning, according to Chris Petley, a communications staffer with the Leon district.
Leon middle and high schools use the moment of silence during homeroom, which for some schools is during third period. The Phoenix asked Petley how it’s possible to do the moment of silence during third period when the law says that the first period teacher should initiate the moment of silence. The Phoenix is awaiting a response.
Petley told the Phoenix that he was not aware of any issues following the implementation of the new moment of silence law. But if there are issues or problems, the district would contact the principal.
“Schools were provided training over the summer and additional communication once students were back on campus,” Petley said in an email. “If we are made aware of the schools or classrooms that are not providing adequate time we will work with them on ensuring compliance.”
The new law was designed to give kids time to reflect in schools, and a teacher may not instruct or recommend how the time is spent on a moment of silence. Instead, the teacher “shall encourage parents or guardians to discuss the moment of silence with their children and to make suggestions as to the best use of this time.”
Lare Allen, the president of the Osceola County Education Association, told the Phoenix that the moment of silence is not the “magic pill” for student stress.
“Not speaking as a president, just speaking as an individual… I think it’s great that we have time to reflect and prepare. Is that something we need to put that into law? No, I don’t think so,” Allen said.
“I think it could be beneficial, but at the same time…the teacher can’t say what this moment of silence is for. I think it would be better if we taught them relaxation techniques for the test takers that have test anxiety. Maybe it would be good if we set aside some time for conflict resolution and de-escalating situations so we know how to get along better with each other better.”
The new law also expects the “first-period classroom teacher” to initiate the moment of silence, meaning that a first-period teacher could potentially lose 180 to 360 minutes during a school year in total.
Allen said that schools would likely hold the moment of silence during the morning announcements to ensure that a teacher does not lose instruction time.
–Danielle J. Brown, News Service of Florida
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Shelly says
I think that’s great!
R. S. says
Would it be a major disciplinary problem if kids were to try to whisper or pass notes? I wonder how any teacher is likely to effect this procedure without oral talk or threat or admonishment? So, what if I want to push god out of my thinking to begin a day well? Is this the beginning of Florida under Taliban [disciple] rule? When will there be a check on whether the law has done what it attempts? Under what circumstances will the mandate be retracted because it has failed? If we are clear thinking, would we not want to know whether or not we’ll be successful or unsuccessful with the new rule? Or is success measured by unmeasurable expectation that one has faith in? Seems most bizarre to me.
Rxx says
They still doing the Pledge of Allegiance? “With liberty & justice for ALL?” LOL what a lie what was.
Mike Cocchiola says
DieSantis’ “god” has nothing to do with the success or failure of students. Parents, teachers and peers have far more influence than any belief system. My guess is that younger students will use their moment of silence to think about lunch and recess. Older students will think of whoever they may be attracted to and after-school activities.
Face it, DieSantis, you think the moment of silence will somehow turn students into faithful automatons. Sorry, bro. They’ll turn into good critical thinking individuals if their teachers are doing their job.
Public schools made this country and they will save it.
MikeM says
Isn’t 1st period typically homeroom? If so then no big deal. It is about time we started teaching our kids about love of country and love of our “higher power” or just a moment of silence to remember those who have passed on. I would have to say that those who are against this are those who lean toward CRT. We can always extend the school day by a moment a day.
Hatched says
The most eye opening part of “virtual live” learning that was thrust upon parents in 2020 was the exposure of just how much time, for the average student, that gets wasted during a typical school day because of instructional/systemic inefficiencies. With focused attention, daily lessons could be completed at home in 2 to 4 hours (which is about how much time any parent doing home schooling spends on direct instruction) versus 6-7 hours in public school. The current public school structure was designed, in part, by turn-of-the-century industrialists to train students to sit obediently in factories for 8-10 hours a day. One or two minutes of silence to meditate or pray, frankly, isn’t going to make that much of a difference in terms of instruction time (which could easily be made up in other ways).
Eugene Lopes says
My child has the constitutional right to mumble through his mask. If you ain’t teaching and he doesn’t have an assignment, it ain’t school. Can they use that time any way they want? BLM silent protest? Women’s health rights protest? Mask mandate silent protest? Let’s have kids start doing those things and see how long this freedom lasts.
Deborah Coffey says
The American Taliban at work…forcing THEIR desires on the masses, but they won’t wear a simple mask…’cause, FREEDOM! This state, and our country, is sitting on the razor’s edge between democracy and fascism. Pay attention, citizens!
tulip says
Taking one minute a day may “lose hours of teaching time”, but how much more can you teach a child in the one minute a day that would be used for a moment of silence? 60 seconds of teaching is not much.
Just bob says
Oh boy an extra minute or two browse Facebook.
JimBob says
No matter how devout a religious person one may be, the Legislature’s enunciated rationale for this “moment (or two) of silence” is pure gibberish!
Sheila Zinkerman says
DeSantis has now infiltrated public schools with his HB 529 law requiring teachers in first period class to set aside a mandated moment of silence; or as DeSantis imagines: to “pray as they see fit.” His imagination then went slap-happy by stating : “The idea that you can just push God out of every institution, and be successful – I’m sorry, our founding fathers did not believe that.” (Fox News 06/15/2021.) No one is pushing God out of institutions; and Florida already had a law that allows for moments of silence. DeSantis invoking a Christian Deity in his statement – beefed up with his signing of the unnecessary bill HB 529 – was just another scheme using school children to cajole his base for the 2022 election.
https://www.au.org/blogs/Florida-Moment-Silence
RAW says
If this idea works for just one student, would it not be worth it?
R. S. says
Of course. Now what do you look for to measure the workability of the student as a consequence of the 1-minute silence? You’re on the right track, but do spell out your expectation. If weight lifting works for the student, I’d expect muscle mass to grow. If drivers ed works for the student, I’d expect a decrease in traffic accidents on that student’s record. If fruit and vegetables work out for the student, I’d expect him/her to remain non-obese. What outcome am I looking for here?
Tennislady says
Excellent…perhaps they could be allowed use prayer mats and do this 5 times a day facing Mecca.
Wait..what? That’s not the type of “pray as they see fit” DeSantis was talking about?
Come on…time to be all inclusive.
R. S. says
We’ll probably step up to dancing naked in the woods invoking Odin! [LOL]