ORANGE PARK – Rep. Aaron Bean came to Clay County to spend the school day with some of the county’s students. His first stop was at R.M. Paterson Elementary to read to kindergarteners. Later, he stopped at St. Johns Country Day for a crash course on the legislative process.

“These are our leaders of tomorrow,” said Bean.

The representative shared his political origin story with students at St. Johns.

“In 8th grade, we took a field trip. At that time, George Crady was a Florida House Representative representing Nassau County and Jacksonville areas. He looked at our class and said, ‘One of you will take my place.’ It was me. I was literally his successor over 20 years later,” he said.

Bean currently serves as chairman of the Early Childhood, Elementary and Secondary Education subcommittee. He believes education is an integral component of the American Dream.

Last week in Washington, D.C., Bean held a hearing to affirm the importance of career and technical education (CTE) to prepare students for success in the modern economy. The main challenges businesses face is hiring technically proficient applicants, he said.

Bean’s father was once a shop teacher who taught industrial arts. Bean’s father brought his own tool kit to school and had his students bring broken items, which would be fixed as a class.

“As a country, we’ve consistently undervalued the importance of this type of (career-focused) education,” he said during the hearing.

Kelly Mosley is one of two Career and Technical Education Supervisors for Clay County District Schools. She said the school district offers 33 different types of CTE programs that provide hands-on experience in various industries: agriculture, automotive, architecture, technology, business, health science, law, security, manufacturing and more.

“There are over 11,000 students enrolled in CTE programs,” she said. “Last year, over 1,400 industry certifications were earned by Clay County students.”

“Our education system has focused on everyone going to college. However, only about a third manage to go. There are 8.8 million jobs that can be filled that don’t require a college degree – just technical training,” said Bean.

When Bean returned to the county last week, he congratulated Superintendent David Broskie on the robust (CTE) programs.

The representative was asked about his stance regarding the Clay County “book ban” debate. The county leads the nation in book challenges and book removals that have been determined to be pornographic or not age-appropriate. However, many challenges have been made against voices from marginalized minority groups.

Should our public school libraries be curated to incorporate the values of those who live here? Or should public school libraries be curated to incorporate the widest range of values and perspectives – even those that may not be agreed with?

Bean responded. It's not about silencing other perpectives; it's about how these perspectives are shared, he said. 

“That was one of the topics of a meeting I chaired regarding age-appropriate materials nationwide. I cringed. It was cringeworthy to have people read from the books, even in front of us adults in Congress,” he said.

“I could only blush. It was clear that it didn’t belong,” he said, referring to one book read aloud by Sen. John Kennedy from Louisiana.

The book was "All Boys Aren’t Blue" by George M. Johnson.

“Our focus should be on math and science. Schools shouldn’t focus on sexual things. I support Clay County's decision. Pornography does not belong on the campus of any Clay County school.”

During a hearing titled “Protecting Kids: Combatting Graphic, Explicit Content in School Libraries,"  Bean affirmed the right for public school districts, like Clay County District Schools, to remove inappropriate books from libraries. Bean cited the incident in which Bruce Friedman's microphone was cut off in 2022, for reading "Lucky" by Alice Sebold. 

"These books are so obscene that reciting mere passages has gotten adults censored in adult forums. School board officials in Clay County, Florida had to cut a father’s microphone for reading 'Lucky' for fear that the explicit passages would violate FCC laws and regulations since the school board meeting was being televised," Bean said during the hearing. 

The hearing presented various and expert perspectives from all sides of the debate. The full hearing can be found here.