Teacher Says No to Bible During ‘Free Reading’ Time

A Florida schoolteacher is under fire after telling one of her students he was not allowed to read the Bible during “free reading” time.

Fifth-grader Giovanni Rubeo wanted to read his Bible during a 90-minute period in which students were allowed to read a book of their choice, reports the Liberty Institute, which has taken on the case.

When Swornia Thomas, Rubeo’s teacher at Park Lakes Elementary School in Fort Lauderdale, noticed he was reading the Bible, she told him to stop reading it and put it away. Rubeo asked his teacher to call his father, Paul Rubeo, about what had taken place.

“I noticed that he [Giovanni] has a book — a religious book — in the classroom. He’s not permitted to read those books in my classroom,” Thomas said on a voice mail left for Rubeo’s father on the day of the April 8 incident. Full Story.

UPDATE – A Florida schools superintendent has apologized to a fifth-grade student who was banned by his teacher from reading the Bible in the classroom, while disputing claims that it was a “free reading” period.

Giovanni Rubeo, 12, started to read his Bible during a period at the Park Lakes Elementary School in Fort Lauderdale when students were allegedly allowed to read a book of their choice, according to the Miami Herald. But when his teacher Swornia Thomas noticed that he was reading a religious book, she told him to put it away. Rubeo then asked the teacher to call his father, Paul Rubeo, about what had taken place.

The Herald reported that Broward Schools Superintendent Robert Runcie has now apologized to Rubeo while stating that “this is a situation that should’ve been handled differently.”

“This does not represent the values of our school system,” he said, according to the Herald. “This was an isolated incident at the school.” Full Story.