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22-12-2021, 11:03 AM
By MEAD GRUVER
December 20, 2021
CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — A recent Wyoming school board meeting was again packed with opponents of mask mandates when things took an abrupt turn and a parent started reading aloud sexually explicit passages from a book available in school libraries.
“Parents like myself had no idea this stuff was here,” the parent, Shannon Ashby, told trustees of Laramie County School District No. 1 in the capital city.
The push to remove objectionable books from school libraries is part of a renewed conservative interest in public education as a political issue since the start of the pandemic. Parents who first packed school board meetings to express their opposition to mask mandates and other COVID-19 measures have since broadened their focus to other issues they say clash with conservative values, including teachings about social justice, gender, race and history.
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The award-winning book Ashby wants pulled from Cheyenne high school and middle schools, “Monday’s Not Coming,” by Tiffany D. Jackson, is a novel about the mysterious disappearance of a Black teenager. Supporters say it contains important messages about topics such as poverty, child abuse and friendship, though it does includes scenes such as a boy and a girl having sex on a teacher’s desk.
Ashby also read allusions to sex acts in “Traffick,” by Ellen Hopkins, a novel about teenagers victimized by sex trafficking.
Similar disputes over public school curricula and books arose recently in Virginia, where with help from former Vice President Mike Pence they became a major issue in Republican Glenn Youngkin’s successful campaign for governor.
They’ve also been a political issue in the Carolinas and Texas while school officials in Kansas pulled almost 30 books from shelves after a complaint but soon returned them.
In Utah, the state chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union opened an investigation in November after a suburban Salt Lake City district removed several books including “The Bluest Eye,” by Toni Morrison, pending investigation into a parent complaint. Other books that have been the subject of complaints in the city’s schools include titles with LGBTQ characters and plot lines.
Much better to read the full article at: https://apnews.com/article/conservatives...e7294d8aa9
December 20, 2021
CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — A recent Wyoming school board meeting was again packed with opponents of mask mandates when things took an abrupt turn and a parent started reading aloud sexually explicit passages from a book available in school libraries.
“Parents like myself had no idea this stuff was here,” the parent, Shannon Ashby, told trustees of Laramie County School District No. 1 in the capital city.
The push to remove objectionable books from school libraries is part of a renewed conservative interest in public education as a political issue since the start of the pandemic. Parents who first packed school board meetings to express their opposition to mask mandates and other COVID-19 measures have since broadened their focus to other issues they say clash with conservative values, including teachings about social justice, gender, race and history.
......
The award-winning book Ashby wants pulled from Cheyenne high school and middle schools, “Monday’s Not Coming,” by Tiffany D. Jackson, is a novel about the mysterious disappearance of a Black teenager. Supporters say it contains important messages about topics such as poverty, child abuse and friendship, though it does includes scenes such as a boy and a girl having sex on a teacher’s desk.
Ashby also read allusions to sex acts in “Traffick,” by Ellen Hopkins, a novel about teenagers victimized by sex trafficking.
Similar disputes over public school curricula and books arose recently in Virginia, where with help from former Vice President Mike Pence they became a major issue in Republican Glenn Youngkin’s successful campaign for governor.
They’ve also been a political issue in the Carolinas and Texas while school officials in Kansas pulled almost 30 books from shelves after a complaint but soon returned them.
In Utah, the state chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union opened an investigation in November after a suburban Salt Lake City district removed several books including “The Bluest Eye,” by Toni Morrison, pending investigation into a parent complaint. Other books that have been the subject of complaints in the city’s schools include titles with LGBTQ characters and plot lines.
Much better to read the full article at: https://apnews.com/article/conservatives...e7294d8aa9
