[ad_1]
An English teacher on a Carroll campus wrapped her classroom library with yellow duct tape, according to a photo provided by another teacher. Photos from another classroom on Thursday showed shelves covered with black sheets of paper and a sign saying, “You can’t read any of the books on my shelves.” “
“How am I supposed to know what 44 parent groups find offensive?” Asked a Carroll teacher. “We were told, ‘Parents are our clients. We have to do what they want. And that’s what they want.
Before compulsory training, teachers began to take stock of books that might need to be withdrawn under the new rules. An elementary school teacher said she should get rid of “Separate Is Never Equal,” a picture book by Duncan Tonatiuh about a Mexican-American family’s struggle to end segregation in California in the 1940s. Another said she was putting “A Good Kind of Trouble” by Lisa Moore Ramée aside because the girl at the center of the story is involved in the Black Lives Matter movement.
A high school English teacher said it would take her months to revise every book in her class, and based on the guidelines, she would most likely have to get rid of a lot of them. She said she no longer felt safe keeping a copy of Angie Thomas’ “The Hate U Give”, in part because it portrays racialized reactions to a police shootout or any book in it. ‘Nobel Prize-winning author Toni Morrison.
“One of the questions we’re supposed to ask is ‘Does the writer have a neutral stance on this?’ “Said the teacher. “Well, if you are Toni Morrison, how can you be neutral about racism? Now the story is represented through this pink colored lens, and it all creates a frightening effect that will hurt our students. “
The fight in Southlake over whether books should be allowed in schools is part of a larger national movement led by parents opposed to lessons on LGBTQ racism, history and discrimination that some conservatives have falsely called theory criticism of the breed. Across the country in recent months, parent groups have launched campaigns to remove books that focus on racism from schools.
In Franklin, Tennessee, a group called Moms for Liberty attempted to get an elementary school banned from dozens of books it said created too much division for children. The list includes “Martin Luther King Jr. and the March on Washington” by Frances E. Ruffin and “The Story of Ruby Bridges” by Robert Coles, about the 6-year-old black girl who entered a Louisiana public school in 1960.
In York County, Pennsylvania, last month, the Central York School District Board of Directors voted to ban teachers from using hundreds of books recommended by the district’s diversity committee. After the students protested, drawing national media attention and the support of Bernice King, a daughter of Martin Luther King Jr., the school board reversed its decision and said it never had the ‘intention to ban books permanently.
And last week, the Katy Independent School District, a sprawling suburban system of 85,000 students outside of Houston, deleted award-winning graphic novels about the lives of young black boys written by Jerry Craft after a group of parents signed a petition falsely claiming that the books promoted critical race theory. The district has also canceled an author meet-the-author event with Craft, but following massive media attention, it has announced that the event may be rescheduled once the district finishes reviewing the books.
Kim Anderson, executive director of the National Education Association, which represents teachers in public schools, said her group has never seen so many reports of pressure on schools to ban books. She said parents and school leaders should trust teachers to provide students with reading materials appropriate for their age and reflecting the diversity of American students.
“It’s scary to think we’re back in the days of the book ban,” Anderson said. “I guess our question is: Why don’t the school board members who are taking these steps or the lawmakers who are taking these steps believe that American students deserve an honest and truthful reflection of our history? “
The pressure to take books out of classrooms in Southlake comes over a year in a tug-of-war over how the Carroll School District handles issues of student race, identity and discipline. Southlake parents protested last fall after the predominantly white but diversifying school district tried to implement a plan that would have required new lessons on diversity and new rules to crack down on discrimination. A mother sued to stop the plan, and a conservative group called Southlake Families PAC has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars to support school board candidates who have vowed to oppose the changes.
In the midst of the fight, which is the subject of a six-part NBC News podcast, a fourth-grader from Johnson Elementary School found a copy of “This Book Is Anti-Racist” in the classroom library. from his teacher and decided to take it. residence. The book, a 2020 New York Times bestseller, includes illustrated lessons on how racism is ingrained in society and tips on what children can do to fight back.
The mother of fourth grader Sarah Muns – who had donated $ 1,000 to Southlake Families PAC – was outraged when she saw the book, she wrote on social media. The teacher, Rickie Farah, agreed to remove the book from her classroom library, but Muns was upset with the way Farah handled the situation and how she treated her daughter afterwards, according to Muns’ post on social networks. Muns took her complaint to senior district officials, who investigated and decided not to punish Farah.
But then on Monday night, Carroll’s school board voted 3-2 to overturn the administration’s decision and formally reprimand Farah, who was named Johnson’s 2021 Teacher of the Year. Farah declined to comment and Muns did not respond to a message requesting an interview.
Before casting one of the two dissenting votes, school board member Sheri Mills warned any educators who may have watched the meeting on the district’s live stream.
“I would like to let the teachers know, if you are concerned about teaching in this school district, that you should watch this vote,” said Mills, who declined to be interviewed. “I want you to know that you are right to worry.”
The next morning, rumor started to spread throughout the district that teachers were going to have to go through all the books in their classrooms and get rid of any that might bother parents. Training to determine which books to retire is scheduled for Friday afternoon, towards the end of a district-wide staff development day, according to a schedule revised by NBC News. The document does not specify a deadline by which teachers must remove books deemed inappropriate.
Some parents of National Junior Honor Society students received an email this week offering their kids the opportunity to get involved in the process: The kids would help high school teachers create catalogs of every book in their classes. , a volunteer opportunity that would count the honorary society’s annual requirement to complete 10 hours of community service.
Jennifer Hough, a mother of two high school students, has been a leading voice calling for new diversity programs in the district. She said she had heard all week from teachers, students and other parents who were unhappy with the crackdown.
“I feel like I’m in a dystopian novel,” Hough said. “Students and people sharing photos of covered teacher shelves and telling children they can’t read books on their shelves. Are we really afraid that our kids will be exposed to stuff and challenged? “
Teachers said this was not the first time the district has cracked down on shared content in classrooms. The school system told teachers this year that they could no longer use Scholastic News, a children’s news magazine, after parents complained that its articles showed liberal bias, according to four teachers and e- internal mails shared with NBC News.
Some educators said they were particularly upset that the latest push is targeting classroom libraries, which are supposed to give children easy access to a wide variety of reading materials, as research shows children are more likely to become avid readers if they find books that are particularly interesting to them. In recent years, before the backlash against new diversity programs, Carroll worked to add a more diverse book collection to classroom libraries, leveraging grants and donations.
“Basically these are all the books that I think we need to get rid of now,” said one teacher.
A high school English teacher said she had difficult conversations with some of her students who were upset when they saw teachers preventively removing books from their shelves or covering their libraries with masking tape. on guard.
“My classroom library gives students the opportunity to escape into a book they might not otherwise find,” said the teacher. “The ability to step into the pages of a book and walk with someone from as far away as Afghanistan. The ability to meet someone who looks like you, and even though it’s fiction, you’ve felt your whole life that you don’t belong, but he understands you, and that means it all. This is what we are losing.
[ad_2]
Source link