Later this week, the Chino Valley Unified School District Board (CVUSD) is taking a final vote on a new policy to help the district rid its libraries of books with “sexually obscene content.” Parents swamped last month’s school board meeting and read from pornographic books they found in their school libraries. They believe this policy is a necessary step to shield children from inappropriate content. But dozens of others also showed up, led by the local teacher union president, expressing their distress over the books that could be removed.
The proposed policy is based on a model policy put together by Karen England, president of the Capitol Resource Institute. She is traveling the country helping parents and school boards expose and expunge the influx of graphic pornographic books being placed in school libraries. England set up a website detailing the sexually graphic books found in 24 California School Districts, including Chino Valley Unified.
CVUSD’s proposed library book removal policy allows a parent, a community member, or a school staff member to file a complaint about a book with the school, but only if it is “alleged to contain sexually obscene content considered unsuitable for students.” After investigating, the principal must then remove the item and notify the Superintendent within three days. The Superintendent has two more days to notify the school board.
At this point, the school board must hold a public hearing within 45 days to determine whether the “material is appropriate for student use or harmful to students.” If it is determined harmful, then the book will be removed permanently from all district facilities.
(Warning: The testimony given below at last month’s CVUSD board meeting on the library policy contains sexually graphic content)
“I have a child that is Christian. I’m raising her to have values, not to cuss and look at porn,” one father explained at last month’s hearing. He made these comments after reading from a book he found in a local high school describing sexually aroused genitals. “I’m a taxpayer… . I don’t have cable in my house. I don’t want this stuff that is rated R or X in the schools.”
In contrast, other parents expressed fears the new policy was a “smoke screen” for the board’s efforts to promote religious beliefs. “This is just a way for you to shove your Christian beliefs down the throats of students,” said Lauren Daniel, according to the Daily Bulletin. Even the president of the Associated Chino Teachers, Brenda Walker, spoke in opposition to the pornography removing policy. “We are heartbroken to envision all of the books and all of the learning and all of the dreaming that comes with them to be removed from classrooms,” she said, according the Daily Bulletin….
Listen to the parents because teacher’s unions are leftwing.
Parents have first priorities and responsibilities over their children not teacher’s unions.
What shoddy reporting! Why didn’t you name the books from which the parents read?
Unionized teachers must be permitted to expose children to pornography. Who are parents? What do they know? We’re the experts. Parent who speak up are dangerous extremists who should be investigated by the federal government.
How else can we separate children from their families, churches, synagogues and mosques?
This is needed or we cannot have total control.
Next thing you know, someone will propose something else extremely dangerous: school choice. Poor, inner city children must be kept in failing schools or they may start to think for themselves.
Of course our teachers are undressed, I mean, distressed.
Better to clean what’s dirty than throw it away. Think of the environment.
Parents need to be concerned about the reading materials in classrooms and school libraries. There is no good rationale for books that are not age-appropriate. That said, culling books out of any library is a slippery slope. What about books that don’t gee with one’s political views or relate to the history of racial tensions in our cities and states? What about books that speak about the hatred of unions and the use of police force to harm strikers? What about books that teach Protestant theology vs. other Christian theology; think prayer in school. Book burning is often the next step followed by … Think about the start of book banning and burning in Germany in the late 1930s, and what that led to.
Bob:
The exercise of patronage rights is not censorship. You may have the right to write, publish and hawk material, but you impose no obligation on me to read it or let my children read it. Public agencies like libraries exercise these rights in the name of the voters who pay the taxes that purchase the books. Does a public-school librarian buy every book he could? I doubt it: he passes judgment as much as any private citizen, buys some and passes on others. He purges material the same way. Have you kept every book you bought? I didn’t, for some I was disappointed in, others were not worth a second read. Now schools teach children who are not under their guardianship and can’t ignore the opinion of parents as to the materials they provide. How we work that out is a matter of politics, but if the voters say “we will allow these books, but not these”, they do no more than you or I do when we say, “I buy this book, I don’t buy or discard this one”. And public employees are obliged to follow the dictates of the voters, or else resign in protest. Question the judgment, but the right is clear.
Tom Byrne– The professions of teaching, children’s school librarian, and the field of children’s literature and book publishing– all used to operate strictly by good Codes of Ethics, and staunchly upheld high educational standards, good American values, and Judeo-Christian Morality. They sought to educate and uplift the precious minds, hearts and souls of America’s children, and took very seriously, their responsibility towards America’s children. All of the professionals in these fields would, in my day– rather commit suicide, ASAP– than sully their professional names with filth and smut– and endanger innocent children, with smut and sin– for a paycheck and a profit in the bank! Would your own, dear Mother have sold her soul to the Devil like that, if she had been a school teacher or school librarian? If your own, dear Dad had been a school principal, or sat on a local School Board– would he, too, have sold his soul to the Devil? Of course not. These time-honored professions today– are totally corrupt and worthless! Like food sold to a grocery store with salmonella poisoning– you must immediately throw it out. These professions should be responsibly overhauled by trustworthy leaders in these fields, proudly re-establishing these fields under solid-gold professional educational high standards, and excellent Codes of Ethics! It made me totally sick to hear Kirk Cameron complaining, because even Scholastic Publishing has now sullied and destroyed their once-good name, and sold their soul to the Devil– by publishing and peddling smut to the schools.
Tom, Yes and No to your comments. There is no need for explicitly sexual books in grade school classrooms. But, let’s remember that we are a republic, not a democracy. I know that is parsing it a bit, but … We elect a school board. They are responsible for the education of the children that are sent to them for schooling. If we don’t like what is going on in the schools, we can petition for change and elect new board members. As a parent with kids in school or as a taxpayer for libraries, I don’t have the right to determine what books are appropriate. I elect people to do that. I have talked to people who are concerned about the books in school libraries, they are awful they say, but they have read none of them. One group of parents tried to have a picture of the great sculpture of David torn out of books because it was pornographic. Lots of folks don’t want to teach the history of racism in America because they don’t believe it existed, does exist, or don’t want their kids to know about it. Slippery slope. Let’s make sure teaching materials are age-appropriate.
You must understand, Bob One, that most parents are okay with a decent photo of the upper half only of the famous “David” statue, in Florence, Italy, along with decent photos of other Michaelangelo statues, and decent photos of statues of other famous Renaissance sculptors, and a little historical introduction. This would be, for kids, an introduction only, to Renaissance art. And that’s all. When they grow up, the kids can tackle the subject of art history as adults, if they want to. But don’t shove photos of entire nude, highly-detailed statues in the faces of children– that is plainly immoral and wrong. Italian culture has a long history of immorality– so do European artists, sculptors, writers, musicians, etc. Be careful– do not discuss “so-and-so’s” famous, adulterous love affairs and mistresses, and their illegitimate children– and drinking and partying, etc.– in a class with children, at a school. Don’t discuss gay lovers, either. Not appropriate for children– and totally unnecessary. The beautiful, sensitive statue of Michaelangelo’s “Pieta,” in St. Peter’s Basilica, is a better choice, for a children’s introduction to famous artworks class.
If you want to delegate everything to elected representatives, fine for you.
I think it is intellectually lazy to go to Hitler, but I also think it is applicable here.
It is inappropriate also, for school teachers to become ignorantly radicalized against their country, America, and try to indoctrinate children to wrongly hate our wonderful country— twisting every historical event and every historical figure, pointing up human flaws, falsely indoctrinating our American children to question and hate their own blessed country. A school teacher has a big responsibility to teach fairly, objectively, and age-apppropriately– and to instill great pride in children, for their beloved country–America! Do not teach kids all about the KKK in the South– and say, “Americans have been horrible people! Here is proof that Americans are all horrible, they are all racists!” You have to integrate all sorts of different historical people, their beliefs, actions and ideas, and all that they contributed to our great country, into a children’s history lesson. Not rverything is necessary or appropriate. Just the basic, main, historical events, told objectively. A country is made up of many people. One or two crackpot idiots, who were racists, etc.– do not fairly represent the entire country. And you must believe in your country, and teach children to believe in it. Show them great figures, like Abraham Lincoln, who succeeded in ending slavery– and tell them all about the millions of American abolitionists, who were thrilled, and who had worked hard and risked their lives, for the same, great cause, of abolishing slavery. They are our true heroes! Tell the kids that all through history, in all great countries and civilizations, leaders have worked hard to tackle problems responsibly– and in America, we are specially-blessed, because we are a free people, with the power to work hard on problems, and shape our country and its destiny. We do not live under an evil regime, as other countries do. But all of this must be successfully integrated into a good lesson. When the kids grow up, they can handle difficult adult problems on an adult level.
Inappropriate material for children: Teachers are controlled by left wing unions that are the enemy of parents.
There are many like you in the Catholic Church, who mindlessly jump to support the latest liberal political fads– but strangely have no sensitivity regarding the horror and filth of sexual sins– and clerical child sex abuse. You all desperately need training in Christian Morality and a solid Moral Conscience! Protection of children is a must! Dirty books with sexual material do not belong in any school, in any school library, nor in any good and decent family home. Hopefully your Catholic family home has no “smut”– or you must immediately cleanse the home of it! And say the Rosary regularly. You must teach your children the difference between sexual sins and “smut”— and the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony, in which one Man and one Woman are joined in a holy, lifelong union, by God, with Christ at the heart of it, in the Living Sacrament– and God brings forth Beloved Children from this holy Sacramental union of one Man and one Woman, in Marriage.
I’m sorry, but you don’t know me. Opposition to censorship is not a liberal fad. It is a basic tenet of democracy. You don’t know me, so you should moderate your judgment a bit, please. Have you read the “dirty books” that contain sexual material? You don’t know what is on my library shelves so you should not judge. But, I can assure you that there are no dirty books. I don’t need to cleanse my homo of smut. My kids know better and so do their children and their children. You don’t know me, so you have no reason to judge my marriage. But after 60+ years, I think I know what makes for a good marriage and family. Who are you to judge?
Dust jackets are supposed to keep books clean.