Posted on 09/05/2005 12:49:16 AM PDT by HAL9000
There’s a new organization in town — Parents Protecting the Minds of Children.Fayetteville parent Laurie Taylor, who has been waging an ongoing campaign to restrict student access to sexually explicit books in school libraries, announced the formation of the group at a public meeting she organized Thursday evening. About 60 to 70 people, mostly in support of Taylor, attended.
This summer, Taylor released the titles of 54 books in Fayetteville school libraries that she wanted reviewed because of questionable content.
She followed that up by filing a formal complaint Aug. 2 against the book "Push" by author Sapphire. Superintendent Bobby New said officials are in the process of forming a review committee to evaluate the book.
Taylor followed up her Aug. 2 complaint on "Push" by filing a complaint Aug. 15 on the book "Deal With It."
New responded that the district could not immediately review the second complaint. "At this time, the school district does not have the resources available to consider additional requests," he wrote.
However, New said he does plan to have the request evaluated. Now is a very busy time with the school year starting, he explained. "I plan to move this first request through the process and then take on the next challenge," New said. "I don’t think the timeliness is as critical as the quality of the decision."
In another letter to Taylor dated Aug. 15, New wrote, "Due to the seriousness of your repeated inquiries, I no longer feel it appropriate to respond to you via e-mail. Furthermore, as we move forward, I will only accept written correspondence from you."
New said e-mails are a convenient way to communicate but aren’t the best means for official correspondence. Letters are more formal, and his decision to no longer respond by e-mail is not meant to thwart any communication by Taylor. "Absolutely not. I’d hate for us to become adversarial," he said. "I just simply wanted to make sure we accommodate her in a fashion that was more organized. ... It’s really for her benefit as well as ours."
New added he has been sending school board members copies of his reply letters to Taylor.
At Thursday’s meeting, Taylor reiterated that the school should form a parentled committee to evaluate school library books and place the ones with questionable or offensive content on a restricted access shelf. Students could then only check out books from that shelf with a parent’s permission.
She also expressed frustration that the school board and administration had been slow to address her concerns.
Taylor has spoken to the school board about her concerns during the board’s "citizen participation" time at various meetings, but she has only been formally placed on the agenda once. That was in May when the board considered appeals on complaints she filed against three other books.
She complained in an interview Thursday before the meeting that citizen participation time wasn’t very effective. The board hasn’t formally responded to her claim that there are more than 70 books with questionable content in school libraries.
Board President Steve Percival did recommend to Taylor last month, though, that she file individual complaints on specific books. Taylor has argued that the process isn’t designed for numerous complaints.
At Thursday’s meeting, Taylor suggested supporters could take certain steps to force the school board to address the issue.
Others should step forward to file individual book complaints and volunteer to serve on the book evaluation committees.
She also suggested parents write their schools an "opt out" letter stating that their children are not to have access to the library until the issue is resolved. "We are not powerless," she said, adding that forming a group to take a stand on the issue should help.
Taylor said the "opt out" letter would be a non-invasive form of civil disobedience.
Taylor also told the crowd it must focus on correcting the problem, not placing blame on school officials. It took a long time for the books to accumulate in the libraries, and things won’t change overnight, she suggested. "The only concern I have is that our children are safe," she said. "I have no interest in litigation. I can assure you it will be a last resort."
It should be noted that when these same books were found in New York school libraries, they were promptly removed. It's shocking that a superintendent would delay the removal of this garbage from a public school library.
From the website: " One of the books informed students that homosexuality was considered an exalted form of love by ancient civilizations."
This happens to be true. I believe a discussion of it is inappropriate for elementary school, but that doesn't change the historical fact.
He needs more time to "read the articles."
This is why 'diversity' is ruining public schools. It's also why home schooling is gaining steam.
Unless this filth is purged from our schools, the indoctrination will continue.
Nor does it change the fact that all those
"ancient civilisations" were *walking dead*
civlisations on short time, upon "exalting"
homosexuality.
Yep! Sam FranksDickso is allready beginning to die
as a "civilisation".
Portrammed & and Seasstle too.
Man, I'm tellin' ya, kids today have it so much easier than us... We used to have to search for this stuff, dig between the mattress, things like that. Today they can do book reports on 'em.
Note to school: Pull the books, THEN REVIEW THEM. If there is nothing to the claims, put them back on the shelves.
The problem with that theory is that the period during which such exaltation took place was also, perhaps coincidentally, the period of maximum vitality for the society.
The exaltation was then gotten rid of and they laster many centuries more before collapsing.
It is not possible to historically connect the glorification of homosexual love and the collapse of Rome, for instance. When Rome fell, homosexuality had been a capital crime for well over a century.
I think you need to spend a little more time with them instead of burning accurate history books.
This is about elementary school libraries. What would be the purpose of 1st through 6th graders discussing abnormal sexual preferences?
See post 10. Sodomy was made a capital crime in Rome in 390.
Alex probably was bisexual, as just about every other Greek aristocrat was. Today's homosexual activists claim him as homosexual, in today's meaning of the term.
This is wildly inaccurate, as men who were incapable of or disinterested in having sex with women were despised by Greek society and were expelled from the army as unmanly.
Yes, that's a good example for why the school should be allowed to tell all the facts to children.
Elementary school is neither the time nor the place for discussing abnormal sexual preferences. There are far more important subjects for that age group to become proficient in. Do you really believe that bisexuality is on par with genocidal wars and communist regimes for discussions with children under 12?
Yes, and note those "ancient civilizations" died off...
You are absolutely correct. The ancient classical world seems on the surface to be so similar to our own that we think it is the same. It was not.
Perhaps the most accurate definition of ancient Greek and Roman attitudes in today's terms is that they were just about all Nazis, even the Greek democrats. They differed only about which group constituted the master race entitled to lord it over all others.
Oddly enough, each group usually put itself into that role. :)
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