Back in the age of dinosaurs when I was in school, pornography was considered a bad thing. Parents and schools worked together to keep children (and teenagers) away from it. There was an understanding that pornography was not a victimless crime and had repercussions far beyond just looking at it. Well, things have obviously changed. Parents who are trying to get pornography removed from their school libraries are accused of wanting to burn books (obviously supporting tyrannical government control). When parents bring up the content of some of the inappropriate books at school board meetings, they are silenced.
On Tuesday, The Daily Caller reported the following:
A Florida school board muted the microphone of a concerned parent attempting to read a “pornography” book allegedly available to students in the district’s library, according to video footage of a school board meeting.
The Clay County School Board barred an unnamed parent from “sampling” three books allegedly available to students in high school libraries during a school board meeting. The parent claimed that a district employee was paid to review and input pornographic books into the school libraries.
One book he attempted to read was “Lucky,” by Alice Sebold. The book discusses the brutal rape and beating of Sebold as an 18-year-old college freshman, according to a book description from Amazon. The book is available at Fleming Island High School and Orange Park High School, according to the district’s Library Media resources.
“If there’s children watching, cover their ears,” the parent said. The school board immediately cut his microphone and told him to “hush [his] mouth.”
If it’s appropriate to have this book in a public school library, why isn’t it appropriate to read the content at a school board meeting? What are we doing to our children?
The article includes the following:
“Turn off his microphone, please. I told you, I’m stopping you,” the school board attorney said. “The reason I’m stopping you is because these meetings are — if you’ll hush your mouth for a minute, and listen, instead of just talking, you may learn something.”
When the parent requested his time back, the school official said that the parent will get his time back to discuss something other than “pornography.”
“You’ll get it back. But, you’ll get it back to talk about something besides reading pornography into a public television set,” the school official said.
The article concludes:
Ashley Gilhousen, a Clay County School Board member, told the Daily Caller that the board is working to remove the content that this parent brought forth “prior to the return of students in August.” Gilhousen condemned the school board attorney’s tone, but also noted that she speaks only for herself and not the entire school board.
“The School Board Attorney should not have responded in the tone and manner in which he did,” Gilhousen said. “It was condescending and disrespectful to the speaker … I have every confidence that any objectionable material will be removed.”
The school board attorney should be fired.