In a guest column, a Cobb County parent urges the reinstatement of teacher Katie Rinderle, who was put on leave in March after reading “My Shadow is Purple,” a book about gender identity, to fifth graders.
At a hearing last week, the Cobb County School District accused Rinderle of violating policies modeled after new state laws that require teachers to get preapproval to bring up potentially sensitive topics in the classroom, and reserve parents’ rights to “direct the upbringing and the moral or religious training of their children.” The school board is scheduled to make a decision Thursday about Rinderle’s future with the district.
Physician and parent Dr. Lawrence McAleer contends both the book and Rinderle’s lesson built around it were appropriate.
By Dr. Lawrence McAleer
The proposed termination of Due West Elementary teacher Katie Rinderle by the Cobb County School District should be reversed and she should be allowed to return to her classroom instruction immediately.
When it meets Thursday, the Cobb school board should follow the lead of a district-appointed, three-person tribunal, which recommended that Rinderle keep her job.
I am a parent of two school-age children (one in a Cobb County school) and the husband of an educator at a Georgia public university. Therefore, the implications of the decision to censor teachers with the threat of termination concern me.
Credit: Contributed
Credit: Contributed
Rinderle was teaching from a book sold at a Cobb County school book fair that discussed inclusion and the feelings of a child not fitting into traditional binary gender norms. I read this book with my fourth grader this weekend. We enjoyed its message, and I feel it is appropriate for a fifth grade classroom. When my children attended a Cobb County elementary school, kindness and inclusion were important themes that the school celebrated.
It is well known that a hallmark to quality education is having highly skilled teachers who are allowed a degree of professional autonomy when planning and conducting lessons. Censorship and strict guidelines will ultimately lead to uninspired teaching and will make it difficult to hire and retain good talent. In the end, teachers and children both will suffer from this legislative and administrative overreach.
I feel for the parents concerned their children were not ready for discussion of gender norms and inclusiveness because we parents are not always ready to discuss all topics with our children. I have felt similarly when discussing “active shooter drills” when my children have had to participate. But I feel that this open discussion with children and families is necessary for growth as humans and as a society. I think a skilled administrator could have easily discussed this with the parents involved and helped them work through their concerns without ruining the career of a highly regarded teacher.
There is no inappropriate content in “My Shadow is Purple” and possibly more importantly for the decision Cobb Schools must make, there is no relation of this book to the “divisive concepts” law that was passed by the Georgia Legislature. I feel the effort to terminate Rinderle’s employment should be rejected without hesitation and without concern for bending to any perceived political agenda.
After my fourth grade daughter read the book in question, I explained to her that a teacher was facing being fired for reading this book in school. She replied that those trying to fire her “should be fired.” I could not agree with her more.
About the Author
