Republican leaders dismiss accusations that Georgia’s laws enabling parents to report teachers for espousing “divisive concepts” threaten classroom teachers. The leaders counter such criticisms by citing benefits to state educators reaped from recent raises and increased school spending.
The GOP’s stance is akin to stretching a zipline across a swamp filled with alligators and contending children now can enjoy fresh air and exercise and will be fine as long as they don’t slip and fall. When they do fall, as occurred to a teacher in Cobb County, there is no escape from the swamp and the gators.
Earlier this month, the Cobb County Board of Education fired teacher Katie Rinderle, for reading her class “My Shadow is Purple,” a children’s book that challenges gender norms. The board terminated her despite a recommendation to the contrary from a tribunal of three retired educators asked to review the case and advise board members. The four Republicans on the school board upheld the recommendation of Superintendent Chris Ragsdale to fire Rinderle; the three Democrats opposed it.
Cobb has long been known as a conservative school district, and its administration and school board have taken that to heart, sometimes to the detriment of their students. The district drew national derision in 2002 when it pacified creationists by putting stickers on 35,000 science texts casting doubts about evolution.
The firing of Rinderle is another attempt at appeasement, this time of parents who want to insulate their children in a world that seems increasingly without boundaries. I am puzzled why parents are fixating on school libraries rather than the 24/7 access their children have to the internet with all the diversions and dangers that exist there.
For example, in a national study released earlier this year, Common Sense Media found 73% of teen respondents aged 13 to 17 have watched pornography online — and more than half (54%) report seeing pornography by the time they reached the age of 13.
A 2019 analysis in JAMA Pediatrics suggested at least 1 in 4 adolescents and teens are receiving sexually explicit texts and emails, at least 1 in 7 are sending them and more than 1 in 10 are forwarding sexts without consent.
Given all the troubling statistics on how few teens read for pleasure, I would think parents would be thrilled their children even knew their school has a library. A 2021 report by Common Sense Media found just 23% of teens 13 to 18 enjoyed reading a lot.
By the way, a key factor that seems to get kids reading more books is when a class requires them to do so. But I suspect we will see fewer books assigned — or at least fewer books that engage kids— as fearful teachers thin reading lists after what happened to Rinderle. Cobb sent letters home last week to parents announcing they had purged two popular teen novels from library shelves because the books contained “highly inappropriate, sexually explicit content.”
“My Shadow is Purple” seems wholly appropriate with its focus on accepting differences. Author Scott Stuart has told the media in his home country of Australia that the inspiration for the book came from the pushback his young son Colin experienced because of his devotion to the character of Queen Elsa from Disney’s blockbuster “Frozen” franchise.
Colin had a beloved Elsa doll that he once brought to preschool. The little boy came home distraught after someone at school said he couldn’t like Elsa because the story and characters were only for girls. That led Stuart to craft children’s stories that emphasized inclusion and acceptance, something he says his son has helped him learn. When he and Colin attended Disney’s musical “Frozen” in 2020, they donned matching blue Elsa attire.
Rinderle can appeal her termination to the state Board of Education, but the board is not known for its bold stands. Under Georgia law, the governor appoints the members with the consent of the state Senate, so the board rarely bucks the party line.
And the party line right now seems to be that the only safe terrain for Cobb students is the suburban lawn of Dick and Jane, their little sister Sally and their dog Spot. In the 1950s, 80% of American classrooms used the “Dick and Jane” books to teach reading.
The series lost favor in the 1960s as demand grew for more interesting and captivating storylines, leading to the 1986 remark from “The Cat in the Hat” author Theodor Seuss Geisel, better known by the pen name Dr. Seuss: “I think one of the happiest things I’ve done is getting rid of Dick and Jane.”
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