"It was Read Across America week, and the second graders in the Hinds County School District in Mississippi were waiting for an administrator to read to them.The administrator had forgotten it was her turn, said Toby Price, the assistant principal at Gary Road Elementary School in Hinds County, who was in his office at the time. He decided to fill in.
Mr. Price, 46, quickly grabbed a book — “I Need a New Butt!” by Dawn McMillan, one of his children’s favorites — and began reading it to the roughly 240 second graders over Zoom.Later that day, on March 2, the district superintendent, Delesicia Martin, called him into her office and told him he was on administrative leave, Mr. Price said. He was fired two days later, accused of violating the standards of conduct section of the Mississippi Educator Code of Ethics.In a letter to Mr. Price, the superintendent called the book “inappropriate.” She particularly took issue with the references to farting in the story ...
... and how “the book described butts in various colors, shapes and sizes (example: fireproof, bullet proof, bomb proof).”..
“I expected a write up,” said Mr. Price, who had worked for the district for three years. “I did not expect to get terminated. I cried the entire way home.”..“My granddaughter heard him read the book and thought it was hilarious and not at all inappropriate!” the grandmother wrote.Mr. Price said that was the reaction from students after he read the book. He recalled going into the hallway and being approached by students who thanked him for his pick.“They loved it,” he said. “They all stopped me and said, ‘Mr. Price, that book was really good.’”
“We have a lot of reluctant readers,” he said. “I am a firm believer that reluctant readers need the silly, funny books to hook them in.”..He said he wanted only his job back so he could support his three children. His two eldest children — a daughter, 19, and a son, 18 — have severe autism.“I’m tired. I’m stressed. I’m overwhelmed,” he said. “I need to work.”"
More at The New York Times. I checked the book out from our library system, which has 20 copies.
Magnolia State Live reported yesterday that "The Hinds County School Board’s decision on Price’s employment is expected in about two months."
“First and foremost, the book contains statements and cartoon pictures regarding bodily anatomy, bodily functions and removing clothing to expose private areas of the body in various positions,” Martin said. “These statements and pictures are inappropriate for an educator to read and display to second graders, especially without advance notice to the teachers of the students.”
I have a second grader and have zero concern with this book. I don't understand the hang ups around talking about the human body. I mean, context is important... if these were random pictures of bare bottoms it might be concerning. But this poor guy read a children's book to children, and got fired? All that did was teach kids that butts are shameful things that no one should ever talk about. Which is weird and unhealthy.
ReplyDeleteAmerican's are weird, you talk all about freedom of speech but really it appears you only agree with it as long as it is about Christians and guns and does not up set the prudish among you.
ReplyDeleteMust be tough teaching in the 19th century.
ReplyDeleteSeems that someone has a large stick up their @$$ (just to continue a theme).
ReplyDeleteWhisky Tango Foxtrot indeed.
This sounds like a classic "cover your own ass" situation, excusing the too on the nose expression. All it takes is one parent to say they are offended to try to shake down the school and it can have serious financial consequences for an education establishment already under financial stress.
ReplyDeleteFear never makes for good decision making
Crass and just a bit too obscene for the age group. This doesn't provide any educational value, nothing is lost by not reading it.
ReplyDelete"Educational value" encompasses more than just the memorization of facts. I agree with the teacher's comment -
Delete“We have a lot of reluctant readers,” he said. “I am a firm believer that reluctant readers need the silly, funny books to hook them in.”
This doesn't provide any educational value,
DeleteSo what? Why should it? This was read to get kids to read. You need to read before you can learn from what you read.
nothing is lost by not reading it.
True. That's true for most books though.
And nothing is gained by firing the person reading it.
Also, if the reader was in his school office, and the book was there, doesn't that imply the school approved the book?
I'm a bit confused by the hysteria about a bunch of old books that have been on the book shelves for decades without traumatizing anyone. Leave them be.
Because 2nd graders don't k ow about butts and facts and enjoy potty humor? That a lie. Lol. I have 3 kids. My 2 year old forts and giggles when he does while we say "say excuse me!"
DeleteKids think farts are funny. Barbies and cabbage patch dolls have butt cracks and butt cheeks. And I haven't met a 4 year old who hasn't changed their baby dolls clothes at least once. Yall need to stop getting offended at EVERYTHING. isn't it exhausting? It's exhausting to hear I can tell you that.
My father used to tell me bedtime stories about a kitten with diarrhea that managed to flush itself down the toilet after taking a particularly massive dump, forcing it to crawl its way through its own produce and pop out well covered in it on the other side. It was the most hilarious thing little five(ish) year old me ever heard, and it hardly turned me into a depraved psychopath. (Only just a little.) Children love this stuff, come on.
DeleteIt appears a lot of people don't know the difference between education and entertainment.
DeleteIt's the literary equivalent of empty calories or sugar water.
The key to a child's education is reading. Reading is hard for young students. The only way to make it easy is practice. And the only way to get kids to practice reading is to find books they want to read. Once you find a book that captures a child's interest, you've set them up for a life of reading and learning.
DeleteBig difference between an engaged student and a distracted one. This book is no different from playing a movie for class because you don't have a lesson prepared. It's not worth the energy to defend, yet people are acting like they're defending Grapes of Wrath or something.
DeleteEducation can be taken to mean the training described in John Taylor Gatto's book Dumbing Us Down (highly recommended). Or it can mean actualizing potential. For example, encouraging curiosity, one of the most important elements in learning, especially lifelong learning. (I do tend to think of curiosity as a kind of intelligence, somewhat innate.) Point being: Learning is very often mixed with entertainment, given entertainment engages us in ways that lead to learning. Not to say the Hard Times approach cannot achieve a result:'NOW, what I want is, Facts. Teach these boys and girls nothing but Facts. Facts alone are wanted in life. Plant nothing else, and root out everything else. You can only form the minds of reasoning animals upon Facts: nothing else will ever be of any service to them. This is the principle on which I bring up my own children, and this is the principle on which I bring up these children. Stick to Facts, sir!'
DeleteSuperintendents are politicians making calculations having to do with public perception. This is a form of corruption.
ReplyDeleteBut but butt... we have 'freedom' in 'Murica, don't we? Freedom of speech? Land of the free, home of the brave, and all that jazz? Pfft. We're not even close to a 'free country' anymore. If we ever were.
ReplyDeleteIn the grand scheme of things, do we grow as individuals or evolve as a species by isolating ourselves in a sterilized bubble of comfort? Or do we become better people by constantly challenging our own preconceived notions and misguided beliefs? These are questions that have gotten many of our brightest minds exiled, imprisoned or put to death. I'm not a parent, but I am a teacher, and this sort of thing rattles me to my core.
ReplyDeleteHere's my two big takeaways from this, and I hope #2 doesn't make me sound like a fascist.
ReplyDelete1. The idiot should not have been fired. A Letter of Reprimand for unacceptable stupidity is what I would have ordered as district superintendent, maybe a day without pay. Of course, this is Mississippi! Penalty did not fit the crime IMO.
2. This guy was an Assistant Principal, meaning he'd worked his way up for at least 5-7 years. Probably more. His judgment was turrible (MS pronunciation). Think for one second about the topic, and he would have chosen another book. 50% of the parents probably don't give a rip. 50% (maybe more in MS) probably are scandalized. He HAD to know that going in. Either he really is a nimrod or he did it on purpose and now is playing innocent. You cannot work in schools for long enough to become an AP and not understand the reaction such a book would get, even if it is a kid's book. Nobody cares if your kids think it is hysterical.
"2.": I'd say the guy had a sense of humor. Beyond that, is that really how we value things? On the basis of who might be offended? I see the pragmatism there, but I prefer the idealistic sort of educator. "Safety does not come first. Goodness, truth, and beauty come first."
DeleteOther good quotes from the old marm: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0064840/characters/nm0001749
I say bravo and bring out some more, whatever it takes to get a child to read, (within some sort of reason of course, nothing harmful) but silly and causing laughter it is so good for the body and soul. I know this book well and it's not going anywhere it's still available at your local Target, just saw it again today on the shelf!
ReplyDeletecaptain underpants anyone? if you are unfamiliar, just read the list of titles in the series. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captain_Underpants then,the circulation in 20 languages and 80 million books sold. this sort of youth comedy is a deep fertile vein in developing youngsters into readers. printed by scholastic books.
ReplyDelete