Some parents in the Salem-Keizer School District are asking why The District's Director of Strategic Initiatives Suzanne West is hiding behind a secret committee with regards to refusing to rid schools in the district of the explicit and pornography-laden book, Gender Queer?

According to some parents, there has been an alarming trend to sever parent child relationships within Oregon schools such as Salem-Keizer district. Parents have been trying to have the book, Gender Queer removed from schools to no avail. After requests are received a committee is supposed to be made up of school librarian, parents, school administration and teachers are required to decide as was the case when controversial ‘anti racism’ book “Stamped,” was kept on the shelves.

With Gender Queer West held a secret meeting with a secret committee and decided to ignore parents who were actively trying to be a part of the process and Suzanne made the decision to retain Gender Queer in their school libraries. Why did Suzanne exclude the parents paying for these books, through tax dollars, from the book reconsideration process?

The root of the problem is not books or free speech. To say kids should be allowed to read any books at school is unjustifiable. Parents in Salem-Keizer are not trying to stop books from being read by kids, they are simply trying to protect kids from harmful hyper-sexualized content.

For many parents this shows a deep lack of responsibility and care concerning our children who deserve a real education that focuses on reading, writing and math. Oregon education is at the bottom of the nation despite all the policies of inclusivity. Want to be an inclusive school? Teach kids how to excel in reading.

A D V E R T I S E M E N T

A D V E R T I S E M E N T

The question is not whether books like Gender Queer have literary, artistic, political, or scientific value. The issue is that parents should have the right to prevent their kids from being exposed to obscene materials. Legal sources have said it could be a Class A misdemeanor if obscene materials like Gender Queer is presented to a minor outside of school. Educators are not meant to be teaching and forcing kids to learn about sexual pleasure which is what books like Gender Queer does.


--LaRissa Burke

Post Date: 2022-07-12 08:58:23

Last Update: 2022-07-12 17:06:05