Here's the deal. I'm sure you know banning books is wrong and most everyone on this
listserv is likely to tell you that. The Pico case is clearly on your side if you
want to buck the Super. You could get some great help and legal advice and
representation from ALA office of intellectual freedom. I have the number if you
need it. That's half the story.
Here's the other half. If the principal and the superintendent are half the bad
news you describe, you are going to get fired. Getting fired from a teaching job is
no fun at all. It's very hard to get another educational job with a dismissal on
your record. I know this to be true because it happened to me. I was lucky enough
to benefit from a bit of nepotism to get another job in the schools.
You will be hailed as a hero by other librarians and intellectual freedom
advocates, but in reality, you will be a flat broke martyr. ALA will represent you,
but they won't pay your mortgage or car payment or your children's medical bills.
Now if you have other means of support or are independently wealthy, no worries.
Otherwise you have to make the hard choice others before you have had to make:
principles or pay check.
It's not the least bit fair or right or even legal to put a fine point on it, but
it's the truth. Believe me, I speak from experience. Good luck, whatever you do and
let us know how it turns out.
--
Shannon D. Wham, Librarian
Bell Street MS
600 Peachtree St.
Clinton, SC 29325
sdwham@laurens56.k12.sc.us
sdeanwham@charter.net
"Id temporis consilium bonum videbatur"
---- "JH@newsonglibrary.org" <JH@NEWSONGLIBRARY.ORG> wrote:
> Dear Netters,
> I am a bit frantic because I'm changing providers and haven't had email for
> over a week. So I'm trying to do this via web mail. In case I cannot get
> your answers in my email box, could you please send your responses to the
> list?
>
> I read And Tango Makes Three to my second graders. This is a true story of
> two male penguins in the Central Park Zoo in NYC who were partners and who
> raised a chick. (Their keeper put an egg in their nest.) I had a sub for
> a day and I learned a week after the fact that she had some something to
> the principal about it. The principal, who is new this year, took the book
> to the superintendent. He threatened to consider firing me if anything
> else about like this happened again. [He listed two other times I had done
> this, niether of which had anything to do with me.] I had gotten my hand
> slapped six or so years ago for thrying to deal with homophobic name
> calling in a fourth grade class.
>
> Being terrified of losing my job, I wrote a letter that said I had made an
> error in judgement, apologized, but refuted the two accusations that had
> nothing to do with me. I went back to my library and started pulling all
> books with a mention of two moms or two dads, or a gay uncle, or... Then I
> looked at what I was doing and started feeling sick to my stomach. I
> thought the penguin story was benign. The super's got a reputation for
> hard ball, followed by broken glass. He wasn't here when the name-calling
> incident happened, so all of his evidence is from documents in my file.
>
> I don't know what to do. I don't know the principal well enough to talk
> about any aspect of this. I come to a complete halt at the thought of
> removing all books with even a mention of same-gender partners. But I
> wince at what might happen if a student takes out one of these books and a
> conservative parent files a complaint. Yes, I have a reconsideration
> policy. But if the super got wind of any challenge, I know he'll override
> it.
>
> Thanks!
> Johanna
>
> Johanna Halbeisen
> Woodland Elementary K-4
> Southwick, MA 10177
> JH@newsonglibrary.org
>
>
>
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