At the conclusion of the September 19, 2023 board of education meeting, Pam Ice, president of the board of education in Cameron, Missouri, read a prepared statement to the public who were in attendance. I believe some of the information she provided is inaccurate. I have inserted my response into that original video. That compilation is shared in the video below.
I believe this is yet another calculated delay tactic by the Cameron school district to try and buy time. This policy, like the last one they used to review the sexually explicit books, does not include a solution to the problem. This policy does not give the district the ability to restrict content that is vulgar or sexually explicit.
The district has no policy in place that will prevent additional sexually explicit, vulgar and inappropriate content from being added to our libraries. They do not have any plan, or apparent desire, to start a process of finding additional concerning content that hasn’t yet been identified. Why are the members of the public responsible for finding the inappropriate content the school added?
This shouldn’t be so difficult.
In a previous blog entry titled Cameron school district likely ineligible for state funds to purchase books under new rule to protect children, we speculated the Cameron school district wasn’t complying with this new rule. In the interest of getting the truth of the matter, we submitted a sunshine law request seeking the records that would show the truth. We were right. The Cameron R-1 school district is not in compliance.
You can see the sunshine law request above that was made to request records that would have shown the Cameron school district attempting to comply with this new rule to qualify for state funds designated specifically to purchase library books.
In this next image you can see the response from the Cameron school district to that records request. When Ms Walker says “The district does not have any records responsive to this request.” that is our indication that they didn’t submit that paperwork by the deadline date. Had they submitted the paperwork there would be a record.
Does that mean the school district won’t add more books to the library?
The Cameron school district will still add lots of books to the Cameron school libraries, they will just use funds other than those provided by the secretary of state to pay for them. By using funds the school already has they can avoid those pesky restrictions on providing vulgar and sexually explicit books to our children.
This is unfortunate for two reasons. The most obvious is that in order to qualify for those state funds that can only be used to buy books, the Cameron school district would have to take steps to protect our children from vulgar and sexually explicit content. That would be the win that we are seeking.
The second reason, if those book purchases are bought with funds that the school already has it prevents those book purchase funds from being used for other necessities within the district. If we can obtain funds from the state specifically to buy books we could stretch the budget further to see to more needs of our students.
Can anything be done since they aren’t complying?
I had the same question, and I have to admit I may be wrong here. But my understanding is this isn’t a law, so there is no way to force compliance. If the Cameron school district doesn’t wish to comply with the requirements to receive those funds they are ineligible to receive them. They are not required to received those funds.
Our fight will continue
This new rule would have been an easy solution for the Cameron school district and board of education to protect our children from inappropriate content. It is more than a little disappointing they elected to ignore it and not comply.
Our fight to remove the adult content from the school district is far from over. We are committed to bringing change and protecting our children. If you are willing to help, either in the eye of the public or from the shadows, please let us know.
Recently a new rule went into effect in MO, Library Certification Requirement for the Protection of Minors, that was designed to help protect children from sexually explicit, obscene and age inappropriate content while empowering parents. No surprise, the Cameron school district is in direct defiance and non-compliance with this new rule. Libraries which do not comply with these rules will be ineligible to receive state funding earmarked for the purchase of books. Rules for thee, but not for me. Why wouldn’t the school district want to comply with a requirement designed to help protect minors?
There are six requirements outlined in this rule that libraries must follow in order to receive funding from the state. Those rules are :
- Libraries must create and publish a written policy describing how they consider age appropriateness when selecting materials. – No such policy exists at the Cameron school district. This is one of the many complaints of the citizens concerned about the books in our school district.
- Libraries are banned from buying materials that are “obscene,” “pornographic for minors” or “child pornography” as defined by Missouri law.
- Libraries must create and publish a policy letting parents and guardians determine what materials their child(ren) can access. Library workers are banned from giving material to children that hasn’t been approved by parents. – No such policy exists in the Cameron school district. They do offer a “restriction form” but that does not comply with this requirement. It is going to require a GOOD policy for the district to be able to comply with this one.
- No “age-inappropriate” materials will be displayed in areas of libraries primarily used for children or teens. – Under the new rule, parents have the right to challenge such displays. This is good for parents AND students. See item 6.
- Events held in the libraries must designate which age groups the events are deemed appropriate to allow parents to decide if they will allow their child(ren) to participate.
- Libraries will adopt a written policy letting parents challenge whether materials, events or displays are “age-appropriate.” Results of challenges must be published on a library’s website. – This item is big. I will write about it below.
Just last week at a special board of education meeting the board voted unanimously to rescind policy KLB-AP1. That policy partially complied with item 6. But our board of education felt it was prudent and necessary to rescind the policy which allowed parents to challenge individual books if we had any concerns about the contents.
Now the district tells us if we have concerns about a book we need to address those concerns through policy BDDH-1. You will have to request to be added to the agenda to address the board of education and ask them to consider instructing the district to review the book which concerns you. Mind you, they are under no obligation to do so. It is entirely at their discretion.
The stated goal of this library certification requirement is to protect children. Why would the district and board of education vote to rescind policy KLB-AP1 which gave parents and tax payers a process to challenge books, to try and protect our children?Why is our superintendent not complying with this new rule? Is he not aware, or is this a deliberate act?
To the parents and tax payers in the Cameron community, its time to take a stand. I encourage you to contact every member of the board of education and ask them why they choose to move away from the requirements that were put in place to help protect our children. Demand answers. And let us know how the respond.
https://www.cameron.k12.mo.us/page/board-members
Currently the Cameron school district has no policy in place which would prohibit sexually explicit material from being in our school libraries. This is true for the content that is currently in the library as well as books that can be added in the future. No policy will prevent more sexually explicit content from being added to the library.
At the special board of education meeting in August, the board directed Matt Robinson to order the review of all the books that been previously challenged under policy KLB-AP1. They knew, or should have known, the outcome of that review before they even ordered it to be conducted. No content will be removed for being sexually explicit. It will be retained because it fits the districts mission to be “diverse”.
Policy IIA is the basis, the guide, for how policy IIAC-R1 will be viewed and applied as the school district reviews the list of challenged books. Within the highlighted picture above, notice this quoted portion.
Multi-cultural, disability-aware and gender-fair concepts will be criteria for selection of materials
The people who are reviewing the challenged books will argue that the books that include issues such as LGBT, alternative sexuality, alternative genders and the other topics that concern us are all multi-cultural issues. Because All Boys Aren’t Blue is about a homosexual black man it gets 2 marks in the multi-cultural column and will likely be retained.
You will notice that the district doesn’t define multi-cultural, disability-aware or gender-fair concepts. Because the district doesn’t define it, those who are reviewing the books under this policy get to apply their own subjective definitions.
Moving on to the policy that will be used to “reconsider” the challenged books. Towards the bottom of policy IIAC-R1 you will find the section which covers reconsideration. This is the image to the right of this text. You will notice that this too is entirely subjective, it will be entirely at the discretion of each committee member to decide what they feel those subjective guidelines mean.
Look at item 5. We know the librarian likely recommends every one of the challenged books, she personally selected most of them. So no chance she will say those books aren’t recommended. But should a sexually explicit book which describes how to have anal sex be recommended by anyone at the school district? I say no. Not appropriate content for young children and no amount of context will make it OK.
What should be done?
Many of the books that are being challenged are there because board policy was not followed. Those books should be removed until they can be added in accordance with board policy. To remove only the challenged books would invite lawsuit from organizations like the ACLU for viewpoint discrimination.
Anyone who failed to follow board policy relating to this book mess should be considered as having a conflict of interest in being on that reconsideration committee. Other teachers, librarians or administrators should be appointed, as necessary.
The board of education has the ability, and obligation, to amend policy which does not comply with community standards. It is in their power to draft new policy, or alter existing policy, to protect our children from sexually explicit content. They could amend IIAC-R1 to replace sexually explicit content as well as limit the schools ability to add new books with sexually explicit content.
They could publish the list of books they hope to add to the library in advance of such purchases. This would allow the community to look into the books and make the book selection committee aware of any concerning content. That would give the community a stake in the books being bought with their tax dollars while helping to make the job easier for the selection committee.
In an article published by Heidi Schmidt on August 28, 2023, on the KC TV 5 website she shared the American Library Association’s top 13 most challenged books of 2022 in Missouri and Kansas. Out of curiosity I decided to check the Cameron library and see how many of those books we had here.
It didn’t take me long to find the first book. I knew this one from memory. All Boys Aren’t Blue by George M. Johnson is the 2nd most challenged books in Missouri and Kansas. In this picture from the personal Instagram account of the Cameron high school librarian you can see the cover of All Boys in the top right. According to Heidi, this book was challenged 86 times for the stated reason of having sexually explicit content.
Residents of Cameron who attended the August 29, 2023 special board of education meeting had the opportunity to hear Dan Landi read some of that concerning sexually explicit content. For those of you who missed it, you can watch Dan read it to the board of education.
In total, the Cameron high school library has 8 of the top 13 most challenged books of 2022. The Cameron board of education recently said our district is a leader in education in NW Missouri. I don’t think they had this particular stat in mind when the made that statement.
The other 7 of the top 13 books found in the Cameron high school library and the most state reason for being challenged are as follows.
- The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison – sexually explicit, sexual assault and
- Looking for Alaska by John Green – sexually explicit and LBGT content
- The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky – sexual abuse, sexually explicit content, LBGT content, drug use and profanity
- The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie – sexually explicit content and profanity
- Out of Darkness by Ashley Hope Perez – sexually explicit content and abuse
- Crank by Ellen Hopkins – sexually explicit content and drug use
- Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews – sexually explicit content and profanity
The Cameron area has received some outside attention on the issue relating to sexually explicit books in our public school libraries. Ryan Foley, a reporter with the Christian post, published his article titled “Missouri parents say school district ‘stonewalled’ them about ‘naughty books’ in school libraries.”
You can read the story on the Christian Post website.
The second largest school district in Georgia, as reported by AP News, has removed the book Me and Earl and the Dying Girl from 20 of their school libraries. They cite the reason for removing those books was because it had
“highly inappropriate, sexually explicit content.”
Cobb County school district as found on AP News
The board of education and superintendent at the Cobb county school district have the courage to let the community know exactly where they stand on the issue of sexually explicit content. The Cobb county school district gets it. Sexually explicit content does NOT belong in our schools. If only the board of education and superintendent here in Cameron had this type of morality, leadership and courage.
“Protecting our students from sexually explicit content isn’t controversial, it’s what our parents expect,” John Floresta, the district’s chief strategy and accountability officer. “Our board and superintendent are clear — any book, video, or lesson which contains sexually explicit content is entirely unacceptable and has no place in our schools.”
It just so happens that the Cameron High School also has this book on its shelf, complete with that very same “highly inappropriate, sexually explicit content.”
It just so happens that the Cameron High School also has this book on its shelf, complete with that very same “highly inappropriate, sexually explicit content.”This book is one of 80 in the Cameron high school which have been challenged and will be reviewed by they district. You can see the list of all the books currently being challenged on the Cameron school districts website. Or you can go directly to the page with the current lists.
Recently I had a comment on one of my posts on our Facebook page about the book The Hate You Give, by Angie Thomas. It’s one of the books that are available in the Cameron high school library that was challenged and will be reviewed.
In this Facebook post, they mention that the book was made into a movie and that it’s only rated as PG-13. The implication being that this book should be perfectly acceptable for kids to read.
First off, the movie is rated determined by the content of the movie, not the book it is based upon. The movie is never exactly like the book. The film directer can, and usually does, leave out elements that would earn them an R rating when they want a larger and younger audience to watch the movie. The movie version of a book is not a direct reflection on the content of that book.
However, this commenter does inadvertently make my point for me. Let me explain.
If the movie version of the book did indeed include every scene and all the language as it is written in the book, the motion picture associations film rating committee would rate it as Restricted. In movie form, the students in Cameron high school would not be allowed to view that version of the movie!
RESTRICTED.Children Under 17 Require Accompanying Parent or Adult Guardian.These films contain some adult material. An R-rated film may depict adult activity, hard language, intense graphic or persistent violence, sexually oriented nudity, drug abuse or other elements.Parents are counseled to take this rating very seriously. Children under 17 are not allowed to attend R-rated films unaccompanied by a parent or adult guardian. Parents are strongly urged to find out more about the particular film in determining its suitability for their children. Generally, it is not appropriate for parents to bring their young children with them to R-rated movies
Movie Rating Stem PDF on https://www.filmratings.com website
So what content is really in the book? we highly recommend the site Book Looks and will provide a link to the PDF for The Hate You Give. Go verify our work. The language alone in this book would certainly earn it a rated R rating. Our school district cannot play rated R movies with this kind of language for students. Why then can they provide books with the same content that would be prohibited in a movie?
Recently we brought to the attention of the Cameron school district a FAQ’s page from Hope In a Box, where they discuss how educators can discuss gender and sexuality with young students.
We asked the school district about requiring teachers with personal in class libraries to report what books they have to the district. That would allow the public to see what content is being provided to the students and to ensure that appropriate content is being given to our students. We asked if the district would be willing to require teachers to report what was in their library to the district.
What is the official position of the district? To allow the teachers to decide what is appropriate. And if a parent discovers one of those books recommended to help teachers discuss gender and sexuality with our young students? Why go discuss those book concerns with the teacher! It appears Matt Robinson and the board of education are unwilling to do anything to help ensure the porn we are seeing in schools across our country make it into our classrooms here in Cameron.
We are to just trust the educators because they are “trained” and are the “experts”. You know how and why those books got into those other school classrooms and libraries that you now see in the news weekly? Because feckless school administrators blindly trusted those trained experts. When there is a string of burglaries in your neighborhood you don’t simply trust your police department to make sure your home isn’t robbed. You lock the doors and install security cameras to protect your home.
Today I was doing some digging about the organization which the librarian requested to send a box of books to the school. That group is Hope In a Box. Hope In a Box is the organization that sent the book All Boys Aren’t Blue.
It took me just a few minutes to find this gem on a FAQ’s sheet they make for teachers and librarians on their website.
The question is “How should I talk to younger students about gender and sexuality.” They shouldn’t of course, that’s not their job. No one at the school should be discussing sexuality with kids, especially the younger ones. Scroll to the bottom of the picture and see the age groups for the books they recommend.
The Cameron school district requested books from an organization which encourages teachers and librarians to have discussions with students about gender and sexuality. Of course Hope In a Box intends that book All Boys to be used to push their agenda.
How young of students are they referring to in this FAQ page? Great question. See in the picture above the book Neither? It’s for ages 2-6. That’s a book that’s recommended by Hope In a Box for younger students. It looks like they recommend teachers and librarians discuss gender and sexuality with students as young as 2.
How long will the board ignore what we all know? These books are NOT appropriate and the librarian is absolutely pushing an agenda. Sexuality is being pushed on our kids and our school district sits and ignores the problem.
Stop sexualizing our kids. Remove the porn and inappropriate material from our schools.