Cameron R-1 school district sees reason and begins removing explicit books

In a shocking turn of events, the Cameron R-1 school district has been quietly removing challenged books from the high school library. These books that have been removed were previously challenged under a now rescinded policy for their “graphic” and “sexually explicit content”. A list of those challenged books can be found on our Dirty Book List.

Before I get too far into this article I would like to extend my gratitude to the Cameron R-1 school district and its board of education. It took more than 2 years, but they appear to have finally taken this explicit adult content seriously. I pray this is them taking steps to restore some good old fashioned family values to our small rural Missouri community. Please take the time to let them know you appreciate that they’re taking steps to protect our children and for beginning to restore parental rights.

The list of books we believe to have been removed

The following 8 books were among the first 80 books that were challenged.  Some of these books we physically held in our hands, some we found through the district provided Destiny access.  The district initially confirmed these books were in the district.  Our search today shows the books mentioned below are no longer present in the Cameron R-1 school districts high school library.

We will provide a link to a page for each of these books where you will find information about the book.  That page includes additional links with passages where you can read the content.  In one case, for the book Lucky, you will also find a link to video with some of its passages being read to the board in March of 2023.  Two years later it appears that horrible content is no longer in our public schools.  

WARNING !!  The text and video in the following itemized links contain explicit adult content that is NOT appropriate for children.

  1. Lucky  by Alice Seabold- informational link – Video link
  2. Lovely Bones by Alice Seabold- informational link
  3. Like a Love Story by Nazemian- informational link
  4. Friday by Robert Heinlein – informational link
  5. Fallout by Ellen Hopkins- informational link
  6. Smoke by Ellen Hopkins – informational link
  7. The Duff by Kody Keplinger – informational link
  8. Living Dead Girl by Elizabeth Scott – informational link
  9.  Maus by Art Spiegelman – informational link (We believe there were two of them, books 1 and 2 but cannot confirm)

How to search the library contents online

If you would like to confirm the absence of these books, or to see what other books are available in the Cameron high school library you can search for free using Go Follett.  Be sure to compare the description of the books you will find there to descriptions in the links above.  

Were other books removed?

Excellent question. We have submitted a Missouri sunshine law request seeking a full list of books that have been removed from the high school library. We are awaiting for the district to respond and provide us with those records. There will be an updated article once we receive and comb through those records. We hope to be able to provide you with a complete list of all the books that have been removed.

Why were the books removed?

The justification for the removal of these books is not yet clear.  At least 3 of the books, The DUFF, Lucky and Looking for Alaska were voted on by the book review committee to retain, with restrictions.  If or when a new vote was taken is unclear.  The link to the last found book review committee update is from the June 2024 school board meeting.  It is a document from the districts provider and will likely save to your downloads folder.

Because we were unclear about why these books were removed we included in our sunshine law request the documents that show the vote(s) by the committee to remove these books and any cited justification or cause for their removal. Once we receive and process those sunshine law requests we will be sure to provide an update.

Thank you, Cameron R-1 schools board of education

I would like to personally extend my sincere gratitude for your courage in finally taking a stand to protect our children and starting a much needed return to family values and morality in our community.  I hope you will consider providing an update at next weeks school board meeting regarding this matter. It is of significant interest to the community.

Please let us know how you’re deciding which books needed to be removed and your plans moving forward for further restrictions or removals.  Our children are our greatest treasure, thank you for recognizing they needed protected from harmful sexually explicit content.  I know it has been a stressful and difficult path, but those who do the right thing when its hard should be celebrated, not ridiculed.

 

Cameron R-1 school board members dealing with charged issue of sexually explicit books in the district
Cameron R-1 school begins removing sexually explicit books – photo from the Cameron R-1 schools

Cameron school boards appear unmoved after hearing incest passages from book Identical

At the June 2025 Cameron R-1 school district school board meeting, a concerned resident addressed the school board about yet another book. After giving a much needed content warning, Mr. Gilbert reads passages from the book Identical, which is found in the high school library, from the book Identical. The 7 person school board didn’t appear concerned by the content.

What is in that book that causes concern

The passages Mr Gilbert read  includes graphic details of a father grooming and then involving one of his identical daughters in a sex act.  Even when those passages were described in medical terms the local Cameron paper refused to publish that letter to the editor.  He denied it because it was too graphic.

Here is the video of that address to the board.  For those of you who would like to confirm this content is in the book we will provide the Rated Books link to the book Identical.

 

 

Cameron school board supports districts 1st Amendment violations

At the May 2025 school board meeting the Cameron, MO board of eduction appeared to dismiss the concerns of local resident Heath Gilbert when he asserted the school district is violating the 1st Amendment protections for freedom of speech. Gilbert asserts the deviations from district policy requiring residents to make their home address and cell number a public record as a condition of addressing the board both compel and chill free speech.


In what could be described as a violation of their oath of office to the constitutions of Missouri and the United States, the entire board of education appear to have dismissed those concerns and showed support for the efforts by the district and Superintendent Matt Robinson. What are those new requirements and how do they violate the 1st Amendment?

The cause of this claim for 1st Amendment violations revolves around a “form” the district requires everyone to complete as a condition of being able to exercise ones right to address the board during a public meeting. We will discuss the form next.

Details about the districts “form”

When a member of the public makes the required request to address the board of eduction they are provided with a link to an online form.  The school district requires this form to be completed as a condition of being granted permission to speak to the board.  Failing to complete any portion of this form will result in a denial to address the school board.

The district requires residents provide their name, email address, cell phone number and home address before asking for details on what you want to discuss.  They also require you to offer a solution to the stated issue.

Failure to complete any portion of the form, or to complete it accurately, will result in a denial of being added to the agenda to address the board.  

Is the “form” part of school policy?

Absolutely not.  The board policy and requirements for being added to the agenda to address the board are outlined in policy C-140-P.  There is no mention of “form” in that policy or any requirement to make one’s name, address and phone number a public record as a condition of addressing the board.

The policy does require everyone to meet with the superintendent as a condition of addressing the board, but Superintendent Matt Robinson refuses to hold those meetings.   The board ignores staff not following board policy and refuses to instruct him to follow policy and hold those meetings, as required in current policy.

Cameron schools compel speech of residents

As of December 2024, the Cameron school district began to compel anyone wishing to address the board to make their home address and cell phone numbers a public record as a condition of speaking to the board. Because of the Missouri sunshine law, any addresses, phone numbers or other information submitted to the district as a condition of speaking to the board becomes a public record.

The school district is required by law to make that personal information submitted via the “form” available to anyone who requests it. The school district and board of education are comfortable with making your personal information available to public. Requiring one to speak or telling them what they must say is compelled speech and a clear 1st Amendment violation.

Can public schools or governmental bodies compel speech?

Absolutely not. The Cameron school district and board of education are governmental bodies subject to compelled speech restrictions. Fortunately there are several Supreme Court cases where they have weighed in and offered opinions on compelled speech. Examples of these opinions include the infamous cake baker Jack Phillips out of Colorado. He was sued multiple times for refusing to bake various cakes which violated his religious belief. To force him to bake a cake would be compelled speech.

You can read examples of Supreme Court cases describing the dangers of compelled speech in this article by Neal Hardin. Compelled speech is dangerous and a violation of the 1st Amendment.

How is the Cameron school district chilling speech?

The same form and the requirement to disclose personal information can cause someone to not address the board out of fear of reprisal or retaliation.  The Cameron school districts requirement to make personal information a public record can cause someone to not exercise their freedom of speech out of fear of reprisal or retaliation. That is chilled speech.

Here is a real life example.  At the December 2023 school board meeting the book topic was on the school board meeting agenda here in Cameron. Concerned members of the public spoke against the books and their sexually explicit adult content being made available to children. Three school staff members addressed the board in favor of those books. One teacher referred to the efforts of the men who were leading the opposition of those books as a circus, implying they are clowns. She used strong language implying that racism, bigotry and misandry were the root causes of any issues with the books. Would she still be willing to call out those men and book review committee and once again make those same accusations knowing they could obtain her home address and cell phone number?

Or is it more likely that this teacher would be concerned one of those men would contact her on her cell phone or show up at her front door after implying they were clowns. Would she be willing to use the same language as she had previously back in December, or would she be compelled to use softer language or not mention them at all? The intellectually honest answer is anyone would likely soften their statements to the Cameron school board or choose not to address them at all out of concern of harassment or threats by someone who doesn’t like what they said.

This is what chilling speech looks like. And your Cameron R-1 schools board of education supports the actions of the district which compels speech, chills speech and does not align with school policy. They ban members of the public for not following policy but ignore and excuse when staff do the same.

What is the cause of these new restrictions on free speech?

We can only speculate as neither the district or board of education have explained the deviation from policy. To put it simply, they want to control what information is shared with the community at these board meetings about the school. This is an attempt to control or limit what is said.

A quick look at the new Rules of Decorum for the district and you will see that the district has granted itself the right to terminate the designated public forum time allotted for a member of the public if they bring up something that is not on their form. See the seconded bulleted item in number 2 of the Decorum Rules document.

Rules of decorum for the the Cameron school district which


To further speculate, I would guess it stems from the November 2024 board meeting where resident Heath Gilbert used the veil of body worn cameras to bring up alleged incidents of sexual assault of students at the elementary school and on a school bus. You can see that video below.

Final closing statement statement 

Each Cameron school district board member swore an oath to the constitutions of the state of Missouri and these United States. The new requirement that forces residents, teachers and students to make their phone numbers and home address a public record is compelling speech. This practice can and has chilled speech because residents don’t want to make that information a public record. Chilled and compelled speech are both clear violations of the 1st Amendment. For the board members to support these blatant violations is also a clear violation of their oaths of office. How can we trust the actions and words of these board members if they don’t take one of our nations most sacred oaths seriously?

Please consider peacefully contacting your elected school board members and urge them to honor their oaths and stop this madness. The email address for the board can be found on their webpage or you can email the entire board directly at boardofeducation@cameronschools.org

Concerns about wasteful spending raised by Cameron school board vice president

Last nights Cameron R-1 school districts board meeting we heard concern raised about possible unnecessary and wasteful spending in the district. Were these legitimate concerns about wasteful spending, or a veiled attempt by the district to discredit a local resident? Let’s flesh this out a little and allow you to draw your own conclusion.

The relevant discussion happened in the first few minutes of last nights meeting. School board vice president Ryan Murphy brought up a concern and started a discussion about a large bill for attorney services to redact records for a single Missouri Sunshine Law request. During the discussion about that bill, board member Pam Ice asks Superintendent Matt Robinson how much that specific records request cost the district to make redactions. Matt responded that it was $8200. That is unquestionably a lot of money.

You can watch that full exchange in the following video. But be sure to continue reading as we will provide additional and relevant details about likely reasons why attorneys are now making these redactions.

 

Can those redaction be made by school staff to save money?

That is the relevant question I would have liked one of the board members to have asked superintendent Robinson.  Board members Peck, Ice and board president Lockridge all joined in the conversation to share concern about the cost for redactions.  They were concerned about the cost, why were there no questions on how the district could reduce that cost?

I believe that both the district and school board have a fiduciary responsibility to the tax payers to spend our money wisely.  Paying a law firm $200 plus dollars an hour to redact names from public records doesn’t seem like a good use of tax dollars IF those redactions can be made by the district. 

Around the 2 minute and 45 second mark in the above YouTube video, Robinson mentions the district can only charge the individual requesting the records an amount equal to the lowest paid qualified staff member to complete that task.  Robinson mentions that is around $20 an hour.

Why then isn’t the Cameron school district making their own redactions and saving tax payers $180 an hour?  Of course hindsight is 20/20, but this would have been a good question for a member of the board to ask.  I’d love to hear a cost reduction question at every board meeting!

Has the school district previously completed their own records redactions

That is another question I would have liked  to hear a board member ask.  And if the answer provided was “yes”, a follow on question to ask why the change from previous and cheaper in house redactions.  The board didn’t ask those questions, but i can still provide an answer to that question.

Yes, the Cameron school district has made its own redactions in the past. 

Email confirming Matt Robinson made records redactions
Response from the district confirming they previously made redactions

In this screenshot you will see an email response from the district where they state that the superintendent was personally redacting records requests previously. Why was the highest paid staff member for the district conducting this task?

This image is from one of my own Sunshine Law requests and the redactions being made were staff names, the same type of redactions made in the $8200 request mentioned at last nights May 20th board meeting. If the district was previously able of making redactions to protect the names of district employees, why outsource that task to a significantly more expensive law firm? Another good question I wish one of the board members had asked.

Why did the Cameron school district stop completing their own redactions for records request?

While it is typically frowned on to comment on such questions with mere speculation, in this instance my answer is based on irrefutable fact.  Records we previously obtained through Sunshine Law requests pertaining to the dirty book fight appear to indicated unlawful redactions made by the district.  

One of the redactions appears to be an attempt to avoid transparency and coverup proof of records the district previously said didn’t exist.  We can show you that unlawful redaction.

To the right in the attached screenshot you can see a record with a poorly made redaction.  The link is to a google document of book votes taken by a book review committee.  This is important because when I originally asked for records of these votes I was told that no records existed.  This redaction appears to be an attempt made by the district to cover up the existence of public records.   This is the exact opposite of transparency.

When did the district switch to using lawyers for redactions

If Mr Murphy were to extend his records request he shared with the board and made a public record at last nights meeting to around the time of my records request, I suspect we will find an uptick in the billable hours by Ed Council.  It is my belief that it was around this time that found this unlawful redaction and attempt to avoid transparency that the district began outsourcing simple redaction duties to its law firm.

Was this a personal attack or legitimate concern about wasteful spending

Once again I can only speculate on this question.  In the 2 plus years I have been attending these board meetings, last night was the first time I recall a monthly expense budget item being questioned during a meeting.  If this was a one time event and we don’t hear similar questions in the future, we have our answer.

I hope that I am wrong.  I hope this is a sincere concern about possible wasteful spending of our tax dollars in the Cameron R-1 school district.  I hope to see additional concerns about expenses brought up at future meetings.  Hopefully routine series of questions are developed and asked during those meetings to ensure our hard earned tax dollars are being spent responsibly and wisely.

Cameron R-1 school district knew about and ignored sexually explicit books

In a recent post on Facebook by Cameron R-1 School board candidate Michael Barlow responds to questions asked by the local Cameron Newspapers.  One of the questions asked of all the school board candidates relates to the 2 year battle over sexually explicit books in the Cameron R-1 public school libraries.

The response from Mr. Barlow highlights one of the issues we have been vocal about over the past 2 years.  I have no doubt Mr Barlow believes those things, but his belief is based on a lack of information from the Cameron R-1 schools.  There is a serious lack of transparency in the school district and the community simply doesn’t know the reality of our book fight with the school.

In his statement, which you can read in its entirety HERE, Michael said the following about how he believes the book issue will be handled moving forward.

A legitimate concern has been brought forward about content in books. My belief is this will continue to be identified, addressed, and corrected by the school district.” – Michael Barlow for Cameron School Board

What the Cameron community doesn’t know, the school superintendent knew 6 months before we found and went public with the first book challenges these books were there. The district knew, had the opportunity to quietly remove them, and did nothing. Matt Robinson, school superintendent, ignored the issue and waited for parents or the community to figure it out. How do we know this? Public records obtained through a Missouri Sunshine Law request.

The following image was obtained through a public records request.  This email was sent by Matt Robinson to the entire boards of education.  Go to the last paragraph and read the last two sentences.  Matt Robinson told the board of education “I sat down with all librarians in August and shared by thoughts on controversial books and shared our day is coming, it’s only a matter of time.  Well, our day arrived last Thursday.” – Cameron R-1 school superintendent

The Cameron R-1 School district knew we had abhorrent and deviant sexually explicit books in our school libraries. They also knew they had books with content that was of concern and would likely be challenged. Children were checking out and reading these books while the problem was ignored. Instead of being proactive and getting ahead of the issue, they did nothing and waited for these sexually explicit books to be discovered by someone else. They knew these books were in our libraries and chose to do NOTHING.

The Cameron community largely believes the school district is addressing the book issue. Because of a lack of transparency by the school district and the board of education the community doesn’t know the truth of the matter. Every step taken by the Cameron school district relating to the sexually explicit and other adult content in these books has been reactive.

The following is a bulleted list of things I do not believe the community knows about the book issue, the Cameron R-1 school district and the board of education.

  • The school district has no plan for the district to identify any other remaining books with adult content.  They are relying on parents and the community to find them.
  • Despite relying on the community to identify books with adult content, the district and board refuse to allow the community access to the libraries to inspect books.  Parents are not allowed to see the books being provided to their children.
  • The Cameron school district and board of education have ignored every one of our questions about the educational value or curriculum objective of these books.
  • The school and board president have ignored every request for a community engagement meeting to talk about the book issue.  They do NOT want to be on the record talking about this.
  • The “book review committee” meets in secret and keeps no records of any kind.
  • The procedure used by the book review committee to determine if a book needs to be restricted is also secret.  They refuse to provide any documents.
  • The reason a book has been restricted by the book review committee is also a secret.  The school will not tell the community what content is on those restricted books.
  • Once a book has been restricted, the school doesn’t share any information with parents that would empower us to determine if we want our children to read these books.  They have used tax payer resources to pay employees to review these books.  Why not document the process and inform the public?
  • there is no policy that allows a parent or tax payer to challenge a book.  Most every other Missouri school has that policy.
  • unlike every other school in our area, Cameron has no policy that would allow a member of the community to challenge a decision by the book review committee and ask the school board to take a vote and make the final decision.
  • Cameron did have both of those policies in place but rescinded them both when I challenged the decisions of the first book review committees.
  • Cameron does not have a policy that covers the selection of library books.  It is entirely at the discretion of the librarian.  This is likely why we have so many inappropriate books in Cameron.
  • In two years, the Cameron school district and board of education have NEVER addressed the community or publicly talked about what kind of books are appropriate for our district.
  • The only public responses by the board of education is to cite “diversity”.  Do they truly believe that “diversity” requires we provide abhorrent content to children?
  • The Cameron school board doesn’t like the book issue, so they changed policy and limit us to discussing books once every 3 months.  Even with new information relevant to the book topic, the board refuses.

Update to the Cameron school district “book tasting” event

Update on our previous post about the “Book Tasting” event from the Cameron Missouri high school.  We have obtained clarification from the district and a copy of the documents seen in picture from the Cameron R-1 schools Facebook page.  We will share that clarification and the 43 page document we received.

Today we received an email that documented a Missouri Sunshine law response that was forwarded to us.  A concerned tax payer had request a copy of the document seen in the districts Facebook post about the “book tasting” event.   The school district has fulfilled that records request and provided a clarifying statement.  You can see the documents in the following image on the flat surface under the monitor.

Photo posted to Cameron R-1 school districts Facebook page

According to the statement in the email response Mr Landi received, that document seen in the photo was apparently unrelated to the book tasting event and wasn’t intended specifically for the book tasting even.  Here is the districts statement.


Cameron R-1 school claims this document was not part of the “Book Tasting”



 

 

 

 

 

The following link will allow you to download the 43 page PDF provided by the Cameron R-1 school distinct.

SLR Library Materials 3-12-25

Looking at this document and all of its pages, I am left with the two different gut feelings.  First, this material lacks any warnings to the type of adult content found in these restricted books.  Second, it seems this document is intended to get children interested in reading the adult content that superintendent Matt Robinson personally determined needed to be restricted to all students except those who are 18 years old.  Is the school district truly spending tax payer resources to encourage children to read sexually explicit adult content? 

It is interesting that the school district chose to use school district staff and resources to create this “unfettered review” for students.  Despite being asked to do so for almost 2 years, the district refuses to create a similar document for parents.  We want something that outlines the content in these books that caused the superintendent to restrict them.  I believe it is reasonable for the Cameron R-1 school district to provide parents with a resource like this 43 page PDF that would allow us to make an informed decision about allowing our children to read these books. 

Currently the Cameron R-1 school district doesn’t provide parents with anything that explains why a specific book has been restricted by the district.  Even the Destiny Discover service parents can use doesn’t describe the content in these books.  Superintendent Matt Robinson determined these books needed to be restricted, doesn’t the school district owe it to the parents to tell us why?

In a previous blog post titled “Reents-Dickkut says students can “view” restricted books” we covered what appears to be an intentional run around of the parents wishes.  Restricted books were provided to the class without at least one parents approval.  Dickkut appears to have admitted as much in her email response to a concerned parent.

Considering those two books, Speak and Hate U Give, were among the 43 pages in this document, I do not believe the district can claim this was an accident.  The cover of each pages specifically states “These books require a parent signed Full Access Agreement” on every page.  That is pretty clear to me.  Here are those two books as seen in this document.



 

The Cameron R-1 school district has spent two years ignoring our questions about these books.  Of course, I have more questions after inspecting this document.  Who created this document and why?  Was it created by direction of school administrators?  Which one?  Or is this dimply the act of one person and another attempt to indoctrinate our children and circumvent the will of parents.

I will close out this post by sharing an Instagram post from an account appearing to belong to the high school librarian.  They are recording an unboxing video as the appear to promote a series of different LBTQAlphabetSoup books.  Several of those books seen in this video have been restricted or outright removed because of their adult content.  

Did you catch her mention of “diversity” as she discussed these books with a student?  Notice her hashtags on that post in the description under the video?  Yes, we have DEI in the Cameron R-1 school district.


Reents-Dickkut says student can “view” restricted books

On February 6, the Cameron, MO high school shared out a post on it’s Facebook Page highlighting a “book tasting” event held by ELA teacher Jennifer Reents-Dickkut for her sophomore level Language Arts class.  One local parent noticed that among the images posted by the Cameron school district were 3 titles that had been restricted by the school superintendent, Matt Robinson.  These books were restricted because of the adult content they contained and were not to be given to under age children without express permission from a parent through a form provided by the district.

Here is the original post on the Cameron R-1 High Schools Facebook page.  Three different “restricted” titles are visible in the included photos for this post

In a strange turn of events, we received an email that was forwarded by a parent who had a child in that class.  That parents child was given the restricted book The Hate U Give without the parents consent.   This parent emailed Mrs Dickkut to ask why their child was given a restricted book without consent.   The following screenshot was taken from the bizarre response which seems to suggest that superintendent Robinson’s restriction on books is only for reading, viewing them is acceptable.  See the blue highlighted portion in the image below.

Dickkut claims the book restrictions do not prevent children from “viewing” restricted books

“There is a policy to read books with permission, but nothing on the form about viewing them. ” – Jennifer Reents-Dickkut

Yes, Mrs Dickkut appears to defend her actions by suggesting that school restrictions that prohibit her from providing restricted books to children without parental written approval doesn’t apply to just “viewing”.

Considering the 2 year long fight in Cameron over all of these explicit books with adult content, it doesn’t seem reasonable that this was a mistake or a misunderstanding of policy.  Dickkut was at the same board meetings as me when the superintendent and board discussed these restricted books and how they were to be handled.  It was very clear.  Restricted books were to be segregated in a library closet and not to be given to students under the age of 18 without first getting parental approval on a book restriction form.  There was ZERO discussion about any differences between reading and viewing. 

In a story we shared yesterday, you can see Mrs. Dickkut admitted to this parent that she told the students in advance that there were restricted books being used in the book tasting.  This struck me as odd, because we were told by the Cameron school district and our board of education that access to restricted books would be controlled and only students with parental consent would be provided a restricted book.  This appears to be a deliberate act by an activist teacher to disobey her administrators and board of education.

The list of books for Cameron schools “book tasting” class

Recently the Clinton County leader, based out of rural Plattsburg, MO, published a story on its Facebook page about the Cameron High Schools social media post about CHS teacher Jennifer Reents-Dickkut’s Language Arts 2 classes. The Sophomore level classes visited the CHS library and took part in a “book tasting.” According to Reents-Dickkut, 9 different books were “tasted”. We have that list of books and would like to share it.

While viewing the schools social media post about the “book tasting”, a concerned member of the public identified 3 three books shown in those pictures that had been restricted by school superintendent Matt Robinson. According to Robinson and the 7 member school board, restricted books were not to be given to minors without express parental consent.

We have obtained an email record from Mrs. Reents-Dickkut about the books that was sent to a concerned parent. Dickkut appears to provide a list of the books used in her book tasting event. Dickkut denies that the book Me Earl and the Dying Girl shown in the pictures for the event was used in the class. Apparently another district employee was making that restricted material available to the students.

Here is the list of book titles sent to the concerned parent. Some of the books listed here are rated by Book Looks, we will provide a link to those books after the book titles. Those links will open a PDF which will give you an overview of the book, a summary of the concerns with that book and the page numbers with the text of the concerning passages. Books with excessive vulgar language will also include word counts on that PDF. The books Speak and Hate U Give are the two books that have been restricted by the school district. There are links provided for both of those books.

1-The Sun is Also A Star by Nicola Yoon, –

2 Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, – Link to Book Looks

3-All American Boys by Brendan Kiely and Jason Reynolds – Link to Book Looks

4-The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas – Link to Book Looks

5-Dear Martin by Nic Stone – Link to Book Looks

6-The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie – Link to Book Looks

7- Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds – Link to Book Looks

8-Eliza and Her Monsters by Francesca Zappia

9-A very Large Expanse of Sea by Tahereh Mafi etc.

This screen shot was taken from the email that Mrs. Dickkut sent to the concerned parent.  The admissions from Dickkut in this letter are concerning and will be featured in its own topic soon.  In this screen shot made from that email, you can see students were told in advance that restricted books were on the tables.  The school board assured the community the restricted books wouldn’t be given to students without parental consent.  Clearly that directive wasn’t followed.

What is the curriculum objective for these 9 books that Mrs. Dickkut selected for that class?  What is the literary value of those books?  We have asked those very questions dozens of times about the books we find and challenge within the Cameron, Missouri, school district.  In 2 years, neither the district nor any member of the board of education will so much as acknowledge they have received our questions.  So without any answers, we have been left to trying to draw our own conclusions. 

Because the Cameron school district refuses to allow parents or members of the public to inspect these books, we have to resort to using the only available resource they provide us, Destiny Discover.  Jumping into Destiny I found a reoccurring theme to these books selected for this class.  Racism and oppressed minority groups.  Is this DEI in our classrooms?

In the following video, you will see and hear Mrs. Dickkut addressing the school board about the restriction of books in the Cameron school district.  She strongly supports children reading these books with adult sexually explicit content.  In this video, Dickkut mentions diversity 5 times along with references to race, minority groups, LGBTQ issues and a few other topics addressed in DEI.  Is this a radical teacher pushing DEI on our kids?  You tell me.

Settlement agreement with Cameron R-1 school district

Here is the full settlement agreement between myself and the Cameron R-1 school district relating to the federal lawsuit under 42 USC 1983 for violations of my 1st and 14th Amendment. The lawsuit ends with this agreement. All of the details are included in this document.

Cameron R-1 school district board meeting Dec 19, 2023

Here is the video from the Cameron R-1 school districts board of education meeting from December 19, 2023. There are time stamps in the description for the video. There was an update in this video to the ongoing book fight.