N.C. Parents Object to Teacher's Use of Gay-Themed Book

[W!nston]

N.C. Parents Object to Teacher's Use of Gay-Themed Book
Advocate | By Trudy Ringmay | May 16 2015 1:00 pm EDT

Some parents objected after a teacher read King & King to his class as a lesson against bullying.

About 200 people attended a meeting in North Carolina last night to discuss the controversy that arose after a third-grade teacher read a gay-themed storybook to his class in response to a bullying incident.

Some parents were outraged that Omar Currie read the book King & King to his students. The book offers a twist on the traditional fairy tale with a story of a crown prince who rejects various princesses as potential mates and finds true love with another prince. The story ends with them marrying and sealing their union with a kiss.

Currie read the book to his students at Efland-Cheeks Elementary School in Orange County, N.C., about three weeks ago, reports The News & Observer of Raleigh. He did it in order to teach tolerance after a boy in his class was bullied for being effeminate and called “gay” in a derogatory way, said Currie, who is gay.

Some of those who attended the meeting said the book was inappropriate for third-graders and that other stories could be used to teach that bullying is wrong, the paper reports.

“I do not believe relationships as described in this book are biblically sound,” said Shelby Tyson. “Our children are still very young and emotionally immature. I do not believe they need to be educated on finding a soul mate ... between two men, two women, or a man and a woman.”

“This is nothing more than bringing homosexuality into a school where it does not belong,” said another attendee, Lisa Baptist, who said she was concerned that children would act out the story.

Rodney Davis, who had picketed the school, said parents should have been notified before the book was read to the class. “These are my children. These are not your children,” said Davis, who has two children at the school. “What gives you the right to tell me what they can listen to and what they can hear in our school? That’s bullying.”

A week earlier, Davis had carried a sign outside the elementary school reading, “Mr. Currie read the book ‘King & King’ (homosexual relationships) without parents nor school’s permission.” After he interrupted school district spokesman Seth Stephens at the meeting, Stephens had a sheriff’s deputy escorted Davis out of the school building, The News & Observer reports.

Some at the meeting expressed support for Currie. “We cannot shelter our children from same-sex marriage,” said Tyla Olson. “We should allow diversity to be taught in our school. Teach peace and acceptance.”

Currie also spoke at the meeting, and the applause he received indicated about three-quarters of the attendees supported him, the Raleigh paper notes. Although a school district committee has upheld the use of the book, administrators also adopted a policy mandating that teachers “notify parents of all the books they plan to read in class and to fill out a form for every bullying incident,” the paper reports, and Currie objected strongly to these requirements.

“This egregious policy creates an undue burden on teachers, and it hurts students,” he said. “The district must understand silence is poison.”

SOURCE

 

[gb2000ie]

Just goes to show that even in the bible belt, the hate-filled loonies are just an overly loud minority.

B.

 

[gorgik9]

“I do not believe relationships as described in this book are biblically sound,” said Shelby Tyson. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

America...As long as an argument as the one above is considered noteworthy and of some importance, the mere fact that homosexuality and gay people actually exist will continue to cause "controversy"...

 

[W!nston]

Teacher resigns after reading students book about gay couple

Teacher resigns after reading students book about gay couple
Associated Press | By MICHAEL BIESECKER | June 16 2015 7:30pm EDT

Teacher who read gay-themed fairy tale in class resigns after protest​

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — After a third-grader tearfully recounted how another boy had called him "gay" during gym class, teacher Omar Currie chose to raise the issue during story time by reading his students a fable about a prince who falls in love with another prince, ending with a happily-ever-after royal wedding.

That decision in April ignited a public outcry from some parents in the rural hamlet of Efland, North Carolina, resulting in Currie's resignation this week from a job he loved. The assistant principal who loaned Currie her copy of "King & King" has also resigned, and outraged parents are pressuring administrators at the Orange County Schools to ban the book.

"When I read the story, the reaction of parents didn't come into my mind," Currie, 25, said Tuesday. "In that moment, it just seemed natural to me to read the book and have a conversation about treating people with respect. My focus then was on the child, and helping the child."

Currie knows firsthand what it is like to be bullied. Growing up gay and black in a small town in the eastern part of the state, his memories of middle school are of being a frequent target for teasing and slurs.

As a student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Currie entered a teaching fellows program with the intent of helping young people. He was first introduced to "King & King" during an education course that included strategies for introducing topics involving diversity in the classroom.

After graduation, Currie became a teacher at nearby Efland-Cheeks Elementary School. Though only about 15 miles west of Chapel Hill, a college town considered among the most liberal enclaves in the state, Efland is a socially conservative community of about 750 people where churches line the highway through town.

Within hours after reading the book to his students, Currie said he got a call from the school's principal requesting a meeting in her office for the following morning. The parents of three children soon filed written complaints to a school review committee, which twice upheld the use of the book after heated public meetings. But the school's principal also issued a new directive that teachers must submit an advance list of all books they intend to read with students to their parents.

"King & King" has been a subject of controversy before. In 2006, the parents of a Massachusetts second-grader sued after the book was read in their child's class. A federal judge later ruled against them, saying the rights of parents to exercise their religious and moral beliefs are not violated when children are exposed to differing ideas in public school.

In his two years at Efland elementary, Currie said his sexual orientation had never been an issue. His co-workers, and some parents, knew he lives with his male partner.

But at the committee meetings to discuss Currie's use of the book, some parents whose children were not in his class made their attacks personal, telling him he would die young and spend eternity in hell. He also began receiving hate-filled letters and emails, including one copied to other teachers at the school, described homosexuality as a "birth defect" while accusing Currie of trying to "indoctrinate" children through "psycho-emotional rape."

Though he says administrators never formally disciplined him for his decision to read the book, Currie said he was made to feel that he had done something wrong and felt pressured to leave the school. He is currently looking for another teaching job.

A spokesman for the Orange County Schools said Tuesday that Interim Superintendent Pam Jones was not available for an interview.

Meg Goodhand, the assistant principal who resigned after loaning Currie the book, also declined to comment.

The decision to allow "King & King" in the classroom has now been appealed to the district level, and a public meeting to discuss the issue is set for Thursday.

Currie plans to attend and says he will speak out.

"I'm resigning because when me and my partner sat down and talked about it we felt I wasn't going to have the support I needed to move forward at Efland," he said. "It's very disappointing."

SOURCE

The lynch mob won the day in this case. I hope the Supreme Court brings it's hammer down hard on the bigots like this bunch of bible-thumpers.

 

[gb2000ie]

This latest development is just tragic. The kids in this school seem to have been deprived of a great teacher by a bunch of evil bigots

B.