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submitted 1 year ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/news@lemmy.world

A Georgia school board voted along party lines Thursday to fire a teacher after officials said she improperly read a book on gender fluidity to her fifth grade class.

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[-] jpreston2005@lemmy.world 111 points 1 year ago

why the fuck is a schoolboard voting "along party lines." I know it's been this way for a while, but it doesn't make it any less stupid that your godamn political party decides your EVERY attitude in life.

[-] Asafum@feddit.nl 40 points 1 year ago

"I'm a Republican because I want small government! Government so small it fits in my head and determines literally everything I do! I'm also a free-thinker by the way, or at least that's what Sean Hannity says I should call myself."

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[-] Potatos_are_not_friends@lemmy.world 90 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I'm trying to wrap my head around the intent.

Is this a case where she was fired because the book didn't have anything to do with the class she's teaching? Or because a bunch of parents went Karen and it made the school district look bad?

If a history class references passages from the bible, I think that is inappropriate in general but it depends on context. If it's using the bible to explain say the history of the Holy War, that makes sense. Having the context about the why does help.

If she was teaching Sex Ed and talking about gender fluidity, in that context it makes sense to me.

Like you can't talk about Hitler's philosophies without being up Mein kampf even at a shallow level. And to ignore it is disingenuous to education.

[-] Norgur@kbin.social 69 points 1 year ago

The thing is: You need the kids to have this information before puberty really starts to take off so they know what's going on with them when they start to feel things that are related to gender fluidity/homosexuality/whatever, so they grow up without the self-doubts and such but with the feeling that what they are is just another human being.

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[-] DessertStorms@kbin.social 54 points 1 year ago

The intent is transphobia, anything else is an excuse.

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[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 42 points 1 year ago

The 'insubordination' part is especially confounding. She's insubordinate by reading a children's book to children? What?

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[-] mindbleach@lemmy.world 23 points 1 year ago

Applying logic to bigotry is a waste of time. It's just ingroup loyalty. The rest is mouth noises. They won't be clever noises, and they won't be consistent noises.

[-] BarrelAgedBoredom@lemm.ee 19 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I did some digging to see if she was teaching a particular subject or anything. She was a teacher in the schools gifted program and per her Wikipedia page "According to the Cobb County School Board, Rinderle read the book during a time block that was supposed to be dedicated to mathematics instruction and enrichment, but Rinderle denies this allegation.".

I'm going to keep looking but it seems like their schooling is structured differently than I have any experience in. When I was in 5th grade we had 3 teachers that we rotated between for different subjects. It seems like she was responsible for several subjects or the entire curriculum for her students. Either way, the school boards intent is clear and malicious.

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[-] agent_flounder@lemmy.one 77 points 1 year ago

The book, My Shadow Is Purple is one I have had the pleasure to read thanks to my wife's job as a school librarian. The theme of the book is acceptance of differences, centered around a child's parent who at first seems unaccepting but who surprises the child and the reader at the end for a happy, wholesome outcome.

The board went against the recommendation of a panel and fired her over this book, voting along party lines, for an offense that would not ever warrant termination in an even marginally sane world. To me, this strongly suggests that this is another case of extremist right wing / regressive people trying to silence and further marginalize people different from them. Out of fear and hate, as usual. The effect of which is detrimental to each of the children who are not gender conforming. I personally think this school board needs to hear from people opposed to their decision en masse. They have already gone too far with their harmful ambitions.

[-] jecht360@lemmy.world 34 points 1 year ago

This is the dumbest reason to fire a teacher. The education system is already hurting for teachers.

[-] VieuxQueb@lemmy.ca 26 points 1 year ago

Ain't that what they want? No education and kids that work factories for pennies.

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[-] mojo@lemm.ee 28 points 1 year ago

In what way could this be remotely worse then pushing a Bible on to a class

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[-] grue@lemmy.ml 20 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Sigh... of course it's fucking kkkobb county.

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this post was submitted on 18 Aug 2023
687 points (96.6% liked)

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