HEAR FROM ROCKWOOD PARENTS. THEY HAVE BEEN SPEAKING OUT FOR MONTHS
ROCKWOOD PARENT, STUDENT CONCERNS
This is what Rockwood parents have been saying over the last several months...
“…my son's language arts class spent weeks in the Cultural Identity lessons teaching him that he is privileged because he is white.”
—About son’s 9th grade experience
“They have been reading books on social issues and this book “All American Boys” is about a cop that beat a black kid and white privilege is being talked about in class.”
—About 9th grade language arts
--Rockwood mom of a middle schooler and a high schooler
"The teacher kept saying how this is a historical moment in our country because the VP is a woman OF COLOR and she deserves this and that because of her color...So my daughter looked around and asked if she deserved an A because she is darker than her peers. If you know my daughter, you would know she was legit asking a question not to push buttons."
--Rockwood parent, on her child's 6th grade experience.
“…the curriculum was entirely divisive. It was heavy in subject and he began to dread the class and the weirdness it caused between the students.”
—Rockwood parent, on her child's experience as an 8th grader
“Boy, (student) was messed up that semester; worried with all the talk that he had privilege because he’s white.” —Rockwood 8th grade parent
“I and my boys definitely feel uncomfortable with the things being taught regarding racism.
My son’s friend, who is mixed race, white and black, also feels uncomfortable.
They say it is ‘cringy…’especially how much they are focusing on it in English (ELA) classes.”
—Rockwood parent, about her children's experiences as 9th and 7th graders
“I wrote what the teacher told me to write. I don’t care about this stuff. It makes us all feel bad and embarrassed. Why can’t we all just be friends?”
—Rockwood student as a 9th grader, on how he and his white and black classmates felt
”My guy told me whenever he expresses his opinion (he’s white) the class shuts him down and dismisses him because he’s not black and therefore doesn’t know. The teacher doesn’t seem to encourage the class to listen to other’s opinions.”
—Rockwood parent of a student in a black literature class
“I did see the video. I think it is ridiculous. This is teaching kids to focus on differences between people. My son doesn't want to talk about this much.”
—Rockwood parent, on her 9th grader’s experience
“I just feel every controversial book is being shoved down our kids throats. And it’s all one sided??? I’m all for differing views but it can’t be all slanted one way…Worry about what the end game is and how much damage will be done to our country…”
—Rockwood parent on high schooler’s experience in language arts
"Could we just take a breather on the whole race topic? For the love…”
--Rockwood parent, on 3 books her 9th grader read for language arts
“They said in that NPR show that parents were upset because the main characters of these books are black. NO, we aren’t upset about that, we are upset that the book is showing cop hate and making cops look bad. Stirring up the problem and making it worse with our youth.”
--Rockwood parent about 9th grader’s experience
“…basically our concerns were wondering how the lessons that were being (taught) had anything to do with language arts.We were concerned about the lack of focus on the subject areas and don’t feel our eighth grader learned much…These lessons didn’t seem to be giving her the foundation for successful
future."
—Rockwood parent on 8th grader's experience
“My problem was the message of the lesson. In my opinion anyone of any race would have that happen to them if they reached back in the car and pulled something out, but that’s not what the lesson was showing or saying.”
--Rockwood parent on 8th grader's experience
“There’s no balance offered, such as data that shows white teens are also killed by police, or that the number of white people shot and killed by police is about double the number of black people shot by police. Or, the risks police officers face every day.”
—Rockwood 8th grade parent
“I found when looking at the lesson (questions and videos) and the curriculum objectives I noticed a lot more. There is definitely an agenda and it’s one sided.”
—Rockwood parent on her 8th grader's experience
“(Daughter) just told me about a book called “It Feels Good to Be Yourself” that she found in (her elementary school) library today and read today. She told me that it was weird and talked about how if you are a girl and feel like a boy you can become one. And that sometimes doctors and parents make mistakes. She told me the book was weird and she didn’t like it.”
—Rockwood mom of 2nd grader
“My daughter was a sophomore last school year, a junior this school year.
I’ll start with one assignment in her US History class. The students were supposed to describe in an essay the differences they saw between 2020 and the roaring 20’s. Seems innocent enough, right?
My daughter wrote about how women are better off in 2020 since we have more rights than we did in 1920, like the right to vote.
When she got her graded paper back, she did get a passing grade, but her teacher wrote in her comments that she wished *** would have spent some time writing on the racial issues of 2020. *** was frustrated that she would try to encourage students to write about that.
They also had a presentation where the students were asked if they thought racist, homophobic or bigoted comments were forms of oppression. The teacher told them that they didn’t have to answer but told them to “think about it.”
They were asked in a questionnaire if they thought certain groups of people should be treated equally and be given equal rights…they were given groups like:
Race
Gender
Sexuality and several other groups.
There were others listed but these are the ones that stood out to her.”
—Rockwood parent, on her 11th grader’s experience
"Parents aren’t interested in banning books. What we want are responsible methods for curating library books. The librarians don’t even know what’s in the books in question.
What we want is a standardized system for subject matter rating for books. That way, parents can choose what ratings (sex, language, violence, etc) they would like their children to avoid. Rockwood administrators have suggested parents can make off limits all YA (Young Adult) books. That would ban almost every book in middle school and high school libraries. We know this is not a solution."
--Mom of a Rockwood 10th grader.
"There is absolutely no attempt in Rockwood to ban any books. Saying we want to ban books is accusing us of wanting the books pulled from the county libraries and book stores and Amazon. Or make them no longer available to the public. Preposterous. We just need new policies. Now, if they're not going to fix the policies, maybe the books shouldn't be so easily available at school."
--Parent of a Rockwood middle schooler
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Note: Names are not included because of doxxing and attacks that have occurred on social media.