PROGRESS REPORT: THE NAME GAME. IT SOUNDS CRAZY, BUT, ARE THEY HOLDING INFORMATION FOR RANSOM?
ROCKWOOD IS MAKING PARENTS PAY TO GET PUBLIC INFORMATION THAT ADMINISTRATORS
PURPOSELY HID.
Rockwood started omitting names of committee members from the official reports of those committees after parents discovered administrators were choosing the same parents over and over to be on those committees.
Now, if parents want to see the repeat names, they'll have to file a Sunshine Law request and pay for them. So far, it's a small amount. But, the amount isn't the issue. It's deciding to leave off information from a public document even though they admit it's public information.
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| reply from Rockwood |
We did request. We did pay. We'll let you know what we get.
This lacking transparency is evidenced in part by the fact that Dr. Shelley Willott indicated during committee meetings that they had trouble getting enough people for the committees, but never contacted 27 other parents who volunteered to be on the committees.
WHAT COMMITTEES?
The ones that review books or other lesson materials that have been challenged. So far, more than a dozen books have been challenged by parents and at least one Rockwood teacher. Among them, "Gender Queer,"which includes illustrations in comic book style of someone performing oral sex on a strap-on dildo and references to vibrators and vagina slime.
To date, so far, all 15 challenged books have been kept in the schools' libraries or kept for classroom use. That fact is drawing more attention since the same parents from committees who voted to keep the books are used again and again on other committees who also voted to keep the books. Some of the book decisions have been appealed. No appeals have led to any change. All decisions have been upheld.
Parents noticed that individual parents were used on as many as 4 committees to review 4 books. A source told us it's actually as many as 6 committees (6 books) that included the same people over and over.
BECAUSE OF A PICTURE?
All of this is happening after Dr. Willott said in the December 16th school board meeting that a parent had taken a picture of his computer screen during a zoom meeting where he presented his reasons for challenging a book. That parent suspected the district was choosing the same parents over and over. He was right.
Dr. Ricker confirmed that the picture/s are the reason they are hiding the committee names.
This is his reply to our questions:
"The Challenge Committee member names and the name of the individual who is challenging the materials were not part of the Committee report sent to the BOE on December 16, 2021. This is done so as to be able to get volunteers on the committees while preserving the anonymity of the complainant. We have had problems in the past with individuals taking pictures of the committee members or posting incorrect information on social media platforms which make it harder to complete the work of the committee..."
In that email, Dr. Ricker also stated we could get the names if we filed a records request. Missouri's Sunshine law requires that minutes of meetings include people who attended the meetings, so, we requested the minutes of the challenge meetings.
Then, things got even more unusual.
We were told there are no minutes of the meetings that parents are questioning.
We pressed more. Here's the district's response.
Note: In book challenge reports prior to November of this school year, the district DID INCLUDE committee member names.
The change to start omitting names went largely unnoticed until the district STARTED naming parents who disagree with the district. They are named as complainants if they appeal the decisions, in the appeal report documents.
That might not otherwise draw attention, either, except parents who have called book content inappropriate have been doxxed and smeared online by parents who disagree.
Here's our reply to Dr. Ricker's explanation for omitting names.
We are waiting for his reply.