Records show 38 copies of books that portray police as violent and racist are currently checked out of our school libraries as of this writing.
27 of them were checked out from our middle schools. (9 from high schools.)
That's 27 readers, as young as 11 years old, from every Rockwood middle school, learning that white police officers can't be trusted.
Reading language like this:
WARNING: MATURE CONTENT
“Fuck the police! Fuck the police! Devante continues to shout. Vante, man, come on, says Seven. “I ain’t scared of them! Fuck the police!”
—page 396 The Hate U Give
"YOU WORTHLESS NIGGER SONS OF BITCHES!"
--a police officer on page 118 in Dear Martin
"It was only a matter of seconds before the cop had thrown the guy to the sidewalk and pressed him face first into the concrete.…again and again, smashing his face into the sidewalk. The blood kept coming.”
--a white police officer beating a black teenager on pages 37-38, "All American Boys"
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These are the books checked out; the vast majority are
checked out by kids as young as 11 years old. |
In addition to the anti-police themes, we have written about both "The Hate U Give" and "Dear Martin" on this site because parents have raised concerns about their gratuitous profanity and mature situations.
In particular, a workbook related to Dear Martin was upsetting for a Rockwood parent and student last year, who come from a law enforcement family. The workbook contains assignments related to police profiling, police shootings, and references toward white people that are negative.
Parents tend to look the other way if high school-aged kids are reading more mature or more controversial content.
But, by far, it's middle schoolers that are exposed to these books. Rockwood promotes these books to that age group.
All three are on the district's "approved choice book list," which means language arts teachers are allowed to recommend these books for reading assignments in grades 6 through 12.
Here's a photo of a 7th grade classroom door at the beginning of the school year.
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| Rockwood South Middle School 2021-2022 school year. |
She was also promoting "Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You."
"Stamped..." is widely known to be linked with Critical Race Theory, in that it describes the origins of racism in our country, traced back to our founding fathers and to laws that were made for the benefit of white people.
“Laws that have kept Black people from freedom, from voting, from education, from insurance, from housing, from government assistance, from health care, from shopping, from walking, from driving, from… breathing.”
Rockwood promoted "Stamped..." as a "One Read" book for the whole district during the 2020-2021 school year. That means it recommended the book for all students and all teachers.
Right now, records show, kids in our ELEMENTARY schools are reading this book.
Of the 8 copies checked out of our school libraries, three are from elementary schools. Two more from middle school. The rest from high school.
The above photo is a screenshot from Destiny, Rockwood's library database. It is showing the book is checked out at Geggie Elementary. The database also shows the book checked out at Pond Elementary and The Center for Creative Learning.
Rockwood administrator Dr. Shelley Willott has said many times kids are choosing on their own to read these books with anti-police and anti-America themes. What other choice do they have, when you consider they are approved for class reading, a LOT of copies of these books are available in classrooms and libraries, and teachers recommend them?
To illustrate just how much emphasis Rockwood places on anti-police/racism themes, the total number of copies of these books in Rockwood libraries is shown below, compared to other types of books you with which you might be familiar.
Note: "This is My America" has been used in freshman language arts classes this year, so it's a little misleading that it shows 0 copies currently checked out. It definitely has been used in classes. The plot centers on racism in our judicial system. Police are less central to the story, but, are portrayed in a negative light.
Rush Revere is a 5 book series written by Rush Limbaugh, that takes kids through the history of our country. One copy of two of the five books is in one library.
The Tuttle Twins is a series of books that is described as promoting more conservative values.
Rockwood parents have been expressing concerns about books and lesson materials in Rockwood for months. Read what they have said here.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Rockwood students have also had other class assignments with anti-police themes, such as video clips and a reading sheet written by a founder of Black Lives Matter.
For more on assignments, click here.
