ROCKWOOD PARENTS REACT; REVEAL HISTORY OF BEING TARGETED FOR DISAGREEING WITH THE DISTRICT

"Our community is so utterly divisive and hateful right now; you can imagine the further doxing and hatred we are going to receive after our names were published this evening."

The above quote is from an email written Thursday night by a Rockwood parent. She wrote it because she and other parents are named on documents Rockwood posted for that night's school board meeting.

An example of the "hatred we are going to receive" is shown in the image.

It's one of dozens of social media messages and posts that Rockwood parents received over the last year; targeted, because they expressed concerns about lesson and book content in Rockwood. 

The parent who wrote the email is concerned she may be targeted next. She challenged a book her 14 year old daughter read for a language arts assignment. If we identify the book, we will identify the parent, so, we will only show you an excerpt that bothered the parent. Warning: profanity.

The book was not approved by Rockwood to be used for reading assignments, but, in their report, the challenge committee decided the book would be "retained without restriction" and teachers were to be reminded that they should only assign books that are approved by Rockwood. 

The book, though, could still be read for language arts classes if students get the book from the library instead of the teacher. That way, the teacher didn't technically assign it. The parent appealed that decision but was not successful. The decision was upheld. She is named in the appeal document as the complainant. That document, along with other appeal decisions, is what's posted publicly on Rockwood's website.

Typically, there wouldn't necessarily be an expectation of privacy when filing a formal complaint against the district, but, divisiveness over what content should be allowed in schools has become so polarizing that, before this week, Rockwood didn't name parents who challenged books in the official documents, and in fact, started omitting the names of committee members who made decisions on the fate of challenged books.

We reported earlier this week that Rockwood started omitting committee member names. The omissions may be a violation of Missouri's Sunshine Law, but, didn't draw attention until Rockwood continued to protect the identity of the committee members and stopped protecting the identity of parents who disagree with the district about the books.

More from the email:

"Your continued actions and processes/policies that you have in place are OBVIOUSLY trying to target parents who speak out and intimidate us into silence." 

Note: There are two separate processes at issue; challenges, and appeals of the challenges. They each have different committees. The challenge committees are chosen by Rockwood administrators and are made up of as many as 4 parents and various Rockwood employees. The appeal committees are made up of school board members. 

The documents that announce the appeal decisions do list the school board members who handled the appeal, and, they list what already happened in the challenge committees, but (like the official reports of the challenge committees), they don't list who's on the challenge committees.

"What we would like to know is WHERE ARE THE NAMES OF THE CHALLENGE COMMITTEE MEMBERS on the appeal documents?? The BOE members are elected officials; we are private citizens. If we are going to be publicly targeted now, so should the Challenge Committee members." 

Another Rockwood parent, also named, had this reaction:

"I get that names of parents who file complaints or appeals might be treated as public information. What I don't get is--why is my name treated as public information, but names of committee members that make the decisions I'm appealing are not public information? Why are those committees kept secret?"  

We have emailed Rockwood administrators and school board members about this. We have not yet received answers.

Note: Rockwood may be hiding challenge committee names for a more nefarious reason: to hide their process. Administrators started omitting names of committee members from official reports only after parents started noticing that the same people were chosen, over and over, for those committees. 

MORE TO HIDE: 

STACKING THE COMMITTEES IN FAVOR OF THE BOOKS?

We reported March 3rd that, by using earlier reports that did name committee members, and what we saw on recent zoom committee meetings, we confirmed at least 3 parents were on multiple committees that, combined, decided the fate of 5 books. 

Update.
Sources say it is actually higher than that: Rockwood administrators chose one parent to be on 3 committees, one parent was on 4 committees, another was on 5 committees, and, at least one Rockwood employee was on 6 committees. One committee = one challenged book. Sources say all of the repeat members have been in favor of keeping the books.

In fact, records show, all challenged books, so far, have been retained.
(See why some of the other books were challenged here.) 

Dr. Shelley Willott is in charge of the challenge process. She indicated it was difficult to find enough people for the committees, but, never contacted any of the 27 parents who volunteered to be on these committees. We know. We checked.

We have filed a records request with Rockwood and are in communication with the Attorney General's office re: Missouri's Sunshine law. We will update with what we find.

MORE TO HIDE: 

THE APPEAL PROCESS ISN'T TRANSPARENT, EITHER. WHY?

The process is not explained anywhere publicly. Emails to those who submitted appeals simply said the appeals should be sent to school board members. Turns out, the full board doesn't see the appeals or vote on them.

Instead, appeals are decided by board committees, which consist of only 3 school board members.

Note: It may be harder to find out what happens in those committees because,  generally, meetings are not considered public if less than 4 of the 7 board members are present. 

Also note: The appeal decisions were on the agenda to be approved Thursday night, but, the school board voted to table the issue. Board member Tom Dunn said he made the motion to table it because he wants clarification about the appeal process.

THEORY: 

HIDE COMMITTEE NAMES BECAUSE OF A PICTURE?

Dr. Willott said at the December 16th school board meeting (around the 2 hour 53 minute mark) that a parent challenging a book took pictures during the committee meeting (on zoom) in which he gave his presentation for why he felt the book was inappropriate for minors. 

Willott did not say there were any threats or safety concerns from the picture that was taken. But, the challenge reports presented at that meeting are the first ones that didn't name committee members.

We spoke to the parent who took the pictures. He said he took them because he was suspicious that the same committee members were being used over and over. 

He was right.

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ADDITIONAL BACKGROUND/CONTEXT

social media message sent to a Rockwood parent

Over the last year, peoople who agree with the district that it's ok to have anti-police themes and white privilege references in lesson and book content, have targeted parents on social media who don't think that type of content belongs in schools.  

The issue escalated when parents discovered Rockwood school library books contain graphic illustrations of oral sex, and written descriptions of sexual encounters involving "painful insertion" and "lube." Rockwood has defended the books as providing diverse perspectives because the authors are non-binary, gay, or black.  

The harassment has included doxing and attempts to get parents fired from their jobs. 

Parents are concerned Rockwood's actions will lead to more of the same. 

Here are additional examples from the last year. 

                                                

 

Editor's note: This post has been edited to include additional information that further explains the challenge and appeal processes.