The Cobb County School District is investigating what it is calling an “inaccurate e-mail” that was sent out Thursday saying that the district will not be participating in a statewide reading contest.
An e-mail was posted Friday morning on at least two Facebook groups dedicated to discussions about Cobb schools that the district would not be taking part in the Helen Ruffin Reading Bowl for the 2023-24 school year “due to an abundance of caution and in light of recent events.”
That’s a reference to the district’s decision earlier this week to pull two books from 20 middle school and high school libraries because of “sexually explicit” content that the district said violated district policy and a recent state law.
The e-mail, which was entitled “Cobb HRRB Announcement,” reportedly came from the Cobb HRRB co-chairs, Susan Buckert, a media specialist at McEachern High School, and Heather Kindschy, who has a similar position at Dickerson Middle School.
The Cobb HRRB is made up of school library staffers who serve on an all-volunteer basis. The Cobb County Association of Educators has said that the HRRB’s steering committee called off participation in the Reading Bowl, fearful of running afoul of content restrictions.
The message concluded with a quote from performing artist Taylor Swift saying that “Books train your imagination to think big.”
A district spokeswoman told East Cobb News that “the District is aware of an inaccurate email which indicated Cobb students would not be participating in the Helen Ruffin Reading Bowl. The specifics of that email are currently being investigated.”
She didn’t say what was inaccurate but further stated that “there is currently no change to Cobb student eligibility” for the competition.
In addition, she said, “all District partners are expected to use books, videos, or other forms of digital content which are in accordance with District policy and the Law.”
East Cobb News has followed up to clarify those comments.
Nothing has been updated on the Cobb HRRB website or Facebook page since the 2023 Reading Bowl earlier this year.
The Helen Ruffin Reading Bowl was started in the late 1980s and is named after a former DeKalb County school librarian who wanted to foster a love for reading in her students.
Competing students from grades 4-12 are given booklists at the elementary, middle and high school levels that are from the Georgia Children’s Book Award Top 20 listings.
There are district, regional and state quiz-style competitions based on the contents of the books that take place from January-March.
The Cobb school district spokeswoman also did not respond to a question from East Cobb News if it is evaluating the books that have been selected for the Reading Bowl; the Cobb HRRB website has posted the corresponding reading lists for the 2023-24 competition.
The books the district pulled from the school libraries earlier this week contained discussions about sex acts, including oral sex and masturbation, and have been removed from a number of other school districts around the country.
Some Cobb parents denounced the decision on social media, saying the district was unfairly censoring materials related to sexuality and gender identity.
That came after last week’s vote by the Cobb Board of Education to terminate a Due West Elementary School teacher for reading a book to her class about gender identity.
The district did not reveal who reported the books that were removed from the libraries, nor did it explain the process for doing so.
On Thursday, the “Libs of TikTok” a high-profile social media account popular with conservatives, claimed in its newsletter that it reached out to the Cobb school district last Saturday “to ask them for comment on why they were offering pornographic themed books to their students.”
The newsletter contained a screengrab of what it said was its message to the Cobb school district, with the offending passages and images.
On Monday, the newsletter entry said, it received a response from John Floresta, the Cobb school district’s Chief Strategy and Accountability Officer, expressing surprise.
“Frankly, we weren’t aware of the sexually explicit content in these books until your email,” he said. “Any book, video, or lesson which contains sexually-explicit content is entirely unacceptable and have no place in our schools, period. We have removed both books from our schools.”
Floresta thanked “David,” the Libs of TikTok writer, “for bringing this to our attention, you have made our schools better for our students.”
David concluded the newsletter post by saying that “students should not be offered porn in schools and we will keep fighting until we get the porn removed from every school in America.”
Libs of TIkTok did not indicate how it learned of the presence of the books in Cobb school libraries that were removed.
Libs of TikTok has several million followers on its social media accounts, which post unflattering stories, photos and videos of liberals in their own words and actions.
Started by Chaiya Raichick, a former real estate agent in New York, Libs of Tik Tok has been designated as a “hate” group by some liberal advocacy groups for what it claims are anti-LGBTQ+ views.
Raichick recently published her own children’s book, “No More Secrets: The Candy Cavern,” about “the dangers of keeping secrets from your parents,” according to a publisher’s blurb.
Related:
- Cobb school district removes ‘sexually explicit’ books from libraries
- Cobb school board candidate denounces teacher’s firing
- Divided Cobb school board votes to uphold firing of teacher
- Cobb schools tribunal rejects recommendation to fire teacher
- East Cobb schools hold steady in 2023 Georgia Milestones scores
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