East Cobb News

After hearing from those in favor of and against his recent decisions over controversial issues involving school library books and gender identity topics, Cobb school superintendent Chris Ragsdale responded in dramatic fashion Thursday night.

During a Cobb Board of Education meeting, Ragsdale read from lengthy, prepared remarks—running around 20 minutes—about a number of controversies over school library books and the firing of a teacher for reading a book to her class about gender identity.

He defiantly defended his decision to fire Katie Rinderle, who is appealing that decision to the Georgia Board of Education, and for pulling two books from middle- and high school libraries that contained sexually explicit materials.

He also denied that teachers, media specialists and other personnel have been threatened with their jobs, nor have district policies and processes for vetting books been ignored.

His critics have complained that the Cobb school district succumbed to conservative activists in removing the books, which contain language and graphics depicting sex acts.

They held a rally before the meeting wearing red “Replace Ragsdale” shirts and called for his ouster, and echoed those sentiments during a public comment period.

But at the end of his remarks (you can read them in full here), Ragsdale was emphatic that the district acted properly in removing “vulgar, sexually explicit, lewd, obscene, or pornographic” materials and that it would continue to be vigilant in doing so,

“This situation is about right and wrong, good and evil. This sexualization of children can never be defended nor allowed in any context, but especially in education,” he said to applause.

“There is no middle ground in this situation. There is no room to flip-flop on where you stand–you are either in favor of providing inappropriate material to children or you are against it. I assure you–I am against it, and I will not be moved.”

He said the district has a responsibility to the 109,000 students enrolled in the district and their parents to keep them safe, including from sexually explicit materials.

At a school board work session Thursday afternoon, Ragsdale supporters turned out in force, stressing parental rights and protecting children from adult themes they may not understand.

But for the evening session, most of the speakers spoke in heated opposition to the book restrictions and Rinderle’s termination.

They accused Ragsdale and the district of censoring books and limiting the education of students, especially on LGBTQ+ matters and other issues over cultural identity.

Gabriel Sanchez, a Walton High School graduate, was one of them.

“There is indoctrination in the school district,” he said, “and it’s coming from extremist, right-wing ideology from politicians and the elites who want to ruin our education, privatize it, and make sure that only what right-wingers approve of is taught in our schools.”

He said when he was a Walton student, he was taught that the Civil War was prompted by states-rights instead of slavery, “that is objectively false, that is right-wing ideology.”

Sanchez also said that “trans kids and non-binary kids also exist, and they need affirmation,” which prompted cheers in the room.

Jeff Hubbard, president of the Cobb County Association of Educators, said his pleas with the district to clarify policies on book restrictions and vetting have been ignored.

Two of the co-leaders of the Cobb Helen Ruffin Reading Bowl, both district media specialists, resigned their volunteer positions after Rinderle’s termination, concerned that there might be books that would violate district policy and state law.

“Please do not scare the heck out of staff when taking books without notice and investigating media specialists,” he said. “This is about creating and following policies correctly.”

Ragsdale responded to that point by saying that the Reading Bowl has not been called off, nor has any staff member been threatened with being fired.

Those spreading such “inaccurate” information, he added, are “doing nothing more than engaging in fear-mongering. . . .

“We are not enforcing radical new policies and practices. We are not going rogue and refusing to follow our own policies. We are following well-established federal and state law and policies and practices of the District that have been with us for years, if not decades. We are not usurping the rights of parents to make key decisions regarding the upbringing and education of their children.”

He said the Cobb school district provides an ample diversity of perspectives in its curriculum and related materials, along cultural, historical and viewpoint lines.

But the “ ‘radical new idea’ is not that schools have an obligation to protect students, but the radical new idea is that all children should somehow be forced to encounter sexually explicit language and instruction while at school,” he said.

He specified what was objectionable about the two books—”Flamer” and “Me, Earl and the Dying Girl” and noted that the sexually explicit content wasn’t incidental but “central themes of the books,” with multiple instances of profane language and even illustrations of nude children.

Ragsdale added that parents have the right to expose their children to such material at home, but “anyone working in education who knowingly provided students with access to sexually explicit, obscene, or pornographic materials should not be in a position of educating other parents’ children.”

A Cobb school student, George Moore, who identified as gay and non-binary, said “Flamer” and books like it can help people like him feel safer to be in school.

Removals of such books, Moore said, “does not make me feel safer. It makes me feel as if I should not be there. If a book about that cannot be there, can I?”

East Cobb resident Micheal Garza, one of the organizers of the rally and frequent Ragsdale critic, said in a social media posting Friday that Ragsdale’s comments were a “tirade” and that neither he nor others like him advocates for pornographic materials.

“The district tried to divide us and intimidate us last night. And they failed,” Garza said. “We are more resolved than ever to continue to work. We will continue to organize and strategize with a common goal of the removal of Chris Ragsdale and having a Board of Education that reflects the quality of our educators in this district and the diverse community that is Cobb.”

Related:

• East Cobb MS students design scooters for students with mobility needs
• Wheeler student hospitalized after being hit by bus
• Cobb school district disputes e-mail over reading contest
• 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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