“Stuff Some Adults Don’t Want You to Read” at Langley

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is yet another way that schools are making it an us (parents) versus them (adults in schools) mentality. Perpetuating the notion our kids, while at school, are independent and unaccountable to their parents is troubling. Or, at the worst indefensible, when "teaching" that their parents are morally wrong or "bad" because parents beliefs are counter to what is being normalized at school. I do not want to dictate what schools teach my kids, I just want schools to reiterate to our children that parents have the biggest stake in their lives. And, no matter what, their parents and what their parents provide, encourage, and instill in kids are the biggest indicators of success - not replaceable by anything a school can, nor should, do for children. Parenting is hard enough these days without having to fight and counter what adults, who are not in any way (legally, financially, emotionally) responsible for our children, are "teaching."

https://fordhaminstitute.org/national/commentary/educations-enduring-love-affair-luxury-beliefs

You read a lot into a display that served to encourage students to read and put them on notice that there are people trying to censor what they can read.

It's not like the sign said "Stuff Your Own Parents Don't Want You to Read."

It just screams insecurity that a few Langley parents would make a big deal out of this to the point where the principal would feel a need to apologize. I bet she wishes she'd never left Marshall.

Bet it is more than "a few" parents and that many of you don't have kid or even live in fcps.

Most definitely this. Or even have kids at Langley. What the librarian did was a cheap stunt - and done when 8th graders were touring the school over the weekend. Nice.

I'm sure you're fine-tuning your resume to apply for a position there where you can exercise better judgment than the Langley librarians.

Or, more likely, you'll continue the same carping, second-guessing, and harassment.

Any imbecile would have exercised better judgment than this librarian. The books are in the school library? Fine. Deliberately creating a display of controversial books and adding a sign that pretty much says, "Screw your parents"? Horrible judgment.

+1

Again. This isn't new.https://www.ala.org/advocacy/bbooks/banned

+ a million. Libraries and bookstores have "banned book" displays ALL THE TIME. And telling kids that some adults don't want them to read a book is intended to, and likely to, encourage at least some kids to read those books. The outrage is so performative and so stupid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is yet another way that schools are making it an us (parents) versus them (adults in schools) mentality. Perpetuating the notion our kids, while at school, are independent and unaccountable to their parents is troubling. Or, at the worst indefensible, when "teaching" that their parents are morally wrong or "bad" because parents beliefs are counter to what is being normalized at school. I do not want to dictate what schools teach my kids, I just want schools to reiterate to our children that parents have the biggest stake in their lives. And, no matter what, their parents and what their parents provide, encourage, and instill in kids are the biggest indicators of success - not replaceable by anything a school can, nor should, do for children. Parenting is hard enough these days without having to fight and counter what adults, who are not in any way (legally, financially, emotionally) responsible for our children, are "teaching."

https://fordhaminstitute.org/national/commentary/educations-enduring-love-affair-luxury-beliefs

I’m pretty sure the kids themselves have a bigger stake in their own lives than their parents do.

Also, setting aside the specifics of this incident, some parents do a truly awful job raising their child and instill reprehensible values. In those cases, it is absolutely in the kid’s best interest for other adults to get involved and try to teach better values.

I thinking issue is that in reality, that is a very small minority of parents, but there seems to be an effort underway currently to operate under the assumption that it is instead the vast majority of parents. Hence, some of the conflicts we are seeing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm a school librarian in FCPS. I do a banned books display every year. In includes information about the 10 most often banned books. It is always one of my most popular displays and gets students talking to each other about censorship. Considering putting it out this week now.

Do you feel safe putting out a banned book display this year given the political climate?

I actually didn't put it out during Banned Books Week this year because of the political climate. I'm not at a high school, so the banned books we display do not have sexual content, but some of them do have LGBTQ+ characters. I kind of feel like doing it now though just to get the conversation going among my students. They often will ask why a book on the display was banned somewhere and we do some research together to find out the answer. It truly leads to some of the best conversations I have with students. I have never had a parent complain about the display, but wonder if I would this year. I am always encourage students to go home and have these conversations with their parents (as I also do when a student brings up a book to check out that has content their parents might be interested in discussing with them). One thing I've learned from doing this for a long time is that teenagers are really quite good at self-censoring. If they pick up a book, read the back, and it doesn't sound like something that fits their personal or family values, they often put it down. If they start reading and are uncomfortable, they stop reading and return it. I wish parents and other adults gave them more credit for this. I have Farenheight 451 in my library and I think it's experiencing it's highest checkouts since I've worked at the school this year (and I have done nothing to promote it)!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is yet another way that schools are making it an us (parents) versus them (adults in schools) mentality. Perpetuating the notion our kids, while at school, are independent and unaccountable to their parents is troubling. Or, at the worst indefensible, when "teaching" that their parents are morally wrong or "bad" because parents beliefs are counter to what is being normalized at school. I do not want to dictate what schools teach my kids, I just want schools to reiterate to our children that parents have the biggest stake in their lives. And, no matter what, their parents and what their parents provide, encourage, and instill in kids are the biggest indicators of success - not replaceable by anything a school can, nor should, do for children. Parenting is hard enough these days without having to fight and counter what adults, who are not in any way (legally, financially, emotionally) responsible for our children, are "teaching."

https://fordhaminstitute.org/national/commentary/educations-enduring-love-affair-luxury-beliefs

I’m pretty sure the kids themselves have a bigger stake in their own lives than their parents do.

Also, setting aside the specifics of this incident, some parents do a truly awful job raising their child and instill reprehensible values. In those cases, it is absolutely in the kid’s best interest for other adults to get involved and try to teach better values.

I thinking issue is that in reality, that is a very small minority of parents, but there seems to be an effort underway currently to operate under the assumption that it is instead the vast majority of parents. Hence, some of the conflicts we are seeing.

Except there isn’t any such effort. There is just a vocal minority of parents for whom the message of anti-book banning (or anti-semitism, or DEI, or pick your “controversial” topic of choice) hits a bit too close to home. But that’s about them, not the rest of society.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm a school librarian in FCPS. I do a banned books display every year. In includes information about the 10 most often banned books. It is always one of my most popular displays and gets students talking to each other about censorship. Considering putting it out this week now.

Do you feel safe putting out a banned book display this year given the political climate?

I actually didn't put it out during Banned Books Week this year because of the political climate. I'm not at a high school, so the banned books we display do not have sexual content, but some of them do have LGBTQ+ characters. I kind of feel like doing it now though just to get the conversation going among my students. They often will ask why a book on the display was banned somewhere and we do some research together to find out the answer. It truly leads to some of the best conversations I have with students. I have never had a parent complain about the display, but wonder if I would this year. I am always encourage students to go home and have these conversations with their parents (as I also do when a student brings up a book to check out that has content their parents might be interested in discussing with them). One thing I've learned from doing this for a long time is that teenagers are really quite good at self-censoring. If they pick up a book, read the back, and it doesn't sound like something that fits their personal or family values, they often put it down. If they start reading and are uncomfortable, they stop reading and return it. I wish parents and other adults gave them more credit for this. I have Farenheight 451 in my library and I think it's experiencing it's highest checkouts since I've worked at the school this year (and I have done nothing to promote it)!

I'm the PP. It bothers me that you didn't feel comfortable putting out the banned book display this year. I know banning books isn't new and that the issue will blow over eventually, but I fear that the actions some states have taken to limit what public school officials can teach will ultimately have a chilling effect on teachers, librarians, and other educational professionals--that can't be a good thing for schools and our kids in the long run.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Incidents such as these will have a chilling effect on what teachers teach in our local schools and how librarians and others do their jobs--and it will no doubt push some school professionals to leave their jobs. But perhaps that is the point...

If you have a few minutes, read this insightful article in WP into how teachers around the country are altering their teaching plans to accommodate this sudden parental interest in what is taught in schools.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2022/02/14/critical-race-theory-teachers-fear-laws/

I am the 8:39 PP, but this is the point. It is the "othering" of parents by teachers and adults in schools. It is the us versus them mentality that is problematic, especially when teachers have zero responsibility for our children.

Okay Moms for Liberty parent. Were your parents so involved in micromanaging your public school experience? I’m guessing they weren’t.

This!

DP here. My parents never had to worry that my school was exposing me to sexual content because frankly that was unimaginable a couple of decades ago. Boundaries have shifted greatly and parents were simply unaware. You say this is a ginned-up effort by the republicans, but from my perspective schools snuck inappropriate content in without informing parents, and what you think is the Republicans striking first is really a reaction to what could be considered an unannounced move by the left first.

Exactly this. We never had to worry about this idiocy growing up because it was widely agreed that graphic sexual content did not belong in school libraries. Now, however, we have a loud, pushy faction insisting that graphic sexual content be available for kids to peruse. Look, we all know they can see whatever they want online. We're under no illusions about that. But having their public school shove it in their faces is really... beyond inappropriate. And those arguing otherwise strike me as extremely peculiar, not to mention deliberately obtuse. I guess they somehow think it's funny or cute? It's anything but.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Incidents such as these will have a chilling effect on what teachers teach in our local schools and how librarians and others do their jobs--and it will no doubt push some school professionals to leave their jobs. But perhaps that is the point...

If you have a few minutes, read this insightful article in WP into how teachers around the country are altering their teaching plans to accommodate this sudden parental interest in what is taught in schools.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2022/02/14/critical-race-theory-teachers-fear-laws/

I am the 8:39 PP, but this is the point. It is the "othering" of parents by teachers and adults in schools. It is the us versus them mentality that is problematic, especially when teachers have zero responsibility for our children.

Okay Moms for Liberty parent. Were your parents so involved in micromanaging your public school experience? I’m guessing they weren’t.

This!

DP here. My parents never had to worry that my school was exposing me to sexual content because frankly that was unimaginable a couple of decades ago. Boundaries have shifted greatly and parents were simply unaware. You say this is a ginned-up effort by the republicans, but from my perspective schools snuck inappropriate content in without informing parents, and what you think is the Republicans striking first is really a reaction to what could be considered an unannounced move by the left first.

Exactly this. We never had to worry about this idiocy growing up because it was widely agreed that graphic sexual content did not belong in school libraries. Now, however, we have a loud, pushy faction insisting that graphic sexual content be available for kids to peruse. Look, we all know they can see whatever they want online. We're under no illusions about that. But having their public school shove it in their faces is really... beyond inappropriate. And those arguing otherwise strike me as extremely peculiar, not to mention deliberately obtuse. I guess they somehow think it's funny or cute? It's anything but.

LOL. I went to (Catholic) high school in the 1990s, and we had copies of Ayn Rand novels in the school library (rape scenes!), along with plenty of other books that depicted sex (um, the Bible? Madame Bovary, D.H. Lawrence novels, Ulysses, and all those YA novels that depicted teens dealing with sexual assault, abuse and neglect, parental addiction, and more!). And people aren't just trying to ban "graphic sexual content"; they are targeting Maus, for crying out loud!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Incidents such as these will have a chilling effect on what teachers teach in our local schools and how librarians and others do their jobs--and it will no doubt push some school professionals to leave their jobs. But perhaps that is the point...

If you have a few minutes, read this insightful article in WP into how teachers around the country are altering their teaching plans to accommodate this sudden parental interest in what is taught in schools.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2022/02/14/critical-race-theory-teachers-fear-laws/

I am the 8:39 PP, but this is the point. It is the "othering" of parents by teachers and adults in schools. It is the us versus them mentality that is problematic, especially when teachers have zero responsibility for our children.

Okay Moms for Liberty parent. Were your parents so involved in micromanaging your public school experience? I’m guessing they weren’t.

This!

DP here. My parents never had to worry that my school was exposing me to sexual content because frankly that was unimaginable a couple of decades ago. Boundaries have shifted greatly and parents were simply unaware. You say this is a ginned-up effort by the republicans, but from my perspective schools snuck inappropriate content in without informing parents, and what you think is the Republicans striking first is really a reaction to what could be considered an unannounced move by the left first.

Exactly this. We never had to worry about this idiocy growing up because it was widely agreed that graphic sexual content did not belong in school libraries. Now, however, we have a loud, pushy faction insisting that graphic sexual content be available for kids to peruse. Look, we all know they can see whatever they want online. We're under no illusions about that. But having their public school shove it in their faces is really... beyond inappropriate. And those arguing otherwise strike me as extremely peculiar, not to mention deliberately obtuse. I guess they somehow think it's funny or cute? It's anything but.

LOL, I remember people flipping coins for who was going to check out the school library’s copy of “Forever.” Or was that okay because it only had explicit descriptions of heterosexual sex?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is yet another way that schools are making it an us (parents) versus them (adults in schools) mentality. Perpetuating the notion our kids, while at school, are independent and unaccountable to their parents is troubling. Or, at the worst indefensible, when "teaching" that their parents are morally wrong or "bad" because parents beliefs are counter to what is being normalized at school. I do not want to dictate what schools teach my kids, I just want schools to reiterate to our children that parents have the biggest stake in their lives. And, no matter what, their parents and what their parents provide, encourage, and instill in kids are the biggest indicators of success - not replaceable by anything a school can, nor should, do for children. Parenting is hard enough these days without having to fight and counter what adults, who are not in any way (legally, financially, emotionally) responsible for our children, are "teaching."

https://fordhaminstitute.org/national/commentary/educations-enduring-love-affair-luxury-beliefs

Consider the source.

https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Thomas_B._Fordham_Foundation

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Of course it was at Langley. At any other high school in this region, parents would be applauding the librarian, but the rich white bored moms at Langley are outraged. Too many similarities to Loudon families.

I am a Langley parent and I don’t think most Langley parents care one way or the other about the sign. As my daughter said when I asked her what the sign said, “I don’t even go to the library so I don’t know what you are talking about.” LOL. I believe this issue came from a Cooper parent during a rising 9th grader parent meeting. I believe (but I’m not 100% sure) that this parent is the same one who took her kids to Fortestville Elementary on the Tuesday after Youngkin issued his mask Executive Order and demanded her kids go maskless, then filmed herself ranting about the injustice of it all when the school denied her request. Now she’s doing this with the book issue. I wonder what will come next?

The majority of parents at Langley had no issue with this. It’s a small group of women, including this one mentioned that come up with this shit. This one at Forestville didn’t act alone, there was a Langley parent who helped and together they spew all this anti-masking, anti-vaccine shit and it’s all because they can’t get over the fact Trump lost!

Is there anything that you and like-minded parents at Langley can do to counter the effect this small group of women (your words) has on your school? Otherwise silence will seem like consent and school officials will continue to respond to the squeaky wheels.

I hope we can do something about it!

[Anonymous]

I’m disappointed at Ms. Greer’s response. It’s makes her look ridiculous.

The sign was in the library since at least Friday morning and was only removed on Tuesday.

If it was really as bad as her email implies, why was it up so long? It’s her school and if there was an actual problem, she should have addressed it before it started trending on Twitter. Or she should have stood up and told the Twitter mob to sit down.

It really disappointing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Of course it was at Langley. At any other high school in this region, parents would be applauding the librarian, but the rich white bored moms at Langley are outraged. Too many similarities to Loudon families.

I am a Langley parent and I don’t think most Langley parents care one way or the other about the sign. As my daughter said when I asked her what the sign said, “I don’t even go to the library so I don’t know what you are talking about.” LOL. I believe this issue came from a Cooper parent during a rising 9th grader parent meeting. I believe (but I’m not 100% sure) that this parent is the same one who took her kids to Fortestville Elementary on the Tuesday after Youngkin issued his mask Executive Order and demanded her kids go maskless, then filmed herself ranting about the injustice of it all when the school denied her request. Now she’s doing this with the book issue. I wonder what will come next?

The majority of parents at Langley had no issue with this. It’s a small group of women, including this one mentioned that come up with this shit. This one at Forestville didn’t act alone, there was a Langley parent who helped and together they spew all this anti-masking, anti-vaccine shit and it’s all because they can’t get over the fact Trump lost!

This unhinged vocal minority of parents is tearing apart our community for their own political goals. I really hope the majority of reasonable people shows up soon.

DP. I hate to break it to you, but the unhinged vocal minority are those who are gleeful that our public school libraries see nothing wrong with providing kids graphically sexual books. The majority of reasonable people are those who are simply asking to keep those books out of the schools. You can still bring your kids to public libraries and make sure they get their fair share of graphic sex.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Of course it was at Langley. At any other high school in this region, parents would be applauding the librarian, but the rich white bored moms at Langley are outraged. Too many similarities to Loudon families.

I am a Langley parent and I don’t think most Langley parents care one way or the other about the sign. As my daughter said when I asked her what the sign said, “I don’t even go to the library so I don’t know what you are talking about.” LOL. I believe this issue came from a Cooper parent during a rising 9th grader parent meeting. I believe (but I’m not 100% sure) that this parent is the same one who took her kids to Fortestville Elementary on the Tuesday after Youngkin issued his mask Executive Order and demanded her kids go maskless, then filmed herself ranting about the injustice of it all when the school denied her request. Now she’s doing this with the book issue. I wonder what will come next?

The majority of parents at Langley had no issue with this. It’s a small group of women, including this one mentioned that come up with this shit. This one at Forestville didn’t act alone, there was a Langley parent who helped and together they spew all this anti-masking, anti-vaccine shit and it’s all because they can’t get over the fact Trump lost!

Is there anything that you and like-minded parents at Langley can do to counter the effect this small group of women (your words) has on your school? Otherwise silence will seem like consent and school officials will continue to respond to the squeaky wheels.

DP. The PP doesn't know what she's talking about. I'm a Langley parent and there is no "small group of women" who object to this - there are MANY parents, moms and dads alike - who are disgusted. I think once you and the PP wake up and face this fact, you'll have a better grasp on reality. Why do you think so many Biden voters (like me) voted for Youngkin? Enough is enough.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Of course it was at Langley. At any other high school in this region, parents would be applauding the librarian, but the rich white bored moms at Langley are outraged. Too many similarities to Loudon families.

I am a Langley parent and I don’t think most Langley parents care one way or the other about the sign. As my daughter said when I asked her what the sign said, “I don’t even go to the library so I don’t know what you are talking about.” LOL. I believe this issue came from a Cooper parent during a rising 9th grader parent meeting. I believe (but I’m not 100% sure) that this parent is the same one who took her kids to Fortestville Elementary on the Tuesday after Youngkin issued his mask Executive Order and demanded her kids go maskless, then filmed herself ranting about the injustice of it all when the school denied her request. Now she’s doing this with the book issue. I wonder what will come next?

The majority of parents at Langley had no issue with this. It’s a small group of women, including this one mentioned that come up with this shit. This one at Forestville didn’t act alone, there was a Langley parent who helped and together they spew all this anti-masking, anti-vaccine shit and it’s all because they can’t get over the fact Trump lost!

This unhinged vocal minority of parents is tearing apart our community for their own political goals. I really hope the majority of reasonable people shows up soon.

DP. I hate to break it to you, but the unhinged vocal minority are those who are gleeful that our public school libraries see nothing wrong with providing kids graphically sexual books. The majority of reasonable people are those who are simply asking to keep those books out of the schools. You can still bring your kids to public libraries and make sure they get their fair share of graphic sex.

Your kids know what sex is. If they are curious about graphic depictions, they have already found it on the internet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Of course it was at Langley. At any other high school in this region, parents would be applauding the librarian, but the rich white bored moms at Langley are outraged. Too many similarities to Loudon families.

I am a Langley parent and I don’t think most Langley parents care one way or the other about the sign. As my daughter said when I asked her what the sign said, “I don’t even go to the library so I don’t know what you are talking about.” LOL. I believe this issue came from a Cooper parent during a rising 9th grader parent meeting. I believe (but I’m not 100% sure) that this parent is the same one who took her kids to Fortestville Elementary on the Tuesday after Youngkin issued his mask Executive Order and demanded her kids go maskless, then filmed herself ranting about the injustice of it all when the school denied her request. Now she’s doing this with the book issue. I wonder what will come next?

The majority of parents at Langley had no issue with this. It’s a small group of women, including this one mentioned that come up with this shit. This one at Forestville didn’t act alone, there was a Langley parent who helped and together they spew all this anti-masking, anti-vaccine shit and it’s all because they can’t get over the fact Trump lost!

This unhinged vocal minority of parents is tearing apart our community for their own political goals. I really hope the majority of reasonable people shows up soon.

DP. I hate to break it to you, but the unhinged vocal minority are those who are gleeful that our public school libraries see nothing wrong with providing kids graphically sexual books. The majority of reasonable people are those who are simply asking to keep those books out of the schools. You can still bring your kids to public libraries and make sure they get their fair share of graphic sex.

Can you go back to the 80s?