Cobb County, Ga., is a busy suburban county northwest of Atlanta. The Atlanta Braves play home games there, and Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park memorializes the bloodiest battle in the Civil War’s Atlanta campaign.
But it’s Cobb County’s school system that is capturing the headlines these days. Back in the spring, an elementary school teacher got in trouble for reading the gender propaganda book “My Shadow Is Purple” to a class of gifted students. School officials had already reprimanded teacher Katie Rinderle a year earlier for reading a book by Stacey Abrams to her class — while Abrams was running for governor — so “My Shadow Is Purple” was the last straw.
Rinderle became a cause célèbre to the left, and a tribunal after the incident recommended keeping her on staff. Instead, the Cobb Country School District decided to terminate her contract, with board members voting along party lines.
Now Cobb County Schools have removed some wildly inappropriate books from school libraries. The Marietta Daily Journal reports that at least one school in the district sent messages to parents explaining the situation.
“Earlier this week, we learned our library contained a book with highly inappropriate, sexually explicit content. While we removed the book immediately, this is unacceptable, and an investigation is currently underway,” reads the message that Kennesaw Mountain High School sent out to parents. “With thousands of books purchased over decades, we are making every effort to ensure our library only includes materials that are aligned to Georgia standards, supported by law and CCSD policy, and contain content that is age appropriate for our students.”
“We hope and ask for you to work with us by communicating with your principals, teachers, and appropriate school staff whenever you have a concern about what your student is reading, hearing, or learning,” the message continues. “We apologize for this oversight and know that together, we will continue to support the success of our students.”
11 Alive reports on the specifics of the books in question:
School communications did not say which books were being pulled, but the district confirmed that the two books in question are “Flamer” and “Me and Earl and the Dying Girl.” The former is a semi-autobiographical novel in which the protagonist was bullied during a Boy Scouts summer camp for appearing to be gay. The latter is about a boy rekindling his friendship with a girl who had been diagnosed with leukemia.
A district spokesperson said the books are considered to have sexually explicit content and are inappropriate.
Both books contain graphic depictions of acts that students don’t need to be reading about at school. While one of them has a gay subtext, the other one doesn’t, but both are unquestionably inappropriate for schools.
Libs of TikTok is claiming at least partial credit for this victory in Cobb County. A post on LoTT’s Substack details an email that one of its reporters sent to the district about the two books. A reply from Chief Strategy and Accountability Officer John Floresta followed, stating that the district was “unaware” of the inappropriate material.
“Any book, video, or lesson which contains sexually-explicit content is entirely unacceptable and have no place in our schools, period,” Floresta’s email reads. “Over the weekend, we have removed both books from all of our schools.”
Once again, leftists are up in arms that kids and teens can’t get their hands on smut at school. The head of the local teachers’ union told 11 Alive that educators are dealing with “anxiety” over the removal of the books.
“Our teachers are scared. Our media specialists are scared,” Jeff Hubbard, president of the Cobb County Association of Educators, told the news station. “They’re literally throwing away hundreds of dollars worth of books and supplemental materials from their classroom because if just one parent comes up with a complaint – they can be in danger of losing their jobs.”
Board member Leroy Tre’ Hutchins told 11 Alive that he apologized to teachers after the decision.
“I think we have found ourselves in a place where we’re demonizing the profession,” Hutchins said. “We do not pay educators what they deserve, what they need to live. And so this is just another stumbling block, another roadblock to helping us get educators in the pipeline to continue meeting the needs of our students.”
It’s a “stumbling block” to teachers that students can’t read dirty material in the school library? Pull out the fainting couches! The “censorship” and “book-banning” crowd won’t let up.
Of course, this is welcome news for anyone who is concerned about what schools are exposing kids to these days. As a Cobb County native, I’m especially proud.
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