A viral video shows Mayor Craig Schubert of Hudson, Ohio, threatening the Hudson School Board with arrest and prosecution for “distributing child pornography.”
In the video, Schubert addressed the board in a public meeting saying, “It has come to my attention that your educators are distributing essentially what is child pornography in the classroom,” he said. “I’ve spoken to a judge this evening, she’s already confirmed that, so I’m going to give you a simple choice,” he continued. “You either choose to resign from this board of education or you will be charged. Thank you.” Schubert then walked away, to riotous cheers from a crowd of outraged parents.
BREAKING: Hudson mayor demands all school board members resign or face possible criminal charges over high school course material that he said a judge called "child pornography."
“I'm going to give you a simple choice: You either choose to resign or you will be charged." pic.twitter.com/guhp0zc0ns
— Jenny Beth Martin (@jennybethm) September 14, 2021
The content in question comes from a writing manual, “642 Things to Write About,” distributed by the San Francisco Writers’ Grotto, which PJ Media’s Steve Green reported on Wednesday. Some of the writing prompts that upset parents included violent scenarios like “choose how you will die,” “write a scene that begins: ‘It was the first time I killed a man,'” to weird sexual suggestions like “write a sex scene you wouldn’t show your mom,” and “write an X-rated Disney scenario.”
Clevland.com reported one parent’s list of objectionable writing assignments.
High school is not how I remember it. From a senior English class material in Hudson Ohio. pic.twitter.com/Ut1pY2L3Hf
— Megan Fox 🦊 (@MeganFoxWriter) September 16, 2021
As a writer and avid fiction reader, these prompts don’t bother me for adults—except the x-rated Disney scene which is just…yuck—but it stretches the boundaries of acceptability in a high school when so many kids are struggling with suicide and dangerous behaviors in the first place. Is it necessary that kids focus on the dark side of life before they go to college, where they will be inundated with shock literature and radical professors who will make them want to put their heads in the oven? There’s plenty of time for them to explore the horrors of humanity after they reach the age of maturity.
The school board claims that the assignments in question were never given out and the teachers did not know they were even in the book. The school is pulling the material. Principal Brian Wilch apologized to parents. “We did not exercise our due diligence when we reviewed this resource and we overlooked several prompts that were not appropriate. We felt terrible—you can’t unsee [the writing prompts],” he said. (No. No, we cannot.)
NBC Reported that school board president David Zuro said Wednesday that no member has indicated any intention to resign. “While we respect the Mayor’s position within the City of Hudson, in accordance with the State laws of Ohio, the supervision of the public schools of this District is the responsibility of the Board of Education,” Zuro said in a statement.
PJ Media reached out to Mayor Schubert for his response to Zuro’s statement and will update if there is a response.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member