Grand Haven Area Public Schools start back in just over a week. Soon letters will be sent out with classroom assignments and information on open house. This is a chance for the students to meet their teachers, and see their classrooms. This is also a chance for parents to begin to be vigilant. You will be able to look around for indicators of the types of outside-the-curriculum lessons that may be taught.
Each classroom in the elementary schools (possibly in higher grades as well) has what is supposed to be a teacher-inspired library of books for students to read in the classroom. These books are not a part of the school library. They are different for each classroom, and influenced by the beliefs of the individual teacher.
Keep in mind Restore Ottawa articles have revealed a major issue with GHAPS; lack of discernment and control of extreme, offensive and downright pornographic material being distributed through the libraries. These are books our children can check out and bring home to read without the knowledge of their parents. This issue has opened quite a few parents’ eyes, as flipping through a book checked out at a public school library having pornographic stories and images can be quite shocking. It has led many parents to start asking questions, and these parents have received a plethora of concerning answers.
Here’s the one “positive” to the library books: they are cataloged in an online system called Destiny that all parents can reference to see what is in the library. Now, this doesn’t prevent children (minors) from accessing pornographic material without parental consent, but it does allow parents to see what is available in the library. Find a list of concerning books, and search it in Destiny and you can see the obscene material your child is free to find while in the “trusted” hands of the schools.
As for classroom books; they are not listed in Destiny. They are not cataloged anywhere. Teachers have freedom to bring in whatever books they see fit. For the most part, this is not a problem, as most teachers aren’t extreme activists. But what about teachers who take actions such as signing the Zinn Project pledge to teach CRT regardless of the laws against it? Or a wayward teacher who thinks these pornographic books “save lives”? Now your child has access to these obscene materials without any notification. There is no notification brought home for parents to see (even after the fact, which is too late)… and these books are in a supposed “safe space” where schools have begun to advocate for keeping secrets between themselves and your children; behind parent’s backs.
For example, watch this video and note the books this teacher keeps in the bins of books in his classroom. They push an agenda, and these books are unaccounted for. He can bring in whatever books he wants, and push whatever agenda he wants with them. This teacher isn’t a GHAPS teacher thankfully, but this can and does happen in Grand Haven.
One more little note: the teachers at GHAPS are not be the only ones with input into the books that populate their classroom libraries. There may be teachers that have some concerning books in their classrooms; books pushing an agenda that they do not agree with. How could this be? Look at these emails.
I will note, these two emails are not connected, as they’re from different years. What this shows however, is an effort to push an agenda, through the Out On The Lakeshore grant placing books in the schools and classrooms on the topics of gender, gender expression and sexual orientation. Couple that with the curriculum director, who took it upon herself in the second email to order “packs” of books for classrooms. Essentially, whatever agenda the curriculum director desires to push on our children, you can be sure you’ll find those topics in the classroom. These packs of books can touch on any number of subjects and may or may not be age appropriate. We wouldn’t know, since these materials are not accounted for in Destiny or anywhere else in the school. This means that your child, in any grade, may innocently go to a book bin in her classroom, and without your knowledge or consent, pick up a book that is age-inappropriate or potentially pornographic or violent. If this sounds far-fetched, remember there are numerous books in the school libraries with pornographic, violent or otherwise age-inappropriate themes.
When you are meeting your teachers next week, be sure to look through the material in the classroom. Ask questions, and ask what access your child has to books that contain topics with controversial themes. Be sure to follow up unannounced later in the year and ask to visit your child’s classroom, to see if any new books have been introduced. You might just be surprised with what you find.