From the vault- My public comments from February 2020 following up on asking for parent consent requirements for sexually explicit books for kids.
“The Detour”, by S.A. Bodeen was not in the school library. It was, instead, in my childs 6th grade classroom teachers personal library she kept to lend her own books out to students. It was given to my son to read without my knowledge.
2/9/2020
“My name is Jen Stuppy, I live in Spring Lake, pay taxes to Ferrysburg, and yet somehow reside in the Grand Haven district boundaries.
Last month after the board meeting I sat down with my 6th grade twin boys and told them if they were ever uncomfortable reading something in a book they got from school they could tell us about it. My 6th grade son said “yes, I just read something that made me feel very uncomfortable about a man looking at a girls crotch and raping her”. He ran upstairs and quickly returned with a book his teacher gave him before winter break.
The book details a 16 year old girl who is kidnapped and put in a house when an older man comes in the room to sexually assault her. He is kissing her, his tongue is down her throat, he rips her shirt off, his hands are touching her exposed breasts. She plays along like she’s enjoying it for a while. Then She bites his tongue hard and slashes his face open with a piece of metal. He yells “You Bitch”
That’s pretty heavy reading material for a 6th grader.
I would never have consented to this book for my child.
In all fairness, I don’t believe his teacher realized what was in that book. I think teachers in our district work really hard , and they want kids to read, which is a very noble thing. I do think there is a problem with the current YA age rating system our schools are relying on. This particular book was rated for ages 12 and up. This is the issue I am trying to bring to your attention. I do believe the district needs to take a closer look at these books and devise a way to flag explicit content and require parental consent when its being made available for minors to read.
I’m aware that some parents want their kids reading sexually explicit content. Again, I think the district provides a form at the beginning of the school year where they can easily mark “full access” to all sexually explicit content. For other parents, not comfortable with their kids reading sexually explicit materials, those flagged books should be released only when parental consent is given.
Last week, my children’s librarian gave me these options:
1.I can get weekly updates to see what books they’re reading
2.I can log in to their accounts using my childs log in info to see what they are reading.
3.I can provide a list of books my kids can’t read (which puts the burden on me rather than the librarian to figure out every book in the district that is sexually explicit)
4.I can Require parental consent for every item my kids check out, irrespective of content. (My kids read a ton, they can read a book a day)
Or
5.I can ban my kids from the library.
None of these options are satisfactory and still expose the district to the liability of giving sexually explicit materials to minors, many under the age of consent. We should make a district wide change when it comes to sexually explicit content available to minors. And my vote is for parental notification/ and consent on all items regarding sexually explicit content- gay or straight.
I would also like to know why the schools librarian sent an email to another parent the day after the last public board meeting stating that I formally requested ALL LGBTQ books ONLY to be put behind a desk and require a parent note to be checked out , irrespective of whether or not they were sexually explicit? It is publicly recorded that I asked for all sexually explicit books- gay and straight to require parental consent. That false statement by a GH employee turned into a published news article that created a hate mob and much venom towards me and subsequently made my kids fearful of going to school. I would like a follow up email from the superintendent explaining how that transpired. Its VITALLY important that parents are not publicly intimidated and slandered at the direction of school employees for bringing issues to the attention of district leadership regarding our kids. Had that librarian not made that false statement, I don’t believe this would have turned into the media circus we now have in front of us.
