School Board Declines to Ban Book

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Superior Attracts Attention On Book Ban Request From Near and Far

Publications and news outlets in Wausau (WSAW-TV) and Green Bay (GreenBayPostGazette), and from as far away as Boise, Idaho (Idaho Statesman), reported on this week’s decision by the Superior School Board to allow a book to remain in the school library system in the face of a parental complaint.

Emma and Meesha My Boy

Artwork Subject to Copyright: http://amzn.to/1tOcXK0

The book in questions tells the story of a little girl who learns how to be nice to her cat with the help of her two mothers. In the book, Emma introduces her two Moms, one of whom she calls Mama and the other Mommy, and her cat “Meesha My Boy.” One page of the book states, “Just so you know who’s who let me tell you that one of the moms is Mama and the other is Mommy. That makes two.(Note: emphasis of “That makes two” is as presented in the book.) To view the book online, follow the link displayed at the end of this story.

The 28 page picture book follows Emma as she treats her cat like a toy, alternately dressing him in doll clothes, feeding him candy, and even painting the cat with brown paint. Whenever she misbehaves and treats her pet improperly, one of her moms corrects her. By the end of the book, Emma has learned how to treat her cat nicely, and the focus of the story is the between the little girl and her cat. The presence of two moms is incidental to the tale and not directly rated to the lesson of how to properly care for a pet.

In the online Magazine for Youth with LGBT Parents, Hannah Crawford reviews the book stating that it “examines the fine line a young child walks between loving a pet and torturing it.”

The Superior School Board voted Monday night to continue allowing “Emma and Meesha My Boy: A Two Mom Story” to remain in district classrooms and libraries. The book was written by Kaitlyn Considine and is recommended for grades Kindergarten through third grade.

Superintendent Janna Stevens said the book can be found in several school and classroom libraries, but is not part of the district’s curriculum. The request to remove the book came from a parent at Bryant Elementary School, according to Stevens

Prior to voting on whether to ban the book from district classrooms, School Board members went over each page of the book at Monday’s meeting. One Board member, Steve Stupak, was concerned when he learned the book is considered suitable for children in kindergarten to third grade. “Older kids can make their own decisions,” he said. “In this particular case, I don’t think it’s a good idea.”

After discussing the book and it’s contents, the Board voted 5-1 to keep the children’s book in the schools, with Stupak casting the lone dissenting vote.

“It’s really very infrequent,” according to Stevens, for the district to receive complaints about books used in the Superior school district. She could only recall two other instances of parental complaints, one in 2000, and a second in the late 1990’s.

School District Policy #9130 governs complaints about school materials. The policy states that, “no challenged material may be removed solely because it presents ideas that may be unpopular or offensive to some.”

In order to draw your own opinion, we encourage you to follow THIS LINK and download a PDF copy of the entire book. Perhaps by taking the time to explore this topic with all of the facts, you can better understand this issue. ES believes it’s best to have access to all of the facts prior to passing judgement.

We will post a poll about this issue later today, and encourage you to express your opinion by voting in that poll.




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