Here’s the rubric sent to teachers in Southlake, Texas, this week to help them decide which books to remove from their classrooms. It comes days after the district disciplined a teacher who’d had a copy of “This Book is Anti-Racist” in her class.
The rubric says that teachers should get rid of any books that present a singular, dominant narrative “in such a way that it ... may be considered offensive.” Some teachers wrapped their bookshelves with caution tape in protest. nbcnews.com/news/us-news/s…
This isn’t the first time the district has cracked down on the content shared in classrooms. Admins told teachers this year that they could no longer use Scholastic News, a current events magazine for kids, after parents complained that its articles showed a liberal bias.
“I feel like I’m in a dystopian novel,” a parent said. “Students and people sharing pictures of teachers’ bookshelves covered and telling kids they can’t read books on their shelves. Are we really that scared of our kids’ being exposed to stuff and being challenged?”
“How am I supposed to know what 44 sets of parents find offensive?” a Carroll teacher asked. “We’ve been told: ‘The parents are our clients. We have to do what they want.’ And this is what they want.”
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Update from Southlake. Last night the school board voted 3-2 to reprimand a 4th grade teacher for having a copy of "This Book Is Anti-Racist" by Tiffany Jewell in her class. After a student brought it home, her parents complained that it violated their "morals and faith."
Video:
It appears the school administration investigated the parent complaint and decided against disciplining the teacher. The parents appealed to the school board, and the 3-2 vote last night overturned the admin's decision, formally reprimanding the teacher.
Board member Sheri Mills: "I would like to let the teachers know, if you are worried about teaching in this school district, that you should watch this vote. I want you to know that you are right to be worried by whoever votes yes."
Lots of focus on Gov. Abbott vetoing funding for the legislative branch, but that was just one of 21 vetoes this session, including for several bills with broad bipartisan support. This one would have required Texas students get lessons on preventing domestic violence.
This one would have prohibited criminal courts from relying on statements obtained via *hypnosis*. You read that right: Hypnotizing people is still an acceptable investigative technique in Texas. (Be sure to read @lmcgaughy’s work on this interactives.dallasnews.com/2020/memory-ro… )
This one would have made it easier for people convicted of crimes when they were teenagers to be released on parole.
1. Y’all. It’s been a while since I’ve teamed up with @charlesornstein, & honestly, I‘d forgotten how tired you feel after a few days of churning with that guy...
We linked up last week to tell the story of what’s happening in Houston’s hospitals. Here’s what we found:
2. First we examined internal staff messages sent to hospital workers, which showed that some hospitals were already straining to keep up with COVID-19 hospitalizations a week ago. One public hospital had run out of a key drug. nbcnews.com/news/us-news/i…@NBCNews@propublica
3. Then we pulled public autopsy data and examined EMS response records to show that — as COVID cases surged — a growing number Houston area residents were dying suddenly at home. Another indicator that things are spiraling here. nbcnews.com/news/us-news/c…@NBCNews@propublica
Whelp, there it is. The Texas Medical Center has deleted its helpful charts showing base and surge ICU capacity. No longer part of the daily updates. Comes 3 days after Gov. Abbott ordered hospitals in Houston to stop doing elective surgeries to preserve ICU beds.
After Abbott issues his order on elective procedures, which could cut deeply into hospitals’ revenue, TMC leaders held a news conference. They hadn’t meant to alarm people when they warned about running out of ICU beds. houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-t…
After that, some Houston hospitals started sending notes to staff, like this one, which was passed to me. Now there was still plenty of ICU surge capacity, so despite the governor’s order, the hospitals were going to keep performing those elective procedures.
God I love Houston. An urban trail riding club, Nonstop Riders, has just rolled up to the downtown protest. Here’s Marcus Johnson of Houston’s Fifth award, fist raised in the air. “We’re here representing for all our black brothers and sisters.”
Cheers rose up from the crowd as these dudes rolled up. Clip-clip-clip-clop.
In case you’re wondering why Houston came out in force ...