![]() ![]() It’s important to put it in the broader context-from the damage it does to kids and specifically LGBTQ+ kids to how this is part of a broader campaign against public education. What happened to Katie Rinderle is horrific, and she is rightly fighting her dismissal with the help of her union, the Georgia Association of Educators. And then being told that your teacher was fired for teaching that it’s okay to be different? Well, that’s one way to ensure that LGBTQ+ kids stay deep in the closet, terrified, with serious mental health consequences. Losing your excellent teacher under mysterious circumstances in the middle of a school year? That’s traumatic for kids. Teacher turnover is known to be a problem for students, something that disrupts learning. In her absence, my daughter described the class experience as ‘chaotic’ and ‘lacking direction.’ She no longer enjoyed it.” Rinderle’s class was one of the highlights of her school week. “My daughter broke down in school and had to have a private session with the school counselor to work through her emotions. Rinderle was gone for good,” the parent said. “Emotionally, she was distraught when her class was informed by the school counselor that Ms. Rinderle to miss consecutive days of school. “My daughter was very worried about her teacher and suspected that all wasn’t well,” one parent said, “as it was not normal for Ms. It’s okay to like traditionally masculine things and traditionally feminine things.”Īs administrators investigated and questioned and castigated Rinderle, they communicated to her that there was “a revolt against you.” She wasn’t told about support from her students’ parents, although it was out there. What is “inappropriate” about it is that it tells kids they don’t have to fit firmly into a gender binary. There is nothing remotely pornographic about this book, which in fact is aimed at children younger than Rinderle’s fifth graders. Now, you can read “My Shadow is Purple” yourself. In the recorded conversation with the teacher, Dowd also repeatedly referred to “inappropriate topics” and “pornographic” material. ![]() And factors like race and membership in other marginalized communities will always be at play in those decisions. They have the power to fire some teachers and let others off with a warning. District administrators have the discretion to take some parents’ complaints seriously and not others. That vagueness is a weapon that will never be wielded equally. After all, Katie Rinderle was fired for reading a book sold by the book fair at her school. That in turn means that teachers have to censor themselves because they never know when they’re going to get in trouble. Like most such laws passed in recent years targeting public school curricula and teachers, the Georgia laws are broad and vague enough to allow almost anything to be the subject of a complaint. The 2022 Georgia laws under which Rinderle was fired give parents broad rights to demand the removal of class and library materials and censorship of class discussion. In a recorded investigative meeting, Christopher Dowd, the district’s director of employee relations, said, “Not every topic will be specifically in black and white on topics can and cannot teach which is why the language allows for a broader spectrum on ‘issues’ to navigate.” In other words, you’re guilty if we decide you’re guilty. It doesn’t matter, because we’ve decided you broke them. That message came through repeatedly: The rules are vague. “When I asked if there was a specific list of books or topics that were not allowed in inclusive libraries, the principal stated, ‘No.’ When I asked if there was a rule or policy I was unaware of, she told me she wasn’t sure and she believed it was just considered ‘divisive.’ She told me parents were ‘talking’ and had emailed to complain.” “When I asked why this book was available in our school’s recent Scholastic Book Fair, especially if it was not deemed ‘appropriate,’ there was not a clear answer that could be given,” she told the SPLC. Two days after she read “My Shadow is Purple” to her class, Rinderle was summoned to the principal’s office twice for meetings. “When mixed with colors, it can do amazing things but left by itself it’s kinda bland.” Another wrote, “My shadow is purple and now I do know that everyone’s different and not to be woe when my heart glows and tells me to see it’s fine to be me.”įollowing complaints from a small number of parents-and despite other parents vocally supporting her-Rinderle was investigated, told to resign or be fired, and fired. “My shadow is white, an underestimated thing,” one student wrote. ![]() Rinderle, who is obviously an excellent teacher, then had her students discuss the book’s themes and write poems about their own shadows. ![]()
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