A couple weeks back we told you about the curious fight between an Arizona school district and science, namely the Gilbert Public Schools Governing Board’s plan to rip out two pages of a high school biology textbook. Those offending pages mention the existence of contraception and abortion, and for that, of course, they must be destroyed. (The board’s rationale is that Arizona state law says that sex ed classes have to “promote” adoption over abortion, and the mere mention of the existence of condoms, etc., makes the books illegal.)
But since the Gilbert school board first hatched this fool-proof plan, something else has happened: the three members of the board who voted to redact the pages have all been voted out, and the new board majority doesn’t favor destroying the pages.
Last week, though, a rumor started circulating on social media that the outgoing board members were going to take the law into their own hands and destroy the pages themselves, presumably in the dead of night while wearing ski masks and loudly promoting adoption. (One of those outgoing board members, Julie Smith, has called that “a slanderous lie.”)
But the local chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union is also concerned that the outgoing board members might feel the need to preserve their legacy, sending a letter last week to superintendent warning him not to let anybody get near those textbooks, given that it would constitute “criminal damage of property.” The letter was somehow also forwarded to every school district employee through their departmental email, but the ACLU says they had nothing to do with that.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
