Dad Complains To School Board About Teen Daughter’s ‘Pornographic’ Reading Assignment; What Happens Next Will Make Your Blood Boil
When you are a father, you want to do everything you can to protect your child. And that is what William Baer was doing when he attended the school board meeting for his daughter in Gilford High School in New Hampshire. Baer, an attorney, was appalled that his 14-year-old daughter was assigned a literature by her English class which contained uncomfortable amounts of risque material. Needless to say, Baer became concerned and brought the matter to the school board.
The school board meeting, arranged to discuss the particular assignment, brought in other parents including Baer, who were all upset and worried about the book Nineteen Minutes, written by author Jodi Picoult about the harsh topic of school shootings. The topics of bullying and sexual violence were significantly covered in the book. One line from the novel is:
“She could feel his erection, hot against her stomach”
Finding snippets like these in a reading assignment would reasonably drive a concerned father to speak out to the school board. But when his arguments fell on deaf ears, the father became increasingly irritated and asked one of the board members to recite a particularly explicit part of the book.
The board refused to indulge Baer and reminded him that his two minutes of speaking were up. According to those who witnessed the event and as seen on the footage of the meeting, Baer’s statements were largely ignored by the board. The father, irate that the school officers were not doing anything to resolve the issue, became more heated until a police officer approached him and appeared to ask him to leave. William then replied:
“Because I violated the two-minute rule?”
“I guess you’re going to have to arrest me,”
According to WCN, most parents were not notified that the students will be having the controversial book as their reading assignment. Parents were angered that the books were distributed to their children without their consent. They were even more appalled that the principal and the school board failed to directly deal with the issue with them.
William Baer said:
“If I stood outside the school and started handing out copies of page 313 of that book, I am confident I could be arrested for the distribution of pornographic material to minors.”
“I don’t understand why it’s OK for the high school to require our 9th grade children have to read such material, but I get arrested because I want to object to it. Something here is very wrong.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HC2LPu8wHQ#t=334
[Image from WMUR]
