By Brian Massie, A Watchman on the Wall
Thanks to Ms. Annie Payne, Mentor school board member extraordinaire, for taking the lead at the Mentor School Board to protect the children from being exposed to obscene, pornographic material in the school district. I attended the school board meeting held on July 17th. Regretfully, they choose not to use microphones, making much of the meeting very difficult for the audience to hear.
The following (2520.03 Policy) is from Superintendent Craig Heath’s notes reported at the special Mentor School Board meeting held on July 17, 2023. Ms. Payne suggested that option 1 be in a written school policy covering sexually explicit content.
“Options to add here” are the Superintendent’s suggestion to amend Ms. Payne’s Option 1. This addition will negate Ms. Payne’s policy of removing obscene or pornographic books, because if the Superintendent or Reviewing Committee believe that the literary value outweighs the fact that children will be harmed by the pornographic or obscene material, the books will remain in the school. [We suggest that the Superintendent, Reviewing Committee, and liberal school board members first have their moral compass checked before they make any decisions.]
Option 2 is from a proposed change in the Ohio Revised Code at the state level.
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2520.03 MATERIALS CONTAINING SEXUALLY EXPLICIT CONTENT
The Mentor Board of Education is aware that library/media materials, as well as instructional and supplementary materials and equipment in the District are used almost exclusively by minor students.
Consistent with Policy 2520, the primary objective of such materials shall be to enrich, support and Implement the educational program of the school.
OPTION #1
[ ] Policy 2520.03 shall apply to the following Board policies and any corresponding administrative guidlines:
Policy 2520, 2520.01, 2520.02. The Board has determined that any material containing “sexually explicit” content, as devined (sic) herein, oes (sic) not, in general, enrich, support or implement the educational program of the Schools within the District.
Therefore, in conducting any applicable review of such materials set forth in the aforementioned policies, the Superintendent or reviewing committee shall remove from circulation or accessibility any material that contains sexually explicit content.
END OF OPTION #1
OPTION TO ADD HERE: [ ] However, if the Superintendent or reviewing committee determines that the literary, Scientific or artistic value of the material within the educational program outweighs the concen (sic) with the sexually explicit content contained therein, such material may remain within circulation subject to: (insert preferred conditions, such as notice).
OPTION #2
[ ] Policy 2520.03 shall apply to the following Board policies and any corresponding administrative guidelines: Policy 2520, 2520.01, 2520.02. The Board has determined that any material containing “sexually explicit” content, as defined herein, may be inappropriate for minor students under certain circumstances.
Therefore, in conducting any applicable review of such materials set forth in the aforementioned policies, the Superintendent or reviewing committee shall identify any material that contains sexually explicit content.
Following the identification of such material, the Superintendent or reviewing committee shall undertake a process to;
- notify parents/guardinas (sic) that the material contains sexually explicit contect; (sic)
- provide parents/guardians the ability to review the material containing sexually explicit content;
- if applicable, request an alternate material that does not include sexually explicit content.
END OF OPTION #2
For the purposes of this Policy and those that policies cross-referenced herein, “sexuall (sic) explicit” shall be devined (sic) as any written language describing, [ ] or images, pictures photographs, drawings, movies or other visual depictions portraying sexual intercourse, masturbation, sadism, masochism, bestiality, fellatio, cunnilingus, pedophilia, molestation, rape or incest. [OPTION/NOTE: the Board may choose to define “sexually explicit” as it sees fit and ther (sic) is a broad range of potential options here; the definition above was identified by Board representatives for inclusion/consideration of this initial policy draft.]
This policy shal (sic) not apply to any state-mandated curriculum nor is this Policy intended to supersede Ohio Revised Code applicable to state-designated courses of study, including any review process associated with Such courses of study established under Ohio law.
The Superintendent shall be authorized to develop Administrative Guidelines consistent with this Policy 2520.02 and other applicable Board policies.
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LFC Additional Comments:
We have been told that the majority of the board (3 – 2) supports option 1. Maggie Cook and Mary Bryner were not very supportive – especially Ms. Cook, who didn’t like the idea. However, Virginia Jeschelnig actually was okay with it if they added option 2 specifically for “sexual content” as well, thus making it actually more restrictive.
Check out marker 2:15:35 on the video . This is what should be ready for a vote in August. Option 1 will be sexually explicit (not allowed in our schools), option 2 would be for sexual content, and would require parental notification, and an opt out option.
We were flabbergasted when Ms. Maggie Cook implied that before a pornographic book is removed people should be required to read the entire book to determine if the book, in it’s entirety. has literary value. Pornography is pornography, no matter how it is wrapped!!
If I am to err, I will always err on the side of protecting the children. Rose Iopollo and Gil Martello must get elected in order to make the Mentor School District great again.
https://www.roseandgil4board.org/
Who’s Protecting the Children in the Mentor School District? ORC 2907.321 “Pandering Obscenity to Minors” is very clear, but the Mentor, Mentor-On-The-Lake, Lake County Prosecutors, State Attorney General, and the Mentor police department fail to do their jobs protecting the most vulnerable in our community. Wonder how they look at themselves in the mirror each morning?
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Categories: Community Activism, Mentor