By Rose Ioppolo and Annie Payne
This press release is written on behalf of Rose Ioppolo and Annie Payne solely and does not represent a board statement, nor opinions of other board members.
MENTOR SCHOOL BOARD MAJORITY MOVES FORWARD TO REMOVE SEXUAL CONTENT NOTIFICATIONS FOR PARENTS AND PREVENT BOOK DONATIONS FROM TAXPAYERS.
Superintendent Heath recommends the removal of the book donation policy due to the political bias of the board majority that will likely approve “left leaning” books, while rejecting “right leaning” books. The final vote on the policy changes will take place at the regular meeting this Thursday, July 11th at 7pm at the Fine Arts Center.
The Mentor Board of Education met on July 3rd to discuss several important matters. During the meeting, Ms. Ioppolo and Ms. Payne argued to retain the sexual content and book donation policies, while board members Ms. Jeschelnig, Ms. Cook, and Ms. Marchaza voted to remove them. Originally, Ms. Payne brought forward a sexually explicit policy proposal to prohibit explicit and age-inappropriate materials in our schools. The board majority voted to remove that portion of the policy. In place of the prohibition of materials, Ms. Payne suggested a parental notification system to flag materials that contain sexual content or are deemed sexually explicit. The board unanimously passed the revised policy in September of last year.
The three members who voted to remove the sexual content policy argued that the two-tiered system, which is supported by all board members, would be adequate for parents to protect their students from potential harmful material. Ms. Payne and Ms. Ioppolo argued that the two-tiered system is not enough to protect students against age-inappropriate materials. Parents who opt in to the new system will only be notified of the book title. They will have to research the contents of the book and possible reviews to make an informed decision. Ms.Ioppolo referenced house bill 556 which would create criminal liability for teachers for pandering obscenity and possible liability for the district.
Ms. Payne mentioned the current policy which provides safeguards for parents against sexually explicit materials like the recently retained book, The Bluest Eye. This book contained graphic scenes of molestation and rape, which she believed
most parents would not expect to be in school materials.
Ms. Ioppolo and Ms. Payne raised additional concerns about the Collaborative Classrooms book collection, which is present in all elementary schools and contains books covering controversial subjects such as Black Lives Matter, sexuality, gender identity, activism, and white privilege. They explained that this is problematic because students can access these books during silent reading time without their parents’ knowledge or approval. The proposed two-tiered notification system does not currently cover classroom library materials.
Additionally, Superintendent Heath recommended, and the board supported (3-2), to remove the book donation policy. In light of recently retained controversial books, community members tried to donate books to balance the collection and show opposing viewpoints. Ms. Payne and Ms. Ioppolo argued the current policy requiring balance has not been met. When Mr. Heath was asked what prompted his recommendation to remove the book donation policy he explained, “If you look at the makeup of our board right now, what would end up happening is anything that potentially was left leaning would probably be voted in. Anything that was right leaning would not be voted in.”
The Mentor Board of Education will hold a public meeting on July 11th to conduct the final reading and vote on these policy changes. Members of the public can attend and register to speak on these issues prior to the start of the meeting at 7pm.
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