Black Community News News and Commentary for Christians
What hope do we have if schools in the American south and in the heartland are willing to fire teachers for questioning depictions of homosexuality in picture books for children?
That’s what happened to substitute teacher Lindsey Barr in Georgia. After she expressed concerns over drawings in a picture book presented to children at an elementary school, including her own, the school fired her.
Barr filed a lawsuit against Bryan County Schools. According to Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), which represents Barr, the school district has settled the lawsuit. In addition to paying her $181,000 in damages and attorneys’ fees, the school district sent her a letter encouraging her “as a parent” to raise concerns about what schools teach.
“Raising such concerns does not preclude employment in our district,” the superintendent wrote. “For the future, we are focused on the value you add for children across the district as a substitute teacher. We sincerely regret that your separation from the school district caused any distress.”
All of this could have been avoided if the district cared about parents’ rights in the first place. Then again, if the district really cared, schools wouldn’t present books to children with references to homosexuality.
From ADF:
Barr’s situation highlights the need for the new Georgia law, the Parents’ Bill of Rights, that recognizes the “fundamental right of parents to direct the upbringing and education of their minor children” and affords them the “right to review all instructional material intended for use in the classroom of his or her minor child.” This law directs each board of education, including the Bryan County Board of Education, to adopt “procedures for a parent to object to instructional material intended for use in his or her minor child’s classroom or recommended by his or her minor child’s teacher.”
Barr had been teaching for over 10 years. She opted her kids out of a read-aloud of the book “All Are Welcome,” which depicts homosexual couples. Barr said the teachers agreed, and one thanked her for bringing it to her attention.
Barr said she wanted to speak to the principal in private to talk about her concerns, including what she saw as “a larger trend of ideological indoctrination at the school.”
The next day, her log-in credentials didn’t work. She was fired with the full support of district administrators.
Bryan County Schools broke the law. The Georgia legislature passed the Parents’ Bill of Rights, which states that parents have the fundamental right to direct the upbringing and the moral or religious training of their children. School districts must develop procedures for parents to object to contradictory instruction. Instead, Bryan County Schools fired a parent for objecting.
Barr and her husband believe that marriage is the God-ordained union between one man and one woman, and that is what they model and teach their children. Watch the video below for more.
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