This School Board Really Banned “I am Rosa Parks”
And that really pissed off the students
Book bans? Student protests? School board members on a power trip? This story has it all! Shit, it’s even got a banned Sesame Street episode (and it’s not the “I think I downloaded the wrong Sesame Street episode” kind).
Buckle your seatbelts, folks. It’s gonna be a wild one. And I’m not just saying that because I had to suffer through a two-hour audio recording of a school board meeting to write it.
It all started on August 11, when the Central York (PA) School District administrators sent out an email stating, in no uncertain terms, that a number of resources were now considered banned materials, not to be used in lesson plans or kept in classrooms. Among these materials were the children’s books I am Malala, Hidden Figures, I am Enough, LGBTQ+ resources, and even a goddamn Sesame Street episode on diversity.
I know, scary stuff.
Though the ban officially went into effect in 2020, teachers weren’t notified until almost a year later, thanks to CYSD superintendent Michael Snell’s refusal to send a message enacting the ban.
The school board also referred to the ban as a “temporary freeze” for a “review period,” during which time the school board was meant to review all the media on the list for potentially dangerous ideas.
Anyway, after a year, no one on the school board had so much as opened one of the books, and they sent out the email clearly and officially referencing a “banned materials” list. So it’s a ban, not a freeze. But why ban books like these at all?
It’s all about Critical Race Theory. If you still aren’t sure what that is, Steve QJ writes about it better than anyone and you can learn yourself some nuts-and-bolts CRT in this article of his.
You see, the (all white) Central York School Board took on the noble endeavor of protecting young minds from dangerous concepts, such as “Standing Up for Girls’ Rights” and the fact that black women were instrumental to the US’ achievements in the space race.
Can you imagine what would happen if our children had access to those books?? It’s unthinkable. We’re much better off sticking to the traditional classroom learning material, like Mein Kampf. You know, the one whose teachings every American child should follow to the letter.
Let’s also be crystal fucking clear: Critical Race Theory is not taught at any point in CYSD’s K-12 curriculum.
Soon after the email went out, a reporter for the local York Dispatch picked up the story and all hell broke loose.
At a September school board meeting, board members accused Snell (the superintendent, remember?) of inserting CRT into the curriculum (note that the ban was on resources, period, not just curriculum material). The District made a public statement that they disagreed with the actions of the school board. So did the school admins. And the teachers. And the students.
Though they claimed otherwise, the school board was also caught enforcing the removal of banned materials from school libraries, at which point they hastily replaced the removed items.
This was some bullshit. And the students weren’t gonna put up with it.
The Panther Anti-Racist Union (PARU), founded in 2020 by Central York High teacher Ben Hodge and several of his students, organized walk-in protests every morning the following week and on scheduled days the week after that.
Some teachers joined, though many were fearful of punitive repercussions if they did so, and most school principals and administrators in the district fully supported their efforts.
Olivia Pituch, one of the student leaders of PARU, said these protests were “just [meant] to reverse the ban… get rid of the school board… [and] show that BIPOC and LGBTQ+ history belongs in education. Their voices matter.”
The students ended up accomplishing more than just that. The story was picked up by CNN, Fox News, NPR, and tons of other national media outlets. And they actually agreed on it!
According to Patricia Jackson, a fiery Central York High Teacher, “when Fox and CNN actually agree on something and you don’t, you know you’re on the wrong side.”
And she’s right. But did the school board members decide to act their age and admit they may have fucked up? Nope. They accused the kids of speaking “misinformation,” again calling the ban (which, to reiterate, they’d clearly labeled a “ban” in their own email) a “temporary freeze.” They also claimed that the students had been “prepped” by adults before their appearance on national media.
When I asked Olivia if she and the other students had been prepped, she shook her head and said, “I’m capable of speaking–and being well-spoken–on CNN.” Hell yeah.
Even if the school board members do stand by their ban, it’s totally backfired and blown up in their faces. Not only are community members (and people across the nation) angry at them–and potentially fired up enough to actually care about the next school board election–but the ban has increased the utilization of the Forbidden Texts.
Patricia reported a major uptick in students’ curiosity about several of the banned books, which had previously remained on her shelves, mostly untouched.
Additionally, PARU held a book drive that resulted in the donation of 4500 copies of banned materials to the local community. These came from people across the country, and the stack of boxes they came in was a sight to behold. At the voluntary giveaway event, every single one of those 4500 books was passed out within 13 minutes.
Patricia, Ben, and Olivia had one final message to the members of the York community, though it may serve as a pre-emptive warning to the rest of the nation as well: “vote.”
Give a shit about local elections or you, too, may end up an unwilling participant in the woke-age version of the Red Scare.
And to the Central York School Board, you people are a whole ‘nother level of stupid. It might help if you read some books…
