My nightmare battle with the school to protect my children

As a mother and a professor, I never imagined I would be involved in a drawn-out dispute with my local school district. But standing up for your children can be a lonely journey. It all started when my 15-year-old son came home visibly distraught after finding out More than magenta in his school library. I read it myself and was speechless.

“From the age of six onwards, I kissed other boys in my neighbourhood, made out with them and had oral sex with them. I liked it. I loved oral sex. And I touched their bodies. We were still very young, but that's exactly what we did…” (p. 139)

At no point in the text was it suggested that this behavior was harmful or that the child was being exploited. Instead, it normalized these actions and offered no guidance for children in similar situations.

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My son, whose younger brother was also six years old, just like the child in the book, looked at me and asked, “What are you going to do?” The question remained. I knew I had to act, but I wasn't sure how.

Two weeks later, on my younger son's back-to-school night, I decided to check his library. Within 30 seconds, I found numerous problematic books, including A stands for activist by Innosanto Nagara, a self-proclaimed Marxist who believes that “capitalism is inherently exploitative.” The book includes quotes such as:

“LGBTQ! Love whoever you want, because love is true!”

“T stands for Trans. For trains, tiaras, tulips and also tigers!”

“Z stands for Zapatista, of course!”

“Z is for Zapatista, of course!” Really? How many kindergarten children know about the violent Marxist group that overthrew their local government in southern Chiapas, Mexico, in the 1990s? Reducing such a complex issue to a positive slogan is pure propaganda with no educational value.

I asked the librarian why this book was available for my son. She robotically said it was approved for grades K-5 and peer reviewed. She refused to say if she had read it or even looked at the problematic pages. When I asked her if she knew who the Zapatistas were, she received no response. An administrator came, insisted the book was appropriate, and advised me to follow district protocol and submit an online form.

Eventually I did. But it was a trap and I naively walked right into it.

The school district immediately released my personal information to the media. The headline, “Alachua County School District Removes Book About Transgender Teen After Parents Complaint,” revealed my name, job title, and political affiliation.

The backlash was not long in coming. A co-worker confronted me at the bus stop and berated me in front of my child. She later asked the school district to stop my six-year-old from sitting next to her child, and shockingly, they complied with that request for the entire school year. Worse, at first they claimed it was because of my son's behavior, and I wanted to punish him – until the bus driver revealed the truth.

Friends and colleagues cut ties and even refused to meet for coffee. My world was turned upside down, and this was just the beginning of the school district's coordinated effort to silence and intimidate any parents who questioned their substantive decisions.

I initially thought the district would review the books and reconsider their appropriateness. Instead, I found that it was much worse than I expected. At the high school level, for example, books like The child by Sapphire tells and describes in detail the tragic story of a boy who was sexually abused (sodomized) by another youth in a foster family and eventually became a sexual abuser of younger children. Or Evil by Gregory Maguire, which tells the sexual escapades of the Wicked Witch of the West. Or Happy by Alice Sebold, which not only depicts a brutal rape scene vividly and explicitly, but also falsely accuses a black man of the crime.

At the primary school level, books like It feels good to be yourself, When Aidan became a brother, My MaddyAnd Melissa teach children that they can be a boy one day and a girl the next, and suggest that only the child can determine his or her true gender. MelissaIn his book The 100 Years of Pornography, author Alex Gino teaches children how to find transgender services online and hide their browsing history. He also normalizes pornography consumption through dialogues between a 14-year-old brother and an 8-year-old boy who is secretly undergoing gender reassignment surgery with the help of friends and teachers. End of form:

“Nah, I found it this weekend. I knew mom was upset about something and then I saw the bag on her bed. Dude, I thought you had PORN or something in there so I took a look. You know, just to find out what kind of stuff my little brother is into. […]“(Page 141)

Instead of addressing these concerns, the district defended the books by saying they promoted “diversity” and “inclusion.”

The district held court-like hearings where I had to defend my objections as if I were a lawyer – presenting evidence, calling and questioning witnesses, and facing objections from both the attorney and the hearing officer. The district manipulated the process, changing rules, limiting evidence, and denying key witnesses. The system was designed to overwhelm parents like me.

Not surprisingly, I am the only parent who has made it this far. The threat of facing this legal gauntlet has deterred others from pursuing their cases, effectively denying them the opportunity to appeal to the state Department of Education. The complexity and intimidation of the process have silenced their voices.

The district worked with activist groups to discredit me and circulated videos of my hearings with misleading commentary on social media. Staff also circulated the videos via email, which led to hostility from teachers and bullying from peers toward my older son. The environment became so toxic that I had to remove both of my sons from the public school system.

However, some of the school district's strategies backfired. While they eagerly shared clips to defame me, a clip in which the elementary school's assistant principal admitted it was appropriate for eight-year-olds to read about pornography went viral among conservative groups. Following this backlash, the school district quickly removed all footage from its YouTube channel.

The district's efforts to silence parents like me have been aggressive and coordinated. I have been called a “racist,” a “bigot,” and a “book bannerer.” But despite the public exposure and the consequences, I will not back down. I have taken my fight to the state level and filed an appeal to challenge the Department of Education's failure to enforce the law. God willing, we will soon succeed.

As Dietrich Bonhoeffer said, “Silence in the face of evil is itself evil.” I urge all parents to get involved, raise their voices and denounce these inappropriate contents being taught in schools.