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Parents decry book on gender identity

HOLLIDAYSBURG — After being unable to come to an agreement, the Hollidaysburg Area School Board decided to continue discussions around adding new language concerning gender identity and preferred pronouns to a school policy in next week’s meeting.

Roughly 300 people piled into the Hollidaysburg Area Junior High School auditorium Monday night to voice their concerns about recent controversies within the district.

The working session was originally scheduled to continue a discussion started in September. Board member Carmen Bilek said the topic of gender identity and pronouns being talked about in district classrooms was brought to the board’s attention two months ago, and she along with some other members drafted additions to Code 824 of the district policy manual.

The policy deals with maintaining adult/student boundaries, specifically outlining appropriate teacher/student relationships and what is and isn’t acceptable in terms of religious, political and sexual topics.

The proposed additions to the policy would bar teachers from “prominently” displaying materials and items of a religious, sexual or political nature in their classrooms. They also would not be allowed to bring up conversations with students on gender orientation or preferred pronouns.

The situation was amplified when photos circulated recently on Facebook and social media of the book “Gender Queer,” which was allegedly seen by students on English teacher Nicole Stouffer’s desk since the beginning of the school year.

“Gender Queer” is a graphic novel memoir written by Maia Kobabe on Kobabe’s journey to identifying as nonbinary. The book has some sexually explicit illustrations, which are the source of controversy in schools and libraries across the country.

Parents at the meeting argued that the book was pornography and that the kids in the classroom had their “innocence” stripped away when they were exposed to the book.

“We’re talking about the destruction of the innocence of our children,” parent Matt Krueger said. “What a shame that we have to sacrifice my child’s innocence for the perversion of some people. It’s disgusting.”

Krueger’s wife, Diane, said she was one of the first parents to contact the school district about the book when her son told her about it. Krueger said she was told by Superintendent Robert Gildea that the book had never been shown or read to students in the class. When her interactions with Gildea didn’t yield immediate results, she contacted Pennsylvania State Police, who launched an investigation. Krueger said that after speaking with police, Gildea said no further action would be taken.

“We were told at the beginning of the school year that the rainbow flag … displays is a symbol of inclusion and represents her room as a safe space for students,” Diane Krueger said. “In light of everything we’re learning, her class was not a safe space, and the pride flag is instead being used as a guise in order to facilitate conversations with students that are inappropriate and the school is not able to monitor.”

Diane Krueger said that the police recently asked to interview her son after child abuse services opened a case after hearing from other parents.

Ying Li, a Hollidaysburg resident, said this is an “organized effort to confuse and harm our children.”

“Seventh-grade kids are vulnerable and easy to influence,” Li said. “The damage might have been done. (The teacher) should be fired. She has crossed the line too many times and she will do it again.”

Li pointed out that board President Nicole Hartman had posted on Facebook, saying the district could not discuss any disciplinary action taken with the teacher, as it is illegal to do so. Hartman also posted that “romance novels are far spicier” than “Gender Queer.”

Li said these comments were inappropriate and unprofessional, calling for Hartman to step down.

Not all public comments were against the teacher, however. Several teachers from the district attended the meeting and defended their colleague, whom they felt has been targeted.

“Why can’t we be accepting of others?” history teacher Kirk Dodson said. “What are we all afraid of? Instead of banning books, it might be advisable to first read a few.”

Dodson said the attitude and rhetoric of people going after the teacher have stood out to him as warning signs of fascism and Hitler, which was met with shouts of disapproval and boos.

“Today, it’s a teacher who happens to be a lesbian,” Dodson said. “Tomorrow, it just might be you.”

Mike Rawlins, president of the Hollidaysburg Area Education Association, said the organization and teachers objected to any changes to the policy.

“You are supposed to be advocates for education, not grandstanding politicians trying to score cheap political points in an era of hyperpolarized social media nonsense,” Rawlins said. “The end result of a terrible policy like this is endless litigation for the school district, wasting valuable funds that could be used to, I don’t know, educate kids?”

Rawlins said this would further marginalize students who are already on the outskirts. He encouraged the board members to think critically before deciding to adopt the changes to the code.

High school senior Luke Jandora said that he believed the code should not be changed, as it might harm the relationships between students who are part of the LGBTQ+ community and their teachers if the teachers had to suddenly remove any welcoming and inclusive images such as a pride flag.

“When I have a teacher who I know cares about me and loves me, I trust what they’re teaching me,” Jandora said. “A pride flag is a symbol of acceptance and love. It means a lot to a kid to have someone say that they love you or they care about you.”

Despite the nearly two hours of comment, the board members were no closer to adopting the policy change, as Hartman raised concerns over the language and potential discrimination it would unintentionally introduce. When the possibility of removing language barring religious materials was raised, Hartman said it was not possible to limit expression in one area and leave another untouched.

After back-and-forth discussions for nearly an hour, Bilek realized that the board was not going to come to a conclusion and proposed they pick it back up next week after solicitor Carl Beard had a chance to revise the language.

Gildea said that the night’s events were a “reflection of society.”

“Right now, Hollidaysburg is in the crosshairs of a cultural war,” he said. “It’s disappointing, but it’s where society is.”

Mirror Staff Writer Nate Powles is at 814-946-7466.

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