DELAWARE, Ohio — A book about a unicorn is causing quite the controversy in the Buckeye Valley Local School District. An emergency school board meeting was held Friday night after the author of the book says he was told not to read it when he visited the district.
Kaylan Brazelton is a mother of two and works at Buckeye Valley West and spoke at Friday night's meeting.
She said she doesn't understand why "It's Okay To Be a Unicorn," a book about acceptance for children who feel different, wouldn't be allowed.
Brazelton also doesn't understand why her coworkers were instructed to take down kids' artwork relating to the book.
“I was simply confused and people were taking stuff down and…they said we had to take anything down with unicorns and rainbows,” Brazelton said.
10TV asked the district's interim superintendent details about what happened. He responded by saying a parent came to him concerned Wednesday morning. The author was visiting on Thursday.
“They just wanted to make sure that we vetted the book and our staff thought that they had vetted it,” said Jeremy Froehlich, Interim Superintendent.
The author of the book, Jason Tharp, says he was asked not to read the unicorn book by the building principal over the phone. The author says he was then sent an email, which he shared with 10TV, asking him not to read from another book. 10TV was the first to bring this email to the interim superintendent's attention.
“I got that email right before our board meeting so I’ve got to talk to him next week,” said Dr. Froehlich.
10TV also asked the superintendent about the kids' artwork, he says "as far as he's aware of" all art was displayed.