UPPER ARLINGTON, Ohio — Two Upper Arlington parents want accountability.
“When [my son] shared to the extent that details were shared I was disgusted,” one mother said.
10TV is not identifying the parents, per their request, saying they don’t want any backlash for their children.
On Oct. 13, as part of Language Arts at Hastings Middle School, sixth grade students learned about a theme, Coming of Age, from a representative from the Upper Arlington Public Library.
“It was how it was handled and age appropriate discussions that a librarian is not either well-versed in, trained in…they did not have the expertise to be discussing with underage children these topics,” one mother said.
Among the topics, the two parents say two stood out.
“And discussed that they are non-binary, themselves and what that means,” one mother said of the speaker. “And the other book topic was heavy on drug addictions from a sports athlete.”
According to the district, parents and guardians may inspect, upon request, the lesson or materials for any content that might conflict with religious beliefs or values. Then, parents can request to opt their child out of that lesson.
The parents, however, say they were never made aware of the topics in order to request materials beforehand.
“Only parents whose children felt comfortable enough to bring it up at home are remotely aware that this happened,” one mother said. “There was no opt out. There was no heads up that the discussion was gonna take place.”
The parents also suggest district policy was not followed.
“Parents have gone into the school to talk to the principal and the principal had admitted that he was unaware of this visitor and he was going to dig into it,” one mother said.
Twelve days later, the district sent parents an email acknowledging the incident, the policies and guidelines “that require materials to be screened for controversial content and for administrator approval when content may be controversial.” The district also says it has opened an investigation “in coordination with legal counsel to determine the facts of this situation and will ensure that the report is a public record available at the conclusion of the investigation.”
10TV obtained that same email correspondence from the district.
“There were teachers and librarians and translators in the room [and] none of them even paused and said this is inappropriate for these children [and] this is clearly a controversial topic,” one mother said.
“There, no doubt in my mind, will be people who watch this who say ‘These are two parents who have a problem with teaching LGBTQ issues in their child’s school,” 10TV’s Bryant Somerville asked. “Is that the case?”
“That is not the case,” one parent said.
The parents say it’s important to provide resources and support to anyone who might feel marginalized, but say there’s a big distinction between that and how this material was presented.
Upper Arlington Schools would not comment on the matter, further, citing the ongoing investigation.