Well, jury duty calls tomorrow. Glad I got meds for this sinus infection yesterday. Any infection is miserable, but my shingles nerve on my face is fire ant pain and itch. I did make it through senior presentations today so maybe my voice will be to scratchy to keep me tomorrow. Just kidding. I will live off cough drops for a day. :)
In other news, CCSD opened the public school libraries to guess what, shockingly, the public. Now the librarians are calling foul. Well, I am sure not the majority of them but the loudest one has the claws out. My hope is that if I do get picked to jury duty I can still make it to speak at the school board meetings. I sent emails and sent to public record, but I do want to be there. Here is my statement for anyone in Clark County who cares about what is happening in our schools. Maybe more people will show tomorrow and speak.
I posted more on my blog and on my site:
dreamsdontfade.com
(finishing up the book on sex education)
(hit the welcome tab on top of my blog and it takes you to my website)
Read on for my statement:
I am not an outside group. I have been coming here to request that regulation 6150 be repealed. I am the CCSD employee who put out a petition asking for support to repeal regulation 6150. I submitted to legislation and this board the 1,000 signatures I collected. I stood at this podium with my own personal testimony as to why sexually explicit books do not belong on our public school shelves.
The whole point is that parents can’t object to what they can’t see. I have been called a liar in legislation and by the previous board saying the books that have been presented are not on the shelves of the public schools. This has been proven to be a lie. Now that the school libraries are an open-source system like all other public schools in Nevada are, which is the reason I came to you with that request, no more shall be hidden.
The tactical use of the word banning is a term that doesn’t apply but only an attempt to distract. Just because a sexually explicit book is not on the shelves of a public school library it is not banned. Parents have every right to walk into a public library and check out any book they want for their children. I have requested that we vet books that are sexually explicit because no one has answered the question of how these books are academically sound or therapeutically necessary. Not even the so-called experts who only yell “discrimination” as an attempt to distort the content of these sexually explicit books.
Here is the real issue: Who gets to pick out the books kids read when they are on a public school campus? Who gets to have those conversations about those books with your child? And who gets to override the parent who challenges a book with a ccf-400 form. Regulation 6150 still has the librarians and principals on that closed door committee. Conflict of interest? This regulation is overkill. They get to pick the books and when challenged they again get to choose to keep it on the shelves. This regulation is at the heart non-transparency-all hidden things come to light.
These librarians spewing threats and using “rights of parents and their children” desire to rein back in their power and we all know it. What is there to hide? What harm came of removing the single-use log in by the student? What harm is there in being transparent by having an open-source public school library system? The employees of CCSD are the ones up here chastising our superintendent and board. The employees of CCSD are calling for accountability of our superintendent and board because they are angry that they may be held accountable to the public which they seem to think have no business knowing what books are on the shelves of these libraries. And I have to ask why?
When Regulation 6150 is on the agenda and up for a vote it will be difficult to explain to the public why we ever had a closed-door system and now that it is open why CCSD employees want the doors to be closed again. You can either vote for transparency to the public who voted you in or vote on the side of CCSD employees who are the actual danger to our school district. Throwing out words like dictatorship and censorship are ludicrous, petty, and reveal the reason why you should vote for transparency to the tax-payers and repeal all of regulation 6150.
As a reminder, these are the same people who spoke during the last legislation calling for:
AB416: called for a penalty of a Class E Felony of parents who objected to books on the shelves of our public schools
AB445: provided immunity from civil and criminal liability for public school librarians
Once again I ask why? Who are the power seekers here? Vote to your conscience and I certainly hope it will be to the voters and not the insiders who are extremely hostile towards all of you when they do not get their way.
Not once have I used that podium to belittle or degrade any of you even if I don’t agree with you. That should mean something as I am speaking from my heart and my love of education. This needs to stop so vote in a way that speaks volumes of no more with the intimidation tactics.
Thank you for giving your attention to this statement,
Tanya Attebery
With all that is happening in our country please do not lose hope in a God who loves you. Prayers for the families in need, the hurting, the lost and broken, those who are wrapped in anger and bitterness. Be kind out there!
Here is a song that will give you assurance of who I rely on. Won't Start Now by Seph Schlueter:
… I've never seen a morning the sun forgot to rise
In every single detail You're faithful every time
I've never lived a moment that You weren't by my side
'Cause You've never made a promise
Turned around and changed Your mind
… You've never left me in the cold
Never hurt me or let me go
You never have before
… And You won't start now
You won't start now
I know I won't be on my own
Whatever comes
You've never let me walk alone
Not even once
And You won't start now
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_nhhTzm0JE&list=RDx_nhhTzm0JE&start_radio=1