Over the last week, parents have blown up over the reading of a homosexual themed ‘fairytale’ to 3rd grade children. This incident has taken another turn.
Quick back story:
- The teacher who read the book is named Omar Currie.
- The book is called King and King.
- Currie claims to have read this book to combat ‘bullying’ and cited an alleged incident where a student used the term ‘gay’ in a derogatory manner. The incident was never been confirmed to have even happened.
- Parents were not informed of this book being read to their 8 and 9-year-old kids and they pretty much let loose their displeasure on the school.
(See: Teacher Omar Currie knows what is best for your child)
Now it looks like Currie is considering resigning according to ABC 11:
Currie is considering resigning from the school following the book backlash. He told ABC11 he will make a decision at the end of the school year.
ABC 11’s report also includes the information that 3 complaints have been filed. So, is this possibly ‘resigning’ over the backlash or because he likely will be shown the door anyway?
Currie has only been a teacher for about two years according to his LinkedIn profile. If th is gig doesn’t work out, he can always go back to acting and modeling.
Oh Hey — parents in the Efland area? You need to take on your PTA president next. Get a load of what she told ABC 11 about King and King:
“To me, it’s very kid appropriate. It didn’t use words that children wouldn’t understand,” said PTA President Paquita Lyons.
Just. Wow.
By Lyons logic, if the book had used big grown-up words, it would have been inappropriate??
I just… I mean… holy geez… what?!?!
Ms. Lyons, if you’re reading this — I want you to know after reading that quote from you, I hurt myself facepalming.
According to the Efland PTA Google Site, parents can contact Ms. Lyons about lexile matters and homosexuality themed books here: pburnette3@gmail.com
LL1885 
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Dear Blog author, a.k.a. Lady Liberty,
Your posting makes a strong suggestion that you are someone who lacks sufficient empathy for those who are suffering. Omar Currie is a hero in my book for standing up for the poor kid being bullied. He should be applauded for protecting all his kids. He’s not teaching intolerance or hatred, he’s teaching respect and standing up for the little guy. I’m sorry in your world that somehow teaching those principles is wrong. Or that (gasp) we are teaching kids that there are people out there (lots of them!) who will ultimately fall in love with someone of their own sex rather than the opposite sex. I’m just grateful that the values you seem to be espousing were not what I learned in school.
I hope you will really think about this and reflect on this incident. God is love and kindness and caring for each other, not hatred and bigotry.
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Dear Steve Johnson,
Your assumptions about me aside, this material is not appropriate for an 8 year old. Not only that, but content like this should be handled by parents and not the school. Stay tuned, because the idea this book was introduced around an incident of ‘bullying’ is not only unconfirmed, but there is evidence suggesting it was a planned event.
Thanks for reading.
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Let’s all start a prayer chain asking that Omar decide to leave teaching.
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Yeaaaa! Maybe they’ll give him a going-away present of a copy of a Harry Potter book (remember what a bully Draco Malfoy is?) or a Peanuts cartoon book (Lucy Van Pelt is the ideal bully) or even a Calvin and Hobbes book (stereotypical Moe?). Currie could have found a more age-appropriate and suitable book for teaching about bullying.
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