Protect the Children!
Is the Board of Education representing the voices of the Marietta City community at large?

We’ve lost count of how many times Marietta community members, mostly MCS parents, have said some version of the following to us: We hate the chaos we see happening in Cobb County Schools. They fired a teacher over reading a book! This is humiliating! Why are we going backwards? How did all this book banning mess come to our little school system? We already discussed the politicization of our school board and the impact it’s having on our media centers, and now that the board has officially BANNED Flamer, we want to discuss—what’s the purpose of it all? Well, go grab a cup of coffee, dear reader, because we are about to—as the kids say—spill some tea.
Background
The September 12th, 2023 Directive to the Superintendent charges Dr. Rivera with reviewing some 20,000+ titles in the Marietta High School media center for sexually explicit content. This mandate was passed with haste following a lead up of drama in the Cobb County School District, which ultimately created a window of opportunity for book banning enthusiasts to intensify partisan pressure in Marietta City.
Board Comments
The Board of Education and Superintendent, although tasked with cultivating literacy and love of reading in our students, made public comments condemning Flamer and Me and Earl and the Dying Girl’s vulgarity despite not having read the text.
Angela Orange, who had not read either book “cover to cover,” told the MDJ, “I don’t know if somebody didn’t read them cover to cover, but what I read was not appropriate. I would think those books, especially the Jesse Andrews book, should definitely be removed. I don’t think a child should be reading that.”
Jaillene Hunter inaccurately equated the titles to pornographic content while misleading the public, insinuating that they were available to elementary schoolers: “Just like we don’t allow an R, NC-17 or X-rated movie to be shown to minor children at any schools, MHS or otherwise, similar decency standards should apply to literature in taxpayer funded K-12 public education.” To be clear, Flamer and Earl have only ever appeared on the shelves at Marietta High School. In text messages between board members obtained via an open records request, Jaillene is documented as counselling other board members to refer to the titles as “pornography” in their statements to media as well as encouraging the implication that “sexually explicit content” has been endangering young children via the repeated use of “K-12.”
Jason Waters stated "It is completely unacceptable for it to come up again and again. Not just in Marietta, but across the country… these books aren’t appropriate in a school setting,” when he also had not read either title. He added a few days later that “The goal is to protect children, not to ban books,” reiterating his commitment to protecting the children. From books. Despite dozens of constituent emails, calls, and petition signatures, Waters continues to ignore the majority of his community’s admiration for Flamer and books like it, speaking against his constituent’s values: “Pen actually recommends ‘Flamer,’ so I’m not sure they share Marietta values. Thank God for local control.”
Jeff DeJarnette also condemned the books without having read them: “Are the books in question appropriate for our schools? No.”
Even Superintendent Grant Rivera, who had initially expressed support for MCS media center specialists’ expertise—the correct stance in Marietta in the Middle’s view—eventually condemned the titles before having read them: “I mean, I think there are some things to me that are obvious as both a father and a superintendent, which is why it was fairly easy for me to make a decision relative to ‘Flamer’ and ‘Me and Earl and the Dying Girl.’”
Parent Comments
The comments below were quoted by media outlets since September 2023 or recorded during public comments in board meetings.
Laura Holder, employee of Ward 2 Board member Jason Waters, thanked the board for protecting Marietta children from “pornography.”
Tish Shirley called books targeted by the directive “strictly pornographic” and “completely inappropriate for any adult, much less children.”
Robin Moore made public comment challenging parents to “groom their children at home if they want to” after having expressed distrust for teachers and their morality.
Matt Cipolla stated that “sexually explicit material should not be available in our schools,” and thanked the board for protecting the children from “inappropriate content.”
Bobby Shirley claimed the schools are providing pornography to children on the taxpayer’s dime.
Keri Ninness, Westside parent, accused books of “chang[ing] brain chemistry,” describing it as “terrible for these children.”
Jessica King, Burruss parent, implied that these titles are harmful to children, “I want to thank the board for taking the necessary steps that we need that our students are in a safe, healthy, learning environment.”
Becky Simmons, Westside parent, echoed the sentiments that children are at serious risk via exposure to these books: “Some say that no one should worry about this issue unless they have children in high school. That is like saying someone on a moving train shouldn’t worry about the broken train tracks a mile or two ahead of them.”
Matt Anderson suggested that if students cannot type it into a chromebook or view it on school computers, they shouldn’t be able to read it in the library: “If my child took that laptop and typed in the words that she saw in one of these books in question, I imagine she would be punished, or at least called in for questioning. I don’t see how digital access is any different than print form.”
In one of the more puzzling public comments since Chase Clark (Westside parent) declared his love for guns and other people’s children, Jud Thompson suggested that because Marietta High School students don’t have a copy of his favorite bourbon book, they shouldn’t have complaints about teen graphic novels being removed either: “Sometimes, folks, the lines just don’t need to be blurred on every little thing in life. Some things, like bourbon and sexually explicit materials belong outside the walls of the schools.” First of all, our middle school teachers may need you to speak for yourself about the bourbon there, Jud. Second, we shudder to think what good ole’ Mr. Thompson would do if he knew how many books currently reside in the media center that do contain references to and recipes for alcoholic drinks.
It’s a good thing most of these parents don’t, in fact, read. And although that bit is circumstantial, it rings true given that the common denominator among all of their talking points is an underlying misunderstanding of What. Literature. Is. Regardless, they sure are unbothered by the vast array of books in the library that have far more sexualized content than Flamer and Earl.
“Protect the Children” — all talk, no action?
Some board and community members have claimed that they are concerned for children exposed to media center content that they “would not be able to Google,” or that they “could not read aloud at a board meeting.” Mature themes and topics that have been housed in high school libraries for decades are now incorrectly being used to accuse faculty of “grooming.”
Information obtained from community members suggests that parents were encouraged to oppose Flamer initially at the request of recently elected Ward 4 board member Jaillene Hunter. Open records requests reveal that multiple e-mails were sent to the board by Westside parents who do not have high school children but are nonetheless interested in Jaillene’s attention according to multiple members of the Westside community. Outspokenly, Ms. Hunter has been motivated to remove controversial and sexual material from the high school library since her election, a campaign that she intensified during an overly politicized controversy at Marietta Sixth Grade Academy.
If these worried parents are truly motivated by the wellbeing of The Children, why not oppose the many hundreds of other books in the library that also contain sexual content? Many of these books contain content that cannot be Googled on a school chrome book—content that cannot be isolated and read aloud by a teacher. The proverbial train is still headed for broken rails, parents, but they’re only protesting the book about the gay kid who overcomes his bullying traumas.
Tell me, dear reader: are these folks genuinely concerned for the children, or is this community being held in a chokehold because a few hopeful socialites want to find popularity in the social circles of the Ward 4 board member?
The Color Purple by Alice Walker
Recall that Board Chair Kerry Minervini told the MDJ that she “could not imagine” removing The Color Purple. How can that be, we wonder? It begins with a sexual assault on page 1.
First he put his thing up gainst my hip and sort of wiggle it around. Then he grab hold my titties. Then he push his thing inside my pussy. When that hurt, I cry. He start to choke me, saying You better shut up and git used to it.
It continues to include a masturbation how-to guide:
Listen, she say, right down there in your pussy is a little button that gits real hot when you do you know what with somebody. It git hotter and hotter and then it melt. That the good part. But other parts good too, she say. Lot of sucking go on, here and there, she say. Lot of finger and tongue work.
Button? Finger and tongue? My face hot enough to melt itself.
She say, Here, take this mirror and go look at yourself down there, I bet you never seen it, have you?
Naw.
And I bet you never seen Albert down there either.
I felt him, I say.
…
I lie back on the bed and haul up my dress. Yank down my bloomers. Stick the looking glass tween my legs. Ugh. All that hair. Then my pussy lips be black. Then inside look like a wet rose.
It a lot prettier than you thought, ain’t it? she say from the door.
It mine, I say. Where the button?
Right up near the top, she say. The part that stick out a little.
I look at her and touch it with my finger. A little shiver go through me. Nothing much. But just enough to tell me this the right button to mash. Maybe.
She say, While you looking, look at your titties, too. I haul up my dress and look at my titties. Think bout my babies sucking them. Remember the little shiver I felt then too. Sometimes a big shiver. Best part about having babies was feeding ‘em.
Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
This tome features a plethora of sexual encounters, many of which celebrate rape and the defiling of inanimate bodies:
… he pushed her into his bedroom and onto his bed, falling against her body, as against a soft, stuffed object. Their faces had a look of secrecy, the look of partners in guilt, the furtive, smutty look of children defiling someone’s clean fence by chalking sneaky scratches intended as symbols of obscenity.
Afterward, it did not disappoint him that what he had possessed was an inanimate body without resistance or response. It was not a woman that he had wanted to possess. It was not an act of celebration of life that he had wanted to perform–but an act in celebration of the triumph of impotence.
…
Then she saw his eyes move slowly from her face down the length of her body, and she knew the sort of torture he was now choosing to experience, because it was a glance of a nature he could not hide from her. She knew that he was seeing her as she had been at seventeen, he was seeing her with the rival he hated, he was seeing them together as they would be now, a sight he could neither endure nor resist. She saw the protection of control dropping from his face, but he did not care whether he let her see his face alive and naked, because there now was nothing to read in it except an unrevealing violence, some part of which resembled hatred.
He seized her shoulders, and she felt prepared to accept that he would now kill her or beat her into unconsciousness, and in the moment when she felt certain that he had thought of it, she felt her body thrown against him and his mouth falling on hers, more brutally than the act of a beating would have permitted.
…
He took her wrist and threw her inside his room, making the gesture tell her that he needed no sign of consent or resistance. He locked the door, watching her face.
Verdict?
Censorship in school media centers is on the rise nationally. Now it’s here at our Marietta doorstep despite a widespread, bipartisan distaste for book bans. We believe the maturing teens and adult learners who use our high school libraries deserve, and can continue to handle, access to mature titles that will prepare them for college and adult life, including the ones we’ve highlighted above. Existing board policies also entitle them to that right. Remember, these passages represent 2-3 pages—out of context—in much larger works, just like the excerpts used to vilify Flamer and Earl.
Somehow along the way, our board has lost the pulse of its constituents, too easily manipulated by political rhetoric in isolated social circles. If the concern for children is sincere, why is it so fervently projected onto two books that are relatively tame in terms of sexual content? If parents were truly concerned for the broken railroad tracks ahead, surely they’d be opposing The Color Purple and Atlas Shrugged even more strongly than they oppose Flamer.
Then again, maybe they were blindly carrying out Ms. Hunter’s marching orders all along, and the concern for children is insincere. Side note: Can someone who has attended one of Ms. Hunter’s dinner parties let us know what all the fuss is about? If the green bean casserole is that good, we may want to start banning books around here, too!
Let the BOE know where you stand on Book Bans:
jdejarnett@marietta-city.k12.ga.us (404) 626-1744
jason@jasonwaters.org (404) 403-8787
abrobbins@gmail.com (678) 591-3392
jaillenehunterward4@gmail.com (770) 688-5003
aorange@marietta-city.k12.ga.us (404) 375-9653
minervinimcsward6@gmail.com (770) 530-0882
irene.berens@gmail.com (678) 386-1008