Kaepernick bio to stay in libraries

Tie board vote means motion to remove fails

A split Mentor School Board has rejected a motion to remove a book about former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick from the district’s fifth-grade library independent reading material.

“Colin Kaepernick: From Free Agent to Change Agent” written by Eric Braun and published in 2019 is described on Amazon.com as: “Former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick drew positive and negative attention for kneeling during the national anthem to protest police violence against minorities in 2016. Two years later, he made headlines again when he became a spokesperson for Nike. Explore Kaepernick’s football career and his work as an activist.”

Mentor Superintendent Craig Heath received a complaint from a Mentor resident regarding the book’s inclusion in the fifth-grade libraries and assigned a library review board to make a recommendation on whether it should be part of the available reading material.

The review board was comprised of two elementary school principals, a Mentor High assistant principal and English teacher, a media specialist, a district parent liaison, two fifthgrade teachers and district administrators.

The review board voted, 8-3, to keep the book in the libraries.

The concerns of those voting to remove the book centered around whether it was age-appropriate material for fifthgrade students and what position it would put teachers in as far as answering difficult questions and possibly disturbing the flow of scheduled classroom lesson plans.

At the May 9 school board meeting, Heath stated he agreed with the review board and recommended to the school board that the book be retained in the fifthgrade libraries. He stressed that this was a “choice book and not a required text.”

Heath added that it was recommended by Book Source who assessed that it was appropriate for grades four through eight, not labeled as profane or obscene and it was “important to maintain principles over personal belief.”

After a passionate public comment session with community members speaking on both sides of the issue, board members Jackie Jeschelnig and Maggie Cook voted in favor of approving the recommendation to keep the book and board president Tom Tuttle and board member Annie Payne voted against.

Jeschelnig agreed with Heath stating it is a self-selected book, not required reading, and said removal of the book is “censorship — a slippery slope.”

Payne said removing the book from the libraries would not be book banning, but rather “vetting.” Not all reading materials in school libraries are the same as what is in a public library and independent choices to read the Kaepernick book unsupervised are unfit for fifth-grade students, she continued.

She also read from a passage comparing the situation to “a book too heavy” to carry for a fifth-grader and said they shouldn’t be asked to see the world through an adult lens.

Cook said she welcomed differing opinions and agreed people have a right to challenge and object to the material, but in the end, felt comfortable with the recommendation of experts in the field and the opinions of the library review board and Heath and found the book balanced as a whole even if offensive to some.

Tuttle cited details from the Trayvon Martin case — a 17-year-old African-American male shot in Florida — that is addressed in the book as an issue against police brutality. Tuttle referred to a legal report and asked the crowd if they knew of the ruling in the Martin case, questioning that if adults can’t easily research and decipher the details then how can a fifthgrader be expected to process and understand it.

Board member Mary Bryner was not present at the meeting.

The next step was a vote to approve a resolution for the removal of the Kaepernick book.

Payne and Tuttle voted yes for removal of the book and Cook and Jeschelnig voted no. The 2-2 vote meant no majority, so the motion failed. The book will remain in the fifth-grade libraries throughout the district.

Parents in favor of removing the book cited Kaepernick’s decision to kneel for the national anthem, protests against the police — including wardrobe choices — political views against former President Donald Trump and not serving as an appropriate role model. Several speakers felt the book was pushing an unbalanced and unfair narrative not fit for fifth-grade students.

One father reminded board members of an upcoming November election, levy renewal and even threatened to take his children out of the district.

Those who spoke in opposition of removing the book called a decision to remove the Kaepernick biography “book banning” and hindering a student’s ability for critical thinking and a parent’s discretion as to what their child reads or doesn’t read.

One mother said, “Be a parent and don’t allow your child to read the book if you don’t want them to read the book.”