Living in LoCo
Records Made Public in 'Tango' Case
Erica Garman at 5:57 p.m., February 25, 2008 (16 comments)
RELATED BLOG: Where's Tango?
RELATED STORY: 'Tango' Touches Off Library Dispute
RELATED POLL: Do you support the Loudoun school district's decision to pull "Tango" from library shelves?
Question: What’s black and white and red all over? Answer: Upset attendees at Tuesday's school board meeting.
Unless you’ve been out of the country or hiding under a rock, you’ve heard of Superintendent Edgar B. Hatrick’s recent decision to take “And Tango Makes Three” out of the elementary schools’ general circulation.
Living In LoCo brought you this story first on Feb. 11.
The Loudoun County School Board will be meeting at the Education Building at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, and those on both sides of the issue are planning to show up. Those who disagree with the current policy say a provision needs to be made to allow for public input and the opportunity to “challenge” a book challenge.
Equality Loudoun, a gay rights group, is asking attendees to wear black and white as a sign of support to have “And Tango Makes Three” placed back in general circulation.
I haven’t heard what those in support of Hatrick’s decision will be wearing Tuesday evening (OMG, it feels like Oscar night all over again!), but Barbara Curtis, the local blogger of Mommy Life, is urging readers to attend the board meeting to support the book’s removal. She wrote: “A small minority of GLBTs all riled up can make a lot of noise.”
Monday morning, as a result of a Freedom of Information Act request I made to LCPS, I received the public documents surrounding the “And Tango Makes Three” book challenge. (All seven documents can be viewed by clicking the links below).
The cover of "And Tango Makes Three." (AP photo)
In a form dated May 28, 2007, Sherrie Sawyer, who is a teaching assistant at Sugarland Elementary, wrote in a complaint to her principal: “I object to the homosexual theme of this book. The two male penguins are described as acting like a male and female penguin. The zookeeper says, ‘They must be in love.’” It isn't clear whether Sawyer's children attend Sugarland, and a call to Sawyer, of Leesburg, seeking comment about the case Monday afternoon hasn't been returned.
A few weeks later on June 6, the initial review committee consisting of a school parent, a Horizon Elementary librarian, and a Sugarland Elementary teacher unanimously decided that “And Tango Makes Three” should remain in general circulation at the school.
On June 12, Angela Robinson, principal of Sugarland Elementary, wrote a letter to Sawyer stating her agreement with the committee’s recommendation.
Sawyer –- who signed her letter "concerned parent and assistant teacher" -- appealed the committee’s decision in a letter to Superintendent Hatrick on Sept. 18, 2007. She wrote: “I believe the intent of the book is to implant the homosexual idea into the minds of children as an acceptable lifestyle to all.”
Per policy, David Jones, supervisor of library media services for LCPS, established a review committee of the book comprised of administrators, faculty and parents. He wrote to Dr. Hatrick on Oct. 3 that “the majority (9) of the committee voted to recommend that the principal retain the book in the Sugarland library collection.”
According to Jones’s letter, two members of the committee felt that the principal should remove the book and one member abstained.
The majority of the review committee described the book as pro-diversity and a “non-threatening way of discussing the idea of a ‘two-daddy family.’”
On Dec. 28, Sawyer appealed to Dr. Hatrick once again to remove the 'Tango' book.
Hatrick replied to Sawyer in a letter dated Jan. 28, 2008: “I have determined that the book should be moved from the general circulation area to the professional library in our elementary schools.”
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Posted by Ashburn20147 (anonymous) on February 25, 2008 at 9:19 p.m. (Suggest removal)
It's freaking penquins we are talking about...sometimes in the animal world things are confusing...haven't you seen or heard of a male dog humping another male dog...
Posted by govtmule1 (anonymous) on February 25, 2008 at 9:40 p.m. (Suggest removal)
So...no less than two committees did their job and recommended that a book about tolerance and family values stay in circulation, and a spineless superintendent caved to pressure from a homophobic bigot and removed the book against their recommendations?
What a lovely school district. No wonder my husband and I have decided to move out of Loudoun County before our children are school-aged.
Posted by liss (anonymous) on February 25, 2008 at 10:40 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Erica,
Thanks for posting the FOIA documents. I read them all and then read "and tango makes three". I purchased it from a local bookstore that reordered it in anticipation of increased sales due to this controversy.
The book is adorable. It's a story about love, caring, nurturing and family. This book should be in the library precisely because "concerned parents" like Sherrie Sawyer find threats hidden inside innocent stories like this.
I'm proud of the professional staff who voted twice to leave the book in general circulation. They understand that students come to school with all sorts of prejudices that are taught in the home. It's not the job of the school system to perpetuate those prejudices. It's the job of the school system to bring those prejudices out into the light so that the students can decide for themselves if they are rational.
Posted by jonathan.weintraub (anonymous) on February 25, 2008 at 11:51 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Check out "Somebody Has Some 'Splainin' to Do" at http://www.equalityloudoun.org/ . It appears that LCPS's written policy regarding challenges of instructional materials wasn't followed in the case of "Tango." I hope someone from Dr. Hatrick's office is willing to explain how/why this happened.
Thanks for posting the documents, Erica.
Posted by rskms (anonymous) on February 26, 2008 at 8:53 a.m. (Suggest removal)
To quote above:
--
Barbara Curtis, the local blogger of Mommy Life, is urging readers to attend the board meeting to support the book’s removal. She wrote: “A small minority of GLBTs all riled up can make a lot of noise.”
--
The noise is not coming from "a small minority of GLBTs" but from the entire community of Loudoun, incensed at the incredibly silly complaint about this book from an even SMALLER minority of intolerant, small-minded people, all riled up, making a lot of noise about "freaking penguins." (thanks govtmule1!)
Ignorance, fear and intolerance are not the values of the Loudoun community.
Posted by Paradox13VA (anonymous) on February 26, 2008 at 9:10 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Exactly. The vast majority of parents Equality Loudoun has been hearing from are not affiliated with any group and were previously unknown to us. I think it's great that Barbara Curtis (an employee of the national anti-gay advocacy group "Focus on the Family") is telling people they are all "GLBT activists," though. There sure are a lot more gay people in Loudoun, suddenly :)
Posted by daviddanaan (anonymous) on February 26, 2008 at 10:35 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I heard the letters to Dr. Hatrick were 9:1 in favor of putting the book back on the shelves.
Since when does the minority dictate to the majority? Last I knew, in a democracy, the majority decides.
Maybe the "GLBT activists" should home school their children and keep them in a bubble if they don't want them exposed to anything other than what they perceive as an "acceptable" lifestyle!!
I have to give Erica tons of kudos for a job well done!! Breaking this story and asking tough questions and posting all the documents, has been a lot of hard work and you have certainly went above and beyond!! Again, you rock!
Posted by chelsivia (anonymous) on February 26, 2008 at 10:57 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Thanks SO much for following through on the FOIA request. I'm planning to attend the meeting tonight (if I don't have kid duty) and was just thinking on my drive in to work today how ridiculous it is that the press hadn't gotten the actual documents yet. And then here they are! Good work.
Posted by filmjoy (anonymous) on February 26, 2008 at 12:44 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Interesting coincidence (or not?): a Google search brings up the complainant's name as a children's ministry volunteer at Word of Grace Christian Center, a Herndon "fire-and brimstone" church. So maybe it isn't one person's objection but rather an organized effort?
Posted by valandsend (anonymous) on February 26, 2008 at 1:56 p.m. (Suggest removal)
We know that Dr. Dobson has targeted "and tango makes three". See the three links below. The third link includes a link to the CitizenLink action center where people across the country can send an automated message to Dr. Hatrick.
http://www.citizenlink.org/fnif/A0000031...
http://www.citizenlink.org/content/A0000...
http://www.citizenlink.org/CLBriefs/A000...
Posted by jonathan.weintraub (anonymous) on February 26, 2008 at 2:57 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I have to chuckle at this whole thing. Makes us look like school children. But I will say the penguins in the story were not in there natural habitat; therefore their actions were not natural, right? At least that is what PETA would say. I saw March of the Penguins. In nature, if the mother is eaten by a seal, the baby dies. No other mothers or daddy penguins step up and help out.
Posted by truthseekerva (anonymous) on February 26, 2008 at 6:41 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Personally, I love how the GLBT folks like to throw out the terms "family values" and "natural" here. Can someone, anyone, tell me where in nature two members of the same gender can produce an offspring without involvement by a third party?
Yes, "alternative lifestyle" partners can certainly be loving, caring parents. But it most certainly is not natural. "Tango" is surely a cute story about penguins, but let's remember, they're animals, not people. The actions of the animal kingdom do not necessarily translate into the human realm. If that were the case, we'd be abandoning our young without legal repercussions.
Stop trying to use this book as a "see, this is what we should do" instructional guide. It's a children's book. Leave it at that.
Posted by ronin718 (anonymous) on February 27, 2008 at 12:34 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Can someone, anyone, tell me where in nature two members of the same gender can produce an offspring without involvement by a third party? Frogs. Some species of frogs (as well as some other organisms) will change sex in response to a decline in the number of members in the population. This helps to ensure survival. Although ultimately you end up with a male/female, you start with two of the same sex.
Posted by jleete (anonymous) on February 27, 2008 at 1:05 p.m. (Suggest removal)
"natural" does not mean "majority." of course variation in all dimensions of human physiology and behavioral, including sexual, is "natural." silicone breast implants are not natural. homosexuality is. do you say that the 2% of the population (just a guess) who are over six foot five inches tall should be thrown down the well because they are "unnatural?" the real question is whether 2 consenting individuals may behave with one another as they wish. homophobia is merely bigotry, like sexism or racism, and history will be on the side of truth, not fear.
Posted by magno_cephally (anonymous) on March 2, 2008 at 9:48 p.m. (Suggest removal)
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