Current Events > Texas teacher fired for showing Anne Frank graphic novel to eighth-graders

(+) Yeah! (+)

Move comes as education laws restricting teaching of race, sexuality and other topics are being implemented across the US

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/sep/20/texas-teacher-fired-anne-frank-book-ban

A Texas teacher was fired after assigning an illustrated adaptation of Anne Franks diary to her middle school class, in a move that some are calling a political attack on truth.

The eighth-grade school teacher was released after officials with Hamshire-Fannett independent school district said the teacher presented the inappropriate book to students, reported KFDM.

The graphic novel, written by Ari Folman and illustrated by David Polonsky, adapts the diary of 13-year-old Anne Frank, who wrote while hiding in an annexe in Nazi-occupied Amsterdam.

The district sent an email to parents on Tuesday, notifying them that the book, which district officials say was not approved, would no longer be read.

The reading of that content will cease immediately. Your students teacher will communicate her apologies to you and your students soon, as she has expressed those apologies to us, read the email, reported KFDM.

By Wednesday, district officials had emailed parents, informing them that the teacher had been fired following an investigation into the incident.

As you may be aware, following concerns regarding curricular selections in your students reading class, a substitute teacher has been facilitating the class since Wednesday, September 13, 2023, said the district to parents, adding that a search for a new instructor was under way.

District officials have not released details about the incident, including which school the teacher taught in.

Eighth-grade students were reportedly shown a section of the graphic novel where Frank reflected on her own genitals and wanted to see a female friends breasts, according to KFDM.

Discussions of sexuality were included in the original written version of Anne Franks diary, but were edited out in subsequent reprints.

A spokesperson for Hamshire-Fannett ISD declined to comment on the incident during a phone call with the Guardian.

Notably, this particular graphic novel has been subject to book bans before.

A Florida high school removed the graphic novel after a chapter of Moms for Liberty, an extremist advocacy group, objected to the books sexual contents and claimed it did not teach the Holocaust accurately, the Associated Press reported.

The graphic novel was also removed from Texass Dallas-Fort Worths Keller independent school district.

The latest firing in Texas comes as education laws restricting teaching of race, sexuality and other topics are being implemented in classrooms across the US.

The Republican governor, Greg Abbott, signed legislation in 2021 severely limiting how educators can teach topics of race and gender. Texas has also banned more books than any other state, with more than 430 books banned in Texas schools.

Clay Robison, a spokesperson with the Texas State Teachers Association, called the latest incident troubling to the Guardian.

No teacher should be fired for teaching the Diary of Anne Frank to middle school students, Robison said. Teachers are dedicated to teaching the truth, the whole truth, he said, emphasizing the diarys importance.

Robison added that many Texas teachers are experiencing fear, anger and anxiety about navigating restrictions in the classroom.

Its a political attack on truth, Robison said of legislative attempts to limit education. Its not a woke agenda. Its not a liberal agenda. Its a truth agenda.

Its fucking 8th grade! Theyre not little kids!

The fact that it was a graphic novel, or to be better put an "adaptation" and not the original source material that was already approved is what the issue is here, not that the teacher was teaching the story of Anne Frank.

This is absolute insanity, I thought maybe it had a graphic depiction of the concentration camps or something but it was for "sexuality?" I mean how graphic could it be? Not that it matters, it shouldn't be getting banned for that anyways!

Fuck off defending this, you know full well why theyve done this. And the graphic novel version is probably a better way of teaching it to 13-14 year olds.

Wasn't defending it, was more stating that it was an easily avoidable situation.

It would be like teaching kids about JFK's assassination by handing out pictures of his autopsy.

Wasn't defending it, was more stating that it was an easily avoidable situation.

It would be like teaching kids about JFK's assassination by handing out pictures of his autopsy.

You have never read Anne Frank?

Lol what a bs false equivalency.

I've read the diary, the section they were offended by is in it too. Showing the naked statues (nothing vulgar btw, think Venus de Milo) just put the words to imagery. They would try to get the diary banned too if they knew it was in there. The whole point here is that they want to erase LGBT people and don't want anyone knowing that Anne had an attraction to other girls.

It really isn't. It's going beyond the source material that was approved for the class you are being paid to teach.

As a teacher, you have a choice of using the source material that is provided to you by the school you work for, or you can go beyond the curriculum and face the consequences of your actions.

I'm all for teaching kids, especially ones that are on the cusp of, or have just gone through puberty and are having sexual thoughts for possibly the first times ever, but I'm not so sure if during a lesson about World War II is the time to do it.

So using the version of Anne Frank that leaves that part out doesn't really change the message of the book in the slightest.

How the fuck is that teaching them about sex stuff FFS? Theyre 13-14 not 5. Your trolling at this point and yes are defending book bans for BS reasons and leaving any part out of her diary is insulting to her and in general disgusting.

Wasn't defending it, was more stating that it was an easily avoidable situation.

It would be like teaching kids about JFK's assassination by handing out pictures of his autopsy.

My first reaction to hearing this is that there is no way a graphic novel is respectful to the original source material.

Who looks at Anne Frank's diary and says "yeah this should be more like Watchmen."

"Wasn't defending it, so I'll spend multiple posts defending it!"

Y'all are always so transparent with this sealioning shit.

District officials claim the adaptation of Anne Frank's Diary has never been approved, yet it was on a reading list sent to parents at the start of the school year. So while the district is implying the teacher went rogue, parents believe someone higher than her knew about the book being part of the class.

That's why they want the investigation to continue.

Following the district's decision to release the teacher, a source close to her contacted Angel San Juan to tell him the principal of Hamshire-Fannett Middle School had approved the syllabus with that version of the book in it. That source also tells us the teacher has an attorney. We tried to speak to the principal, Cynthia Jackson, Ed.D, to see if she did approve the book's inclusion in the curriculum. She referred us to the superintendent, who has only issued the statement about the teacher's dismissal.