“We are very serious about keeping our classrooms focused on teaching, learning and opportunities for success for students.”

The Cobb County, Ga., School District, in a press release after the county’s school board voted to fire Katie Rinderle, an elementary school teacher of 10 years, for reading the picture book My Shadow Is Purple by Scott Stuart, after a parent complained about the book’s content about gender fluidity. Rinderle is believed to be the first public school teacher fired in Georgia because of the state’s new law that bars the teaching of “divisive concepts” and created a parents’ bill of rights. (Associated Press — Aug. 17, 2023)