The Republican Women of Baltimore County (RWBC) has taken a stand on the issue of pornography being illegally distributed to children in two of our local Baltimore County High Schools. In January 2022, letters were sent to Darryl L. Williams, Superintendent of BCPS and Amanda Lanza, Coordinator of Library Media Programs for BCPS, to request that the book Gender Queer written by Maia Kobabe be removed from the school library because of its pornographic images (most egregious found on page 167). The RWBC letter quoted Maryland State Law which clearly defines the distribution of pornographic materials to school age children as illegal and sited the legal ramifications of breaking Maryland State Law.
Following the announcement of our letter, investigative reporter Michael Ruby of the Villager Newspaper contacted BCPS to inquire about our letter and subsequently wrote an article in The Villager. This newspaper is not digitized, however RWBC received permission to reproduce the article and placed it here on our website for you to read. Mr. Ruby’s article is thorough and very well researched. The RWBC has received feedback from the community stating their concerns regarding what is happening in our public school system.
As a result of our efforts, on February 11, 2022, the RWBC received a response from Dr. Mary McComas, Chief Academic Officer, Division of Curriculum and Instruction stating “As outlined in Board Policy and Rule 6002, any BCPS staff member, BCPS student, or his/her parent/guardian, or other Baltimore County stakeholder may provide feedback concerning the instructional materials already in use by completing the Citizen’s Review of
Instructional Materials form. Upon receipt of this request the appropriate Executive Director will confer with the team to determine if the concerns have been addressed in principle during the initial selection and may request to convene a Selection Committee for the purpose of reviewing the citizen feedback.”
It is our opinion, that this is an invitation to Baltimore County residents to TAKE ACTION! You can download Form 6002 here. It is only a two-page form and you do not need to answer every question. Plainly state your opinion that pornographic material cannot and should not be distributed to children and that it is against the law. See the pornography from the book Gender Queer page 167 (please do not let your children view this!)
Facebook users, watch the first part of our meeting from February 19, 2022, where we discuss this Action Item: https://www.facebook.com/100064403933799/videos/4138341089601557
Can we count on you to fill out Form 6002? Once this pornographic book is removed, we will request the same of the Baltimore County Library System.
