Parents outraged by sexual content at Ocean City Intermediate School book fair

OCEAN CITY — Several parents complained to the Board of Education on Nov. 17 about “pornography” and “pedophilia” in a graphic novel available to fourth-graders at a recent book fair.

Kevin Schaffer, a member of the “Conservative Family Values” ticket that recently lost in the school board race, expressed outrage over the incident at the Ocean City Intermediate School. 

“I am hear to talk about a book, a graphic novel, which is a story told through illustrations. In this case it’s pornography and it’s pedophilia,” Schaffer said. “I’m pretty sure when a fourth-grader looks at a man kissing a boy, it’s probably not a good thing.”

Waving around a stack of paper, Schaffer said he brought 30 copies to pass out.

“What you will see is a man kissing a boy. This is available to fourth-graders; a fourth-grader can purchase it and bring it home” he said.“This is just the tip of the iceberg; it’s straight pornography.”

After the school district was made aware of the content of the book, officials sent out a mass email informing parents of the situation.

Interim Superintendent Scott McCartney said steps are being taken to ensure the situation does not happen again.

“We try to be proactive, but with tens of thousands of resources that come in the school door and into the classroom, there’s bound to be a place when something happens that is inappropriate. When that happens, my job is to be reactive and keep it from happening again,” McCartney said.

Getting animated, Schaffer said his message is not anti-gay but anti-inappropriate.

“This is straight Penthouse Letters, this is Hustler; it’s absolutely appalling,” Schaffer said. “What I want to know is, what’s the solution?”

He suggested part of the problem is the wide age range at OCIS, which educated students from fourth to eighth grade.

Christina Ardelean also expressed concern about the book, “Heartstopper” by Alice Oseman.

“When I saw pictures that my friend’s child purchased at the book fair, I couldn’t believe it,” Ardelean said. “Looking further into it, there is profanity, he gets a condom out. This was made available to fourth-graders to buy at the school book fair.”

She said she does not want to “over-sexualize” her child and keeps her away from sexual content on television and the internet, but “I send her to school and it’s right there for her to buy.”

Ardelean asked if book distributor Scholastic was responsible for choosing age-appropriate materials for book fairs.

Like Schaffer, she said it’s not about whether the characters are gay or not.

“I don’t want this sexual content pushed on fourth-, fifth-, sixth-graders,” she said. “I would like to ban Scholastic in the future.”

Ardelean said she had spoken with people whose children attend other district and “this is a blemish on our reputation.”

Laura Wheeler also complained about sexual content in school, specifically a health class assignment that led her 10-year-old son to ask about wet dreams and bodily fluids.

Wheeler said her son was researching on a designated website and was exposed to content inappropriate for his age.

“If there are some people here who think that’s OK, that 9- and 10-year-olds are old enough to learn about wet dreams, that’s your opinion but you must respect other people’s opinions,” she said. “The disregard for parents’ rights is mind-boggling. If parents of fourth-graders knew this was being shown to their child, I would be shocked to know that most of them did not want it removed.”

She also commented on the book fair incident, saying teachers or administrators should be monitoring the selections.

“We can do better. We can screen the books or use a different vendor not known to push books that are inappropriate,” Wheeler said.

McCartney said they took a collaborative approach and are working with Scholastic and the PTA, which runs the book fair, to avoid a similar situation in the future.

“Those are valid points, real concerns that I understand,” he said.

Board member Liz Nicoletti thanked the parents for being brave and standing up to make their point.

“I’m right there with you. One reason I ran for school board is protection of how I parent. We want the best for our children, we all agree with that. Some of us want to preserve the innocence of our children and these sex standards can be a little intimidating to some of us,” she said, noting she suggested getting rid of Scholastic during the prior day’s PTA meeting.

Catherine Panico, another board member endorsed by Moms for Liberty, a national group, and member of the PTA, apologized for the incident.

“I cannot take back what slipped through but am working really hard to prevent that from happening,” she said. “I’m hoping we can remedy it going forward.”

By CRAIG D. SCHENCK/Sentinel staff