COLUMBUS, Ohio — It’s the book that launched a thousand new stories. Or at least that’s what it felt like for many in Buckeye Valley Local Schools.
When controversy sparked surrounding a visit by Jason Tharp, who authored the book “It’s Okay to Be a Unicorn,” the story went national.
“It was pretty embarrassing,” said Anna Cunningham, who has a daughter in the district. “Basically it made the Buckeye Valley community look ignorant and small-minded that they were saying this innocent children’s book with a unicorn being himself was actually being asked if that unicorn was a tool to recruit gay kids.”
In the days leading up to the visit, parents and school board members raised concerns about the content of the book and what Tharp might say during the visit.
To be clear, he says the book is not about being gay but about being different.
“I’m not here to entertain adults that want to project their own whatever issues onto a children’s book, I’m here to create books that inspire kids to dream big, embrace themselves, understand the importance of self-kindness, to really learn how to manage your emotions because it’s a confusing world we live in, and being a human is not easy,” he said. “If an adult is struggling, that’s what therapy’s for, not my kids’ books, and I hope that maybe even my kids’ books might inspire some adults, but they’re meant for the child to figure themselves out, just be a tool, that’s it.”
Still, in emails 10TV obtained via an open records request, there were concerns brewing among at least two school board members.
In an email exchange among Jeremy Froehlich, the superintendent, and two of the school board members, Tom Ailabouni and Donald Dicke, Ailabouni wrote:
“We are telling kids that being gay is okay? Elementary school? My second grader? And wear clothes to create a rainbow? What the devil? Are we out of our minds? Get ready to talk more lawsuits. I’m not for this at all. This is NOT ok.”
Froehlich replied, saying he had no idea what he was talking about and asked for more information. Dicke later chimed in, saying:
“I think it would be in the best interests of the district to cancel Jason Tharp coming to (West Elementary). These types of things are exactly what we have been fighting against. Why would we welcome an author who is pushing LGBTQ ideas on our most vulnerable students? Again I would recommend that we cancel. Please advise what decision you’ll be making regarding this.”
Dicke then suggested a non-controversial book be read instead. That’s what 10TV heard from Tharp after the visit. He said the building principal not only told him he could not read his book about a unicorn but also banned his book about a skunk called, “It’s Okay to Smell Good.”
But that’s not what the superintendent initially told 10TV. Froehlich emailed the following statement:
Buckeye Valley Local Schools has not banned the book "It's Okay to be a Unicorn" by Jason Tharp, and Mr. Tharp had not planned to read this book during his visit.
10TV questioned Froehlich about that initial statement, which turned out not to be true.
“That’s what I was told to begin with,” he said. “The information I had was accurate for the time I had it.”
He went on to say he regretted how the entire situation played out and that there were feelings hurt in the process.
“If I had to do it again, it would be to just make sure we were all on the same page before any decisions were made,” he said. “I think some folks thought that they were trying to help and didn’t realize that it would snowball the way it did and put me in a pretty tough spot.”
10TV also questioned Froehlich about the email exchanges he had with Dicke and Ailabouni and the concerns their statements have raised.
“We’ve got great teachers and great administrators, so I’m confident that all of our students feel safe in our building and I’m hopeful this is just a one-time incident from Mr. Ailabouni as he reached out to me,” Froehlich said.
Some parents in the district are not so convinced, however.
Cunningham saw the emails for herself and spoke about them at the April 20 school board meeting.
“It sort of confirmed what we knew - It was never about the book, it was a much larger issue,” she said. “It kind of confirmed our fears that, yes, there is a very anti-LGBTQ rhetoric with a couple of these board members. It also confirmed some of our concerns that we have two board members really abusing their current role and the capacity of that role and going beyond the limitations of what a board member is supposed to do.”
The Ohio School Boards Association makes clear what the role of a school board member is and is not.
The role and function of board members often are misinterpreted by the public. The board is a policymaking body and members are the chief advisers to the superintendent on community attitudes. Board members do not manage the day-to-day operations of a school district; they see to it that the system is managed well by professional administrators.
“It felt inevitable, given the way these two new board members campaigned,” Andrew Kiener said of the book controversy. “Something like that was going to happen. And it was disappointing that it really did.”
Kiener also took the time to speak at last week’s board meeting. And he also was disturbed by what he saw in the board members’ email exchanges.
“It’s just sickening in some ways to see somebody implying that it’s wrong to tell kids that it’s okay to be gay,” he said. “It also just kind of confirms all your worst fears about what sort of people ran and what they actually joined the board to do.”
Kiener shares the same concerns as Cunningham that the board members may be overstepping their roles. They feel the focus should be on hiring the new superintendent, overcrowding, teacher pay, and more.
“I don’t think the majority of the families in the district feel that the board needs to be turning what should be a fairly straightforward act of sort of local governments into a cultural crusade,” he said.
Liz Sheets also spoke at the same meeting Kiener and Cunningham did. She is a 1977 graduate of the district and went on to pursue a career in education. Now, she’s back living in the district, concerned with what’s she’s seeing.
“Just from my perspective, and what I feel is Buckeye Valley’s DNA, it just didn’t really sit right with me, and so I decided I would say something,” she said.
Sheets said she reached out to mentors and colleagues to get advice on whether she should share her thoughts at the board meeting before doing so. And she had a personal reason for being there as well. She is gay and is concerned that students now won’t have the same welcoming experience as she did while attending school in the district.
She was disappointed to hear of the school board email exchanges.
“That hurts personally, and it also hurts when a kid who’s struggling with those kind of issues, wondering what to say to people, do I say anything to people,” she said.
She has pledged to be a resource for the community in any future conversations that may take place.
But not everyone in the district feels the way they do.
10TV reached out to two people who did not agree with the Tharp visit and submitted letters to the board. Neither wanted to comment for this story.
One letter included this:
There are distractions … many different types of distractions … and we need policies that support allowing teachers to focus on teaching, policies allowing the classroom to be an area of education, policies reminding the teachers and school administration that all classrooms, counselor offices, etc should be a safe space for all kids which actually means signs and symbols are not needed. More importantly, we need someone to implement and uphold policies that support education and learning environments for all students. We need someone who is hiring and holding teachers accountable to uphold the nonpolitical learning culture for our children. I want my kids to be excited to go to school, to learn and meet new friends, and to no longer have to worry about what personal agenda or social contagion will be pushed. We need to be focused on the education of all students. Remove the distractions and political agendas from BV and help us bring the focus of Buckeye Valley back to Education!
And this is from another submitted letter:
Over this past month there have been more and more divisive things happening at the school and it makes me so sad because I know the tight community that BV has to offer. I think the issue is that the school has opened themselves up to social political issues and agendas rather than keeping to education. It is not the school's job to introduce social ideations, trends, etc., it's the parents. I would like to see the school remove any controversial topics.
10TV reached out to each board member more than once, but only Amy Dutt responded. The board president submitted this statement:
At Buckeye Valley Schools, every child who walks through our doors every day should feel welcome and cared for – like family. We have excellent teachers who work hard every day to prepare our kids for the world. I’m proud of the support and kindness our students show for each other, and the encouragement our children receive from our teachers, school families and community. That’s why I regret the way things were handled when children’s author Jason Tharp came to visit our schools to read his book, “It’s Okay to Be a Unicorn”. We have many individuals new to their positions working in the district – including new board members, an interim superintendent, and new principals – who all have the best interest of our children at heart and are each trying to do the right thing. When a few parents voiced their concerns, our long standing complaint policy simply was not followed. The decision impacting Jason Tharp’s appearance was taken without board review or action. For that, I am sorry. I believe each board member is committed to hearing from parents in the community whenever they have concerns about educational materials or curriculum. Moving forward, when concerns are brought up, I vow to handle them according to our policy for dealing with public complaints about the curriculum or instructional materials. Our goal is to for each child to succeed through high quality instruction, expanded educational opportunities, student choice, and real-world experiences. We must work together to apply objective, unbiased standards whenever parents have questions or concerns, just as our policies require. We must make decisions together that are best for our kids, consistent with our mission and core beliefs. Our children deserve nothing less.
10TV also reached out to the PTO, which was mentioned in the mail exchanges. Froehlich had written to Dicke that the building principal was working with the librarian and PTO to see if Tharp could read a different book. The PTO disputes that and submitted this response to 10TV:
The Buckeye Valley West PTO is a non-profit organization that exists to support the staff and students at Buckeye Valley West. Part of this support is to help pay for educational experiences, such as author visits. Because we are not educators ourselves, we trust our BVW staff to choose age appropriate presentations and assemblies for our students, and will continue to do so.
With regards to the author visit, the PTO voted to approve the funding, paid for the author, and provided donuts for the staff and students. We received no complaints about the visit from parents and were not contacted by the administration. That was the extent of our involvement.