Matthew Roberts is the parent of two children at Efland-Cheeks Elementary. He says the recent controversy over a book about same-sex marriage took him by surprise.

“I am very surprised at how the opposition has taken off on this. I was not expecting it to get this far out of control,” says Roberts.

king and king

Last week, some parents protested a third grade teacher’s decision to read King & King, a fable aimed at elementary-aged children in which two princes fall in love and get married.

The teacher, Omar Currie, says he chose to read the book to address classroom bullying of a student. The message of the book is to accept people for who they are.

Several parents brought their concerns to the Orange County School board earlier this week, and at least three formal complaints have been filed.

In the wake of the controversy, Currie has said he will leave the school at the end of the school year.

Efland-Cheeks Principal Kiley Brown says as parents filed formal complaints, that triggered school policy which says a parent can object to material being used in the classroom and that administrators will review that material. Brown says the media review team examined the text and determined that King & King was appropriate. Since the initial complaint, two other complaints have been filed, which means that the fairy tale will go through review on two more occasions.

Roberts has one child in Currie’s class, and another who Currie taught last year. He says the teacher’s departure would be a huge loss for the district.

“In my opinion they are losing a tremendous teacher,” says Roberts. “My concern is we may not even be able to convince him to stay and the district will lose a great teacher. He has worked wonders with my two boys.”

More broadly, as a white parent who has adopted and fostered bi-racial children, he’s worried that the school could lose sight of key values he says made his family feel welcome.

“The biggest thing is to emphasize that we see Efland-Cheeks’ diversity, and their acceptance of diversity, as the strongest attribute that school has to offer.”

The teacher, Omar Currie, spoke Thursday with WCHL’s Blake Hodge. Listen to their conversation.

 

Roberts met with Principal Brown to discuss his concerns and he says he was heartened to learn that most parents aren’t opposed to the content of the book, so much as the timing.

“The most positive thing that came out of this was that the majority of the parents who have contacted her are not opposed to the teaching of the subject of same-sex partners,” says Roberts. “They feel that it could have been presented to them ahead of time so they had an opportunity to prep their children on the subject. And that’s probably legitimate.”

The district will hold a public meeting Friday at 5:30 in the school library to address the questions raised by the fairy tale. Roberts says he’s hoping for a happy ending.

“I’m hoping that we can turn it around and get a positive light. Best case, we won’t lose Mr. Currie, but if we can’t stop that, make sure that we don’t lose other teachers because they feel they’re not being supported.”