Arrested for Dissent

                Attorney William Baer recently attended a school board meeting in New Hampshire to comment about a book assigned to his fourteen-year-old daughter.  The book contains “an explicit passage” that details a “rough” sexual encounter between two teenagers.  He wanted to stop other students from reading the book without parental approval.  Mr. Baer spoke for less than three minutes but was arrested for going over two minutes.  The police officer who arrested him was nervous about his task and stated that he did not want to make the rest.

                Mr. Baer took his story to Doug Hagmann, an investigative journalist and personal friend of Mr. Baer.  Mr. Hagmann discovered some interesting tidbits about the whole experience.  “The critical back-story, then, indicates that the school board not just anticipated Mr. Baer’s attendance, but took very precise steps to make certain that his objections would be muted and otherwise dealt with in a manner that has been inconsistent with previous public meetings.  It would appear that dissent about the book as an assignment in a ninth grade honors class was not merely expected, but the response to such dissent was decided in advance.”

                I hope parents are alert to actions like this in their school districts.  Mr. Baer should be supported for standing and protecting his daughter.  I read a page in the assigned book and can definitely say that I would never approve such reading material for my high school student.  I encourage you to read the entire article and then discover what your school district is actually teaching your children.