William R. Staplin shares another cartoon inspired by recent Iowa political happenings.
Governor Kim Reynolds continues to follow the lead of some other Republican governors. Her concern about supposedly “X-rated” books in school libraries appears to be designed to remove titles with LGTBQ+ oriented themes or certain publications by authors of color.
Meanwhile, Iowa Senate President Jake Chapman remains determined to prosecute public school teachers or administrators and allow offended parents to sue school districts if their children are assigned “obscene” readings. Chapman has introduced a Puritanical bill, Senate File 2198, to achieve his goal.
Allowing this kind of witch hunt would have disastrous consequences for our state’s public education system. Once heralded as a top state for K-12 school programming, Iowa risks sliding further down the national rankings.
William R. Staplin is a former scientist specializing in utilizing molecular biology techniques to investigate RNA plant and animal viruses, research and development of vaccines to protect against infectious viruses; husband to Ruth A. Staplin, a longtime SPPG employee and political wonk; father to two independently minded teenagers enrolled in the Des Moines Public Independent School District; cancer and spinal cord disability survivor; and a supporter of women’s reproductive rights, LGTBQ+, and Black and Brown Lives Matter. He is also a full-time greyhound owner and greyhound cafeteria worker.
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A Governor's Gambit
Governor Kim Reynolds seems intent on supporting the shaming, penalizing and jailing of teachers, librarians and fining of school districts who do not conform to a set type of educational literature for secondary school students. Material that is deemed inappropriate or salacious by the students’ parents can be used against the school districts and destroy the careers of career public school educators or librarians that in Iowa State Senate president, Jake Chapman’s eyes cross the line as LGTBQ+ positive, or age appropriate, coming of age material by distinguished literary authors of color. This is through Bill SF2198 which has been touted as a Puritanical witch hunt of disastrous consequences for our State of Iowa public education system. Once heralded as a nationally pinnacle in academic public schooling programming, our State is going to slide further away from its distinguished educational placement.
wstaplin Tue 8 Feb 7:17 PM