Heyworth CUSD #4 approved a Separation Agreement with a Junior High teacher at a special School Board meeting on Thursday night. That teacher is Sarah Bonner. The district put a secondary teacher, Bonner, on leave just after noon on Saturday the 16th.
On Wednesday March 13, we broke the news that Gay Sex Books Depicting Boy-On-Boy Sex and Girl-on-Girl Sex Ideas were Found In Bonner’s Heyworth Classroom. On Thursday March 16th we reported that the main book being questioned, “This Book Is Gay” by Juno Dawson, was not from the school library but was brought into the classroom by Bonner. On the morning of Saturday March 16th we revealed that a PORN HUB MOVIE was FOUND on a list of materials Bonner suggested to her students that they might want to explore.
Lisa Taylor, Superintendent of Heyworth UCSD #4 said, “The board voted tonight to approve a Separation Agreement with a Junior High Teacher. The teacher has resigned and we will send a communication to all our families tomorrow (Friday),” Taylor confirmed.
Taylor explained the Separation Agreement process, “Typically with Separation Agreements they are drawn up by attorneys so there is generally attorneys involved which then obviously is reason there is a lot of confidentialities and we have to very careful with the process but attorneys were involved and we reached mutual terms for (the agreement) and then those are put into the agreement itself.”
Approximately 10 people spoke during public comment before the board went into closed session to do its business. Those speakers were not subject to any time limit and were able to speak as long as they liked. The number of people speaking to have action taken against Bonner was approximately equal to the number of speakers that talked on her behalf.
Based on the crowds reactions to speakers, approximately 70% of the audience appeared to be looking for the board to take action against Bonner while 30% appeared to support her.
Former McLean County Board member Ryan Lawler, a teacher at Heyworth, was one of the speakers. He spoke regarding how tough it has been to be a teacher at Heyworth this week.
Anna Hanrahan, who taught 20 years at Heyworth Elementary, said, “My biggest point was we need to have better communication with one another. I understand the concern with the resources that were brought to light but I just wish there would have been an opportunity for the teacher to sit down with the parents and maybe even bring in the board and talk about it and maybe come to a resolution before it accelerated like it did.”
“I hate that it just really got out of hand,” Hanrahan continued. “And I think it is a very sad sad situation that we are at right now.”
Krista Reichert-Lunny said she, “felt it was really important to represent the parents that don’t agree with what Cities 92.9 was putting out there and the propaganda, and just as far as trying to sell it that this was explicit material and exposing children to pornography when there are plenty of examples out there of texts that are appropriate that are in libraries and don’t have censorship or require parents permission to access that have equal amounts of explicit material, including the descriptions and the pictures.”
During her talk Reichert-Lunny sought to demonstrate that the use of books with this type of information is started at a much younger age.
Reichert-Lunny said, “In fifth grade they start talking about hormones and the changes. So they talk about erections and ejaculation as early as fifth grade, so ten year olds. In six grade they start actual sex education.”
Reichert-Lunny even brought a Christian example titled “How You Are Changing, for Discussion or Individual Use” written by Jane Graver. According to Google Books the book contains, “Sex instruction for eight to eleven year olds, with an emphasis on Christian values,” and topics include “male and female physiology, the growth of the fetus, and adolescence.”
Taylor said, “There has been a lot of misinformation on social media and everywhere regarding the teacher, the incidents, etc., however even though we know there is a lot of disinformation, districts are often in a difficult position because you also can’t speak on confidential personnel matters.”
“So the board’s focus really is moving forward, repairing relationships, addressing any policies or procedures we need to correct, to make sure that this kind of thing doesn’t happen again,” Taylor continued. “It’s never good for a community to be so emotional and divided over topics and it’s just not something anybody would want for their school or community.”
Taylor said the board needs to “look at all of our policies that would have anything to do with curriculum that may be objectionable to some parents.” She thinks the board needs to look at processes regarding these matters and how it communicates with families and if they know how to express concerns and where to go with them. Taylor will be looking at formalizing how this work might be accomplished.
Taylor is proud of a process they installed in their library during the last two years where the ages of the reader for books is identified and if a student is not at that appropriate age thy have to get permission from their parents to check out the book. She says the district will look at this to see if the process can be adopted to class room books and novels.
Taylor looks to involve the community and parents in these processes through committees.
Regarding links to inappropriate material that appeared on the district website, Taylor is concerned that computer filters didn’t filter that out. She will be looking into that issue as well.
Concerning students returning to school that may have difficulties handling this situation Taylor says counselors are available for students at the school and if further counseling is needed the school can help families connect with those that provide those services.
