At Last... An Apology for Inappropriate Library Books
While a handful of books have been removed, parents continue to find highly explicit & vulgar selections in libraries and curriculum
In the 9/14/21 Board meeting, President Scott Wheeler finally apologized for inappropriate books. As he said, "some of the descriptions in these books are graphic, have no educational value and do not belong in any Elmbrook library."
Elmbrook made national news in July with sexually explicit material from print and digital libraries. These books instruct underage children how to get on hookup apps, discuss masturbation, oral & anal sex, and more.
On 7/13/21, the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty served Superintendent Mark Hansen this letter. REDACTED SCREENSHOTS FROM BOOKS IN QUESTION ON PAGES 5-13 OF THE LETTER.
Elmbrook's initial response in July, which they have since removed from their website, and emails to parents from Superintendent Mark Hansen acknowledged that the books in the WILL letter were removed from the collection. A response from Board members Scott Wheeler and Jean Lambert here claims that books were only available to middle school and up, despite parents of a 3rd grader reporting access. Superintendent Mark Hansen tried to infer that objections to these books were anti-LGBTQ. This sort of deflection of the issue and sowing division is exactly the sort of behavior we have seen repeatedly from senior members of the administration.
In the August Board meeting, additional inappropriate content was raised which included drug abuse and bloody rape.
“Speak,” “Crank,” and “Infinite Moment of Us” Found in Elmbrook Libraries
Speak is available as an audio book on Sora to 6th graders (10 year olds) and depicts graphic rape. Excerpts were read in the 8/10/21 Citizens' Forum (starting at 11:05).
Crank is available as an audio book on Sora to 9th graders (14 year olds) and depicts drug abuse and bloody rape. If you need an idea of exactly how inappropriate this book is, listen to excerpts read (at 17 minute mark of video) at an Indiana school board meeting.
The Infinite Moment of Us, is available in print at both high schools (14 year olds) and depicts explicit sex.
“Excerpts from “Crank”
Also: In early 2021, Elmbrook was caught exposing students to unapproved sex discussions without parental consent.
In January 2022, an Elmbrook teacher linked in her email to an LGBT site which had a link to a sex toy site. The story was also covered here.
Additional coverage in March 2022 about Elmbrook's explicit material is included here.
Update: In November 2022, the community was made aware that "The Infinite Moment of Us" was removed based on this article.