5th grade Georgia teacher fired for reading “divisive” book about acceptance

Photo: Southern Poverty Law Center screenshot

An elementary school teacher in Georgia has been fired for reading a “divisive” book about acceptance to her 5th-grade class.

She bought the book, My Shadow is Purple, at the school’s own Scholastic Book Fair.

Katie Rinderle, who taught gifted students at Due West Elementary School in Cobb County, is the first teacher in the state to be fired under a trio of censorship laws passed in Georgia in 2022.

She was terminated on June 6.

According to Rinderle, in March she read My Shadow is Purple, an international best-selling book by Australian author Scott Stuart, to her 5th-grade class after students voted overwhelmingly to hear it.

The story is about a boy who doesn’t have a blue shadow like most boys or a pink shadow like most girls. Instead, his shadow is purple: He plays with boys’ and girls’ toys, dances ballet alongside other girls, and competes in soccer alongside other boys. Where he wears a combination skirt and suit to his school dance, he feels excluded from the boys and girls… until various classmates reveal that their own shadows are also different colors like yellow, orange, green, and silver.

After reading the book, Rinderle asked her students to…

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