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Real Teachers in a Time of Book Banning
They Should Ask for Hazard Pay
In this true account from a little bit ago in time, books were kept from students for other than racial or political reasons. But restriction is restriction, whatever the motivation, and when novels are kept from students for any reason, some teachers — such as the two below — will find ways to break the rules.
Two figures sneaked into the book room of a Colorado public school, having unlocked the door with a key from the ring the principal had given one of them for access to a supply closet.
“We both wanted to get into the book room but didn’t feel comfortable asking for permission because we felt we would be questioned and watched,” one of them, a teacher named Melissa*, says.
Melissa hid among the pallets of unused textbooks and resources, and cupboards stacked floor to ceiling with neglected novels, while fellow teacher and co-conspirator Rebecca*, who had been given the key ring, returned it to the principal before hurrying back to the book room to meet Melissa.
“We were ridiculous and hysterical,” Rebecca says. “We looked through the books with the lights off.”
Rebecca and Melissa, who’d signed confidentiality agreements when they were hired and…
