[This guest opinion article is by Micheal Garza, a parent with a child in the Cobb County School District]

It is a Friday afternoon sitting in the parking lot of my daughter’s elementary school waiting for her dismissal. This is part of our normal afternoon routine, but today is anything but normal. Day 1 of the Cobb County School District tribunal of Katie Rinderle had ended the day prior, and my social media is filled with the statements of a handful of parents whose kids were in her class during the reading of My Shadow is Purple.

One parent, who is also a Cobb teacher, wrote an email stating she believed anything in the genre of “LGBT” to be divisive. Another parent said the use of they/them pronouns upset her because “it was not something that we had gotten to yet”. And yet another parent said of fifth graders, “I just don’t think developmentally that they are ready.” Does she not realize that our children have been exposed to active shooter drills in public schools since they were five?

I try to keep an open mind and think about things from the viewpoint of others. I asked myself what I would do as a parent if my six-year-old came home from school after being read that book and being involved in that lesson plan. Would I feel blindsided as a parent? Would I feel that the school has robbed my daughter of her innocence?

Then I came to this conclusion: absolutely not. And the reason for that is because the overall theme to the book is tied to something that we have taught our daughter ever since she first interacted with other children on the playground: Be kind to everyone. Always. It is a lesson that all parents should teach their children and one that needs to be reinforced in our schools every bit as much as reading, math, and science.

Because when you strip away all the noise and political commentary, that is what inclusion is all about. Being kind to EVERYONE. It isn’t about indoctrination or grooming. It is about the idea that, if your child is in a public setting like a classroom, your child has the right to occupy that space without being bullied for who they are or because of their appearance. It is about telling that child: You Belong.

Unfortunately, our state legislators and district leadership are failing in this capacity. They have written into law and school policy that curriculum and literature which discuss diversity and inclusion are somehow divisive and controversial. In doing so, they have essentially given parents the right to allow their kids to bully a child if the parents don’t agree with who that child is. And the district has made it clear that teachers have limited means to intervene.

The reality is that our classrooms are filled with students that are gay, lesbian, non-binary, transgender, or are still figuring things out. How do we think these children feel going to school knowing that the adults responsible for protecting them can be disciplined for doing so? How do we think they cope with hearing other adults talking about them as if they shouldn’t exist and not having leadership come out in support of them? Is it any wonder that LGBTQ youth are more than four times as likely to attempt suicide than their peers?

Then my thoughts return to the part of the lesson plan where students wrote a shadow poem self-reflecting on what makes them unique. I would have been thrilled to read such a poem from my daughter. For those parents who chose to view this as a negative, it was a missed opportunity for them to connect with their children on a positive message of acceptance of who they are.

I sincerely hope the district takes the advice of the tribunal and does not terminate Katie Rinderle’s employment. Educators like her are an asset to our county and deserve to remain in our classrooms. And my bigger hope is that our community rallies around our marginalized youth and tells them in one voice: You Belong.