School Board Reverses Decision to Delete Explicit Illustration

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: September 19, 2000
NEWS CONTACT: Joe Glover – 804-419-4483 ext. 456
Lynchburg, VA ““ The Lynchburg City School Board has reversed an earlier decision to remove a graphic illustration of female genitalia from a high school textbook.

Joe Glover, President of the Virginia-based Family Policy Network said, “The picture in question is far more graphic than necessary. It’s practically pornographic. Kids don’t need to see something that explicit in order to understand the birds and the bees.”

The controversial graphic is included in the text book along with other drawings of nude women and men. Several Lynchburg residents contacted school board members to request they vote to remove or cover the picture if the textbook were to be adopted. The controversial graphic is included in the text book along with other drawings of nude women and men.

Glover praised the earlier action by school board members to remove the graphic saying that the vote “signal[ed] to students that modesty is an important virtue when dealing with sexuality. Most people who saw that textbook [felt] the School Board did the right thing.”

Family Policy Network invoked Virginia’s Freedom of Information Act to request copies of feedback from the textbook review committee, which reviewed the book before the School Board. All three parent representatives on the textbook committee (out of a total of seven reviewers) objected to the graphic that later became the center of controversy. A local newspaper merely reported the textbook committee had approved of the book.

Glover told reporters from the local NBC and NPR stations, “Obviously we’re disappointed by the decision because the Board had previously established a standard of decency for the community. We still feel like the debate in the community was a good one because it was a reminder that we need to be concerned about what children are seeing in the public schools.”

Family Policy Network is Virginia’s American Family Association affiliate organization.

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For more information on this story, see:
Original Virginia AP Wire Story
Original Lynchburg Newspaper Story
Lynchburg Paper Says “Censorship” Unusual
Lynchburg Paper Studies Board Emails
AFTER REVERSAL: Final Newspaper Story