BY MIKE FUHRMAN
Less than a year after being elected to the Iredell-Statesville Schools Board of Education, Mike Kubiniec has certainly distinguished himself.
In my opinion — and I’ve only been paying close attention for about 20 years, Kubiniec is the worst I-SS board member in recent history.
Although Brian Sloan and Anita Kurn certainly did their best to claim that title with their insulting text messages about forcing Statesville High students to fight in a Thunderdome (and Sloan earned extra points for his recent diatribe about allowing students to smoke at school), the vice chair has secured a stranglehold on this high honor with his absurd war on books. Kubiniec’s intolerance of the LGBTQ+ community and his general disdain for district staff are also worth noting.
In his latest assault on books and the First Amendment, the vice chair pushed to have the district’s policies related to book challenges overhauled. Instead of focusing attention on the social, emotional and educational needs of the district’s 20,500 students as the school year gets underway, the administration has had to deal with this book-banning nonsense. It was encouraging to see board member Charles Kelly push back against Kubiniec’s request. Chairman Bill Howell and board member Doug Knight also offered some resistance to this obvious political grandstanding.
As Superintendent Jeff James has explained to the board on several occasions, the district has a robust policy and procedures in place that adhere to state and federal laws related to determining whether library books are appropriate.
Despite what Kubiniec and the mouthpieces for the Moms for Liberty would have you believe, I-SS parents are not up in arms about the books their children have access to in the libraries. In fact, the district has received a total of two book challenges from actual I-SS parents in the past five years, according to the superintendent. During the past year, a total of zero book challenges have been filed by parents. You read that right. Not one parent has filed a legitimate challenge in the past year. This entire controversy has been drummed up by the Moms for Liberty.
The district’s libraries are managed by well-educated, professional media specialists. They know how to do their jobs, and they have the good sense to consult with their principals and district administrators if they have questions about whether a particular book is appropriate for the students in their schools.
In instances where a parent has a concern about a book, that parent is free to prohibit their child from reading it. Every parent should be free to decide what is appropriate for their student. I-SS parents certainly don’t need Kubiniec’s help.
When a book is challenged by a parent, the district also has a process in place for a committee made up of school staff members and parents to review the book to determine if it is age appropriate for that particular school. That is a common sense approach.
That’s not good enough for Kubiniec. He wants people who share his myopic worldview to be the final arbiters of what students can read. Fortunately for today’s students, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled on the side of free speech and against would-be book banners like the vice chair.
Kubiniec might be scoring points with his friends and supporters in the Moms for Liberty, but he is not fooling anyone. I-SS does not have a book problem. It has a leadership problem.
Mike Fuhrman is the editor of Iredell Free News.
Mike, do not let up on these ignorant board members. They are truly an embarrassment to Iredell Statesville schools.
Please keep revealing the counterproductive behaviors of these school board members. They have no interest in the welfare and education of students in the school system. IMHO only those who currently have children enrolled in an I-SS schools should be permitted time to address the board in open meetings. The rest of us speak with our votes — and here’s hoping a majority of us are paying close attention to the ridiculous behavior of the majority on the current board.
Agreed! I’m tired of elected officials trying to impose their “morality” on me!
Why is there a such a big untruth in your opinion. I challenged a book in February. Robust way ISS deals with books is to make parents jump through hoops and hopes you drop your attempt. Still haven’t had my last say on the matter. Dr. James has dropped ball more than once with my case.
Well written.
The First Amendment provides that Congress make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting its free exercise. It protects freedom of speech, the press, assembly, and the right to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
The Second Amendment gives citizens the right to bear arms.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/
KUBINIEC:
THE FACT THE YOU ARE STILL IN OFFICE AMAZES ME. YOU AND YOUR PUPPETS HAVE NO RIGHT WHAT SO EVER TO REMOVE BOOKS FROM OUR SCHOOLS.
STAND DOWN, STAY AWAY FROM ANY DECISIONS THAT ARE FOR OUR PARENTS ONLY!!!
Well your opinion and mine may differ. No mention of which books he’s trying to ban or there contents is deceitful and leads to misunderstandings. Which was probably your intent. Without the information that you’ve purposely or unintentionally left out, readers can’t fairly form their own opinion. Leading to a bunch of biased comments by uninformed people who do not have all the facts. Therefore in my opinion you have no journalistic integrity Mike and you should rethink how you write these articles in the future.
It’s certainly an interesting contrast when you read about I-SS Board meetings and MGSD Board meetings. The latter is taking care of business, while the former is giving us the business.
Go to Florida! I’m sure Desantis would love you!
Go to California
Don’t go anywhere. Stay here and fight for the rights of our schoolchildren. My kids are adults and have read most books on the banned list. They still have their heads on right.
I realize you think that you are more well informed than the rest of us – but I think you meant to write “their” not “there”.
Mr. Fuhrman,
I’m amazed how far an educated person with journalistic talent will go to promote an ideology. Are you even aware about the obscene pornographic contents in the books that have been challenged?
Mr. Kubiniec’s efforts to protect children from what is often stealth pedophilic grooming are commendable and they are not myopic self-serving. You wrote about the paucity of parental book challenges, however, you should understand that parents are largely unaware of the contents of those grossly inappropriate library books. Although librarians, aka media specialists, are college graduates, that does not guarantee that they apply good judgement or that they select only wholesome literature for children to read.
Some have suggested that the sexualized books actually support the emotional health of abused children in that reading about similar unnatural, even horrendous sexual experiences somehow eases their distress. This is a false argument.
As an educated person, you should know that providing obscene literature to children is actually felonious, and that pervasive obscenity, whether it is autobiographical or fiction, is not protected by the first amendment.
I suggest you purchase a few of the books in question or visit the public library and actually examine them. Then ask yourself, “Would I like my children to read that trash?” Then offer a public apology to Mr. Kubiniec and the readers of this newspaper.
Excellent. Mr. Mimnaugh couldn’t have said it better myself! Mr. Fuhrman should resign!
Hi Mr. Paula Mimnaugh! The only sex mentioned at the last school board meeting was by your wife and the other book banning types actually reading aloud and defining various sexual acts. Some pretty kinky stuff was mentioned. One of them even described what S&M is in a public meeting! I was embarrassed for them. I did have a good idea when I got home though. I think I am going to take all their sex talk from all these meetings and edit the clips together for a sort of Holy Roller Only Fans. Keep an eye out for it!
I am a former Catawba County School teacher and current Iredell-Statesville Schools teacher.
I attended Monday’s Catawba County Board Meeting discussing banning “Beyond Magenta” and “Out of Darkness.” I met Brian Sloan there. He said he was attending “in his free time.”
We got into discussions about the book banning topic. He was adamant that foul language has no place in a public school library — all the way up to high school.
I even brought up books like To “Kill a Mockingbird” and current political speeches. He said, no. Doesn’t matter. None of that should be in schools. If students can’t use those words then they shouldn’t be exposed to them in school.
I then asked him about him hitting his finger with a hammer and accidently letting a word slip. He said that’s never happened and that he has no impulse to use any foul language.
I had a hard time believing this, but to be civil I applauded his resolve but responded that wasn’t true for everyone. I’ve let things slip before. Not everyone is perfect.
He then went on to say that children are inherently evil. They are born evil and it is the duty of schools to protect them from foul language. I refuted this. I don’t believe children are inherently evil. The students at my current school may come from horrible lives. They may see the worst of humanity around them. But each of those children (even the ones that make me want to pull my hair out), their core is not evil. Children are good to the core. All they want is love. Every day I see these kids at school, and all they want is a hug and to be loved. Children are not inherently evil!
How do we get a petition to have these people removed from public service? They are a danger to every student and school in Iredell-Statesville Schools!
I agree with you that children are not inherently evil. Neither are adults. But I wonder why you would be complacent about exposing impressionable children to evil literature describing rape, pedophilia, vulgar and racist dialog, varieties of inappropriate adolescent sexual behavior, and even murder. Chad, please educate yourself about the content of these books and jump to the right side of this issue.
Thanks Mr. Mimnaugh for taking up for your wife. Neither of you are attorneys, so stop interpreting the law.
Mr, Plato, I don’t believe that one must be an attorney to tell right from wrong. We will not stop.
I think you are all stupid and need to grow up.
Gotta be Tim’s wife….what else would you say?
Agree with you Scottie. Which books?
Fire him! You elected him and you can fire him!!!!!
This article is a distraction from the core issues. Most “educators” have the complaint of pay, parents, policy and procedure. Hold on sunshine I said most, not all.
Curriculum is a direct copy or regurgitated version of lessons – some from 2002 off platforms the “educators” choose (that information is at the bottom of the worksheets).
Then project the answers to these lessons onto a screen for students to copy.
Teaching people how to learn takes skill and effort, yet that goes towards the excuses listed above.
Instead of countering this, take accountability.
Ctach me on slleping or wtahveer you csoohe. The messgae is the smae and jsut as esay to cmoprehned as tihs…
It won’t stay that way if Theresa Knight gets elected.
It is an opinion piece and is clearly labeled as such and not an article. People here seem to not have been taught the difference. It happens every time an opinion piece is written. I think those of us who attend the school board meetings and read the minutes are pretty up to date on what Capt. Narcissist is doing. You can be too with a little effort if you are interested.
That would be hard since he is the owner. LOL, You guys are soooo funny!