Firing of Georgia Teacher for Reading a Book that Promotes Inclusivity is “Shocking” and “Harmful,” Says PEN America

Excerpt: A Georgia elementary school teacher has been fired after allegedly violating the state’s educational gag order. Passed in 2022, Georgia’s HB 1084 prohibits teachers from “espousing”  certain “divisive concepts” related to race and sex. Katie Rinderle says she read her fifth grade students “My Shadow Is Purple,” by bestselling author-illustrator Scott Stuart, a 2022 book that promotes inclusivity, after purchasing it at the school book fair and having her students vote on what they wanted to read.

Rinderle, a teacher in Cobb County,  was believed to be the first teacher fired under the state  law.