GILBERT, Ariz. — The Gilbert Police Department has concluded it's investigation into a local high school teacher over a reading assignment she gave to students.
English teacher Brittany O'Neill teaches Multicultural Literature at Williams Field High School in Gilbert. It's a college level course that is an elective. The school year had just begun and the very first reading assignment she gave to students created major backlash from some parents O'Neill claimed.
"I had a parent accusing me of disseminating child pornography and being a groomer solely based on the approved literature being offered," O'Neill said during a Higley Unified School District board meeting.
During her statement to the board, she claimed some parents demanded she be fired and one parent allegedly threatened her with a lawsuit.
"This parent had called other parents of students in my class attempted to have the police open an investigation against me and spread lies about my course in an attempt to irrevocably damage my reputation, not only as an educator, but as a human being," said O'Neill.
An investigation into the reading assignment did happen according to a spokesperson with the Gilbert Police Department. The department found there was insufficient probable cause to pursue criminal charges.
Charles Villafranca also spoke at the board meeting and said his son is in O'Neill's class.
While not confirmed by the educator or school, Villafranca said the book assigned to students was called, "Homegoing" written by Yaa Gyasi who was born in Ghana and raised in Alabama according to Penguin Random House. It's a historical fiction novel that became an international bestseller. A description of the book reads:
"One of Oprah’s Best Books of the Year, Homegoing follows the parallel paths of these sisters and their descendants through eight generations: from the Gold Coast to the plantations of Mississippi, from the American Civil War to Jazz Age Harlem. Yaa Gyasi’s extraordinary novel illuminates slavery’s troubled legacy both for those who were taken and those who stayed—and shows how the memory of captivity has been inscribed on the soul of our nation."
Villafranca added that the novel was sexually explicit and he did not receive a permission slip from O'Neill to allow his son to read it.
“I am not here to ban books. I am here to make sure that I a parent, have the right that is given to me under the law,” Villafranca said.
While police concluded their investigation, a spokesperson said they are forwarding the case to the Department of Education to review whether any violations occurred. Specifically, to a state statute that said public schools can't provide students sexually explicit material unless it's for educational purposes and they receive parental consent.
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