Mississippi school board upholds firing over 'New Butt' book [View all]

BYRAM, Miss. (AP) — A Mississippi educator who was fired for reading a children’s book called “I Need a New Butt!” to second graders says he will go to court to try to get his job back.

Toby Price told the Clarion Ledger he received a 12-page order Monday showing the Hinds County School Board had voted 2-1 in late April to uphold the superintendent’s decision to fire him in March. He was assistant principal at Gary Road Elementary in the Jackson suburb of Byram.

Price was initially suspended with pay but later fired after reading the book over Zoom. The book, by Dawn McMillan, chronicles a child’s journey to find a new backside. It is illustrated with cartoons that show the character considering an armor-plated butt, a rocket butt and a robot butt.

While Price was appealing, Superintendent Delesicia Martin called the book “inappropriate” because it showed “private areas of the body.”

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/education-mississippi-jackson-school-boards-4e9b3ca0c3f65470c9b44e04f435328d