Books for the Oskaloosa Elementary School reading program got quite a bit of attention at Tuesday night’s (2/8) Oskaloosa School Board meeting.  Chad Vink, the Oskaloosa District’s Business Manager and Board Secretary, tells the No Coast Network what happened.

“There had been a lot of rumor going around about the content of our literacy program and curriculum at the Elementary School that the Board was looking to approve.  There were some particular books in mind talking sometimes about race.  Sometimes about Martin Luther King.”

Vink says concerns were expressed online that these books were teaching critical race theory, which is banned from being taught in Iowa.  Vink denies that critical race theory is part of the reading program. No one who attended Tuesday’s Oskaloosa School Board meeting spoke against the books…and there were comments from the public and some teachers in favor of those books.  The reading curriculum, which costs around $260,000, was approved by a 5-2 vote.