A Virginia high school apologized for placing a sign in its library that stated “Stuff Some Adults Don’t Want You to Read,” as a number of schools and towns debate whether or not to educate or prohibit books about sexual orientation and race.
The sign was on display at the Langley High School library in McLean, Virginia. It was seen in front of a collection of books, including “Roots of Racism” and “Maus,” according to images shared on Twitter.
The sign drew a lot of attention on the internet.
“This sign from Langley HS in Fairfax County. Wrong on so many fronts,” Pat Herrity, a member of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, tweeted on Tuesday.
“[Fairfax County Public Schools] doubling down on their big FU to parents. This display was for a rising 8th grader parents night. What books a library holds is debatable, but this is just ‘nah nah!’ childishness,” Carrie Lukas, president of the Independent Women’s Forum, a conservative activist group, tweeted a day earlier.
In a letter to parents, Langley High School Principal Kimberly Greer apologized for the sign.
“The sign was incongruent with the beliefs of our school and our school division. Poor judgement was used in its display, and for this I take full responsibility,” she wrote, NBC Washington reported.
The sign has already been removed, according to a spokesman for Fairfax County Public Schools who talked to The Hill.
“FCPS principals encourage students or parents with any school concerns to contact them directly to allow for an open dialogue and an opportunity to find a resolution,” the spokesperson said.
The outcry comes after a back-and-forth over education issues in the 2021 Virginia gubernatorial election, which saw now-Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) release a campaign ad featuring a mother who fought to have the 1987 novel “Beloved” banned from her son’s English curriculum in Fairfax County years before.
A Tennessee school board recently chose to remove “Maus,” a Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic novel on the Holocaust, from an eighth-grade English language arts curriculum, citing language and nuance as reasons.