Ohio
Longtime Ohio teacher disciplined for ‘controversial’ books sues school district
CLERMONT COUNTY, Ohio (WXIX) – A Clermont County teacher is suing a school district after she was placed on an unpaid suspension due to four books sitting in her classroom that were deemed “controversial.”
Karen Cahall has been a teacher for New Richmond Exempted Village Schools since 1990. On Dec. 2, she filed a lawsuit in the U.S. Southern District Court of Ohio’s Western Division against the district she has served in for the past 34 years.
According to the lawsuit, a Monroe Elementary School parent, Kayla Shaw, emailed the school’s principal and every board of education member to report the presence of LGBTQ+-related books in Cahall’s classroom on Oct. 30.
Those four books were Ana On The Edge, The Fabulous Zed Watson, Hazel Bly and the Deep Blue Sea and Too Bright to See.
In November, New Richmond Exempted Village Schools Superintendent Tracey Miller began a disciplinary hearing against Cahall and suspended her for three days without pay.
The lawsuit says the suspension was issued for “simply having in her possession in her classroom four books that had LGBTQ+ characters in the plot line even though these particular books were intermingled among approximately one hundred other books” and “were not prominently displayed.”
None of the books were considered “obscene” or “offensive” as they do not have sexual content in them. The lawsuit described them as books about LGBTQ+ characters who are “coming to terms with feeling different.”
According to the lawsuit, Cahall did not teach from the books and did not require the students to read them. It goes on to say that the district’s board of education allegedly “engaged in content- and viewpoint-based discrimination in disciplining plaintiff Karen Cahall in their application of the Richmond Board Policy 2240…”
However, the teacher was previously told by Miller that the books were controversial, according to our media partners at the Cincinnati Enquirer.
A disciplinary letter obtained by the Enquirer says the books were “not acceptable,” especially after Cahall previously requested to place them in the library – a request that was denied.
Cahall filed the lawsuit on several claims for relief:
- The New Richmond Board Policy 2240 is “unconstitutionally vague” and violates the Fourteenth Amendment.
- Cahall sustained economic loss despite the policy violating the Fourteenth Amendment.
- The Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment prohibits Miller from showing hostility toward any religion or religious group.
- The Free Exercise Clause in the First Amendment prohibits Miller from using Board Policy 2240 to show hostility towards any religion or religious groups, including Cahall’s moral values.
- Miller is accused of depriving Cahall of her constitutional rights, which are guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment.
New Richmond Board Policy 2240 – “Controversial Issues”
Section 2240 of the New Richmond Exempted Village School District’s policy was first adopted in 2009 and was last revised in 2021.
According to the policy, a controversial issue is “a topic on which opposing points of view have been promulgated by responsible opinion or likely to arouse both support and opposition in the community.”
The district will permit “controversial issues” to be taught during instruction if:
- The content is related to “instructional goals” and students have a proper level of maturity
- The content does not tend to “indoctrinate or persuade students” to follow a specific view point
- The content encourages open-mindedness and is scholarly
However, the lawsuit argues that the policy is not only “vague” and “ambiguous,” but also that it does not state what a teacher is permitted to have in their classroom when it is not used for an “instructional program.”
FOX19 NOW has reached out to Cahall’s attorney, the school district and Miller for comment, but has not heard back. A request for Shaw’s email has also been submitted.
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Out of prison, Indiana’s caviar king back on Ohio River to find fishing holes taken
David Cox, of English, Indiana, says once he began setting his nets again after a two-year prison sentence and a three-year ban on commercial fishing, all of his once-secret spots were taken.
Can you eat fish from the Ohio River?
In 1975, future presidential candidate Michael Dukakis, then governor of Massachusetts, bet 20 pounds of New England cod that the Red Sox would defeat the Reds in the World Series. If things went south for Boston, Ohio governor James Rhodes promised to send Dukakis 10 pounds of Lake Erie perch and 10 pounds of Ohio River catfish. The Reds ended up winning and the cod was sent to the Convalescent Home for Children, in Cincinnati.
At the time, people were still eating catfish from the Ohio without too much concern. The fish were also served at several restaurants along the river.
There were warnings in 1977
But two years later, in 1977, The Ohio River Valley Water Sanitation Commission released the results of a study of contaminants found in the tissues of Ohio River fish. They warned anglers in cities such as Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Louisville, Wheeling and Gallipolis that man-made chemicals known as PCBs, or polychlorinated biphenyls, had been discovered in the river fish. Later, high concentrations of mercury were discovered in the fish, too.
Thanks to the Clean Water Act of 1972 and the environmental regulations that followed, the river is now cleaner than it was in the seventies. And it’s still teeming with a variety of fish, including catfish, striped bass, drum and black bass, among other species.
But even though PCBs were banned by the Environmental Protection Agency in 1979, they are still found in fish, since they remain in the sediment in the bottom of the river. “Organisms live in the sediment and fish feed on them,” Rich Cogen, the executive director of the Ohio River Foundation told The Enquirer. Mercury is also a big problem, according to Cogen.
So the question is: Can you eat fish caught in the Ohio River?
The short answer is yes. But it depends on what species you are eating and where along the river you caught it.
There are also very strict limitations on how frequently you should eat them, according to the web site for the Ohio Sport Fish Consumption Advisory, part of the Ohio Department of Health.
In areas of the river between the Belleville Lock, located 204 miles downstream from the river’s origins in Pittsburgh, to the Indiana border, the advisory agency currently recommends consuming Ohio River fish no more than once a month max. That area includes Adams, Brown, Clermont, Gallia, Hamilton, Lawrence, Meigs and Scioto counties.
Here’s where to check
Recommendations change throughout the year, but you can keep up by visiting the Ohio Department of Health’s Sport Fish Consumption Advisory page, which provides updated information on when certain fish, usually bottom feeders such as carp, are deemed too dangerous to eat at all.
Here’s who should take a pass on Ohio River fish
The agency also warns that people who are more likely to have health effects from eating contaminated fish, includingchildren younger than 15 years old, pregnant women and women who are planning to become pregnant to avoid Ohio River fish altogether.
Just because you have to limit the amount of fish you eat, doesn’t mean the river is a bad place for fishing, as long as you limit your intake or do catch-and-release fishing. Just make sure you have a proper fishing license before casting your line.
Have a question for Just Askin’? Email us.
The Just Askin’ series aims to answer the questions that no one seems to have an answer for, except maybe Google.
Do you have a question you want answered? Send it to us at justaskin@enquirer.com, ideally with Just Askin’ in the subject line.
It isn’t over until it’s over. That’s the case for both the UCLA Bruins football program recruiting and for quarterback Brady Edmunds. Edmunds is currently committed to head to Ohio State but he took a visit from UCLA offensive coordinator Dean Kennedy earlier this week.
Kennedy met Edmunds on Thursday despite the fact that the quarterback has been committed to the Buckeyes since December of 2024 but could the UCLA Bruins be making a run at flipping the quarterback?
Edmunds has only had an official visit with Ohio State but could UCLA heave a heat check on the 6’5” quarterback? New UCLA head coach Bob Chesney is off to an unbelievable start to his recruiting with the Bruins and flipping a recruit of Edmunds’ caliber would be his most impressive move yet.
247 Sports has Edmunds as the No. 16 quarterback in the class, which would give UCLA a clear predecessor for Nico Iamaleava whenever the Bruins current starting quarterback decides to head to the professional level.
It’d be a full circle moment for the Bruins, as Edmunds was originally recruited to Ohio State by former UCLA head coach Chip Kelly, who bailed on UCLA to go run the Buckeyes offense. Ohio State is a great spot for a developing quarterback, as the Buckeyes produce tons of NFL talent, especially at the wide receiver position, which would help Edmunds put up some gaudy numbers in Columbus.
Chesney and the Bruins have geography on their side, Edmunds attends Huntington Beach High School in Southern California, which could potentially become a factor if Edmunds views UCLA as a program on the rise that’d be much closer to his friends and family than out in Ohio.
Time will tell if Kennedy’s visit will make a difference but UCLA’s recruiting has made waves in the first offseason under Chesney and the new regime.
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