A school board member in Marshfield fears a children’s book featuring the Muppets is too graphic for youngsters. The Marsfield News Herald reports that board member Mary Carney wants “For Every Child a Better World” by Jim Henson removed from the district’s kindergarten curriculum, contending it contains images of children suffering poverty and violence.
No other board members have objected, but a panel of school and community members who reviewed the book could make a recommendation tonight. Teachers plan to read the book aloud as part of a lesson designed to help kids learn rules and how to be good citizens.
Carney was elected to the School Board in April, and earlier this year she raised concerns with the school’s kindergarten through sixth grade social studies curriculum, the News Herald said. As part of her stated objections to the Muppets book in July, Carney claimed the curriculum takes away teachers’ autonomy and “downplays American exceptionalism” by focusing too much on global affairs.