Billings school board closes Washington but leaves “Assassination Classroom” open in libraries

Billings, Montana – “Assassination Classroom” will remain in high school libraries, according to a 5–4 vote by the Billings school board.

The motion to remove the book was rejected by trustees Tanya Ludwig, Zack Tarakedis, Janna Hafer, Teresa Larsen, and Scott McCulloch after the meeting in the Lincoln Center Auditorium had been going on for more than five hours.

The removal of the book was approved by trustees Andrea Nemitz, John VonLangen, Jennifer Hoffman, and Brooke Wagner.

The book is one of a set of 21 volumes.

Due to its portrayal of gun violence against teachers, the fourth book was recently removed by the Laurel School Board and other school districts around the United States.

After reviewing the first book in the series last week, a three-person panel recommended to the board as a whole that it be taken out of school libraries.

“I just have a difficult time in our current climate in having a series of books that depicts and glorifies killing our teachers,” said Hoffman, who served on the panel with Nemitz and Wagner.

Concerns over statements like “I can’t believe I get to kill a teacher with my own hands,” said by a kid about an extraterrestrial instructor who begged the students to kill him to rescue the world, are expressed in the original request from October.

Many people deny that there is a problem with this book.

“Our School District 2 process is complete,” one woman said about keeping the book. “There are no facts before you here to justify removal.”

Members of the school board did discuss the necessity of updating the procedure.

“We support the right and the responsibility of parents or guardians to determine what is suitable material for their children and to enforce those decisions,” another woman said in support of the book.

And others had concerns.

“If you put this material, they’re taking away the parents’ liberties to not have this in there,” one man said about his concern for the book.

“That is the proper role for parents and guardians to make,” one man said about his concerns for the book. “Not public schools, who by including violent and sexually explicit materials in our libraries, perhaps unintentionally, but directly, provide a ringing endorsement to our children on behalf of all the taxpayers in this district, that society is okay with this content.”

In addition, the board voted to close Washington Elementary School for the upcoming academic year.

Superintendent Erwin Garcia’s plan to close the school and convert it into a charter school, the Washington Innovative Center, was approved by the elementary trustees by a vote of 6 to 1.

According to McCulloch, the board decided to include Washington School’s closure in the revised strategy for handling the budget imbalance.

Additionally, he stated that the school will formally be given over to the high school district at a later meeting.

Students will have the opportunity to obtain their associate degrees concurrently with their diplomas at the proposed charter school.

Garcia claimed that the elementary district’s $4 million shortfall will be lessened by the change.

Furthermore, he claims that, given the quantity of pupils, Washington is the most costly to run.

Those 208 pupils will now have to transfer to a different institution.