DEI book raises alarms in Missouri school district

A Missouri school district said it halted a fifth-grade teacher’s reading of a novel containing LGBTQ content after parental complaints, the district told The Lion in a statement.

The West Platte School District in Weston came under fire after one of its teachers read War Games by Alan Gratz, a novel set during the 1936 Berlin Olympics hosted by Adolf Hitler. 

The book has a protagonist who actively endorses a gay relationship, which the book frames as courageous and admirable.

Critics describe the novel as a diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) graduate seminar inside a story about the theft of gold from the German National Bank during the Olympics.

The book features a white girl from dust bowl USA, a black French diver, a gay German weightlifter and a Hitler Youth teen who is a secret Jew – all of whom eventually give the gold they steal from Nazis to “the resistance.”

West Platte parent Ben Schlick, whose wife raised the initial complaint, posted publicly that the book was paused “temporarily” and warned that other parents were pressuring the school to resume the reading by April 15.

“Acknowledging historical persecution is educationally appropriate; actively promoting a sexual ethic as brave and admirable to children is NOT,” said Schlick via Facebook.

He objected not just to the content, but to the fact that parents weren’t first allowed the opportunity to opt out, which he said was a violation of district policy.

He also objected to the implicit comparisons of Christianity to Nazism over objections to homosexuality.

“Like, share, and comment on this post,” Schlick pleaded. “Call, message, email your teacher, school board rep, and principle until this changes.”

The district’s statement to The Lion was issued in apparent response to mounting public pressure.

“After a parent raised a concern about that book, the teacher stopped reading that book and a review of the book followed,” West Platte Superintendent Brock Dover said in a statement to The Lion. “After that review, parents received a communication and the ability to opt out, if the reading resumed.”

Dover added a decision was later made not to resume the reading. The book has not been read from since the initial complaint on Feb. 26.

The superintendent characterized the cancellation as a district-initiated decision rather than a reaction to parental pressure.

Schlick also raised an objection that even some who were supportive of the book acknowledged as legitimate.

The teacher read the book aloud to the entire class without parental notification, even though the book requires a permission slip to check out of the school’s own elementary library.

“Regardless of the content, reading any book aloud that typically requires parental permission without prior review or notification raises valid concerns about process and transparency,” said one parent. “The leadership has failed in this regard. [School Principal] Bess DeLoux and the District should be held accountable, as it is not teachers’ responsibilities to create policies.”

Schlick argued the book’s framing of Nazi persecution of gay people implicitly equates Christian objections to homosexuality with the ideology of the Third Reich.

That interpretation was not lost on commenters who pushed this implicit comparison, saying the parents’ objections echo “the logic of the people the book warns us against.”

“Jesus was explicit that how you treat vulnerable marginalized people is how you treat him,” said one commenter. “The nazis [sic] burned books. They persecuted LGBT people, Jewish people, Roma, and dissidents.”

Gratz’s other book, Ban This Book, which argues children, not parents, should control reading choices, was separately identified by Schlick as present in a third-grade classroom at the same school.

“I’m an old woman, former teacher grades 7-12 in three states,” said Janet Hall Elsea. “My opinion concerning literature taught in grades K-12 is there should be no references to sexual preferences or sexual practices. Children have no understanding, no interest, inadequate maturity to comprehend. … It means it’s not the right time or place.”

The district has not said whether it will review its policies to require teacher review or parental notification for age-inappropriate material before it’s read in classrooms.

“The West Platte School District values input from our parents and partners with them in their children’s education,” Superintendent Dover told The Lion.

A school board meeting is expected in the coming weeks.

Schlick has called on parents to attend in person.