{"id":537148,"date":"2026-01-23T13:58:23","date_gmt":"2026-01-23T13:58:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/537148\/"},"modified":"2026-01-23T13:58:23","modified_gmt":"2026-01-23T13:58:23","slug":"email-contradicts-alamo-heights-superintendents-claim-about-why-author-visit-was-canceled","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/537148\/","title":{"rendered":"Email contradicts Alamo Heights superintendent’s claim about why author visit was canceled"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"A concerned parent speaks about AHISD\u2019s decision to cancel author Chris Barton\u2019s visit to the district during a school board meeting on Thursday. Credit: Michael Karlis<\/p>\n

An email exchange between Alamo Heights ISD and children\u2019s author Chris Barton appears to contradict Superintendent Dana Bashara\u2019s explanation to parents why the writer wasn\u2019t allowed to visit two of the district\u2019s elementary schools<\/a>.<\/p>\n

During Thursday\u2019s well-attended AHISD board meeting, Bashara said the district canceled Barton\u2019s visit to Woodridge and Cambridge elementary schools earlier this month because he refused to comply with Texas Senate Bill 12. That Republican-backed law bans Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, or DEI, in public schools and restricts instruction on gender identity and sexual orientation.<\/p>\n

\u201cDespite multiple good faith efforts with this author to move forward with a visit in compliance with the law, the author declined to provide those assurances to us as a district that he would meet those expectations, leaving the district with no other option than to cancel that visit,\u201d Bashara told parents during the meeting.<\/p>\n

However, emails obtained by the Current show that Barton explicitly agreed not to discuss the LGBTQ+ issues during his visit. A small group of parents raised concerns about his visit because his book Glitter Everywhere! mentions the LGBTQ+ community during one brief passage. <\/p>\n

\u201cI can certainly agree to your request that I not discuss \u2018LGBTQ+, gender identity, sexual orientation, or any derivation of those terms,\u2019 since I never have discussed these in my school presentations and I am aware that I am not trained or qualified to discuss them with an elementary audience,\u201d Barton wrote in an email to AHISD assistant superintendent Frank Alfaro last month.<\/p>\n

Even so, Barton pushed back at the district\u2019s request that he not show the cover of Glitter Everywhere! during a slideshow tied to his appearance. <\/p>\n

\u201c[I] hope that we can all agree on keeping in my presentations the attached slides \u2014 which place GLITTER EVERYWHERE! [sic] in the context of my other nonfiction books \u2026 as well as in the contexts of my life as a
writer and of my publishing career as a whole \u2014 as a way to move forward that is in the best interests of the students at Cambridge and Woodridge,\u201d he wrote in the same email. <\/p>\n

The cover of Glitter Everywhere! makes no mention of the LGBTQ+ community, nor does it appear to depict anything directly related to queer culture. <\/p>\n

AHISD\u2019s email exchange with Barton about what was off limits during his scheduled visit began after three parents sent eerily similar emails to district officials, raising concerns about Glitter Everywhere! \u2014 a nonfiction children\u2019s book about the history of glitter and its environmental impacts.<\/p>\n

Glitter Everywhere! was not part of Barton\u2019s planned presentation to students. Instead, he was to focus his reading and discussion on two other books he\u2019d written, neither of which refer to LGBTQ+ people. <\/p>\n

During Thursday\u2019s school board meeting, nearly a dozen parents signed up to air grievances about Bashara\u2019s decision to cancel Barton\u2019s visit and the district\u2019s handling of the situation.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile Alamo Heights says it wants students to seek knowledge and understanding, think critically and creatively, and communicate and collaborate \u2014\u00a0those are not abstract ideals,\u201d parent Julieanne Reeves told the board. \u201cThey\u2019re supposed to guide real decisions. Canceling an author visit for students because of a handful of coordinated complaints undermines those values all at once.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Linda Cornwell, a new Alamo Heights resident with children attending AHISD schools, proposed that the district implement an \u201copt-out\u201d option for parents who don\u2019t want their children to take part in certain author visits.<\/p>\n

\u201cBooks need readers, and readers need books, which is why I am here to beseech the board to vigilantly guard against actions that may block student access to books and leaders,\u201d Cornwell said.<\/p>\n

Bashara and the AHISD board said they wouldn\u2019t address the concerns over the cancelation at the meeting. However, they pledged to follow up with the parents at a later time.<\/p>\n

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