English teacher and Queer Alliance Club adviser, Flint, will return to SJHHS this week after two news articles critical of Flint and the club’s library were posted on the day of Back to School Night.

Fox News posted an article titled “California high school teacher boasts ‘queer library’ with material on orgies and BDSM/kink” and the New York Post followed with a similar article hours later. The articles question the appropriateness of some of the titles in that club’s resources and refer to it as Flint’s “Queer Library.”

The articles accuse Flint of supplying inappropriate sexual material in their book collection that includes “sex imagery, information on orgies, sex parties and BDSM,” citing videos of books in the library on their TikTok account. Flint and the club created the library, which contains over 100 titles, in 2016 to reach LGBTQ+ students that feel underrepresented in traditional English literature.

“Students in this community are used to reading books that pretend they don’t exist or learning history that excludes their experiences. The library is one way we can help rectify that,” Flint said of the library in a 2020 interview with The Express.

Additionally, the Fox News article includes an interview appearing on TikTok between Flint and principal Dr. Manoj Mahindrakar, who said he supported student access to more books.

Flint was awarded CUSD’s “Extra Miler” award in 2017 for their work with updating CUSD board policy and advising the Queer Alliance club on campus. The award recognizes teachers who work above and beyond for their students.

In 2017, The Express reported that Flint’s efforts to establish the Queer Library contributed to their earning of the award. In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Flint created book care packages with LGBTQ+ novels for interested students. These book care packages not only received a positive response, but also sparked book donations from teachers and the community members.

The publication of the articles created controversy on social media over Flint’s library. Kira Davis, a candidate for the CUSD School Board Area 2 (which includes SJHHS), expressed her opposition to Flint’s library through Instagram posts and stories referring to its books as “pornography.”

Davis, herself a contributor to Fox News, has a podcast called Just Listen to Yourself. She and Michael Parham are vying to fill the seat on CUSD’s 7 member board vacated by Pamela Braunstein, who resigned last spring citing harassment “by a certain vocal minority.”

On September 8, Back To School Night, Davis and a few of her supporters gathered on Stallion Ridge to promote her campaign for the school board. 

CUSD emphasized that the materials were not for instructional purposes and that the books are temporarily unavailable to students while under review. This review will include key stakeholders, according to Dr. Mahindrakar.