A mother of three elementary school students revealed on Thursday that a book featuring the “rape of a minor by an adult” can be found in a library app on iPads that the Orange Unified School District distributes to students.
Colleen read from prepared remarks as she outlined how the California school district failed to remove the “Sora” app from student iPads even though school officials—who admitted that the app has “issues with parental controls”—had promised to do so.
“For whatever reason, I stand here tonight with this iPad and two more at home that still have the app on it,” she told school board members.
The app allows students access to a book by Bill Konigsberg called “The Music of What Happens,” which is offered as an audiobook on Sora, “so regardless of my kids’ reading level, they have access to it,” the mother said.
“Halfway through the book, there’s a rape of a minor by an adult,” Colleen explained before reading sexually explicit passages from the book.
You can watch her full speech below. Be advised that it contains vulgar language from Konigsberg’s book.
“I think it is shameful and probably criminal that the previous administrator and district staff knowingly kept this app on thousands of kinder- through second-grade iPads, exposing them to sexually explicit material even though they were aware of issues,” she said.
The mother indicated she wants to “stay in this district” due to the “love” she has for it but also that board policies need to “change.”
“I want parent controls on district apps,” Colleen demanded. “This is insane—what I just read to you is on this freaking app right now, on my kids’ iPad in my house.”
She also called for an “investigation on Sora and the coverup that was perpetrated by the previous administration and staff.”
“District officials knew that this app was not working properly,” she said. “It has no parental controls. And this book classification issues—I want transparency in that; and that if there are problems with an app, it is removed immediately until it is fixed and you inform parents of what is going on.”
Konigsberg’s books are promoted by Scholastic, “the world’s largest publisher and distributor of children’s books,” according to the publisher’s website.
