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Expletive symbols in assigned book infuriate Henderson elementary school parents

Posted at 8:38 PM, Nov 17, 2016
and last updated 2016-11-17 23:38:21-05

A book assigned in a Henderson elementary school has some parents furious.

"Bad Kitty for President" is a chapter book more than 100 pages long meant to teach children about America's electoral system. On page 76, talking about money in a campaign, it says "A billion dollars! Holy %#@$"

Fenix Ohman, a third grader at James Gibson Elementary School, reads the symbols, and his mind jumps to a word that needs a *bleep*.

Pages later, the symbols show up again. Ohman says he read those as the F-word.

"My reaction was of complete shock," said Sonya DeRossi, Ohman's aunt. "I've had four children in that elementary school. My job as a parent is to keep my child innocent as long as I can but if I'm fighting the schools what chance do we have?"

The author of the book, Nick Bruel, believes the symbols are vague and unharmful.

"She can take offense but honestly I'm not entirely sure what she's taking offense with," Bruel said.

Other parents at the school like Amanda Knapp don't think the symbols are a big deal.

"I think that parents nowadays are way too sensitive and that exposure teaches children and if your child knows not to use those words, it shouldn't be an issue," she said.

Ohman's mother says the teacher told her the book would be pulled from the assignment.

Clark County School District says it reviews all formal complaints about educational materials, but no such complaint has been filed for this book.