Former Gary Road Elementary School Assistant Principal Toby Price may have his job reinstated after the Mississippi Court of Appeals reversed the Hinds County School District’s decision to fire him for reading the book “I Need a New Butt!” to elementary students.
“This Court finds that the termination of Price’s contract was not supported by substantial evidence and was arbitrary and capricious,” the judgment reads. “Therefore, we reverse the judgments of the Hinds County Chancery Court and Hinds County School Board and render Price’s employment reinstated.”
On March 1, 2022, the former educator read the 2014 illustrated children’s book “I Need a New Butt!” by Dawn McMillan to a second-grade class for Read Across America Day. Price read the book via Zoom after the class’s scheduled reader did not appear. The book includes humorous references to butts and “butt cracks.”
Later that day, then-Hinds County District Superintendent Delescia Martin placed him on administrative leave. The district terminated his employment two days later, stating that Price “had not acted professionally” when he read the book to impressionable second graders.
Price appealed the termination to the Hinds County School Board, maintaining that the district had not proven that his actions violated professional standards and that he had been denied due process and a fair hearing. The board upheld Martin’s decision, and the case made national news.
In its Jan. 27 ruling, the Mississippi Court of Appeals found that the district had not proven that Price was dismissed for good cause, writing that “it is not Price’s responsibility to prove that the book was appropriate for students; rather, it is Hinds County’s responsibility to prove that it was inappropriate.”
“This ruling affirms that reading joyful, sometimes silly books to children is not misconduct—it’s education,” Price said in a statement on Wednesday with PEN America, a pro-free speech organization focused on literary freedom. “I’m thankful the court understood that fostering a love of reading should never be grounds for punishment, and I hope this helps protect educators who are simply trying to do right by kids.”
PEN America’s Jonathan Friedman praised the ruling, saying the organization was “grateful.”
“This decision corrects a serious injustice. Toby’s life was thrown into chaos simply because some administrators were offended by the descriptions of natural bodily functions in a well-known book he read to students,” he said. “This episode shows just how damaging censorship can be.”
The court’s opinion also noted that, based on the district’s reasoning, the school’s library “contained a number of books depicting ‘nudity’ and ‘inappropriate activities.”
“Several of those books were entered into evidence at the hearing and reviewed by this Court,” the opinion states. “The books included numerous mentions of the word ‘butt,’ naked children running through the street, a child disobeying numerous school rules, a person dancing naked in the rain, a person standing in only a raincoat which exposes his butt, and what appeared to be ‘[s]omething’s head where their bottom should be.’ There is simply no stark contrast between this book’s content and the content of the others. The evidence before this Court does not support a finding that the book ‘I Need a New Butt!’ was more severe in nature than the other books contained in the library.”
“Further, the school had allowed similar books—even one with the same author and illustrator as the subject book—to be read to elementary students in the past,” the Court continued. “… Price’s termination was based on a book similar in nature to other books contained in the library, which leads this Court to believe the decision was indeed reached ‘in a whimsical manner.’”
The Court remanded the case to the chancery court for further proceedings, including a determination of the amount of back pay Price is owed.
Correction: This story originally misstated the book’s title. The book is called “I Need a New Butt!,” not “I Have a New Butt!” We apologize for the error.