The public school system in Virginia’s capital may have more than 4,000 lesson plans, emails and other materials about sex work, but parents will have to pay a whopping sum to find out details.
Indeed, the Richmond district’s potential cache of disturbing materials was revealed when officials responded to a FOIA request by the Daily Wire for all records and materials invoking the terms “sex work” or “sex worker,” including in teaching materials and employee communications.
Parents are undoubtedly concerned, saying library books and teaching materials increasingly normalize sex work.
“Given the broad scope of your revised request of the email search for the terms ‘sex work’ and ‘sex worker,’ our IT staff projects that upwards of 4,000 records may be retrieved in the search,” the district responded, adding that the “estimated charge that may be incurred by [Richmond Public Schools] to access, duplicate, supply, and/or search for records responsive your request, in the amount of $19,555.40,” half of which was required to begin searching.
District officials said that the price was partially because it included the cost of bureaucrats deciding what information to withhold, despite matching the query.
“Each record, in turn, will have to be reviewed to ensure that exempted information is withheld, if applicable,” officials wrote. “Depending upon the amount of records retrieved, the time associated with reviewing the records may exceed the estimate as we aim to be conservative in our approximations.”
Materials on “sex work” became of interest after a Loudoun County, Virginia middle school library featured a book called “Seeing Gender,” which promoted prostitution.
“A person may exchange sex or sexual activity for things they need or want, such as food, housing, hormones, drugs, gifts, or other resources,” reads one shocking passage in the book.
Prostitution is “a job like being a store clerk, an architect, or a freelance writer. We all, unfortunately, have to do work to make a living. Some of us hate our jobs and some of us love them–the same goes for those who do sex work. Sadly, sex work is generally misunderstood,” the book states.
