A Mother’s Day lesson at an elementary school in Hamilton County, Tennessee, became the latest battleground in what some are calling the ‘culture wars’ at American public schools.

Officials at the Alpine Crest Elementary School canceled a program designed by librarian Caroline Mickey to be sensitive to children who might not have a mother. That meant including two books to be read aloud: One featuring a bear raising a gaggle of goslings, the second about a little girl feeling awkward about Mother’s Day because she had two dads.

Word of the lesson spread to the local chair of the group Moms for Liberty, who complained that kids were being taught about homosexual families. The program was canceled without discussion, though some school board members say they supported the lesson.

Host Robin Young talks to librarian Caroline Mickey and Hamiton County School Board representative Ben Connor.

This article was originally published on WBUR.org.

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