Mississippi school board upholds firing over ‘New Butt’ book

BYRAM, Miss. (AP) — A Mississippi educator fired for reading a children’s book called “I Need a New Butt!” to second graders says he will go to court to try to get his job back. Toby Price says he received a 12-page order Monday showing the Hinds County School Board voted 2-1 in late April to uphold the superintendent’s decision to fire him in March. He was assistant principal at Gary Road Elementary in the Jackson suburb of Byram. Price was initially suspended with pay but later fired after reading the book over Zoom. The cartoon book, by Dawn McMillan, chronicles a child’s journey to find a new backside.