An assistant principal in Mississippi was fired for reading the children's book 'I Need a New Butt!' to elementary students

• An educator read a silly children's book titled "I Need a New Butt!" to second graders.
• Toby Price was the assistant principal at Gary Road Elementary School in Byram, Mississippi.

An assistant principal in Byram, Mississippi, was fired last week after he read the children's book "I Need a New Butt!" to a group of second-graders.

Toby Price, who was fired from Gary Road Elementary School earlier this week, told Insider he was asked to set up a Zoom class for the students. He said a guest reader that was supposed to read a book to the kids never showed. The principal asked him to read a book instead.

"So, I grabbed a book that I had nearby that I loved, 'I Need a New Butt!' and I read it to them. It was quick. It's a short book," Price said.

"I Need a New Butt!" was written by Dawn McMillan and published in 2014. It is described as a children's book and tells the story of a child who thinks he needs a new butt after discovering his has a crack in it.

About 15 minutes after the class, the principal called Price into his office and said he was concerned that parents might complain about the book. A half hour after that meeting, Price was called to the district office for a meeting with the superintendent and an assistant superintendent.

"For lack of a better word, they reamed me out for reading this book. It's got words like fart and butt in it. 'Is this the kind of thing you think is funny?'" Price said they asked him. "And I said, 'Well before I got here, yes.'"

He was sent home on administrative leave and two days later was fired.

"The superintendent just kept saying, 'you know, I can't get past this. I can't get past this," Price said. "I've never had a red flag or write-up in my file in the 20 years that I've been doing this. I expected it to be a write-up or coaching session, admonishment, something. Didn't expect to get terminated."

He said he was fired because of the language in the book and was told that choosing to read a book like that showed "poor professional judgment."

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Price said he was told he could resign but after talking with his wife, he declined: "She said 'if you resign, it's almost like saying that they were right and you shouldn't have done it."

Price said the students enjoyed the book and that, to his knowledge, no parents have complained. Some have even reached out to say they liked the book, he said.

"I always tell folks kids need fun and silly books. It's how you engage them. It's how you get their attention," Price said. "Because most kids think reading is boring, but if you can show them that it's fun and it could be silly, that's how you hook them. And hopefully if you hook them that way, they'll stay around, find out that books can be so many other really wonderful things."

Price, who has been an educator for 20 years, said he's gotten a lawyer and hopes he can get his job back.

"I have three kids, two with autism. I have a mortgage and bills to pay, but at the same time I would be lying to you if I said I wasn't terrified about going back because it would be different. It would be a really tense environment," he said.

He's hoping to at least have the termination taken off his record so he can get another job.

He's also worried this incident could cause teachers to be too careful about what books they read to students, or even cause some to leave the field.

"It's kind of scary because it sets a really dangerous precedent," he said, adding: "If you can pick up a book and read it and they can say 'you know what, you shouldn't have done that, you're fired,' educators everywhere are going to think twice before they ever pick up another book."

"It's not right. The kids need fun silly books. They just do. The world's a dark place. They need to laugh. We all need to laugh."

Hinds County School District did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.