‘The Natural’ will stay on list

A novel that some parents in the Central Valley School District feel contains sexual content too explicit for 10th-graders will remain on the sophomore reading list at both of the district’s high schools.

The district’s Instructional Materials Committee on Wednesday decided the fate of Bernard Malamud’s “The Natural,” after a parent voiced concern over the book last year.

Donna Orme filed a formal challenge asking that the book, a novel about baseball that was first published in 1952, be removed as a reading requirement from the schools after her daughter came to her because she felt uncomfortable with several of the passages in the book.

In her challenge, Orme cited 15 pages that she felt were sexually explicit and inappropriate for high school students, including a few intimate scenes describing the moments before intercourse. In her statement, she likened the book to pornography.

“I’m surprised and disappointed,” Orme said. “I think the decision says a lot to me about how much of a gap there is between parents and the schools, that we do see things a lot differently and not always for the better.”

Orme brought her request before the school board in June, and the board advised her to go through the formal process of asking that the book be removed. The committee, made up of parents, teachers and administrators, was charged with making the decision.

Tere von Marbod, a district administrator, said that while she and other committee members agreed that the book should stay, they determined that the district needs to develop a system in which parents can be notified ahead of time about what their children will be reading.

“This is a book that needs to be taught. It isn’t something that you just put in kids’ hands,” von Marbod said.

Students will also continue to have the choice of not reading the book if they are uncomfortable with it, and teachers will provide another book for the student to read, though that will be done independent from the rest of the class.

“I stand behind this book,” said Dave Smith, an English teacher at University High School. “It is not just about baseball. It is not about sex. It is about what decision each of us must make and the consequences.”

Smith spoke before the committee Wednesday, and he said he has never been confronted by any students or parents about the book before now. He has taught the book for three years. The book is also used at Central Valley High School.

“This is a book that shows heroes fail and the need to find heroes within ourselves,” Smith said. The main character in the book, Roy Hobbs, sets out to accomplish his dream of playing in the major leagues. But along the way he makes bad choices, and they follow him, ultimately leading to his failure.

Orme charges that the book preaches promiscuous sex, because three of the characters engage in sex outside of marriage.

Smith challenged Orme’s assertions about the book, saying that out of the 171 pages in the book, the sexually explicit phrases amounted to only about a page and a half.

Smith said Orme took passages out of context and used them to create a paragraph of phrases joined by ellipses. She used that to persuade more than 60 people to sign a petition to have the book removed.

“Petitions that deal only with a few sentences have no validity whatsoever with regard to First Amendment rights,” Smith said.

Orme wasn’t convinced of his argument.

“That’s like saying we’re going to read a Playboy magazine because there aren’t pictures on every page,” Orme said.

She said she wanted to invite a small group of parents who also opposed the book to Wednesday’s meeting but was told she couldn’t. “They told me it wasn’t that kind of meeting,” Orme said.

After hearing comments from Smith and Orme, the committee excused them, and closed the meeting for discussion and to make a decision, in apparent violation of the Washington state open public meetings act. Von Marbod later acknowledged the violation and apologized.

Orme can appeal the committee’s decision to the school board, but she said she hasn’t decided whether she will.

“This literature doesn’t meet the needs of our students, it’s morally degrading and portrays many vices,” Orme said. “I don’t feel like it was written with the intent of being read by children or adolescents.”