Parents raise book concerns
It started with a couple of books. Mary Jo Finney saw what her children and their cousins were reading in their high school and middle school English classes. She said the sex and violence shocked her.
Finney filed complaints with the Coeur d’Alene School Board about two books, “Fallen Angels” by Walter Dean Myers and “Dancing at the Rascal Fair” by Ivan Doig. In response, the School Board placed parental permission restrictions on the titles.
But as Finney continued looking over the class book lists her children brought home and reading the passages they shared with her, she decided the problem was more widespread.
“I’m uncomfortable with giving adult material to underage kids,” she said. “Parents don’t know what is being provided to the kids, and kids aren’t telling.”
A committee of parents, teachers and administrators is reviewing five school library books Finney sees as inappropriate. Also at her request, the School Board on Monday will review its policy on classroom guest speakers and decide if a committee should look into changing it.
Finney wants classroom guests to provide recordings of presentations prior to their appearances so parents can review what they will say. The request stems from her attempts to review curriculum in high school health classes and her fear of what her children could be hearing.
“If that’s what they’re giving them for reading, what are they giving them in health class?” Finney asked. “I don’t want to embarrass the school system. I just simply want to hold them accountable to do their best to consider the concerns of the parent.”
Not a new phenomenon
In 2003, a parent decided that one of the most challenged books in the country, “The Chocolate War” by Robert Cormier, was too sexually explicit for his sixth-grade son and initiated a yearlong committee review that ended with the School Board adding a parental permission requirement to the book in middle school libraries.
In the late 1980s, the board removed an entire reading series from the schools after a “huge outcry” from parents and other community members, said Hazel Bauman, assistant superintendent.
“It’s not a new phenomenon,” Bauman said.
Until last summer, “The Chocolate War” was the only school library book with any restrictions. In June 2006, the board put a parental permission requirement on “Fallen Angels” in middle school libraries and “Dancing at the Rascal Fair” at the high schools.
That was the first high school library book regulated in the district, said Ann Burgeson, librarian at Coeur d’Alene High.
“I’ve seen a lot more of it happening than I ever have before,” Burgeson said. “It kind of goes in cycles.”
Now “Fallen Angels” and “The Chocolate War” are under review again – this time to determine if they should be restricted for high school students. Also under review are “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” by Maya Angelou, “Snow Falling on Cedars” by David Guterson and “Beloved” by Toni Morrison. All five have been challenged repeatedly in school districts across the country and are available in Coeur d’Alene’s high school libraries. None is required reading, said Jim Facciano, the district’s curriculum director.
Finney, fellow Coeur d’Alene resident Debbie Morris and their children have testified about their concerns at School Board meetings. They’ve read excerpts from the books and submitted papers documenting passages they find offensive, including paragraphs about child rape and sentences littered with profanity and racial slurs.
Parental complaints and inquiries about course curriculum happen frequently, but don’t always rise to the level of a formal complaint to the district, Bauman said. When it does, the complainant “is kind of acting on behalf of a larger audience,” she said.
To have five books under review in one year is rare, Bauman said.
“Usually it’s been about a book or two every couple of years. Sometimes it’s the same book,” she said. “At this point, we’re not experiencing a huge outcry. It seems to be restricted to these two families.”
Finney, who worries she’ll be seen as an overprotective mother, said if more parents knew what was in the books in the school libraries and on English class reading lists, there would be more community concern.
“I’m thinking what’s happened is parents are busy and they assume it’s all age-appropriate,” she said. “People don’t know what kind of content is in these books.”
Karen Estes, librarian at Canfield Middle School, said parental permission slips on “The Chocolate War” and “Fallen Angels” haven’t changed the number of kids checking out the books.
“Neither one of those titles had been checked out all that often to begin with,” she said. “The kids that are interested in them take the extra step.”
Walk that line
The committee charged with reviewing the books focuses on: how much of the book can be considered offensive, how does it relate to the book’s overall message and is that appropriate for the age group that can access it?
“If in fact the profanity or the sexual situations aren’t appropriate for the grade level, they shouldn’t be reading it,” Bauman said.
“We’ve gotta walk that line,” she continued. “Some parents will say they’re ready. Another family would say absolutely not.”
As a librarian, Burgeson leans on the side of no restrictions. “I believe that parents can definitely decide, and help their children decide, what they’re reading, but I think books need to be available to anyone and everyone,” she said.
Burgeson serves on the committee that’s reviewing the books. It doesn’t make the final decision. That’s up to the School Board. And its members don’t always agree with committee recommendations.
The committee reviewing “Dancing at the Rascal Fair” last year recommended no restrictions, but School Board members decided to require parental permission to check it out. The move was seen as a compromise between keeping the book in the library unregulated and removing it completely, Bauman said.
“We want to be careful that we’re not overreacting to one person’s sensitivity and then censoring materials that the vast majority of parents would find acceptable and even something they’d want their children to read,” she said.
Bauman praised the review system. “It would be concerning if in fact every complaint resulted in a book having limited access for all students, but that’s not the case,” she said.