Coeur d’Alene School Board votes 4-1 to keep ‘Of Mice and Men’ for 9th grade English

The Coeur d’Alene school board voted 4-1 last night to keep John Steinbeck’s “Of Mice and Men” as an option for the district’s teachers to assign their 9 ^th grade English classes, prompting one outspoken opponent to call on people to pull their kids out of the school district. Trustee Dave Eubanks pointed out that in 13 years of tracking the book’s use in Coeur d’Alene schools, the district has not received one parent complaint about it, and no families have opted to have their children read something else in class, as district policy permits.

“I think our community has already clearly made its decision: no problem, leave it where it is, require whole-group instruction,” Eubanks said. Trustee Tom Hearn said, “We need to trust the judgment of our English teachers to use this book wisely, as we have since 2002.” S-R reporter Scott Maben has a full report here . An ad hoc committee of parents had criticized language used in the book and its “negative” theme; teachers, parents, former students and literary groups all spoke out for continued use of the book in class.