Dropped assignment raises questions about book banning

 "At what point do you let parents decide the curriculum for an entire school?"

_

A very good question indeed and as much as I hate censorship of any kind, this was not part of the school curriculum.  But does it still make this summertime decision proper?

When asked about the dropped reading, Assistant Superintendent Scotty Crowe said the summer assignment was not part of the syllabus and can bypass review channels.

"We take censorship very seriously," Crowe said, after affirming that LCS officials were not a part of the decision. "But it wasn't a part of the true curriculum. We use summer reading as a way to keep kids engaged over the summer. The book will remain on the media center shelves and is not being banned."

A principal's ad-hoc decision to pull a summer reading assignment after a handful of parents slammed the book's content and language is calling into question Leon County Schools' censorship bylaws.

The book – an award-winning and critically acclaimed 2003 British novel, "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time," by Mark Haddon – is narrated by a 15-year-old mathematical whiz with cognitive disabilities, similar to autism and Asperger's Syndrome, who relays what he sees and hears in an almost emotionless way, including when adults around him curse or doubt the existence of God.

Critics of the decision say that dropping the assignment without going through a committee review process violates district bylaws and sets a troubling precedent.

"This case is very startling. A handful of parents are making choices for every other parent in that school," said Sarah Hoffman, a National Coalition Against Censorship program manager. "There is a reason policies are in place – to protect educators and the decisions they make.

"This seems like a knee-jerk reaction," she added.

According to LCS bylaws, when someone has an issue regarding instructional materials, including library books, a complaint is to be filed formally. Administrators and principals determine the validity of the complaint, and if they find that the allegations are warranted, the material goes to a committee that evaluates its "pedagogical and educational merits as a whole," Hoffman said.

After receiving "concerns over the delivery of the text" through emails and telephone calls, Lincoln High School Principal Allen Burch said he wanted to "give the opportunity for the parents to parent" and canceled the assignment. Students who already did the work could receive extra credit.

While the move was made to accommodate offended parents, others are displeased with the decision.

Dropped assignment raises questions about book banning