Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Board of Education Fremont Unified School District 4210 Technology Drive Fremont, CA 94538

Dear Members of the Fremont School Board, It is our understanding that the Board will soon be asked to approve curricular materials for Advanced Placement English Classes in the Fremont Unified School District for the 2012-2013 school year. As organizations concerned with the freedom to read, we urge you to approve Dorothy Allisons Bastard Out Of Carolina (Plume) for 12th grade AP English. The book was rejected two years ago and has once again been recommended by the Supplemental Instructional Materials Review committee. The upcoming vote provides an opportunity for the Board to show its respect for the First Amendment, for the professional judgment of it educators, and for the education of its most gifted and advanced students. Bastard Out of Carolina is a critically-acclaimed semiautobiographical novel about a young woman growing up in South Carolina in the 1950s and her encounters with physical and sexual abuse. A 1992 National Book Award nominee, the text explores issues of class, race and the struggles of women during that time. Library Journal said the work conveys a rich sense of family and portrays the psychology of a sexually abused child with sensitivity and insight. Reprinted for its twentieth anniversary, the book is now considered a modern literary classic. In terms of content, Bastard Out of Carolina is not unlike many books that the Board has approved for classroom teaching in FUSD. The Color Purple, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Waiting and We Were the Mulvaneys each deals with difficult subjects such as rape and violence and all are being taught in district English classrooms. These books, as well as Bastard Out of Carolina, are available for students to access independently in school libraries. If students can already read these books in the library, why shouldnt they be able to read them with the informed guidance of a teacher?

After the board rejected the adoption of Bastard in 2010, board members publicly questioned the merits of the book, objecting that the characters are not positive role models. If books portraying loathsome characters or unfortunate circumstances are to be eliminated, few works of great literary merit would remain. Gone would be The Great Gatsby, 1984, Wuthering Heights, Macbeth, King Lear and many other classics. As the Supreme Court has observed, attempts to eliminate everything that is objectionable...will leave public schools in shreds. Nothing but educational confusion and a discrediting of the public school system can result.... McCollum v. Board of Educ. (1948) (Jackson, J. concurring). Confronting difficult themes through literature is part of the educational mission of public schools in general and the AP program in particular. Indeed, the school district would put its students at a distinct educational disadvantage in college if it failed to prepare them to address literature of this sort. This concern is not insignificant, considering the fact that virtually all the students in AP English classes are college-bound, and many will attend highly competitive and demanding schools with students who have read works like Bastard Out of Carolina. Rejecting a book because some object to, or disapprove of, its content violates basic constitutional principles. Government officials, including public school administrators, may not prohibit the expression of an idea simply because society finds the idea itself offensive or disagreeable. Texas v. Johnson (1989); see also Board of Education, Island Trees Union Free School District No. 26 v. Pico (1982) (local school boards may not remove books from school libraries simply because they dislike the ideas contained in those books ). The task of selecting curricular materials properly belongs to professional educators who are charged with making pedagogically sound decisions. Those decisions are rarely overturned on First Amendment grounds when schools include material that has educational value, even if it is controversial, whereas rejection of controversial material may make a school district vulnerable to legal challenge. See Monteiro v. Tempe Union High School District (9th Cir. 1998) (recognizing the First Amendment right of students to read books selected for their legitimate educational value), Parker v. Hurley (1st Cir. 2008) (rejecting effort to remove books that offend parents and students religious beliefs), Pratt v. Independent School Dist. No. 831 (8th Cir. 1982) (First Amendment violated when films removed because of hostility to content and message), and Case v. Unified School Dist. No. 233 (D. Kan. 1995) (First Amendment violated by removing a book from school library based on hostility to its ideas.) In May 2011 we wrote to oppose the boards rejection of Tony Kushners award-winning play Angels in America. Both Angels and Bastard were rejected by the board against the recommendation of the districts Instructional Materials Review Committee. The authors of these two works are both well-known and outspoken about their own sexual orientations, and Kushners work explicitly addresses the experiences of gay men dealing with HIV/AIDS. Since other works with similarly mature subject matter are being taught in the district, removing these two works raises the question whether they have been excluded because of hostility to works by and about gays or lesbians.

We hope that you will follow the guidance of the district Materials Review Committee and approve adoption of the recommended 12th grade AP English curriculum. You may also want to consult the National Council of Teachers of Englishs Guidelines for Selection of Materials in English Language Arts Programs for further guidance regarding secondary textbook adoption procedures. Literature helps prepare students for the future by providing opportunities to explore difficult issues they, or someone they know, may encounter in life. Individual freedom, democracy, and a good education all depend upon protecting the right to read, inquire, question and think for ourselves. If we can be of any assistance, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Sincerely,

Joan Bertin Executive Director National Coalition Against Censorship 19 Fulton Street, Suite 407 New York, NY 10038 (212) 807-6222 ext. 101 Bertin@ncac.org

Chris Finan President American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression 19 Fulton Street, Suite 407 New York, NY 10038 (212) 587-4025 ext. 4 chris@abffe.org

Judith Platt Director, Free Expression Advocacy Association of American Publishers

Florrie Kichler President The Independent Book Publishers Association

Kent Williamson Executive Director National Council of Teachers of English

Charles Brownstein Executive Director Comic Book Legal Defense Fund

Larry Siems Director, Freedom to Write & International Programs PEN American Center

Stephen Mooser President Society of Childrens Book Writers & Illustrators

CC: James Morris, Superintendent, Fremont Unified School District