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Depew committee to examine, offer report on 'Alaska' merits
By John J. Hopkins Times
Tuesday's meeting of the Depew Board of Education was moved from the board room to the high school auditorium, where more than 200 persons in attendance heard that a select committee will review a book that has created controversy within the community. At issue is the "young adult" novel Looking for Alaska, a coming-of-age story about an eleventh-grade boy attending an Alabama boarding school.
The novel, written by John Green, has come under fire from a handful of parents who object to its coarse language and a few passages of explicit sexual content.
Some educators say that the book realistically portrays issues that high school students deal with every day, such as teen drinking, peer pressure and coping with the death of a loved one. However, some parents have labeled the book "pornographic."
"Would any of you be willing to read this book out loud in a public meeting word-for-word as printed?" Gabrielle Miller asked the school board. "Is this the best book to promote the school's mission? What will be next: free condom distribution or unisex showers in the school buildings?"
The novel is critically acclaimed and won the American Library Association's 2006 Michael L. Printz Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature.
It also has the backing of the 17,000-member National Council of Teachers of English, which sent a letter to Depew Superintendent Kimberly Mueller and Board of Education President Steve Carmina supporting the novel.
"Looking for Alaska, like A Separate Peace, is the sort of young adult literature we want our high school students to read," wrote the NCTE's Millie Davis. "(It is) intellectually challenging, complex in themes and characters, and appropriate for and about their age group."
Carmina said the committee will review the book and offer its report at the board's March 4 meeting.
Mueller told the Times that the committee consists of the high school principal, English Department chairperson, eleventh grade English teachers and the district media specialist. The assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction will head the committee.
Green himself has weighed in on the issue through a video he posted on the Web site YouTube and through an open letter to the community.
Green's YouTube message apparently was played in English classes at Depew High School. Dozens of students attended Tuesday's meeting.
Four other district residents spoke against the book at Tuesday's meeting.
David Burkhardt noted that the student handbook prohibits the kind of coarse language that is used in the book.
"I don't believe we should be using taxpayers' money to buy this book," said Burkhardt. "If it can't be said in class, then I don't think it's an appropriate book."
Jane Wiercioch, president of the Depew-Cheektowaga Taxpayers Association, said that the material is "disgusting" and "leads to immoral thoughts."
"As a taxpayer advocate we do not
believe out children should be shortchanged
in their education," Wiercioch said. "English, which once was perceived to broaden one's scope of the language, has now been reduced to reading pornographic material."
Wiercioch compared the literature to recent attempts by educators and politicians to crack down on Internet pornography and said she will address the book with the office of New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo.
Reverend Nelson C. McCall of Hillview Baptist Church said that much of Looking for Alaska's content is an extension of what students see daily on the Internet and cable television.
"At Hillview, we teach our children about what we expose our eyes and our minds to," McCall said. "You may talk about freedom of speech, but we're quick to take toys with lead in their paint off the market. Apparently there's some pressure in the school to push the book."
In his letter, Green explained that the one sexually explicit encounter between two characters in his novel is included to serve as contrast to the next scene in which a less physito cally intimate romantic encounter is "nonetheless infinitely more rich and emotionally fulfilling" than the scene before.
This is lost, Green argues, when one takes select passages from his book without the full context.
"Some will argue that teens will miss this when reading the book, that they lack the critical ability to approach a novel as a work of art," Green wrote. "I disagree. Students in eleventh grade have been reading novels as literature for years. Good books must always credit their readers with intelligence; so, too, must good English classes."
One parent wished to speak in support of the book, but because she did not submit a request to speak in writing to the district office by 1 p.m. Monday, she was not allowed to speak.
Depew honor students, who take advanced placement English courses, are not reading Looking for Alaska.
Mueller said that honors students take a different exam from the Regents students.
"There are differences between the two exams, that's why they've (educators) chosen different literature to prepare the students," Mueller said.
Green encourages the community to contact him by e-mail with further questions. He may be reached at me@sparksflyup.com.
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