Texas School Board Reinstates
Snow Falling on Cedars
The Boerne (Tex.) Independent School District board voted 5–2 on September 20 to return Snow Falling on Cedars to the shelves of the Boerne High School library. The action reversed a unilateral decision made September 7 by Superintendent John Kelly to remove the critically acclaimed novel from the media center because it contains racial epithets and sexually graphic passages, but affirms his barring it from the curriculum. “It was the feeling of the majority of the board that the book belonged in the library, but not in the classroom,” board President DeeAnn Wilson said September 22 of the action.
Defending his decision, Kelly characterized as “inconsistent” deeming the book “unacceptable as mandatory reading for 12th-graders, yet acceptable for 9th-graders who visit the library.”
The board did not act on Kelly’s reprimand of English teacher Frances Riley for assigning the book. The Texas Federation of Teachers plans to appeal the disciplinary action, according to the September 22 San Antonio Express-News.
Posted September 27, 1999.
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