Pennsylvania School Board Weighs
Restricted-Book Area
The Tamaqua (Pa.) Area School Board is considering the establishment of a restricted-materials section in the district’s middle-school library for books that are deemed objectionable. Students would need parental permission to access any titles placed there. The proposal is the sixth attempt to revise the district’s book-selection policy following the challenges last fall by three TASD parents to Where the Heart Is by Billie Letts, Member of the Wedding by Carson McCullers, and We All Fall Down by Robert Cormier.
Board President Larry Wittig favors removing books containing profanity or descriptions of sex or violence. Among those opposing him is Pennsylvania School Press Association Executive Director George Taylor, who submitted the latest proposal. “There should be more options than just we keep the book or we ditch the book,” Taylor said in the April 2 Allentown Morning Call. Wittig concurred, noting that Taylor’s draft “says the parents should have the final decision, and I agree with that.”
Posted April 9, 2001.
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