A book that was scheduled to be distributed to health classes at Jefferson Middle School this week will now remain out of students' hands, at least for the time being, because of a challenge that will be filed by concerned parents.
Students in Jennifer Restivo's seventh- and eighth-grade health classes at the school were scheduled to begin in-class reading of the book Go Ask Alice, a novel in the form of a diary of a teenage girl from middle-class America who began using drugs at a young age. However, when a letter went home to parents last week explaining that some aspects of the book - specifically profanity and sexual activity - might cause concern, parent Wendy Kum was prompted to research the book.
Discovering many websites pertaining to controversy about the book being used in schools, in addition to seeing some excerpts from the book that raised even more questions and concerns, Mrs. Kum and her husband went to Waldenbooks and purchased a copy to read it for themselves.
What she and her husband found, she said, shocked her.
''I couldn't believe what I was reading - I could not believe what I was seeing,'' Mrs. Kum said. ''I'm thinking to myself that my child is 13, and this is a book for college level. This is not appropriate in a middle school for 13-year-olds.''
A FORMAL COMPLAINT
Mike McElrath, director of middle-level education at Jamestown Public Schools, said that parents are given the chance to opt out from having their children participate in any lesson or activity they find offensive or inappropriate. However, after meeting with McElrath and other members of the administration earlier this week, the Kums are planning to take steps to have the book removed from the curriculum throughout Jamestown Public Schools.
The Kums must fill out a form called a Citizen's Request for Re-Evaluation of Instructional Material, McElrath said, that will formalize their request to have the book evaluated at all levels of the JPS administration as well as the school board.
''It puts it on the record that this is more than just a parent call,'' McElrath said. ''They'll fill it out, talk about the book in question, what parts they're concerned about ... and what they feel might happen from the use of this material.''
A committee will eventually be appointed to officially review the book, McElrath said. Typically, such a committee would include a school librarian, faculty members from the English department, a representative from the curricular area in question and an administrator.
The review wouldn't just be of the content of the book, McElrath said, but also of the teacher's lesson plan and how the text is being used to supplement necessary aspects of the curriculum.
''The book itself is one thing, but how it's presented and how the information is shared with the students, how the teacher processes with the kids, is really the bigger body of work that we're looking at,'' McElrath said.
McElrath said that he appreciated the fact that the parental concern was raised and brought to his level so that appropriate guidelines could be followed. Getting the process started quickly could bring resolution without dragging matters out, he said.
''(The parents) will probably have this by the end of the week to us, we'll appoint the committee, and we'll probably start getting together next week,'' he said. ''The process will begin and the parents will be informed as to our decision on this.''
'THIS IS NOT LITERATURE'
Go Ask Alice, first published in 1971, is presented in the form of the diary of a young girl whose life spirals downward as she becomes addicted to drugs. It is often taught in schools as a testimony against drug use, though it has been a frequent subject for censorship.
Mrs. Kum said she was disgusted when both Mrs. Restivo and Sunny Linden - the district's coordinator of family consumer science, physical education and health - defended the book for its educational value.
''I'm thinking to myself, 'How can you defend this?''' Mrs. Kum said. ''(Mrs. Linden) is trying to explain to me that you have to take it in the whole to get the idea, but I'm thinking to myself, 'No, because there are a lot of offensive things in this book.' And then she's trying to say to me that they 'chunk it out' when the teacher reads it, and I'm thinking to myself, 'How can you chunk it out when there are offensive things on every single page?'''
Calling the language ''unbelievable,'' considering instances of explicit sexual content in the book, Mrs. Kum said she could not agree with the description of the book as ''literature.''
''Dickens is literature, Shakespeare is literature, Jane Austen is literature,'' Mrs. Kum said. ''In my opinion, this is not literature - this is trash.''
Mrs. Kum said she is not objecting to the concept that students be taught that drug use has dangerous consequences. However, she said, in her opinion there are much more appropriate vehicles by which that lesson can be given.
''I want the material removed, and I would like the taxpayers reimbursed for the money that was spent on such offensive books,'' Mrs. Kum said. ''The school district has no business spending our money on such trash.''
MAKING IT REAL FOR STUDENTS
Mrs. Linden said that Go Ask Alice has been already used in health classes at Persell Middle School for several years with no concerns. In fact, she said, students there have had a great deal of success in learning lessons about the dangers of drug use from the powerful messages the book conveys.
''Kids have been walking out with what she needs them to know and be able to know, in terms of achieving skills and those types of things,'' Mrs. Linden said. ''We've really felt that this book was helpful in that regard. Upon sharing that with the other teachers, the teacher (at Jefferson) decided to try it, so she was wanting to use it this year.''
The book connects with students in a way that a textbook or other technique of teaching cannot, Mrs. Linden said, because it speaks to them in a manner that is real.
''They feel like they're reading something that's real, and as a result it has an impact on them,'' she said. ''It makes them concerned about any use of drugs and what can happen in your life.''
Looking at a student worksheet that was planned to accompany readings of the book, Mrs. Linden cited issues of running away from home, breakdowns in family relationships and peer pressure that are brought up during daily lessons. Calling the book an ''interest piece,'' she said that students would be intrigued to come back to class each day and find out what happens to Alice next - just as they would with any story that is read to them on a daily basis.
''It allows the teacher the opportunity to take something that feels real and break it apart without having something really happen,'' Mrs. Linden said, adding that much of the profanity and graphic content can be skipped over through careful planning by the teacher. ''We certainly don't want things to happen to our children - we know that these things are happening throughout our country - but the literature allows us the opportunity to let the kids see the scenario without it being something that is actually happening to them.''
And while Mrs. Kum says that she is well aware that there are likely students in the school who are going through the very same issues as the book's Alice right now, she believes that the classroom is no place for students to be given material that exposes others to such language and content.
''When you send your kid to school, you're trusting that adult heads are going to be there - you're not expecting them to have this kind of stuff in their face,'' she said. ''School is supposed to be a comfortable, safe place that they can go to.''
