Pengins in Place

I am pleased to read today that Dr. Hatrick has reversed his decision to censor And Tango Makes Three from Sugarland Elementary School. I am grateful that Dr. Hatrick initiated a full review of the process and responded appropriately to the discovery that the School Board’s policies were not followed in this case. It is clear that our policies require revisions to prevent this kind of controversy in the future, and the Legislative Policy Committee will begin this process tomorrow at 6pm.

I applaud the contributions of the members of the public who expressed their concern about the Superintendent’s decision and the challenge process. The public schools are a public trust, and work well only with public input.

Even baseless challenges and reversed decisions can have a chilling effect on freedom of speech in our schools. This event and the words of the Superintendent and the Board will not be far from the minds of our librarians when they select new titles for next year. Our policies call for a selection process designed “to bring students into contact with the human experience and… provide a wide range of materials on appropriate levels with a diversity of appeal and point of view,” and I hope that our librarians and principals will remember this and not be reluctant to challenge our diverse students with diverse library collections in the future.