Better keep your eye on your schools folks with gay marriage comes even more of this crap.
Posted on 07/13/2009 8:14:22 PM PDT by Maelstorm
Litchfield – Litchfield school officials reacted swiftly to an outcry from parents concerned about stories students were assigned to read in a Campbell High School English class.
"Some of these stories contained explicit, vulgar and gratuitous language and school administrators have determined that these stories are not appropriate for a high school curriculum," School Superintendent Elaine Cutler said in a statement yesterday.
She said some stories assigned in the Short Stories class have been immediately removed from the curriculum and the entire course will be "reviewed and revised" over the summer.
The statement comes one day after approximately 25 parents and community members attended a school board meeting to voice their concerns.
"In this case, there was an error in judgement," school board Chairman Dennis Miller said. "We want to reassure the public this is not something we want taught."
Parent Sue Ann Johnson first raised concerns to Campbell administrators on June 8 when she sent Shorts Stories teacher Meredith Potter an e-mail after learning the David Sedaris story "I Like Guys," about the author's exploration of his own sexuality, was assigned to her son.
"When talking with our children about school work, we discovered an assignment regarding a story that my husband and I believe to be completely inappropriate for high school," Johnson wrote to Potter. She said the story, "left me wondering who is in charge of what our children are exposed to under the guise of 'education.'"
In correspondence provided by Johnson, Potter wrote back that "the essay is in an approved textbook, and I am sorry if you feel it is inappropriate. I did not write the curriculum for the class, but am following the one that was established previously and approved by the school administration.
"If you have further concerns, I can only point you to the English department curriculum facilitator, Kathleen Reilly."
Other stories that were questioned included "The Crack Cocaine Diet" by Laura Lippman, an Ernest Hemingway short story that includes statutory rape and discussion about abortion, and the Stephen King story "Survivor Type."
Johnson said she met four days later with Reilly, who she said defended the inclusion of the Sedaris story as well as others.
Reilly did not respond to a request for comment last night.
The decision of the district to remove the stories was lauded by Johnson and Kevin Smith, a Litchfield resident who is the executive director of the conservative Cornerstone Policy Research.
"Hopefully, someone will be held accountable," said Smith, who also attended Wednesday's meeting. "But this is a great first step. I think it shows common sense prevailed in this case."
Smith said his group made phone calls to Litchfield residents before the school board meeting to make them aware of the issue.
"The first step is up to parents to make sure this stuff isn't being taught in their child's classroom," Smith said.
State Rep. Laura Gandia, who also attended Wednesday's meeting, said she requested the subject of curriculum to be put on the agenda for next Wednesday's school board meeting.
"There are still unanswered questions," Gandia said. "People still need to be held accountable."
Look, here’s another one.
Homo perverts used to lurk in public toilets. Now they run our public schools.
PMSNBC’s Shyster will be all over this tomorrow. Nah.
Well, at least it’s safe to use public toilets again.
I must be older than you. Shakespeare, Donne, and Milton were required reading for us. We read "Catcher in the Rye" in secret.
Heck we had to do Candide. One of my female teachers took pity on me and also gave me a copy of a book called Flossie by Anon. to read. But I don’t want to talk about that.
parsy, who has a few secrets here and there
‘Short story’...Writer talk for ‘I was too high to develop this concept into a real story’.
David Sedaris has been gay for a long long time.
99% of his writing has NO gay content.
AND he is quite simply one of America’s best and funniest writers.
I had to look it up.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Go_Ask_Alice
Sounds like a very uplifting story. j/k
So?....The teacher just had to find one of the 1% that had gay content? Unbelievable!
By the way, his “Santaland Diaries” are very funny and perceptive. I read them aloud to my homeschoolers. ( And,..Yes, there is some very tame homosexual content.)I wouldn't assign them for other people's children to read, though.
Agreed!
His story entitled “A Plague of Tics”, about his OCD, is one of the most hilarious things I have ever read.
Looks like lots of blame shifting going on there.
I haven't read any of his books, but I do have a book by his whacked-out sister, Amy Sedaris. She is a freak...I love her!
I certainly wouldn't want to see any gay content in my kids' school assignments, but I wouldn't mind reading Sedaris's "clean" stuff for myself if he's as funny as I've heard.
Actually, I shoulda said 99.9 %!
And yes, the teacher just HAD to find that miniscule area where he discusses his homosexuality/
That is no fault of David Sedaris’s though.
I actually think of him more as “the humorist that still smokes”, not “the gay humorist”.
Amy S. is one of the funniest actresses/people in general alive. The book you’re talking about must be I LIKE YOU:
Hospitality under the Influence. Totally hilarious. I dare not pick up a copy when I’m at BORDERS, because every page starts me chortling, and drawing attention to myself.
Yep, that’s the book! It is so funny! She has a chapter called “And Rabbits.” Some of her “bullet points” about rabbits are:
—”Rabbits can live 7 to 9 or 8 to 10 years. Face it, it’s a crapshoot.”
—”A rabbit’s closest relative is the horse, but whenever they ask to borrow money their phone calls are never returned.”
—”A rabbit’s droppings are really easy to pick up. I don’t even have to wash my hands afterward and they are a great way to spruce up a salad.”
You should just break down and buy the book instead of fighting the chortling in Borders. It’s a scream! She is sooooooo funny on the screen, too, isn’t she?! I’ve only seen her in a few things; should do a Google search to see where all she has appeared. I saw her on Letterman several years ago (when I still watched him occasionally!) and she was so goofy and unpredictable that you could tell he didn’t know what to make of her or how to respond to her kooky comments and anecdotes. He was totally charmed, though. Totally.
Parents doing what parents should have been doing all along. Holding the teachers accountable. Had this been going on since the 60’s, some public schools wouldn’t be the cesspools they are now.
And the liberals wouldn’t have a leg to stand on.
Oh man. Well, I’m sure I’m alone here in saying I love Sedaris’ work! I disagree with him on many things but I think he’s funny as h*ll. BUT his work is in no way appropriate for high school kids! Serious lapse of judgment there. I’d be incensed if my kids were *assigned* his work to read in HS. It’s adult fare only.
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