Complaint about Huck Finn in CT.

From the Journal Inquirer:

The investigation is happening because the parent of an MHS student in the junior English class whose reading list included the book complained about its language, Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum and Instruction Ann Richardson said. When asked, Richardson confirmed the complaint relates to the use of a racial slur, "nigger," which appears in the book more than 200 times.

The parent hasn't filed a written complaint with the school system's central office yet, Ouellette said, but because of the parent's oral complaint administrators are looking into when and if the school board ever approved the book.

The article outlines the school's policies on book challenges, which sounds like a comprehensive one -- there is a very specific procedure to go through, from an informal meeting with the teacher to a more formal meeting with the principal to a formal written complaint.  Also, check this out from the School Board Policy 6161: Selection of Instructional Materials:

A complaint may be made only against non-textbook literature-based fictional/non-fictional instructional material listed in the "Essential Reading" section of the instructional materials used in a course. "Essential Reading" is required of all students enrolled in a course.

From the same policy:

3. Both strengths and weaknesses will be considered and opinions will be based on the materials as a whole and not on passages pulled out of context.

I wonder if the policy is a result of a past book challenge, or if they're just on the ball.  Nice one, either way.

Comments

[Andrew Karre]

That seems like a fairly enlightened challenge policy. If you've got to have one, at least mandate that someone actually read the whole book. Have you seen many other challnege policies? Are they typically well thought out?

[Leila]

Yeah, my library requires that the challenger read the book.

I haven't looked very closely at very many of them. It seems, though, judging from the articles I've read, that very often, challenge situations are made much more difficult by not having clear guidelines in place.