Schools

District 41 Board To Mull Reinstating 'The Perks of Being a Wallflower' To 8th Graders

The District 41 Board of Education will mull whether to reinstate the book in a more limited manner. It will also discuss the future process for independent reading and parental notification.

To be, or not to be ... reinstated? That is the question.

The Glen Ellyn District 41 Board of Education will mull whether or not to reinstate The Perks of Being a Wallflower at Hadley Junior High Monday night during its board meeting being held at the Central Services Office at 7:30 p.m.

The District 41 Reconsideration Committee is recommending the book by Stephen Chbosky be reinstated in classroom libraries at 8th grade only, with the implementation of the additional safeguards, including a parent notification letter, according to District 41.

The committee recommended the book be reinstated last month, but in April, the board voted 4-2 — with one member not present — against the reinstatement of the book.

The board voted on the issue in late April after Hadley parents Jen and Brian Bradfield submitted their request to have the book removed after they said their daughter stopped reading it because of its disturbing content, including references to bestiality and coupons for free oral sex, Glen Ellyn Patch reported.

As the board reconsiders the book, The Kids’ Right to Read Project is attempting to sway the board in its decision. The group and other organizations, including a Glen Ellyn book store sent a letter to the board, urging them to reverse the ban on the book in middle school classroom libraries, according to a news release from the group.

The Kids’ Right to Read Project is an initiative founded by the National Coalition Against Censorship and the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression, and is supported by the Association of American Publishers and the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund.

Also joining in the letter were The Book Store of Glen Ellyn, The National Council of Teachers of English, Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing, The Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators and the Independent Book Publishers Association, according to a news release from the organization.

“Students read more, and more eagerly, when they are presented with choices,” Acacia O’Connor, Kids’ Right to Read Project Coordinator said in the release. “No Glen Ellyn child is being forced to read The Perks of Being a Wallflower. But it’s a powerful book that educators have judged to be valuable for supplemental reading. The students obviously care about it, and it should remain available.”

In addition to the board reconsidering the book, it will also discuss the future process for parent/teacher independent reading partnership and the letter used to inform parents about their student’s indpendent reading.


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