District 41 Votes In Favor of 'Perks of Being a Wallflower'

After receiving hundreds of letters, e-mails and even feedback from teen lit author Judy Blume, the Glen Ellyn District 41 Board of Education voted 6-1 to reintroduce The Perks of Being a Wallflower back into the Hadley Junior High library,  making it available to eighth grade students.

The Board met Monday night and discussed the matter, which became a source of controversy after the district voted in late April to pull the book from library shelves. 

Parents, students and community members attended the meeting, many raising concerns about the book being banned and imploring the district to reinstate it, according to a story in the Chicago Tribune. Students worked to rally community support, posting a video on YouTube and circulating a petition.

The District 41 Reconsideration Committee recommended the book by Stephen Chbosky be reinstated in classroom libraries at eighth 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.

Over the weekend two students asked author Judy Blume to share her thoughts on the district’s ban of the book. Blume spoke about the issue at the Printers Row Lit Fest and donated $5,000 in prize money she was awarded at the festival to the the National Coalition Against Censorship, which was fighting the book’s removal.

The National Coalition Against Censorship’s Kid’s Right to Read Project and other organizations, including a Glen Ellyn bookstore sent a letter to the board, urging them to reverse the ban on the book in middle school classroom libraries.

The dissenting vote on the board was from Board President Sam Black, who has said in the past he did not think the book belonged in schools, the Tribune reported.

Some students and adults spoke out in support of the parents who originally raised concerns over the book after they said their daughter stopped reading it because of its “disturbing content.”

Over the summer, the board plans to discuss the policy related to the parent/teacher independent reading partnership. Board members believe the policy needs to be more detailed, the Tribune reported.