January 30, 2024 – Washington County, WI – EDITOR’S NOTE: This letter contains sensitive and graphic content. Please be advised before you move forward with reading.
If you’re under the impression that the West Bend School District is no longer pushing sexualized and violent books on young students, because The 57 Bus was removed from the Badger Middle School book club list last year, read on. Maybe you’ve also heard about or seen the new permission slips developed for book club choices that are supposed to share more details with parents and guardians.
Maybe you heard that the district’s school board set guidelines last fall to help set limits for what is unacceptable regarding obscene language, sexual content, and graphic violence in these reading books.
Don’t get too comfortable with these supposed changes. Check out the recent book club titles chosen by teachers and administrators for 7th, 10th, and 11th-grade students.
Last March a small group of residents and parents began to call out a few book club titles that were being used at Badger MS and the high schools. Two residents, Jody Geenen and myself, completed documentation to remove The 57 Bus from both middle school and high school use and to remove The Kite Runner from high school readers. District committees were made up of English teachers, school and district administrators, one parent per committee, and one student each for the high school reconsideration committees. During the summer, all three committees voted to keep The 57 Bus and The Kite Runner in their respective grades as book club titles. (Later the WBSD administration removed The 57 Bus from Badger, and The 57 Bus and The Kite Runner were placed on hold at the high schools,
until content guidelines and a new parental permission slip could be developed.)
On Friday, January 19, the school Injustice)district (on its website) released three lists of proposed book club titles for the 3rd Quarter, without any further public announcement. Those of us who have been working on reviewing book titles since last spring had only a few days to review a total of 43 books on three different book club lists (7th Grade Historical Fiction, 10th Grade English 2 A Hero’s Journey, and 11th Grade English 3. Any comments needed to be sent to the curriculum committee, made up of three school board members, by Tuesday, January 23. Three or four days is clearly not enough time to acquire, read, and comment on 43 books. Since last fall, we know that many books have escaped citizen review because the group of concerned residents has not had enough notice or time to fully vet the proposed books.
What we found was that the permission slips created by the district for each grade level were woefully incomplete, and the book selection committee did not even follow the school board guidelines for obscenity, sexual content, and graphic violence. (You can view the video of the Tues. Jan. 23 Curriculum Committee on the School Board page of the WBSD website.) For example, the 7th-grade book club list features three titles that have exceeded the obscene language limit and another three titles that have exceeded the graphic violence content set by the WBSD school board. In fact, the permission slips do not mention many details about the profanities or the violence. All We Have Left by Wendy Mills, according to the permission slip provided to parents, states in reference to obscene language:
“EXCEEDS, Hell, damn, crap, bitch, ass” but does not provide the number of times these words are used.
The Memory of Things by Gae Polisner also EXCEEDS the WBSD guideline for profanity but only provides the following: “F-word and derivatives, ass, shit.”
Once again parents will have no idea how frequently these words are used in the book. Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys violates the graphic violence guideline, with the following description: “EXCEEDS, Characters are abused, beaten, starved and shot. Characters are intentionally nearly buried alive.”
Another example of violent incidents exceeding the WBSD guidelines is Fire From the Rock by Sharon Draper. The permission slip states:
“EXCEEDS, Hangings, descriptive scene of a beating and then the dead body, physical bullying.”
All of these books have remained as student choices on the 7th-grade Historical Fiction book club list. The big question we should ask is: Why were these books chosen by WBSD employees for the 7th-grade Historical Fiction list if they were also deemed too graphically violent and/or obscene?
Regarding the 10th Grade English 2 A Hero’s Journey book club list, there are titles again that have graphic violence that exceeds the school board guidelines. The permission slip states that Life of Pi by Yann Martel “EXCEEDS, Graphic depictions of animal murder, human murder, and cannibalism.” Life of Pi has remained on this English 2 book club list.
Thankfully an administrative decision removed Concrete Rose by Angie Thomas from the English 2 book club list for sophomores. It was placed on the list by teachers and administrators despite exceeding the permitted amount of obscenity, sexual content, AND graphic violence. On the permission slip, there was incomplete information about the sexual content:
“Teens have intercourse. The Scene is described.”
The Scene in question is actually disgustingly detailed, in which the boy and girl involved “look down” at “it.” “I’m ready to put it down,” the boy says. They discuss whether he should “pull out before you—“ and how “it” feels different without a condom. Booklooks.org provided a profanity count, which totaled over 340 obscenities, with shit (151 times) and ass (109) leading the list. Once again, why was Concrete Rose selected for sophomores despite violating the district’s own rules on obscenity, sex, and violence?
The 11th Grade English 3 Injustice book club contains A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini, the same author of The Kite Runner. As I mentioned earlier, the latter book was brought to the district last June with a “reconsideration” or removal request because of its sexual and violent content (including a horrible man-on-boy rape scene). A Thousand Splendid Suns is similar in that the district’s own graphic violence guidelines are exceeded. According to the permission slip:
“War violence, domestic violence/torture, execution.” Despite stating there are “implied sexual acts,” the permission slip does not mention that the domestic violence indicated actually includes sexual assaults and rape. A Thousand Splendid Suns remains on the English 3 book club lists. (Note: As I mentioned earlier, The Kite Runner was removed from future book club lists after the June reconsideration process, until content guidelines and a new parental permission slip were developed.
During the Jan. 23 curriculum meeting, two out of the three board members decided to return The Kite Runner to the English 3 book club list. I am very appreciative that the WBSD administration made a determination the next day to remove The Kite Runner from this 3rd Quarter book club list.)
The Underground Railroad by Colton Whitehead (English 3 Injustice) is another title that exceeds the WBSD limits on graphic violence. The permission slip states ”EXCEEDS, Physical & psychological abuses of slavery… Many instances of cruelty and brutality. Hanged bodies are described. A man in stocks is whipped, castrated, and burned alive. A shooting at point-blank range.” The Underground Railroad has not been removed from the English 3 Injustice book club reading list.
Parents and caregivers are forewarned: the West Bend School District is continuing to promote many books that have questionable values that may not align with your family or faith. Do you want your students to be exposed to and influenced by books with profane language and graphic descriptions of sex and violence?
Addendum: The 57 Bus by Dashka Slater, which was requested to be removed last June from the high school reading list, has been returned to the English 3 Injustice book club, as the curriculum committee determined it did not exceed WBSD limits on graphic language, sexual content, and graphic violence.
Carol Heger
West Bend, WI
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