Vulgar Display of Orange
01-27-2010, 06:20 AM
Union parent wants book off the shelves (http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=331&articleid=20100127_19_A1_Aparen780908)
By CLIFTON ADCOCK World Staff Writer
Published: 1/27/2010 2:24 AM
Last Modified: 1/27/2010 4:42 AM
The Union school board will decide Wednesday whether a children's book objected to by a parent will remain on the shelves of one of the district's elementary school libraries.
The issue comes before the board after a parent brought her concerns to the district's Materials Review Committee in October. The committee ultimately ruled that the book should be kept on library shelves.
Superintendent Cathy Burden said books' being brought before the board for review is a rare occurrence.
"I've been here 16 years, and we've never had a book reviewed by the board of education," she said.
The board could decide to keep the book on the shelves, remove the book or offer alternatives that could limit access to it.
The book in question is "Buster's Sugartime" by Marc Brown, an adaptation of an episode of the "Postcards from Buster" series that airs on PBS.
The episode was pulled from many PBS stations in early 2005 after controversy erupted because it showed two same-sex couples. "Sugartime," like other episodes from the series, is a combination of animated and live-action spots that feature Buster visiting children and their families with a wide range of backgrounds. In this particular episode, Buster visits Vermont during "Mud Season" to learn about the state and how maple syrup is made.
Most of the episode is devoted to Buster's following the children of a same-sex couple as they play, make cookies, visit a dairy, have dinner and make maple syrup.
Vermont was the first state to legalize same-sex civil unions in 2000 and legalized same-sex marriage last year.
The book is a condensed version of the episode. Of the story's 31 pages of text and pictures, two short passages mention the same-sex couple; one picture at the book's end features the two same-sex couples and their children together; and a drawn picture of one of the couples is in a scene's background.
The two passages state: "Buster went to visit his mom's friends Karen and Gillian. They had three children ..." and "Lily's moms, Tracy and Gina, were very good cooks."
According to the minutes of the school district's seven-person review committee's Oct. 29 meeting, the parent who filed the request for review said that on Sept. 2 her kindergarten-age son brought the book home from Thomas Jefferson Elementary School's media center.
Once the parent read the book, she said she and her husband thought the reference to "two moms" was appropriate for elementary-age children and that she thought it was the author's intent to expose children to same-sex marriage, according to the minutes.
The parent also told the group that "since Oklahoma law does not recognize same sex marriages, they (the parents) feel the subject matter is inappropriate for Jefferson media center," according to the documents.
After reviewing the case, the committee voted 6-1 to keep the book on the library shelves, citing the fact that several books in district libraries show different family structures and noting that children of same-sex parents who might relate to the book attend the district.
"The committee felt that it was the author's intent to expose different family structures. It was decided that the author was making a statement," the minutes state. "Maybe in Vermont, mud season, how maple syrup is tapped from trees and family structure of this type is accepted."
The school board will meet at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Union Public Schools Education Service Center, 8506 E. 61st St.
**
I hope an angry mob shows up to the board meeting with torches and pitchforks a la Simpsons.
By CLIFTON ADCOCK World Staff Writer
Published: 1/27/2010 2:24 AM
Last Modified: 1/27/2010 4:42 AM
The Union school board will decide Wednesday whether a children's book objected to by a parent will remain on the shelves of one of the district's elementary school libraries.
The issue comes before the board after a parent brought her concerns to the district's Materials Review Committee in October. The committee ultimately ruled that the book should be kept on library shelves.
Superintendent Cathy Burden said books' being brought before the board for review is a rare occurrence.
"I've been here 16 years, and we've never had a book reviewed by the board of education," she said.
The board could decide to keep the book on the shelves, remove the book or offer alternatives that could limit access to it.
The book in question is "Buster's Sugartime" by Marc Brown, an adaptation of an episode of the "Postcards from Buster" series that airs on PBS.
The episode was pulled from many PBS stations in early 2005 after controversy erupted because it showed two same-sex couples. "Sugartime," like other episodes from the series, is a combination of animated and live-action spots that feature Buster visiting children and their families with a wide range of backgrounds. In this particular episode, Buster visits Vermont during "Mud Season" to learn about the state and how maple syrup is made.
Most of the episode is devoted to Buster's following the children of a same-sex couple as they play, make cookies, visit a dairy, have dinner and make maple syrup.
Vermont was the first state to legalize same-sex civil unions in 2000 and legalized same-sex marriage last year.
The book is a condensed version of the episode. Of the story's 31 pages of text and pictures, two short passages mention the same-sex couple; one picture at the book's end features the two same-sex couples and their children together; and a drawn picture of one of the couples is in a scene's background.
The two passages state: "Buster went to visit his mom's friends Karen and Gillian. They had three children ..." and "Lily's moms, Tracy and Gina, were very good cooks."
According to the minutes of the school district's seven-person review committee's Oct. 29 meeting, the parent who filed the request for review said that on Sept. 2 her kindergarten-age son brought the book home from Thomas Jefferson Elementary School's media center.
Once the parent read the book, she said she and her husband thought the reference to "two moms" was appropriate for elementary-age children and that she thought it was the author's intent to expose children to same-sex marriage, according to the minutes.
The parent also told the group that "since Oklahoma law does not recognize same sex marriages, they (the parents) feel the subject matter is inappropriate for Jefferson media center," according to the documents.
After reviewing the case, the committee voted 6-1 to keep the book on the library shelves, citing the fact that several books in district libraries show different family structures and noting that children of same-sex parents who might relate to the book attend the district.
"The committee felt that it was the author's intent to expose different family structures. It was decided that the author was making a statement," the minutes state. "Maybe in Vermont, mud season, how maple syrup is tapped from trees and family structure of this type is accepted."
The school board will meet at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Union Public Schools Education Service Center, 8506 E. 61st St.
**
I hope an angry mob shows up to the board meeting with torches and pitchforks a la Simpsons.