Wilsonville Spokesman Online

Banned books lesson stirs controversy

Athey Creek Middle School parents upset over profanity-laced presentation

• By: Josh Kulla  
• Published: 12/31/2009 9:58:26 AM

Free speech can come with a hefty price tag.

A West Linn middle school teacher recently found that out the hard way, as a language arts presentation dealing with banned book led to a series of parent protests to school administrators and ultimately the West Linn-Wilsonville School Board.

“My son is not challenged by vulgarity,” said West Linn resident Elizabeth Thieds, whose son is an eighth grade student at Athey Creek Middle School, which enrolls students from both West Linn and Wilsonville. “He is offended by it and the hostile environment it creates.”

Thieds and her husband, Jeff, spoke before the school board Dec. 7 in protest of a presentation by Athey Creek teacher/librarian Michael Diltz that included two common profanities scrawled on a chalkboard.
Students also were presented with a list of common profane words and expressions, as well as books with sexual themes. Students were asked to repeat the profanities, all part of a wide-ranging discussion about free speech and censorship.

The Thieds and several others in attendance, however, saw the inclusion of what they termed “obscenities” as inappropriate for children no older than 14. Jeff Thieds even went so far as to suggest the rights of parents were being “usurped” by Diltz’s actions, while Elizabeth Thieds said she has requested that Diltz be removed from the classroom.

“This is not a freedom of speech issue,” said Athey Creek parent Christopher Verbiest. “We’re talking about 14 year old boys and young girls – minors. A school cannot hide behind the First Amendment with minors. Context does not change offensive language and behavior. Period.”

District officials declined to comment on any possible administrative action, saying district policy prevents them from discussing issues involving personnel.

Coursework on banned books and free speech has been a staple of language arts curriculum in the school district’s three middle schools for at least 10 years.

Eighth grade students at Athey Creek typically spend several weeks of language arts classes studying banned books, censorship and related issues. Students are presented with books ranging from “Catch 22” and “Catcher in the Rye” to more racy material such as “Spanking Shakespeare.”

Unlike Athey Creek, however, Wood Middle School never has offered a stand-alone unit on this material, principal Barb Soisson said.

“I think some of the issues are addressed, but we don’t have a separate, stand alone banned book unit,” she said. “There’s kind of been awareness of censorship and literature, but it’s not a stand-alone unit.”
What sets this incident apart, district superintendent Roger Woehl said, is the use of profanity in presenting material to students. Woehl said that to his knowledge, this never has happened at any of the district’s three middle schools.

“From our perspective, we are not condoning the way the profanity was used or presented,” Woehl said. “We’ll take action to see that it’s not designed that way in the future.”

He emphasized that district curriculum was not driving protests. Rather, it was the manner in which controversial material was presented in this case.

“The curriculum is really very good curriculum,” Woehl said. “It’s designed to have kids think about the reasons why books are banned, and they’re supposed to choose a book that has been banned somewhere in the world, books that we have in the Athey Creek library, which means we approve these books, they’re on the shelf.

“It’s not the curriculum; it’s the presentation in this case.”

BOARD APOLOGIZES
A number of Athey Creek parents, however, defended Diltz and his presentation.
West Linn resident Dan Kraus, a former U.S. Marine Corps officer, told the board that context, indeed, was all-important when discussing what had happened.

He also suggested that virtually all 14-year-olds are daily exposed to similar language and worse outside the school environment, all without the structured context of the classroom.

“In four years, these kids will be able to step off the bus at the USMC depot in San Diego or Parris Island, and they’ll hear a lot of words that are a lot worse,” he said.

Fellow Athey Creek parent Lonnie Webb agreed.

“Without taking the whole conversation into context, it means nothing,” he said. “In this case, those words did have meaning, and a very strong meaning.”

School board members, however, apologized to the Thieds and others who might have been offended.
“We really are sorry,” board chairman Jeff Hallin said. “The way it was approached is not in keeping with the values of this district, and we’re very sorry it was handled this way.”

Afterward, Woehl said conversation already has started about the protests, Diltz’s presentation and how this can further discussion about the very issues that caused such a reaction in the first place.

“There’s some irony there,” he said.

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