Vol. 38, No. 2 V June 2013 Free People Read Freely®
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Freedom tonews Read Foundation VOL. 38, NO. 2 V JUNE 2013 FREE PEOPLE READ FREELY® Chicago Public Schools AWARDS & GRANTS nixes Persepolis (for Amanda Meeks named 2013 some)—FTRF seeks Gordon Conable details Conference In March, the Freedom to Read Foundation submitted Scholar a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to the FTRF has named Chicago Public Schools (CPS) to learn why it made the Amanda Meeks as determination to remove the acclaimed graphic novel the sixth recipient Persepolis from classrooms. Documents provided by of the Gordon M. CPS in May shed some light on the process by which Conable Confer- copies of the book were removed, but much about the ence Scholarship. situation remains unclear. The Conable Persepolis, by Marjane Satrapi, tells the story of the Scholarship will author’s childhood before, during, and following the provide for Meeks’ Islamic revolution in Iran. Included in the images expenses to attend the 2013 ALA are three drawings of torture, including one depict- Annual Conference in Chicago. ing a soldier urinating on a prisoner and another showing a hot iron put on a As part of the scholarship, Meeks will prisoner’s back, that CPS administrators have said motivated their ban. It was attend various FTRF and other intellec- initially published in France and has been published in two volumes in the US. tual freedom meetings and programs at Many schools include Persepolis in their curricula, and this year CPS made it the conference, consult with a mentor/ part of its “common core” standards for seventh graders. board member, and present a report According to the documents, on March 11, a directive was given from the about her experiences and thoughts. CPS administration at a meeting of the 19 Chiefs of Schools (called “mini- She will be recognized at the FTRF An- superintendents” by some, they oversee the networks of CPS schools) regarding nual Member Reception from 5:00–6:30 Persepolis. The following day, a follow-up email was sent to the chiefs saying: p.m. on Thursday, June 27 (see p. 8). “Please instruct your Network’s Instructional Support Leader(s) to collect the Meeks received her Master of Library book titled Persepolis from your schools’ classrooms and libraries. Send collected Science from Emporia State University books to Department of Literacy Attn: Cynthia Slater-Green.” in Portland, Ore. in 2012. She holds a On the evening of Wednesday, March 13, an update was emailed to the chiefs B.S. in Art Education from Illinois State from Annette Gurley, CPS’s Chief of Teaching and Learning, which read: University. She has done extensive vol- unteer work with organizations such as “Update: It appears that while we can collect the copies of the book the Q Center in Portland and, currently, CONTINUED on p. 2 CONTINUED on p. 6 Freedom to Read Foundation News FROM THE CENSORSHIP IN THE NEWS EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, BARBARA M. JONES CPS nixes Persepolis from the classrooms, we cannot col- CONTINUED from p. 1 lect them from the school libraries without going through the process Looking Forward outlined in the policy for “New Collection Development Policy for School Libraries” (604.7). Please to the Annual accept my apology for the mixed signals, as I know that your plates are full. High School Chiefs, should you get push back from school li- FTRF Meeting brarians, please know that they have the rights outlined in the policy. It is advised that you adhere to the policy.” Dear FTRF Community: As of the publication of this newsletter, it remains unclear who gave the initial Congratulations to the win- directive to the chiefs or what the precise language of the directive was. ners of the Trustee election! See p. 3 for results. I look for- On Thursday, March 14, word about ward to working with you on the restriction began spreading, and our initiatives old and new—seeing you right reports trickled out about orders here in Chicago for our annual meeting. Our to remove the book from certain business meetings are far from boring. We schools. On Friday, March 15, Chi- hear the always popular review from Theresa cago bloggers began writing about Chmara of current First Amendment-related the situation and FTRF and the court cases. And we anticipate issues that Offi ce for Intellectual Freedom (OIF) could turn into First Amendment challenges began investigating. That afternoon, to the freedom to read. All this makes for ALA staff spoke with Gurley who (Above) Lane Tech High School students pro- lively discussions of what constitute FTRF’s said CPS CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett test CPS Persepolis censorship. core values. The annual meeting and some made the decision to restrict access to new trustees always gives us a sense of the tra- the book after a principal called it to her attention. She said that due to concerns dition and renewal of dedication to our cause. about “graphic illustrations and language” and “student readiness,” CPS wanted And the current upswing in the U.S. economy to “control how it’s being presented” and that the book was restricted from both gives us further cause to celebrate new pos- curricula and classroom libraries until “teaching guidelines” were developed and sibilities as our endowment grows! training implemented for instructors who wanted to teach the book. We hope those of you in Chicago will join us A letter to CPS principals from Byrd-Bennett that afternoon instructed prin- at the FTRF Member Reception featuring one cipals to remove the book from seventh grade classrooms and not to remove of our favorite supporters, Sara Paretsky! See Persepolis or any other book from central school libraries, “unless you have details on p. 8. complied with the [CPS collection development] policy.” She also said, “We Since I last wrote my column, the Offi ce have determined Persepolis may be appropriate for junior and senior students for Intellectual Freedom has offered strong and those in Advanced Placement classes” and that the administration was support for FTRF’s high priority—to try to considering its appropriateness for eighth through tenth grades. However, counter the wave of Internet fi ltering that she gave no explicit direction about the disposition of the books for 8th–12th is jeopardizing the freedom to read in our CONTINUED on p. 5 public and school libraries. (I have heard that even a few academic libraries are fi ltering!) Deborah Caldwell-Stone and I have been writing articles and speaking on the road Freedom to Read Foundation Regular FTRF membership begins at $35.00 about fi ltering. Deborah just fi nished a highly 50 EAST HURON STREET per year for individuals and $100.00 for CHICAGO, ILLINOIS 60611 organizations. Student membership is $10.00. successful workshop on fi ltering at the joint PHONE (312) 280-4226 Oregon/Washington State Library Confer- www.ftrf.org [email protected] Membership dues, newsletter subscriptions, and contributions to FTRF: ence, and wrote an article for American Li- Barbara M. Jones, Executive Director Freedom to Read Foundation, braries: “Filtering and the First Amendment: Candace D. Morgan, President 50 E. Huron St., Chicago, IL 60611. When is it okay to block speech online?” with Freedom to Read Foundation News You also can join, subscribe, and contribute at an excellent sidebar from our own FTRF (ISSN 0046-5038) is issued quarterly to all (800) 545-2433 x4226 or at www.ftrf.org. members of the Freedom to Read Foundation. FTRF is a 501(c)(3) organization and CONTINUED on p. 6 Organizations also can subscribe to the Freedom contributions are tax deductible. to Read Foundation News for $35.00 per year. www.twitter.com/ftrf 2 www.facebook.com/freedomtoread www.youtube.com/FTRFTube VOL. 38, NO. 2 V JUNE 2013 TRUSTEE ELECTION Winners of FTRF election announced Thanks to everyone who participated in the 2013 FTRF Board of Trustees elections, and congratulations to the six winners: new trustee Eva Poole; re-elected trustees Helen Adams, Chris NEWS & NOTES Finan, and Herb Krug; and returning trustees Bob Doyle and In memoriam: Jack Gerts Jim Neal! FTRF is sad to report that longtime ALA repro- These trustees will serve two-year terms beginning at the end graphics director Jack Gerts passed away on of the 2013 FTRF Annual Meeting on June 27 in Chicago. May 4. Jack was a dedicated and highly profes- sional colleague, who over four decades printed The 2013–2014 board also will include fi ve trustees serving hundreds of thousands of envelopes, ballots, fl y- the second year of their terms—Carol Brey-Casiano, Julius C. ers, and issues of the Freedom to Read Founda- Jefferson, Jr., Mary Minow, Judith Platt, and Nancy P. Zimmer- tion News. Our thoughts are with his family. man—along with four ex-offi cio trustees: Barbara Stripling, incoming ALA president; Courtney Young, incoming ALA Texas buries anti-Ethnic Studies bills president-elect; Keith Michael Fiels, ALA Executive Director; In May, two controversial higher education bills in the Texas and J. Douglas Archer, incoming ALA Intellectual Freedom legislature failed to get through the committee process, thus ef- Committee chair. fectively killing them. HB1938 and SB1128 would have changed the core requirements for history majors to exclude courses that See below for more information about the election winners. taught Ethnic Studies or other specialized history. Among the bill’s opponents was Librotrafi cante, which compared the bill to The FTRF president, vice president, treasurer, and two addi- the Arizona law, HB2281, that led to the dismantling of Tucson’s tional members of the board’s executive committee for 2013– Mexican American Studies (MAS) program. Librotrafi cante, the 2014 will be selected among the trustees at the FTRF Annual recipient of the 2012 Downs Award from the University of Illinois, Meeting on June 27.