When Books Are Pawns
Were five school books removed from the curriculum in Mat-Su District Schools in an act of revenge?
How did it get to this — five books, commonly selected for High School English courses, that had been used in this district for years, suddenly deemed too controversial? How does a School Board in far-too-often forgotten Alaska, suddenly become the focus of America’s literary ire? How do seven people elected to consider school calendars, note price increases in canteens, and approve out-of-county field trips suddenly become thrust into the international spotlight?
These things don’t happen overnight, and I have been trying to trace it back a little bit. Watching the video coverage of the Mat-Su Schools District Board Meeting where the books were removed from the English Elective reading list on the 22nd, it feels like there was a hint of it in a passing remark from Ole Larson.
Mr. Larson seemed unable to understand why the books weren’t simply taken out of the school if they were controversial. He makes a couple of references to a discussion in a Board meeting the previous year, and to an incident where a teacher had made poor choices in reading material. He spoke of how the School Board could not afford a repeat of that controversy.
