In all other mediums -- TV, movies, videos, music and the Internet -- parents have oversight to prevent their children from accessing R and X rated material. Labels and ratings help them to do so. We do this because our society respects the right of parents to direct the upbringing of their children and supports them by providing data that helps them to make informed decisions.

Here in Fairfax County we have many wonderful and conscientious teachers who make careful reading choices for our children and we greatly appreciate all that they do. But we also recognize that in recent years our schools are becoming a minefield of vulgar, sexually explicit, graphically violent and controversially themed books in the curriculum, classroom collections and libraries. The term minefield is especially appropriate because the student is not aware until the material is right in his face and then it is too late. This situation necessitates that parents and taxpayers, through their school boards, advocate for changes such as removal of books with extreme content, effective revision of selection policies, and upfront, informed parental consent.

This is precisely why the PABBIS web site at www.pabbis.org and our Book Committee were founded. Our purposes are to raise awareness by educating parents on actual content for many required and suggested books and to provide information to help them with ways to protect their parental rights. Nowhere do we suggest that all books mentioned on the web site should be candidates for removal, but some would qualify. It’s true that our focus is on the vulgar excerpts, but that’s because you will not find this information on any book jacket or in a book review. However, when you’re dealing with other people’s minor children, this needs to be a factor.

Our first goal is that book selection criteria dictate a minimum standard of decency. Dispersing extreme material in the pages of a good story to provide a context does not change its nature.

Last year, review committees and the school board “considered” the content of the book Pillars of the Earth, which was on reading lists for social studies curriculum, and the majority concluded that it is fine for our 10-12th grade adolescents in high school. Some want it available to even lower grades. Given the extreme erotic nature of many portions of that book, we find it hard to believe that “consideration ” of controversial content actually rules anything out. Here is a tiny sample from Pillars of the Earth. Minor children and those who prefer not to hear or see graphic content may wish to plug your ears and close your eyes. “explicit excerpts deleted.”

In reference to this specific book, a school librarian told me that kids get to make choices at school. But the school does not have the right to provide extreme material to minor children. This is an example of intervention by the state that is wrong. Parents are the ones who decide if and when their minor children have such access. Those who want extreme material for minors should get it on their own.

An example of the flawed selection process for libraries is a book that contains a six page continuous account that can only be characterized as pornography. The two lead characters watch each other masturbate, then engage in oral sex and then in intercourse, for a total of six orgasms, all told in the most vulgar terms. It is so descriptive, you feel like you are actually participating. Was this book given proper review before ordering? How many others are similar? School board members and some librarians and teachers are aware of this book and it remains. Most parents would object. They will say, “I don’t want my child to have that book. Which book is that? Are there others like it?” Unfortunately, they will have to read hundreds of books in classroom collections and libraries to figure it out or wait until their child has encountered it.

When books are purchased by schools with taxpayer money and intended for use by minor children, it’s the school’s job to meet a minimum standard of decency and exclude extreme sexual and violent content. Parents are happy to screen for other controversial content in the library.

Our second goal, after removing books that do not meet a minimum standard of decency, is to have Upfront Informed Parental Consent for controversial content in the curriculum. A list of required books for class is a nice first step, but does nothing to better enable a parent to make an informed decision. In an October School Board work session, the county stated their unwillingness to offer to parents any advance disclosure of such content for required and suggested books. This is very troubling.

The National Council of Teachers of English recognizes that parents have a right to choose what their children will read. They also say, on their web site, that a book rationale should be done prior to book selection and that special emphasis should be placed on controversial material. We support this and think that the teacher should share this information with parents and not just provide a book title. That way parents know when to select an alternate book. After all, honesty about what they want to teach our kids is paramount to a trusting relationship between the school and the home. This communication will increase parent involvement. This is not much extra work for teachers because the rationale for each book used in English and Social Studies needs to be prepared only one time for future use by all in the county. A committee of parents can help identify the type of material that could be considered controversial.

Unfortunately, the regulations presented tonight do not allow for such intelligent and cooperative communication between teachers and parents. The selection review committees spoken of already existed in the old regulations and look where that got us. The approval forms do not address specific content or even themes and there is no content disclosure to parents. *** The regulation only says to “consider” content, in other words “think about it,” and then gives specific permission to assign it as long as it fits with the author’s theme. Now who is going to argue that what an author put in his book does not fit with his theme? This guidance to teachers is meaningless!

A group of parents has been soliciting support, even among students in the schools, for their petition and resolution accosting our right to even raise our voices through the legitimate challenge process and also the Board’s right to make decisions that involve restrictions. This flies in the face of state and law and the regulations the county has in place to comply with those laws.

While it is true that school boards cannot remove books from school libraries and curriculum just because they do not like the ideas in them, school boards can remove books that are “pervasively vulgar” or “educationally unsuitable” and no First Amendment rights are violated. Since our focus at PABBIS has been on vulgar and explicit books, the latter fact is especially important to know. Both of these instructions came from the 1982 U.S. Supreme Court Pico v. Board of Education case, where the court remanded the case to the lower court for clarification as to the reasons books were removed by the School Board. Whether or not those specific books were returned to the school shelves does not change the guidance the Court gave regarding discretion of School Boards. They are constitutionally permitted to keep pervasively vulgar and educationally unsuitable books out of the schools, whether the American Library Association likes it or not.

Many other court rulings, and I do not have time to cite them, hold that the rights of minors are not always coextensive with those of adults. And the unique environment of the school also limits student rights in some situations.

Having a selection policy that respects a standard of decency would greatly reduce the incidences of challenged materials.

You may hear that the committees who reviewed challenged books have been unanimous in their votes to retain them. Most of the committee members are school employees, with a probable conflict of interest. Parents are chosen by insiders. A parent who participated on a review committee in my first book challenge provided me some insight. He was the only person who voted to grant my challenge request and he shared what he witnessed: a mind-set that no book shall ever be removed from any library, even on the merits of the case. He said that his liberal views did not keep him from finding the process to be biased. He was disgusted.

In the marketplace of ideas, the educators want “academic and intellectual freedom.” However, what they are really asking for is not freedom, but license. True freedom has boundaries, which respect the rights of others and the need for moral discipline in a healthy, orderly society. Educators who believe extreme content has merit are actually sending a message to students that reading such material is intellectually important and that their parents’ values don’t count. We cannot allow a few librarians and teachers to run rampant over the values of our families. The “anything goes, no restrictions” nature of license always leads to abuse.

Fairfax County should respect ALL values by establishing a minimum standard of decency and providing upfront, informed parental consent. This way no one’s rights will be violated.

We hope for an invitation from the School Board to discuss the standards policy 1500 adult citizens requested. For now, we will continue to shed the light on these books.

The following overhead slides were used with the above presenation

Parents Against Bad Books In Schools

www.pabbis.org

· Raise Awareness
· Show Book Content
· Help Protect Parents’ Rights
--------------------------------------------------

Goals

· Minimum Standard of Decency reflected in book selection criteria

· Upfront, Informed Parental Consent disclosing controversial content in required and recommended books
--------------------------------------------------

Currently “Anything Goes”

“explicit excerpts deleted”
from Pillars of the Earth, known use in the classroom
--------------------------------------------------

Goals

· Minimum Standard of Decency reflected in book selection criteria

· Upfront, Informed Parental Consent disclosing controversial content in required and recommended books
--------------------------------------------------

School boards have discretion to remove books that are pervasively vulgar or educationally unsuitable without violating the First Amendment.
---> Pico v. Board of Education, 1982
--------------------------------------------------

Challenge Process biased for predetermined outcome
--------------------------------------------------

True Freedom has boundaries in a healthy, orderly society
--------------------------------------------------

FCPS needs to respect parents’ rights and values with

· Minimum Standard of Decency
· Upfront, Informed Parental Consent

________________________________________________________

I love books. I love reading. Why? Because words have power. One gifted author has stated that telling a story is akin to telepathy. That “by means of inking symbols onto a page, [an author] is able to send thoughts and feelings from his mind to his reader’s”. Of course the written word affects our children. Why else would we have them read? Unfortunately, some of the assigned and required reading in our schools fills our children’s minds with debased and perverted images, guaranteed to crowd out the positive thoughts that we hope our children bring home from school.

There is a terrible pollution in our society. It surrounds us. It is vile and addictive. The steady diet of immorality, disrespect, abuse, and violence comes at our families from virtually everywhere. Do we need to have books in the schools reinforce this culture? By all means, challenge our youth. Have them read and discuss and think and ponder, but let’s use literature that leads students to critically think without affronting their natural sensitivity and empathy. Let’s not use literature that forces them to wallow in degradation. Setting minimum standards for decency will help our children leave public schools with their moral sense brighter than when they entered. It is about sharpening, not dulling, our children’s sensitivities to the cruelty and injustice that exists around them. It is about our children reading books that cause them to think lofty thoughts, to make the conscious decision to excel.

We don’t send our 5th graders out on the road to prepare them for driving. We don’t expose our doctors to disease to prepare them to heal. We don’t visit the local water treatment plant for a drink to learn that it would be harmful to ingest raw sewage. Our children can learn about the world, both bad and good, without being exposed to “how-to manuals” for the perverse and evil things some people do.

The “anything goes” extremists say that we’re restricting their rights. We say, “please go buy or check out from the public library any book you wish and have your child read it.” The “anything goes” extremists choose to let the schools do their parenting for them when it comes to moral values. We say that schools are partners with parents in defining each family’s moral values. The “anything goes” extremists say that schools informing parents about sexual and violent content in curriculum means that we don’t trust teachers and librarians. We say that by having schools provide that information we can make informed decisions in cooperation with teachers and librarians. We support up-front informed consent by parents for potentially objectionable material.

Many of the youth will say that the profane things they hear every day in the school halls means that reading sexual and violent content won’t affect them. But those of us who are a little older, who are tempered by our own experiences and witness to the experiences of others, know that what we take in to our minds does affect us. No truer words were spoken than “For as [a man] thinketh in his heart, so is he.”

Teachers, librarians, administrators, and school board members: you have the responsibility to support parents so that our children achieve the dream of a better world through learning. We relinquish our children to you every day with the hope that they return better.

By setting minimum standards of decency and up-front informed parental consent, we can make our schools an oasis from the corrosive sexual and violent media culture that assaults our senses on every side. Let’s do the right thing and properly prepare our children for the future by giving them a decent and moral education.

________________________________________________________

In the spring of 2000, my 15-year-old daughter comes into the kitchen shaking and crying, after reading the mandatory 11th grade IB book--The House of Spirits. On March 25, 2002 a junior FCPS HS IB student awakens her mother at 3 am. in a petrified state from reading --A Sailor Who Fell From Grace From the Sea, which graphically details the "torture" and murder of a cat. My sons finish a book in 8th grade, which uses the N. word frequently in--Warriors Don't Cry. This book was certainly not age appropriate and both my sons were shaken from the extreme racist language!

I have nanny software in my home. I cannot access the Pabbis web site in my home, is that a clue? If I silk-screened the words from attachment HH onto my kids T-shirt and he wore it to school, he would be expelled. If that same child stood in the hallway and read attachment HH aloud [contains explicit excerpts], he too would be expelled. How hypocritical! Let's be consistent. Since these smutty, filthy books are allowed in our public schools, lets allow our children to wear the same smutty T-shirts to school, and allow them to voice the same vulgarities in school.

I guess books are okay, because they have a front and back cover, which hides the vulgar words and graphic actions from view. So, our kids quietly and silently read these books. Is this child abuse? You bet. This is deliberate, planned, emotional, child abuse of our minor children. I repeat our MINOR children. Our minor children need standards: BOOK STANDARDS that take their age into account! Mr. Gibson, teachers, and others say, "don't tell me what our children can and cannot read." Well they ARE telling my child what he/she will be reading in the classroom. All required books are read, written about, and discussed in English class. If he opts out of that English period each and every day, he will probably flunk the final-because he will not have participated in the class discussions, readings, and writings on that mandatory smutty book.

So, FCPS administrators, School Board Members, and teachers are foisting their value system on all children in Fairfax County. This appears to be a deliberate way by FCPS to change our children's attitudes, values, and beliefs, which is Outcome Based Education --or another word for it is the IB Program. FCPS seem to be embracing all religions with a great fervent view for diversity, except for the Christian Faith. Many of these books have anti-Christian themes and are blasphemous of Jesus the Lord. Instead of a separation of Church and State, this looks like a separation of Christianity and State.

I challenge all school administrators, to take any Pabbis book home to your elderly parents, and read several pages to them. I strongly believe that they would say that you failed in choosing uplifting, educational material for our Minor Children. Shame on you they might say! Our Minor children in FCPS are reading books that describe rape, torture, murder, pedophilia, necrophilia, bestiality, and abortion. Cattle will graze in an area and drop their waste in another area known as the "zone of repugnance. We are now feeding our Fairfax County MINORS in that same "zone of repugnance"!

________________________________________________________

PABBIS parents are not bad [as they were characterized by the previous speaker]. They are tax-paying clients of this system who deserve a seat at the table. I taught English in Fairfax County for a year and a half.

I would like to warn you that I am going to expose you to literature deemed suitable by this school system for your sons and daughters. Please avert your eyes and the eyes of your children if you do not want to read sexual content.

Explicit excerpts deleted

Obscenities, masturbation, graphic violence, homosexuality, the use of drugs and alcohol, and abnormal sex are just some themes covered THROUGHOUT The Handmaid’s Tale — a supposedly “artistic” and “intellectual” piece of literature.

Had I remained a teacher, I would have been required to teach The Handmaid’s Tale to your sons and daughters. The passages that you just saw are part of a 3-page continuous description of a 3-way sex scene. This scene is just one of many sexual ones in the book and this book is just one example of many extremely controversial books that I know are being required for either IB students or non-IB students of all ages.

Another such book is Bless Me, Ultima which is and has been required for 9th graders at several schools. This book contains many, many profanities and graphic violence. It also glorifies witchcraft and death and mocks traditional religion. I regret that I ever taught this book because I’m sure that it offended some of my students.

Using a low-percentage of “extreme content” argument (such as 1%) is just one of the many flaws in logic that those who support the “anything goes” mentality don’t quite understand. Time doesn’t allow us to fully flush out the case. Here are just a few other examples of the hypocrisy.

1. Why does the school system filter the internet but not literature?

2. Why did the Superintendent’s office tell teachers to stop directing students to www.pabbis.com because of the “adult content?” All content on the site comes from county assigned and/or recommended schoolbooks.

3. As a response to Sept. 11th, why did his office recommend limiting children’s exposure to violent television, movies, videos and computer games?” QUOTE Research has found that an increased exposure to violence increases children's tolerance for violence. This is true for children of all ages.” END QUOTE. Books are powerful influences too. The written word lingers long after the moment.

I challenge the Superintendent and School Board to answer these questions.

We all know that teachers often complain about lack of parental involvement. But, at a teacher’s workshop, I once heard an English department head express anger about an INVOLVED parent.

He labeled this parent as an “extreme fundamentalist right wing Christian” without knowing anything about her. He described her as intellectually inferior and his tone was hostile.

I wasn’t the only teacher in the room who was embarrassed by his lack of TOLERANCE. (By the way, I think that those who advocate the use of sexual, violent and agenda – driven materials are the REAL extremists.)

A REAL solution to this problem is long overdue. The era of irresponsible leadership in Fairfax County must end.

In decades past, children were assigned books that inspired people to reach for the moon. And, they did.

Tonight, I ask you all: What are students in Fairfax County being inspired to do and to value by studying books like The Handmaid’s Tale?

________________________________________________________

I am here tonight because last year I became aware of a disturbing trend. This trend is the practice to approve books, novels in particular, containing extreme vulgar content. This is very disconcerting to me since novels for the most part, ARE the textbooks used to teach reading. They are also frequently relied upon to teach social studies. Although, books with extreme content are not yet pervasive in our schools, I believe a trend left unchecked is a trend that will only worsen and grow.

Books for our schools are not chosen with community or parent input, as is the case for textbooks. Those who voice opposition to a textbook’s proposed use are not labeled censors, but thanked for their contribution to the process. On the contrary, parents who voice their opposition to a particular book are forced to do so after they happen to find out what it contains and after the book is already in use in the curriculum. At this point, all opposition to the book’s educational suitability and/or age-appropriateness is attacked as censorship.

The least we can expect, to solve this problem, is for minimum standards of decency to be adopted. This would insure parent and community representation at the decision making table, where it belongs. Librarians and educators do not have an independent First Amendment right to control the standards which are used to choose educational material, books or otherwise.

Minimum standards of decency would still allow thousands of books to be used, ones with controversy, diversity, and well written historical/fictional accounts. Many generations of students have been educated using books which contain the necessary grit and reality, without stooping to the low levels of violent and sexual graphicness we are seeing now. Today, many teachers and librarians in our schools choose wisely. I thank them for holding the line on decency and keeping standards high.

Certainly, we cannot limit our novel choices to Disney-like portrayals, but neither are we compelled to choose authors who themselves CHOOSE to include the kinds of vulgarity and sexual explicitness you see on this handout. Unfortunately, current selection guidelines give permission for this vulgarity if the author intended to put it there. Obviously, an author intends everything printed in their book to be there. How does this insure any standard of decency?

The books educators put in our libraries, suggest our students read, or require in the curriculum, represent the trust we give them to choose in our place. Ignoring parent and community expectations of decency and age- appropriateness is failing to uphold that trust.

From what I have seen, there truly is no standard. This school system needs to adopt minimum standards of decency and provide Upfront informed parental consent for books in the curriculum. This will give everyone peace of mind and give students now and in the future, a literature program we can all be proud to represent Fairfax County Public Schools.

________________________________________________________

I have children in a Fairfax County public schools and another student on the way. My children have had many outstanding teachers. We have had some negative experiences also. I became involved in the book committee because my children came to me and told me that they were very uncomfortable with some of the books they were required to read. As I read from the books, I was surprised at the crass material that was pushed on the students.

My children sought alternate books. This was a very emotionally painful experience for my children. Often friendly teachers would turn cold towards them, and some were openly hostile. We were very grateful to those few teachers who were tolerant of a differing opinion of a book. Both of my daughters had to pull out of IB English courses and switch to regular level courses to facilitate these changes in reading material.

Great literature often contains references to sex and violence. It is a part of life. We are not opposed to such books. The standard we are asking for is to prohibit books with sexually explicit or disturbingly violent content. The most important issue is the required and assigned reading. Some try to distort our position by suggesting it would eliminate the Bible, To Kill A Mockingbird , or other mild books. This is a decoy to distract from the issue at hand.

I participated recently in a panel discussion at George Mason University. An English professor who was a literary critic for public radio was on the panel also. His position was that books should not be restricted from school. As the discussion continued, a member of the audience brought up a page of excerpts from four books that had been approved for use in the school and asked if anyone would read the excerpts aloud. The professor offered to read but changed his mind after he read the page silently. He admitted he would not want his daughter to read those books. I appreciate his open mind. He told me after the panel discussion that these books were simply in poor taste and he wondered why a teacher would focus on these types of books.

We can’t read the passages of these books on the air, the papers can’t print this stuff, but our kids can be required to read it. The Washington Post does not print this kind of obscene text. Does that make them an evil censor? Of course not. It is a matter of good taste. Out of the plethora of novels available, the English teachers and departments must choose a few books a year to study. The classes should be reading the absolute best the literary world has to offer to engender a love of reading.

I have heard some excuse assigning these questionable books by saying the students hear similar language in the halls. I’m sure they also hear similar thoughts expressed in the locker room. Is this the low point to which we’ve fallen? To adopt the crude thoughts of the halls and locker room as our standard? The teachers are required to stop such behavior because it creates a legally hostile environment. Education is supposed to lift the students to new heights, not pull them down into the morass of the lowest common denominator. Help our students raise their sights. Set a higher standard.

________________________________________________________

An excuse for keeping patently offensive books in the curriculum is that it supposedly prepares them for the real world. It is illogical, for example, to think that reading the lurid details of a rape prepares a female student to fend off a rape or prepares a male student to not rape his inebriated date. What exactly are we preparing the students for?

Another hollow argument is that obscene text somehow matures a student or indicates how mature they are if they enjoy reading it. It is absurd to think if I want my child to act more mature, in other words, responsible and selfless, that I say a string of obscenities to him, give him Hustler magazine, and a slasher movie. Any rational parent knows this would have the opposite effect. When using the euphemism “mature” to defend these things, remember they are not talking about complex ideas, taxing vocabulary or difficult concepts. We have no problem with such things.

One last flawed statement is “Don’t tell my child what to read!. Who do they think makes the decision now anyways? It’s not the parents. When a child is at school it is the teacher and department who decide what your child is going to read, not them. There are books and materials used in class that never come home. During his or her career one teacher decides for about 3,000 of someone else’s children. Teachers vary so much in their opinions of what is appropriate, it makes sense to have a minimum standard. If you want to give them something beyond that at home, so be it.

I don’t know one parent who will let their children watch anything on T.V., go to any Internet site, or read any magazine or book. Every parent I know has some sort of standard. It is just common sense. This standard the 1500 are asking for it is not a lofty standard, but it will support Virginia state law. Limit sexually explicit, pervasively vulgar, disturbingly violent, patently offensive text. It is a minimum standard.

________________________________________________________

I graduated from a Fairfax County public high school. I am a junior at college. This past year all of my roommates and I celebrated our 20th birthdays. It was a great occasion for all of us. Many times we would sit and reflect on our teenage years together. We were unanimous in our gratitude that these years were in our past. I certainly would not want to go back to them. I am grateful to have survived. Every one of my peers that I have talked to agrees with me. They are especially thankful to be out of high school. I did have a lot of fun in high school, but your perspective is much different once you’re out of it. My sister in high school called me up about a month ago and told me that she was sure that 8th grade was the best year of her life, since her life has gone downhill from there. I smiled as I thought of this because while life does seem impossible to a teenager, it will go on and it does eventually get better.

One of the main reasons that life is so hard for us during those teenage years is because our emotions are running wild. Why else would teenagers want to risk their lives to drive so fast or do almost anything to impress their friends? These emotions are such a roller coaster ride, almost to the point that in our maturing bodies, it feels as if it is almost too much to handle.

At this time in our lives, when nothing is certain inside of ourselves, it is very hard to feel secure about anything outside of us. It is very hard to stand up for what we believe in; it’s very hard to even know what we believe. The problem with this is anything that we see or hear someone else do is automatically an option for us. For example, I saw a classmate eat formaldehyde soaked frog eggs during a biology dissection because someone suggested it. I looked down at my frog eggs and wondered how they tasted. My roommate read a book in high school, which gave the idea that bestiality was okay if there were no women around because men need to “relieve themselves.” First of all, this tells the young men in high school that they are a slave to these emotions and need to do whatever is necessary to let these feelings out. It tells them that they are not in charge of their actions and that sex is just to relieve these emotions. They may not turn to bestiality but from just that one part in that one book they have been introduced to a world that is a heavy burden for a high school student to bear. They have been introduced to the idea that it is okay to give up self-control to relieve an emotional strain. If they keep this up, they will become a slave to their passions! Then what is going to keep them from violence when they are angry or rape when their urge gets too great?

I plead with you to recognize the impact you have on these teenagers. I know that in subtle ways it does affect their minds and ultimately their behavior. During this time in their lives, not much is stable. We need good examples so that they can learn to control those emotionally charged bodies.