This post originally appeared at https://www.bootsandsabers.com/2023/08/16/west-bend-school-district-changes-course-on-inappropriate-books/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=west-bend-school-district-changes-course-on-inappropriate-books
Wimmer is recommending that “The 57 Bus” by Dashka Slater be removed as a choice book from the eighth-grade English curriculum at Badger Middle School, and that the use of “The 57 Bus” and “The Kite Runner” by Khaled Hosseini, M.D. in the West Bend High Schools curriculum be suspended until the curriculum committee and school board complete their review of the curriculum guidelines and books on the book club choice lists.
“The work of our board and their curriculum and policy committees has yet to be finalized,” said Wimmer in a WBSD release. “The books in question will not be used for book club selections until formally reviewed by the curriculum committee and subsequently the full board.”
The two books will remain in the West Bend High School Library “until any further board work or action provides direction for removal,” according to a release from the WBSD.
Wimmer said the reason for her recommendation to remove “The 57 Bus” from Badger Middle School was due to the book being duplicative in WBSD curriculum, since it was included in both the eighth grade and junior year English book club choice book lists.
“Not even looking at content, not even looking at those kinds of pieces, it’s duplicated,” said Wimmer. “It’s a piece in curriculum that’s dually stated, that was not present in the library at Badger, it’s just not necessary as a book club [book].”
Everyone is dancing around the content and trying to litigate on the secondary or tertiary issues. The stated reason by the superintendent is that it is being removed from part of the curriculum because it’s duplicative. Put another way, they push these social issues SO MUCH that they can tolerate backing off a little in this one instance.
Still… it’s a move in the right direction, I guess.