The list of more than 30 titles included The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie, Ghost Boys by Jewell Parker Rhodes, Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher, Go Tell It on the Mountain by James Baldwin, Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, Dear Martin by Nic Stone, The Color Purple by Alice Walker, The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, Beloved by Toni Morrison, The Undefeated by Kwame Alexander, Pink Is for Boys by Robb Pearlman, and Harbor Me by Jacqueline Woodson. The Protect Nebraska Children Coalition brought an extensive list of books to the Wauneta-Pallisade (NE) Public Schools board meeting and wanted the books removed from both the elementary and high school libraries. Stopping teachers from teaching facts and the truth is dangerous.” We want all children to have access to books that are reflective of themselves.” Janet Deidrick said she was “heartsick” when listening to the audiobook and hearing what she described as an “anti-police sentiment.” Complaints from parents are part of a larger movement resisting the district’s efforts to adopt a more inclusive curriculum aligned with its “educational equity resolution” and goals of “identifying conscious and unconscious biases and eliminating barriers to educational achievement.” To protest this, local parents organized a forum with Republican state Representative Dottie Bailey and state Senators Andrew Koenig and Cindy O’Laughlin to discuss “what is being taught in your child’s school.” According to Geneviève Steidtmann, parent of a Rockwood seventh grader, the pushback against the curriculum is “proving the point that we need this education more than ever.

According to Rockwood spokesperson Mary LaPak, when the district selects “literature that students can choose to read, we look for books that include people with disabilities, people of different backgrounds, and people with different life experiences. The school district’s lesson plans contextualize the book’s themes of racism and police violence through discussions on racial profiling, civil disobedience, and affirmative action. Parents complained about the use of Dear Martin by Nic Stone in the “culture and identity” unit of Rockwood School District’s ninth grade English classes.

2022Ĭhallenged at Rockwood School District (St. Marshall University does not ban books! The information is provided to let people know what has been banned/challenged elsewhere.

Dear martin book cover