Sean C. Morgan
A year after it prompted an uproar in the school district, “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian” is back in local eighth-grade classrooms this trimester.
Based on the District 55 School Board’s decision, the Sweet Home Junior High School will provide a separate class for those students and families who choose not to study the book.
“We gave all the kids options at the beginning of the year,” said Assistant Principal Josh Dargis.
The school is providing two texts during the language arts unit on Native Americans, including “True Diary” and “The Way” by Joseph Bruchach.
Parents returned permission slips with their decision on which text their students would study, Dargis said. Of those, 85 chose “True Diary,” while 25 chose “The Way.” Another 26 parents chose “either,” while one chose neither. Six have not turned in permission slips and those students will automatically go into the class studying “The Way.”
Three teachers are available this year, Dargis said. Two will teach “True Diary” while one will teach classes on each.
“We took the recommendation from the School Board that this year we’d have two choices,” said Principal Colleen Henry. The alternative text will be taught in a classroom, with similar teacher-directed discussion, assessments and quizzes as those in classes using “True Diary.”
Last year, a handful of students studied alternative texts in the library.
Both are similar coming-of-age stories, with the protagonist tackling similar obstacles, Henry said. Parents were given the opportunity to look over information about each book before making a decision.
The classes are scheduled to begin studying the books in February, Henry said.
Last year, parents objected to “True Diary” based on concerns about profanity, sexual objectification of women, sexual vulgarity and images that may be offensive to the religion of some students.
The book, a largely autobiographical work by Sherman Alexie, tells the story of a Native American boy growing up on the Spokane Indian Reservation and his adventures traveling off reservation to attend a nearby white high school.
Parents also objected to the fact that some students, whose parents refused to give permission for their students to read the book, were sent to the library to study and that they did not receive the same level of attention as other students.
Teachers stressed the critical acclaim and the popularity of the book as they defended the use of the book in their classrooms. They told the Instructional Materials Review Committee and the School Board that no other book engages the students as well as this one has.
Language arts teacher Brian Gold called it a “deeply intellectual novel.”
A Review Committee of local leaders, parents and educators, listened to critics and supporters and in February recommended to the superintendent that teachers continue to use the book at an age-appropriate level with informed parental consent. Based on the expertise of the language arts teachers to determine age-appropriateness, Supt. Don Schrader decided the book would remain in the eighth-grade classroom.
After an appeal, in March the School Board failed to uphold the Review Committee’s recommendation and superintendent’s decision on a 4-4 vote. The board voted unanimously to allow parents a choice between two novels, “True Diary” and another selected by teachers.