Banned perpetrator seeks dialogue with Washington County school district
Ashley Hope Perez, the award-winning author of Out of Darkness, which was pulled from Washington County school libraries in December, has a message for Superintendent Larry Bergeson.
“Your position today is difficult,” wrote Perez in a letter dated January 10 to Bergeson, referring to statements by the superintendent made during the working session in which he voted to ban the youth novel. adults.
“In a commentary on the opposing views in your community on youth access to books, you noted that ‘trying to make both parties happy is not easy to do,’ Perez writes. is that ‘making everyone happy’ is not the solution or, frankly, the job of a leader. “Making everyone happy” doesn’t matter, because our most important job as a that educators is to put students first. ”
MORE: Author of book banned from Washington County school libraries speaks out
Perez is currently a literature professor at Ohio State University and a former high school English teacher. She says she wrote the book to highlight the sometimes uncomfortable realities of many of her minority students, who rarely found readings that reflected their views.
It’s a double standard, says Perez.
“Books about white children are not the ones that are vilified,” Perez wrote in his 6-page letter.
Read the rest of the letter here:
Washington County Superintendent Larry Bergeson released a statement Tuesday:
The Washington County School District followed District 4220 policy closely by reviewing the challenge from Ashley Hope Perez’s book “Out of Darkness”, which came from a local parent. The review committee represents parents in our community and felt that parts of the book were beyond what was appropriate for children under the age of 18.
I must reiterate that the parents’ concerns were not with the overall literary content of the work (which was considered in its entirety), but rather two very specific and very graphic elements contained in the literary work which, according to the committee, could have been treated differently. .
Until there is a national standard for determining what is age appropriate, something similar to a ranking system established by the Motion Picture Association of America, we will have to continue to rely on our local parents. and our community, in accordance with district policy, to help us determine what is appropriate for our local school-aged children.
