MEDIA RELEASE: CONTACT:
December 8, 2005 David Rocah, staff attorney
410-889-8555
Richard Griffiths, attorney
410-889-8555
Following on the heels of disturbing trend in Maryland of students being forced to say the Pledge of Allegiance, the American Civil Liberties Union of Maryland is again taking action to protect the First Amendment rights of students in Carroll County who are petitioning to bring back one of several books that have banned from school libraries.
The ACLU has sent a letter to Carroll County Schools Superintendent Charles I. Ecker asking him to rescind his decision to remove all copies of ÒThe Earth, My Butt and Other Big Round ThingsÓ by Carolyn Mackler from middle and high school shelves. The letter also calls on Ecker to rescind earlier decisions to remove ÒBorn Too Short: The Confessions of an Eighth Grade Basket CaseÓ by Dan Elish, to remove ÒLeaving DisneylandÓ by Alexander Parsons from the high school libraries, to remove ÒBeet FieldsÓ by Gary Paulsen from middle school libraries, and to remove ÒWhistle Me HomeÓ by Barbara Wersba from middle school libraries.
ÒThe decision to ban these books from the school shelves in Carroll County is a clear violation of the First Amendment,Ó said David Rocah, staff attorney for the ACLU of Maryland. ÒWe are greatly heartened by the campaign launched by students to defend their right to read quality fiction, chosen by library professionals for its merit, free from misguided censorship by school administrators.Ó
ÒThe Earth, My Butt and Other Big Round ThingsÓ is a critically acclaimed and award winning work of fiction for young teens, telling the story of an overweight and lonely teen who feels like a misfit in her own family. It traces her development into a more independent and confident young woman, and deals with weighty and relevant (to teens) issues such as date rape, body image, self-mutilation, and sexuality.
For more than twenty years, the Supreme Court has been clear that Òthe First Amendment rights of students may be directly and sharply implicated by the removal of books from the shelves of a school library.Ó Island Trees Union Free Sch. Dist. v. Pico (1982). Although school officials still retain discretion to remove books based on their Òeducational suitability,Ó or because they are Òpervasively vulgar,Ó the ACLU does not believe such a rationale applies to the books in question. Indeed, Carroll County Public SchoolsÕs own Reconsideration Committee recommended that ÒThe EarthÓ be kept in the schoolsÕ libraries.
ÒLibraries have long been at the center of the struggle to preserve everyone's freedom to access diverse ideas, information and opinions,Ó said Richard Griffiths, an attorney with the ACLU of Maryland. ÒThe SuperintendentÕs decision to ban these books is a wrongheaded move for an educator, who instead should encourage a thriving learning environment that is able to handle tough issues facing students.Ó
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