Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Public Comment Literacy topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Public commenter urges stricter cellphone policy and removal of books with profanity from DGS curriculum
Summary
A member of the public presented a literacy-improvement plan urging the district to enforce a classroom cellphone policy and to remove books containing repeated profanity and explicit material from student-assigned reading; the board said it would forward his materials to members for review.
A public commenter, identified as Bobby Tazato, presented what he described as a “literacy improvement plan” and urged the board to adopt two changes: stricter enforcement of a classroom cellphone policy and removal of assigned texts that contain repeated profanity or explicit imagery.
Tazato said students are distracted by cellphones and suggested “put their cell phone in the cell phone box.” He said literacy at DGS is low and compared district figures to those for other DuPage County schools; he described historical truancy as “a third” of students last year and “a fourth” this year. The transcript records Tazato’s claims but does not provide district-sourced verification numbers in the presentation.
Tazato also identified specific book passages he said contain repeated profanity and explicit sexual imagery and said those works make students uncomfortable. He named a speaker and titles while asking the board to consider removing materials that repeatedly use the “f” word or other explicit phrasing from assigned reading. He provided a PDF of his materials and asked to have board members’ and the public’s comments sent to his email; the board chair said staff would forward the information to the board.
The board chair told Tazato his submission would be forwarded to members. The board took no immediate action during the meeting on the items Tazato raised; the presentation was recorded as public comment and will be included in meeting materials for board review.
