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Students and community urge Elizabethtown board to reconsider recent English curriculum removals
Summary
Student representatives and dozens of community members urged the Elizabethtown Area School District board to restore several optional English texts and to consult students and teachers before making curriculum changes, saying the books support discussion of real-life issues and provide important educational value.
Elizabethtown, Pa. — Student representatives and members of the public asked the Elizabethtown Area School District board on Tuesday to reverse decisions that removed several optional English-language arts materials from the high-school curriculum.
Student representatives Anika and Maggie urged the board to revisit the Oct. 28 curriculum changes and said the affected materials were already behind parent permission slips. "These materials don't encourage division. They encourage empathy and understanding," Maggie said, adding that teachers introduce difficult subjects "in a structured, guided, and safe classroom environment." Anika read a peer's statement describing how reading Shout and other texts helped that student feel less isolated after sexual assault.
Parents and local groups backed the students. Judy Grove, founder of Freedom Readers, said her group's GoFundMe raised more than $6,000 to support school libraries and that volunteers intended the donation to help faculty and students access targeted resources. Several speakers named titles that were removed or discussed at recent meetings, including The Hate U Give, The Glass Castle and The House on Mango Street, and referenced a 1996 film version of Romeo and Juliet; community members said those works can open conversations about race, trauma and history.
Opponents of the books argued that explicit material is inappropriate for minors. "It's unnecessary to have that included in books for students," said one parent who supported the board's earlier decision to remove certain texts.
Board members and the superintendent did not take an immediate vote to reinstate materials. The student representatives asked the board to solicit teacher and student feedback before replacing any selections if reinstatement is not possible.
The district's public comment period lasted more than an hour and included multiple perspectives; the board did not announce further curricular action at the workshop. The board had previously discussed these changes during an Oct. 28 action meeting.
