EDITOR’S NOTE: Over 50 local, Tillamook County community members signed a request to the TSD#9 School Board to reverse the book ban. Local people continue to be added to the list … the Pioneer will continue to publish letters to editor, letters to the school district and inform the public about the infringement of student’s rights to have access to award-winning, nationally approved curriculum. Here is a review of how this book was improperly removed. The process was flawed from the beginning — there was no formal complaint; a school board member emailed the principal about a parent’s concern, and the book was removed in FEBRUARY without review. In July, the “review committee” was improperly convened, not following school district policy. See below for the details. If you would like to add your name and voice, Tillamook County United Against Book bans – email to tillamookunitedagainstbookbans@gmail.com. As many people have commented, “This is happening in Tillamook? How embarassing.”
The Situation
At the Aug 12, 2024 board meeting, the Tillamook School Board voted 3-1 to remove the book How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents by Julia Alvarez from the 10th grade Honors English Language Arts curriculum. This book has been evaluated and approved by the state board of education, and it aligns with Oregon standards illustrating diverse perspectives. This decision not only raises significant issues of censorship but also reflects a troubling disregard for diversity, inclusion, and the students’ right to access a broad and comprehensive education. We request that the board reverse this decision.
The Removed Book
How the García Girls Lost Their Accents is an important work of literature that offers valuable insights into the immigrant experience, the complexities of identity, and explores themes of sexual discrimination and assault. The story includes strong female protagonists who stand up against sexual pressure, bravely report sexual assault, and endure bullying and harassment from their white male classmates because of their sex and ethnic identities.
By removing this book, the district is effectively silencing voices that represent a significant portion of our community and our nation. This action suggests a form of discrimination against the experiences of marginalized and vulnerable groups, particularly Latinx communities, women, and victims of sexual assault/harassment whose stories are already underrepresented in educational materials.
The removal of this book infringes on students’ intellectual freedom—a core principle in education. By restricting access to this work, the district is undermining students’ rights to explore different viewpoints and to learn about the world in all its richness and diversity. This not only diminishes the quality of their education but also sends a message that certain stories, perspectives, and histories are not valued.
A Conflict of Interest
Beyond the removal of the book, the process that was used to remove the book was flawed. Bias, conflict of interest, and abuse of power were woven throughout the process.
There is strong evidence pointing to the fact that the person who first filed a complaint about the book was in fact a school board member. This is clearly a conflict of interest. In a fair and transparent system, if a board member files a complaint about the school district, they would disclose this fact and recuse themself from acting in their official capacity as a school board member on the matter. This did not happen.
Instead, this board member communicated with the high school principal on the matter, using their official school board email account. One can reasonably assume the principal felt pressured to decide the matter in the school board member’s favor which in this case resulted in removing the book from the classroom without a formal review process. This was a potential abuse of power.
This board member then served in the capacity of acting chair during the board meeting when this issue was on the agenda for a vote. Without disclosing that he was the person who brought the complaint forward, this board member created a meeting format that silenced voices of opposition while giving preferential treatment to those aligned with his position. In summary, it appears that one board member made the accusation, potentially pressured the staff, put his allies on the review committee, held the gavel, blocked voices of dissent, gave preferential treatment to allies during public comments at the board meeting, and then voted to remove the book.
Policy Violations
The school district did not follow their own policy when it came to selecting committee members to review the material. These policies exist to ensure a fair and balanced process without giving too much power to one person or one perspective (e.g., checks and balances). The policy Code: IIA-AR(2) Complaints about Curriculum or Instructional Materials calls for “ two lay persons from the school district” to serve on the committee appointed by the Board Chair. The Board Chair did not appointment the two lay persons. Instead, the “district office” appointed the committee members which resulted in a biased review process. Several other irregularities in the review process have been observed and documented.
Conclusion
Many violations of policy have been made during this process. When added to the conflict of interest issues, we can no longer consider these honest mistakes or accidents, but instead have come to the conclusion that this is a clear case of discrimination and an abuse of power. We are concerned about future acts of censorship in our schools. It’s not about this one book, but rather about who gets to decide what is taught. If one school board member can wield so much power on this book, what is to stop this from happening again and again?
We request that the district acknowledge these failings and reverse the decision to remove this book from the curriculum.
