March 7th, 2018

Adopting curriculum includes a multistep process that encompasses reviews by faculty

committees, curriculum experts, administrators, and the Board of Education. Over the past
several years, efforts have been made to enhance our English Language Arts curriculum with
authors from diverse backgrounds. This led to the adoption of two texts in 2016 including “I am
Malala” and “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian.” When vetting the “Absolutely
True Diary of a Part-Time Indian,” a secondary vetting process was utilized as the novel contains
sensitive material. The process concluded that there were strong lessons included throughout the
novel and confirmed the choice to have the novel in the curriculum. It was also universally
acknowledged that there is content that can be found offensive by some readers and families. To
honor parent choice, procedures were developed to notify stakeholders that the book contained
materials of a sensitive nature. In addition, students are offered an alternative texts if they opt to
not read the text.

We have district procedures in place to offer citizens the ability to ask for a reconsideration of an
adopted instruction material. Several citizens have asked for the text to be reconsidered. The
reference below will show both the reconsideration process and current status.

Citizen Request for Reconsideration of Instructional Material:

A. Inquiries regarding instructional material used in a school program will first be
reviewed in an informal discussion. At the high school level, the citizen should be
invited by the principal to meet with him/her, the teacher leader for the subject area,
and the teacher using the instructional material. At other levels, the citizen should be
invited by the principal to meet with the teacher and the principal or assistant
principal. The appropriate curriculum specialist and the Associate Superintendent of
Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment should be informed of the meeting. If the
material has been reviewed by a committee and an opinion rendered by the committee
and/or the Board of Education within the last five years, the citizen should be
informed of this decision. Unless significant new information is brought up, a further
review will not be undertaken.
B. If a review is warranted, a district committee will be formed. The committee will
include the building administrator, a teacher leader from the subject area, the
appropriate curriculum specialist, and two (2) subject area classroom teachers. The
chairperson of the review committee will be designated. The review process should
be completed within fifteen (15) working days of receiving the request for
reconsideration of instructional material.
 C. After the District review committee presents its recommendation to the principal, the
principal will contact the citizen to discuss the concern and inform him/her of the
process and results thus far. In the event this discussion does not satisfactorily answer
the citizen’s question or resolve differing points of view, the citizen will be asked by
the teacher leader or building principal to file with the Associate Superintendent of
Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment a formal, written request, using the form
"Citizen’s Request for Reconsideration of Instructional Material." (If the formal
written request for reconsideration has not been received by the Associate
Superintendent of Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment within two (2) weeks from
the time the citizen received the recommendation of the review committee, the issue
will be considered closed.)
D. At the time a formal request is filed, the Associate Superintendent of Curriculum,
Instruction and Assessment will inform the Superintendent. The District review
committee will summarize its conclusions in a written report to the Associate
Superintendent of Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment, who will send a copy of
the report to the citizen along with the Associate Superintendent’s recommendation
on the citizen’s request. A copy of these documents will be sent to the Board of
Education at this time. If the review committee recommends that the material being
examined be removed from the curriculum, the Associate Superintendent of
Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment shall present the committee’s report to the
Board of Education along with his/her recommendation.
E. Should the citizen find the review committee’s report unsatisfactory, the citizen will
be invited to meet with the Superintendent to review all actions and
recommendations. The Superintendent will consider the information and make a
recommendation within ten (10) days.
F. If the citizen finds the Superintendent’s recommendation unsatisfactory, the citizen
may write directly to the Board of Education, requesting a full review of the
preceding actions relative to the material in question. At the Board’s request, the
Associate Superintendent of Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment and any other
members of the review committee deemed needed will supply the Board with a full
report of these actions. Following their deliberations, the board will make a final
judgment.
G. The authority to make the final decision on all matters of curriculum and instructional
materials rests with the Board of Education

At this point, we are partially through Step 'C' (as indicated by the highlighted text). If we
receive a request from the citizen to progress in the process, we will proceed according to our
guidelines.