School Board Meeting

I attended the Richland School Board meeting tonight. The topics of discussion were PLC's and Policy 2311 on Instructional Materials (specifically literary works in English classes). One board member, Phyllis Strickler, is an ultra-conservative fundamentalist who has been pushing for specific language in course syllabi which flags novels which might contain objectionable language or content. Her claim is that busy parents don't have time to read every novel on the list so teachers should alert them to which novels are objectionable.

Don't get me started on how wrong her idea is. It's the first step down the road to censorship.

But, what impressed me tonight was another board member, Rick Donahoe. Before the discussion of 2311 began, he asked to make a statement. He said the board has been arguing over the language of the policy for several weeks now and he can't go any further without saying what's on his mind. He then said in a few words what so many of us have been feeling. He turned to face Strickler and said, "What you want to do is put the school in the business of teaching, preaching, and promoting morality. You want to take the responsibility of raising children from the parents and put it in the laps of the teachers. That is just wrong. It's wrong. Where do draw the line? Let's put a line in the policy that says 'some novels might contain some objectionable material to some people. Parents are encouraged to review the novels used in this class to see if they are appropriate for their child' and let's leave it at that.

At the moment he finished, three of the other board members said they liked that suggestion. Strickler said she was obviously outnumbered. The board then hammered out some minor tweaks to the language and were done.

Mr. Donahoe demonstrated that courage is often a simple thing. It's saying what needs to be said when it needs to be said. He was polite and respectful, but said a difficult thing in a difficult forum....but he said it. And it effectively ended the weeks long discussion/debate between the board and the district English teachers.

Thank you Mr. Donahoe.

A Promise to Marlee

Shannon and I had a 2 hour talk with Marlee tonight about faith. She's working on her Young Women's Personal Progress book. We read several scriptures on faith (Hebrews 11, Alma 32, etc.) It was a great night. We took turns reading the scriptures, we tried to answer her questions, we shared our testimonies. I hope we have more nights like this.

After Marlee went to bed, I had this Facebook chat with Eric:

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10:15pm Eric

hows home

10:16pmTim

mom and I just had a 2 hr talk with Marlee about scriptures and faith and YW

10:16pm Eric

like, good talk? or stern talk?

10:17pmTim

great talk

10:17pm Eric

really?!

what'd she say?

10:17pmTim

she just has lots of questions

10:17pm Eric

did she initiate the conversation?

10:17pmTim

yes....she said yesterday that she wants to do FHE

she's getting into YM Personal Progress

10:18pm Eric

GOOD

so happy to hear that

oh man that makes me happy

i've been praying for that like every night

10:19pmTim

keep praying...

she's trying to come to grip with the idea that she can have a testimony but not cry when she shares her testimony (like all the other teenage girls do)

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I'm thankful for a son with such great faith who loves his sister enough to pray that she will increase her faith and testimony. I know that Eric's prayers have been heard, as have mine and Shannon's. I've noticed Marlee's spirituality growing little by little since she began Young Womens in Oct. She's finding her way to a testimony.

Part of her Personal Progress is to begin a journal. I promised her I'd do an entry every night for three weeks if she does too. I hope this might be the catalyst I need to be a better job of making regular journal entries.