D
E
N
BAN
y
t
n
u
o
C
s
in Lownde
Why Two Teachers Said No.
I’m going to 3
‘‘
dispense with
With these twelve words, Fredonia Ray began the letter
she sent to writer Barbara Kingsolver on July 5, 2005.
the pleasantries
and start telling
the story.
’’
By the time she wrote this letter to Kingsolver, it had been more than 12 months
since the controversy over one of Kingsolver’s novels had erupted at Lowndes
High School. It was a controversy that threatened to engulf a school, its students, and the careers and professional reputations of two very dedicated and
gifted teachers.
www.gae.org/know
23
BANNED
in Lowdnes County
English teacher Fredonia Ray,
known as “Doni,” wanted Kingsolver to
know her frustrations, her experiences,
and the fight that she and colleague
Judy Martin had found themselves
caught in the middle of—a fight over
Kingsolver’s novel, The Bean Trees.
Judy and Doni’s story begins in
Valdosta, a city of roughly 45,000 people in the far southern portion of
Georgia, near the Florida line. This is
the type of city that still features barbecue cook offs and is small enough for
people to know each other.
Nearly 2,600 students shuffle
through the halls of Lowndes High
School in Valdosta each year. Football is
big
here. The LHS Vikings are four-time
ay
R
i)
Fredonia (Don
state championship winners.
“I was proud to call myself a Viking,”
says Judy Martin. Teaching in this place
was a dream come
true. “This was
where I most
wanted to be,” she
says. “This was
home.”
For the most
part, the students
and teachers are
happy at LHS.
Lowndes teachers
have an average of
16 years of experience. More than
40 percent of the
teachers
hold
advanced
degrees.
Doni Ray in a letter to the
For years, it’s
Lowndes County Board of Education
been a family that
takes care of its own. Students and
teachers bond outside of class. The parents know the school—many of them
having graduated from here as well.
“Our biggest strength as a school
was our people,” says Doni. Was.
“As teachers, we have little
else but our reputations, and
we guard them every day in
front of hundreds of witnesses.
We know how precious a
resource our students are,
and we give them our best.
We deserve to be respected,
trusted, and consulted.
Please support us.”
Knowledge is power.
Both Judy and Doni caught the bug
for reading great literature at an early
age. Doni read Louisa May Alcott’s Little
Women for the first time at age ten and
was hooked. Judy remembers the book
mobile driving out to her house in the
country—about 100 miles from
24 KNOW
Volume 5. Issue 1.
Valdosta in Douglas, Georgia. During
the summer, Judy would load up on
books. The book mobile only allowed
her 12 books every six weeks. She’d read
and re-read the books and eagerly wait
for the book mobile to come thundering down the road again. It was here
Judy discovered a love for Bronte novels
and Sir Walter Scott’s Ivanhoe.
Judy and Doni were drawn to teaching English because of their deep love of
literature. It’s their passion—one they’ve
loved sharing with their students for
more than 20 years.
“My mom, who taught elementary
school, thought I was crazy when I
chose to teach high school,” laughs
Doni. But for Doni, high school was
where the excitement was. It’s her true
calling. (She graduated from Lowndes
High School.) “It’s like a launching pad
for our students,” says Doni. “The
future is right here and our students are
about to run out and grab it. It’s such
an amazing time for teaching. It’s an
adventure.” She’s now been teaching
English for more than 23 years.
Judy has been teaching since 1986.
Both served as English Department
chairs for Lowndes. Doni was named a
STAR Teacher four times and Judy was
her district’s STAR Teacher in 2004.
Both were certified gifted and advanced
placement teachers. Both led student
trips to Europe.
These aren’t just good teachers.
They’re great.
War of words.
But at the start of the 2004-2005
school year, life at Lowndes for Judy and
Doni was about to shift. And it all happened in front of parents at the 2004
fall school open house.
It started when one parent
denounced Kingsolver’s The Bean Trees
as “smut” and accused 20-year veteran
teacher Judy Martin of exposing her
daughter to “pornography.”
A parent approached Judy, demanding to know who was responsible for
requiring the book for Judy’s 11th
grade American Literature and
Composition class, a Pre-Advanced
Placement English class for high school
juniors specifically designed for high
ability students who wish to pursue a
college level curriculum in AP Language
and Composition. AP courses are academic electives that are not required for
graduation.
The novel was selected for required
summer reading by a committee and
then approved by both the curriculum
director and the principal. It had been
assigned prior to the student entering
Judy’s class.
“I was shocked by the parent’s concerns,” admits Doni. “I had taught this
book for years without a single complaint from a parent. My students always
loved this book.”
In fact, The Bean Trees had been part
of the state’s approved curriculum for
years. It was approved by the Lowndes
County Board of Education as well.
There had never been a single complaint—from parent or student—in all
the years the book was taught.
In the hopes of assuaging the concerns of the parent, Judy brought Doni,
the school’s AP Coordinator, into the discussion with the parent. They tried to
discuss the literary merits of Kingsolver’s
novel and explain why they, as teachers,
believed this was a good—and relevant—
choice for student reading.
According to them, the discussion
didn’t go far.
“The parent had already closed her
mind to any discussion,” says Judy. “She
was incensed and announced that she
was heading to the school board.”
Judy immediately sent an email to
her principal explaining the situation
and the parent’s concerns. Later that
week, Judy tried again to reach out to the
parent. “I asked to meet her to discuss
the curriculum, which she agreed to do,”
Judy says.
Judy waited for more than an hour
for the parent to show. She never did.
“I was waiting with the student for her
mother,” says Judy. “While we waited, I
provided the student with copies of two
texts that are used exclusively in the college-level AP Language curriculum to
review.” One of those texts was a collegelevel collection of essays, Patterns of
Exposition, and another was Toni
Morrison’s The Bluest Eye. The parent later
fumed that Judy had kept her child out of
class all day to review pornography.
“Obviously,” begins Judy, “we have
differing ideas over works in literature
and pornography.”
Banning, nothing new.
William Shakespeare. Ernest Hemingway.
John Steinbeck. Mark Twain. George
Orwell. Richard Wright. Aldous
Huxley. Writers having their books
banned and protested against is not a
new phenomenon.
In fact, those writers have had some
of their books banned or censored at
some point in the U.S. And that’s just
the beginning of a long list of writers.
James Joyce’s Ulysses was selected by
the Modern Library as the best novel of
the 20th century, yet it was termed
“obscene” and banned from the U.S. for
Great Reading Websites
Reading Online
www.readingonline.org
Discover articles on current reading
issues and related discussions.You’ll also
find research summaries, international
perspectives, and online conversations.
National Council of Teachers of English
www.ncte.org
Exchange strategies with other educators
at this unusually interactive site.You can
access information about grants, professional development, and standards.
International Reading Association
www.reading.org
Learn more about IRA, a professional association devoted exclusively to reading
instruction.You’ll get information about
publications, conferences, and research.
Defining the Debate
What is Intellectual
Freedom? According to the
American Library Association,“intellectual freedom is the right of every
individual to both seek and receive
information from all points of view
without restriction. It provides for free
access to all expressions of ideas
through which any and all sides of a
question, cause or movement may be
explored. Intellectual freedom encompasses the freedom to hold, receive,
and disseminate ideas.”
What is censorship? Censorship is the removal or restriction of materials by a governmental entity
(e.g., a school system) with the intent of suppressing ideas and information.The hallmark of a censorship
attempt is one person’s desire to examine books, films and curricula for “objectionable” material as a
means of supervising conduct or morals. Censors impose their views by deciding what others should not
read or see. In schools, censorship occurs when materials are removed at least in part for ideological, religious or other reasons not having to do with their educational suitability.The Supreme Court has made
clear that, under the First Amendment, a book may not be removed from a school simply because school
officials or community objectors disagree with its ideas. Rather, school board decisions removing materials must be based on educational criteria, not on ideological, political or religious grounds. Its central
characteristic is the suppression of an idea or image because it offends or disturbs someone, or because
they disagree with it. In many countries, censorship is most often directed at political ideas or criticism of
the government. In the United States, censorship more often involves social issues, and in school is commonly directed at so-called “controversial” materials.
www.gae.org/know
25
BANNED
in Lowdnes County
Judy Martin
15 years. From 1918 to 1930, the U.S.
Postal Authorities were under orders to
confiscate the book.
Under the Comstock Law of 1873,
also known as the Federal AntiObscenity Act, Geoffrey Chaucer’s
Canterbury Tales was banned from the
U.S. mail. More recently, in 2001, a student production of John Steinbeck’s
Of Mice and Men was canceled by a
Georgia high school principal when
the student actors refused to remove
profanity and racially insensitive language from the script.
According to the American Library
Association, the “hallmark of a censorship attempt is one person’s desire to
examine books, films, and curricula for
objectionable material as a means of
supervising conduct or morals.” But to
censor, or suppress or restrict materials
considered to be
objectionable, is
incredibly subjective. After all, what
offends one may
not offend another. In the case of
The Bean Trees and
Lowndes
High
School, it was one
parent who objectJudy Martin
ed and two teachers who found themselves caught in the
crossfire.
“We kept expecting the
administration to do
something to defend the
curriculum and to defend
our choices as teachers…
as professionals.”
It’s just one book.
Mark Your Calendar
Banned Books Week
is September 23-30, 2006.
For more info: Go to
www.ala.org/bbooks
26 KNOW
Volume 5. Issue 1.
The situation in Lowndes escalated.
Soon, the parent rallied her local
church’s support to her side. She wanted the books banned from the school
and taken off the required reading list.
The church’s minister publicly declared
that “some of these teachers should not
be allowed to teach our children.” Local
radio station disc jockeys joked on air
about good old-fashioned book burnings. Bookstores had trouble keeping
the books in stock.
Admittedly, the books can be rough
at times. They deal with sensitive issues.
They show characters struggling with
those situations. These characters don’t
always use the prettiest language. They
don’t always make the best choices. In
fact, the characters make mistakes. But,
in the end, they ultimately learn from
those mistakes. They grow. According
to Judy and Doni, those are valuable lessons for any classroom.
“We kept expecting the administration to do something to defend the curriculum and to defend our choices as
teachers…as professionals,” says Judy.
“That didn’t happen,” adds Doni.
“The school administration never came
to our defense.
Doni did serve on a Curriculum
Review Committee, formed at the
request of Lowndes County School
System Superintendent Dr. Steve Smith.
The committee recommended that both
books remain in the curriculum with
alternate reading choices for concerned
parents. Smith went one step further.
In September 2004, less than a
month after the parent’s initial complaint, Superintendent Smith prohibited the use of Kingsolver’s The Bean Trees
and Morrison’s The Bluest Eye as
required reading. Instead, students
could read the books now only with
parental consent.
“Apparently, the committee’s recommendation,” says Judy, “wasn’t enough
to satisfy those who wanted to censor
reading material for Lowndes students
and change the state recommended
reading list.”
Smith then formally reprimanded
Judy and Doni. He placed letters of reprimand in their personnel files.
“All of a sudden,” says Doni, “the
books weren’t under fire. We were.”
“We’re good teachers.”
English was acknowledged as one of
the strongest departments at Lowndes.
In 2004, Lowndes High School students scored an overall 92 percent pass
rate on the Georgia High School
Graduation Test (GHSGT). In 2005,
that pass rate rose to 96 percent. In
2003, 16 of Judy’s 18 Advanced
Placement students passed the AP
exam. Three had perfect scores.
So when Doni and Judy failed to
receive support in this issue over the
books from their administration, red
flags went up.
GAE UniServ Director Bert
Wagnon talks with Judy
Martin and Doni Ray about
their case.Each GAE UniServ
Director is assigned a local
coverage area.When Judy
and Doni needed Bert,he
was there.
“We expected that the administration,
knowing the caliber of our work and our
dedication, would be there to support
us,” says Doni. “No one ever asked us why
we defended the selection of these books.
No one sat in our classrooms and listened
to the discussions we had with our students. No one asked to see our lesson
plans. People just started attacking.” At
any time, points out Doni, concerned parents and the administration could have
come to their classrooms to see how they
worked with the material.
No one wanted to listen to their side
of the story. In fact, when Doni tried to
voice her opinions at a school board
meeting, she got shut down.
“I got yelled at,” says Doni. “I was told
by the chairman of the school board that
they didn’t want to hear from me at all.”
When she wrote to the members of
the Lowndes County Board of
Education, she was accused of attempting to undermine the authority of the
Superintendent. A formal letter of reprimand went into her personnel file for
that letter. Judy, too, was reprimanded
for the way she handed
the situation with the parent. The reprimand letter
claimed she behaved
unprofessionally.
“I can’t tell you how
shocked I was—still am—
over everything that hapDoni Ray
pened,” says Doni.
“I am supposed to be the expert in
my classroom and about what is appropriate for my students,” states Judy. “But
we weren’t treated like experts or profes-
“I got yelled at. I was told by
the chairman of the school
board that they didn’t want
to hear from me at all.”
www.gae.org/know
27
BANNED
in Lowdnes County
Burke Sherwood is
one of the GAE network attorneys.
Your GAE dues
cover the cost of a
network attorney—
100 percent.
Most Challenged Books
According to the American Library
Association, here are a few of the 100
Most Frequently Challenged Books:
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
by MAYA ANGELOU
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
by MARK TWAIN
Of Mice and Men
by JOHN STEINBECK
The Catcher in the Rye
by J.D. SALINGER
Bridge to Terabithia
by KATHERINE PATERSON
Forever
by JUDY BLUME
The Color Purple
by ALICE WALKER
To Kill a Mockingbird
by HARPER LEE
Beloved
by TONI MORRISON
A Light in the Attic
by SHEL SILVERSTEIN
Lord of the Flies
by WILLIAM GOLDING
Native Son
by RICHARD WRIGHT
28 KNOW
Volume 5. Issue 1.
sionals. We were discounted. We were
told to be quiet.”
“This is such a complicated issue,”
adds Judy. “Yes, it’s about censorship,
but it’s also about our academic freedom as teachers and our students’ intellectual freedom to learn. It’s about the
lack of administrative support we
received as professionals. And it’s about
the potential this situation had to
impact our livelihood.”
Doni and Judy quickly discovered
that being a “good teacher” wasn’t
enough to protect them. Their work
environment became a hostile place.
There were new expectations placed on
them. For example, Judy was singled
out and required to create a revised and
detailed syllabus for her AP class—providing descriptions of each text to be
used (even the grammar book) and noting language, illustrations, or themes
that had the potential to be offensive to
anyone. Parents would then have to
sign off on the syllabus. Judy’s first
draft was more than 30 pages long for
one class.
They kept wondering: Is this the kind
of environment that any teacher anywhere
wants to work in?
How GAE helped.
“We got absolutely no support from
our administration,” says Doni. “I never
would have dreamed that it would have
played out this way.”
They turned to the Georgia
Association of Educators for help. Both
Judy and Doni had been GAE members
for years. Doni first joined at the urging of
her mother, a lifelong member. Judy joined
the Association about five years ago.
“I was one of those silly teachers
who didn’t think I needed GAE,” laughs
Judy. “I’m glad I changed my mind
about that before I needed help.”
“We could not back down from this
fight. We couldn’t walk away,” says
Doni. “I’m glad we had Bert Wagnon
there to help us. We couldn’t have done
what we did without him.”
Bert Wagnon serves as the local
GAE UniServ Director for Judy and
Doni’s area. As a UniServ Director, it’s
Bert’s job to be the first point of contact for GAE members in his area.
When one of GAE’s members has a
problem—any problem—in the area,
it’s Bert who responds.
“We always felt that Doni and Judy
had a strong case,” says Bert. “These are
two great teachers who have served their
students for two decades. One day, they
found themselves in a difficult situation that just seemed to be getting
worse. I’m glad they called me, it’s what
I’m here for.”
“Things got better when GAE came
into the picture,” says Doni. “We found
the support that we were missing. GAE
never told us that we shouldn’t make a
big deal about this. They never told us
that we should just be quiet. They gave
us the support we needed to continue to
fight for what we believed was right.”
Bert helped Judy and Doni appeal
their letters of reprimand. Through
Bert, Judy and Doni met Burke
Sherwood, a GAE network attorney.
Together, they appealed first to the local
Lowndes County Board of Education
and to the Georgia Board of Education.
Doni’s final appeal was to the Superior
Court of Lowndes County.
“GAE pleaded our cases all the way to
the top,” praises Judy. “GAE made
removing those letters of reprimand a
priority. And GAE did it, too.”
Finally, the State Board of Education
reversed the decision of the Lowndes
County Board of Education to support
Smith’s reprimand of Martin. The
Superior Court also ruled that Doni’s
written comments were an exercise of
her First Amendment rights. Their files
were cleared.
“I have been a member of GAE for
years,” says Doni. “I’ve always heard of
what GAE could do for you, but I never
anticipated being ‘in trouble.’ I’m glad I
had GAE there to protect me, to protect
my reputation.”
AN EXCERPT FROM
BARBARA KINGSOLVER’S
LETTER TO DONI AND JUDY.
A new beginning.
In the beginning, Judy and Doni stayed
silent. They were positive that the
administration would support them.
They were wrong.
“We’re torn,” says Doni. “If we had
reacted sooner and hadn’t trusted the
administration to support us, then
maybe things would have turned out differently. We were trying to act as professionals. We stayed quiet. We expected to
be protected and respected, but that
didn’t happen.”
“Looking back, we really feel as if we
were in the middle of a witch hunt, and
we were the witches,” says Judy.
That’s behind them now. It’s been
almost two years since the trouble began
over The Bean Trees. Doni and Judy have
moved on. This will be their second year
teaching English at Valdosta High
School, and they’re immensely pleased
with their new teaching environment.
“Our principal, Brett Stanton, is
amazing. He’s everything that a good
principal should be,” says Doni.
Judy and Doni are working on a book
about their experience. They believe it’s
essential that they continue to share
their stories with other educators and
parents. In November, they’ll be honored
as runners-up for the National Council
of Teachers of English (NCTE) Defense
of Intellectual Freedom Award at the
national conference.
“A good teacher knows how to grasp
teachable moments,” says Judy. “You see
what connects with your students and
you work that. You use materials that
will interest your students. You want
them to be excited about learning.
That’s why every good teacher knows
you need flexibility. You can’t teach from
a script.”
“Fear does not evoke passionate
teaching. Our nation needs thinking
adults who have the courage to speak
their minds and understand what it
means to be free,” adds Doni. “If,
instead, we choose to nurture a populace
that views free speech as heinous, then
our nation is doomed.” g
Websites
American Library Association
Banned Books Week
www.ala.org/bbooks/
National Coalition Against Censorship
www.ncac.org
Free Expression Clearing House
www.freeexpression.org
People for the American Way
www.pfaw.org
American Civil Liberties Union
www.aclu.org
Censorship Prevention Kit
www.lme.mankato.msus.edu/other/
censorship.html/
www.gae.org/know
29