Part 6. News Flash: Crichton's "Timeline" Removed from 7th & 8th Grade History Curriculum (SVUSD)

Rancho Santa Margarita, CA.  It's official!  7th graders at RSM Intermediate no longer have to worry about the horrors of Michael Crichton's techno-thriller, Timeline, as an honors history assignment.  According to a personal message from the office of the Superintendent, Timeline has been pulled from both 7th and 8th grade classrooms.

School motto:  "Soar Above the Line"

Long journey.  SVUSD officials' bold move to remove the book follows in the wake of a long and storied journey. It began with the harrowing protests of a 12 year old boy, disturbed by graphic depictions of violence.  Passionate letters of protest were written to the Principal of RSM Intermediate--and rebuffed.  (See Part 1.)  Next, letters were written to the SVUSD Board of Education.  When they evoked no response, more letters were written and sent to members of RSM's City Council and Mayor, desperately asking for help.

It was Mayor Gamble's advice that finally turned the corner for families of RSM Intermediate.  Speak to the Board of Education in person, she said.  And we did.

Success.  Today, my cell phone chimed an alert--a message was waiting.  I pressed a button and the good news flooded in.  It was the Director of Secondary Education, SVUSD, calling to say thank you for the heads up about Timeline.  She wanted to make sure we knew the book title had been removed from 7th and 8th grade classrooms.

Thank you!  I wish to offer heartfelt thanks to the SVUSD officials who took action.  We also owe thanks to Mayor Gamble, and fellow parents, neighbors, teachers, and citizens of California, Florida, Washington, and Ohio who supported this effort.  It is a tremendous relief to know that next year's incoming middle school students will be safer.

What happened to the 7th grader who began this journey?  The most immediate effect of the book was a sharp drop in grades--in almost every class--coupled with a general loss of academic motivation.  If this is what it meant to be a scholar, by his thinking, then he didn't wish to be one.  

As for our own attempts to help him handle the mature content of the book, I can only say that we didn't know what to do or say--but we tried.  (Sodomizing and executing a gay king, among other things, wasn't something we could look up in a developmental health book.)   

Just recently, our son's academic efforts have again gained steam and we are hopeful for the future.  He was embarrassed by this journey, but strengthened by those who came together to "soar above the line."   Our protest was too late to prevent his exposure to sexual violence, but he could appreciate why it was important for the benefit of others.  

One day, we hope this unfortunate experience will give him the courage to face the most difficult topics--choose the most important battles--and be stubborn when the future is at stake.  Plus, he now loves math and science more than ever.  Some of the very best teachers at RSM Intermediate, are part of that, too.          

Part 5. Testimony presented to SVUSD Board of Education, May 13, 2014

May 13, 2014:  Testimony on the use of Michael Crichton's Timeline for 7th grade history instruction was presented to the SVUSD Board of Education's Regular Meeting.  The following is a transcript of Global Microscope's testimony:

Techno-Thriller Controversy Hits RSM Intermediate. Photo: Yelp

Thank you very much for the opportunity to address the board today...  I have two children in SVUSD schools.  One attends Robinson Elementary, and the other, RSM Intermediate.

I am here to address RSM Intermediate's 7th grade curriculum, and the literature used to support the education of honors history students. 

In the beginning of the current trimester, my son brought home a long list of books assigned for history instruction.  Choosing one, passing a test on it--and discussing it in class--was mandatory. 

Only two books on the list were marked "honors," however.  One was Michael Crichton's, Timeline. 

Vaguely familiar with Michael Crichton as the author of Jurassic Park, I consented when my son chose Timeline.   

I had no idea this meant he would soon be reading about a woman who trades sex for safe passage to a castle; about a professor locked in a cage and lowered into a stinking pit of effluence; about the humor of raping and executing a homosexual king.  I offer the following direct quote for illustration: 

"...Know you how your namesake, our late king, Edward the Foolish, met his end?  I see by your face that you do..."
Johnston nodded slowly.  "His screams could be heard for miles."
Kate looked questioningly to Marek, who whispered, "They're talking about Edward II of England.  He was imprisoned and killed.  His captors didn't want any sign of foul play, so they stuck a tube up his rectum and inserted a red-hot poker into his bowels until he died."
Kate shivered.
"He was also gay," Marek whispered, "so it was thought the manner of his execution demonstrated great wit." 

According to the California Department of Education's website, Timeline is recommended for a grade level span of 9-12.  Not 12 and 13 year old children.  The book's overview on the state website also includes the following warning: 

"This book was published for an adult readership and thus contains mature content.  Before handing the text to a child, educators and parents should read the book and know the child." 

I wish to formally request that the Superintendent look into the use of Michael Crichton's fictional novel, Timeline, for 7th grade history instruction.  I also request that the Superintendent's findings be reported back to the Board of Education. 

Every book assigned to a student at school is a learning experience.  This is not just how teachers convey academic information, but also how they teach our children to write and address assigned topics.  When assigning a work of violent, sexually explicit fiction to young students attempting to learn about real history, a tragic lesson is being taught. 

What would happen if my son wrote a similar, fictional essay about Sir Isaac Newton being tortured, sodomized and executed, and then turned it in to his science teacher as a research paper?  Just how fast would the Principal pull our child out of class and dial our phone number?  Or...perhaps he would dial the Sheriff's department instead.  Either way, I would certainly understand.  Thank you for your time.

*P.S.  To my fellow parents and guardians who came to the meeting, and all who have otherwise expressed support and encouragement:  

Thank You!

Author's Note:  

Check out Erin Johnson's articles on examiner.com!  Erin is a self-described O.C. native and mother of three children.  She writes about family-friendly topics from the triple perspectives of mom, MBA, and global traveler.  Click HERE to look her up.  Dashing the rights of parents might be one of her concerns, too. 

Part 4. Mayor of RSM, Carol Gamble: First to Offer a Helping Hand to Outraged Parents of SVUSD

News flash:  The next regular meeting of the SVUSD Board of Education will take place on Tuesday, May 13, at 6:30 PM (Location:  Education Center Board Room; 25631 Peter A. Hartman Way, Mission Viejo, CA).  Click here for more information.

RSM City Hall and Community Center (Photo: Google Maps)

Mayor Gamble Responds to an Urgent Call For Help

On Thursday, May 8, an urgent letter was sent to Mayor Carol Gamble and members of the RSM City Council.  It explained that messages had been sent to the Principal of RSM Intermediate, the Superintendent, and all members of the SVUSD Board of Education.  Having received  no assistance from school officials, it seemed prudent to turn to city leadership and literally beg for advice.  (RSM's property values are, after all, tied to the quality of our schools.)  

Within about 24 hours, Mayor Gamble responded with the following kind and professional letter. Within, she does not take sides on the issue (her jurisdiction as Mayor legitimately prevents her from doing so). She does, however, offer sympathy and understanding--and recognize its urgent importance to citizens of Rancho Santa Margarita.  She further recognizes that it deserves to be discussed publicly, and offers a simple strategy for helping parents bring the issue to the forefront of civil discussion.  Here is her letter, reproduced in its entirety:

   from:  Carol Gamble; CGamble@cityofrsm.org
       to:  globalmicroscope@gmail.com
    date:  Fri, May 9, 2014 at 2:45 PM
subject:  RE: Controversy at RSM Intermediate           Good afternoon Dr. & Mrs. Scott,

Thank you for your thorough note and outreach to me.  I read your entire email with great interest.  Although your City Council has absolutely no jurisdiction on this matter, I do sympathize with the concerns you have and I do believe I can help you.

I recommend you consider appearing and providing public testimony at the next Saddleback School Board meeting, You will be limited to 3 minutes, so I suggest you spend little time on the complaints you have regarding the transaction with the Principal or their lack of reply to your correspondence and more of your 3 minutes on content of the book, it's inappropriate/unsanctioned status for the 7th grade PLUS REQUEST the SVUSD School Board to take action.  I encourage you to suggest an action that is simple and can be effectuated quickly.  For example, request the Superintendent to "look into this book and report back to the Board of Directors and the public on the findings."  It is simple and it does not use such onerous words as "investigation", etc., although,  that is what you are really requesting.

I also invite you to provide the same public testimony at an RSM City Council meeting.  Although we can take no action, if you fill the room with other concerned parents and present your 3 minute testimony, you will likely get approached by the media.  That is my goal for recommending your testimony to the City Council.  That is a good way to PUBLICALLY highlight your concerns.  Plus once situations hit the newspaper it is amazing how fast they become priorities!

Our Council meetings are held at 7:00pm on the 2nd and 4th Wednesday of the month.  Once again, please know, as an item not on our agenda, we are unable to discuss it with you in session, but it is great way to get your message into the public discourse.

I realize I have offered no "solution" to this disturbing situation, and we have no jurisdiction at the City.  However, I do believe stimulating a more public discussion on this matter may be helpful to you.

Please don't hesitate to reach out to me and keep me updated.

Best regards,
Carol Gamble

Carol A. Gamble
Mayor
City of Rancho Santa Margarita

Thank you, Mayor Gamble!  

Friends of SVUSD, please contact me if you wish to organize, and go to bat for our kids.  

~Speedy Scott, globalmicroscope@gmail.com

Part 3. Parent Protests Examined: The difference between success and failure when going to bat for your kids at school

Updated May 7, 2014. 2:17 PM                                    

By Speedy Scott,  globalmicroscope@gmail.com

WARNING:  This post contains adult content not intended for persons under 18 years of age.  If you are a minor, please ask a parent or guardian before reading further.  

Preparing for battle.  In the midst of controversy over "harmful materials" assigned to 7th graders at RSM Intermediate (see articles dated April 21 and 29), parents of Rancho Santa Margarita, CA, are asking if citizens have been caught off guard by sexual or violent subject matter at schools in other districts.  They are demanding to know...  Has this path been tread before?

The short answer is yes, and parental protests can be divided into two categories:  (1) appeals made to local administrators, and (2) court cases involving judicial decisions meant to clarify the role of government.  In the latter, the question about which is more important--the protection of  free speech or the protection of children--has made it all the way to the US Supreme Court.  When these two moral imperatives are pitted against each other, however, the outcome is never easy to predict.

The 1st Amendment vs. the Protection of Minors.  The issue of parental vs. administrative control over school curriculum seems to boil down to what, exactly, is "harmful" to minors.  This is much more difficult to distinguish than whether or not free speech is being inhibited, which makes it more difficult to adjudicate.  It varies from child to child, though experts can often agree on basic guidelines.

Thanks to the difficulty of defining "harmful," child advocates tend to face uphill battles.  Even when school assignments are obviously inappropriate, not to mention anti-educational, a successful protest requires a certain amount of voodoo.  Here are a few examples of wins and losses across the country, just to illustrate the intensity and breadth of such efforts:

Cases Involving Parents and Public School Administrators

Protest #1, In progress (going badly):  Gilford High School,  New Hampshire, May 2014.  As reported on May 6, an attorney named William Baer became furious when he learned that his 14 year old daughter had been assigned the adult novel, Nineteen Minutes.  Parents were given no warning about the content their children would be reading, including the following excerpts:

Angry dad arrested.  (Source: marketfaith.org)

"She could feel his erection, hot against her stomach."
"Yeah," he groaned, and he pushed her thighs apart.  And then suddenly Matt was inside her, pumping her so hard that she scooted backward on the carpet, burning the backs of her legs."
"...Semen, sticky and hot, pooled on the carpet beneath her."

The consequences of assigning Nineteen Minutes to a class of 14 year olds (without parental warning) would seem predictable:  disturbed children and upset parents.  Very upset parents.  And sure enough, this is exactly what happened.  William Baer attended a school board meeting, and requested to speak.  He was
allowed only 2 minutes to comment.

When Baer exceeded the limit and proceeded to debate with another parent who supported the book, he was placed under arrest.  (Note the irony of enforcing "free speech" in schools by taking away the same right from a father.)

Baer's plight led to a media investigation, and here's what happened next:

1.  A reporter asked the Superintendent his opinion on the matter, and he replied:

"I'm not going to make a decision on pornographic material..." and, "It's a decision of the local community."

2.  The school board then released a statement:  "The School District policies IGE, IJ, IJA, KEC (available on the school district website) refer to the procedures for the use of novels containing controversial material. The district will take immediate action to revise these policies to include notification that requires parents to accept controversial materials rather than to opt out.  Furthermore, the notification will detail more specifically the controversial material."

Clearly, William Baer's protest is not going well--and he's an attorney.

(Source:  Todd Sarnes, FoxNews.com.)

(A special thank you to a local reader for the heads up on this article!)

Buena High School (Source: Buena80.com)

Protest #2, Successful:  Buena High School of Sierra Vista, Arizona, 2013.  One mom launched a successful protest against sexually explicit literature, with some violence, assigned to 10th graders.  The outcry was inspired by a single assignment, Dreaming in Cuban, by Cristina Garcia.  The book is currently recommended as Common Core curriculum for 11th grade (Click here to access the Common Core literature list.)  Excerpt:

"Hugo and Felicia stripped in their room, dissolving easily into one another, and made love against the whitewashed walls.  Hugo bit Felicia's breast and left purplish bands of bruises on her upper thighs.  He knelt before her in the tub and massaged black Spanish soap between her legs.  He entered her repeatedly from behind. 

Felicia learned what pleased him.  She tied his arms above his head with their underclothing and slapping him sharply when he asked. 

'You're my bitch,' Hugo said, groaning.
In the morning he left, promising to return in the summer."

Source:  Alice Linahan and Donna Garner on the Women On The Wall radio show. (http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2013/09/12/Arizona-School-District-Pulls-Sexually-Explicit-Book-Recommended-by-Common-Core-Standards)

Cover, low resolution. (Source:Wikipedia)

Protest #3, Unsuccessful:  Middle School, District 97, Illinois, 2013.  Seven parents launched a protest over the assignment of Walter Dean Myers' book, Monster, for the education of 7th graders.  The book was a classroom staple for 5 years before parents objected to the book's, "violence, drug use, sex among minors, racially offensive language and other mature themes."  Objections were also made to related classroom discussions, especially regarding portions of the book involving gang rape and machine gun threats.

According to Terry Dean, staff reporter for Oakpark.com, school officials largely rebuffed the parents' objections:

"The parents filed their request on April 16, asking that the book be replaced with something 'more appropriate' for young children. A committee that included teachers and administrators was then established to review Monster, a process that took about three weeks. 

The committee ultimately concluded that the book is appropriate for D97 seventh graders. Until now, the district had not received any complaints from families about the novel, according to Chris Jasculca, D97's director of communications. He said the book was chosen by the district's literacy committee, which includes language arts teachers. 

'The committee was in search of a drama to include on the novel grid for seventh grade and selected Monster based on a number of factors, including that it is age-appropriate, won a number of awards, is a high-engagement book for students, and provides an opportunity to discuss social and emotional issues in an appropriate setting,' Jasculca said.

Daniels, however, said the parents asked to be notified prior to last Tuesday's school board meeting. The administration's decision was also presented to the board at that meeting but as an FYI — the board does not vote on novels used in classrooms."

According to this article, the literature committee decided to uphold the use of Monster in the classroom.  In response to the parental complaints, they also moved to offer 7th graders an alternative book, but still require them to remain in the classroom during discussions of Monster.  The committee also issued a statement encouraging teachers to read "pre-approved" books before assigning them to the classroom.

  

Influential Court Decisions

One of the most vocal opponents of parental influence over school curriculum is the American Library Association (ALA).  In the beginning of last month (April 2014), it was easy to access their web-based advice on how to deflect the anger of parents intent on "censorship," (www.ala.org).  A lengthy, committee-based appeal process was recommended--a process so obviously personal, subjective and slow that, in the ALA's opinion (remarked online), it should discourage most parents from complaining in the first place.

Shortly after the publication of "Homosexual Torture, Execution, and Prostitution:  Defended by Middle School Principal...," the ALA removed the page outlining its advice to discourage parents with a lengthy red-tape process.*  In fact, these subject titles still remain, but the links to them have been broken:

What You Can Do to Oppose Censorship 

Strategies and Tips for Dealing with Challenges to Library materials* 

Reporting a Challenge

Now it appears that the ALA's policy has changed somewhat, and can be found here:

http://www.ala.org/offices/oif/ifissues/issuesrelatedlinks/censorshipschools

Fortunately, the American Library Association also provides information on court cases that clarify when "free speech" is against the law.  Online, they present a chapter entitled, "When is Speech Unprotected?  Obscenity and Indecency."  The following cases are directly applicable to the raging controversy in Rancho Santa Margarita, CA:

1.  Ginsberg v. New York, 390 U.S. 62, 20 L. Ed. 2d 195 88 S. Ct. 1274 (1968):  The Supreme Court upheld a New York State statute preventing retailers from selling sexually explicit publications to minors (17 or under).  The court found that the US Constitution cannot interfere with a state's right to restrict children's access to such publications in light of the state's interest in safeguarding children's welfare and supporting parents' claim to aurthority in the rearing of their children.

2.  Miller v. California, 413 U.S. 15, 93 S.Ct. 2607, 37, L.Ed.2d. 419 (1973):  In this case, the U.S. Supreme Court outlined a three-part definition of obscenity.  First, the average person, applying contemporary community standards, must find that the work, taken as a whole, appeals to prurient interests; second, that it depicts or describes, in a patently offensive way, sexual conduct as defined by state law; and third, that the work, taken as a whole, lacks serous literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.  The Court ruled that community standards and state statutes that describe sexual depictions to be suppressed could be used to prosecute Miller, who operated one of the largest West Coast mail order businesses dealing in sexually explicit materials.

Note:  The definition of "obscenity," above, is repeated almost verbatim in CA state statutes pertaining to materials harmful to minors.

 3.  New York v. Ferber, 458 U.S. 747, 102 S.Ct. 3348, 73 L.Ed.2d 1113 (1982):  In July 1982, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a conviction against a man named Ferber for showing a movie depicting two young boys engaging in explicit autoerotic conduct. The film itself was not judged obscene for adults, but the Court made the distinction between what was obscene if children were the participants compared with if adults were the leading actors.

Right Here in Rancho Santa Margarita, CA

In light of the above cases, several questions must be asked regarding the use of Michael Crichton's Timeline to teach 7th grade history:

1.  Does the book qualify as "harmful" to minors?  Potentially yes, if the answer is affirmative to the following:

     A.  If taken as a whole, does it appeal to prurient interests?

     B.  Does it depict or describe, in a patently offensive way, sexual conduct?

     C.  Does the work lack serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value?

2.  Does the book involve the depiction of minors?  

It is the position of this author (and only this author) that the book, Timeline, fails every criteria important to both administrative school officials and courts.  As mentioned in previous articles here on Global Microscope, the book depicts the execution of a man by ramming a hot poker up his rectum.  It also depicts both children and pregnant women subjected to evisceration.  The work as a whole can easily be interpreted as appealing to prurient interests; sex and violence are virtually indistinguishable in the book, and liberally distributed throughout the story.  

Does the work lack serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value?  Absolutely.  It was written for entertainment, with a target audience of persons over 17 years of age.  Scholarly references are included at the end of the book, but no in-text annotations are provided so that a reader can separate fact from fiction.

It might be advisable for concerned parents of Rancho Santa Margarita to prepare for battle.  The administration of RSM Intermediate was informed of parental concerns, and of the excruciatingly inappropriate contents of Timeline.  As of May 6, the book is still in classroom service, without explanation from school officials.

Thank you for your time.

~Speedy Scott

Please feel free to contact me here:  globalmicroscope@gmail.com