Virginia Regulatory Town Hall
Agency
Department of Education
 
Board
State Board of Education
 
chapter
Regulations Governing Local School Boards and School Divisions [8 VAC 20 ‑ 720]
Action Amendments Regarding Use of Controversial or Sensitive Instructional Materials
Stage NOIRA
Comment Period Ended on 1/15/2014
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1/15/14  10:25 pm
Commenter: Ahmed & Juliette Qureshi

Support Initiative
 

I spent more than 50 hours trying to get a book (Purple Heart by Patricia McCormick) with 17 "F" words and many sexual and violent references out of my son's middle school last year. He read it as a 12 year old 7th grader even though it was R rated and completely inappropriate for his class. His teacher encouraged it, even though he knew my husband was in Afghanistan at the time, and it would be potentially traumatic for my son to visualize soldiers killing children and likening their soldiering experiences to video games. It was inadvertently donated from the public library system to the school, but even though it escaped the authorized channels for putting it on the shelves at all, it was a nightmare to have it removed! It is too difficult a process--and parents deserve to opt in if students are assigned books well beyond their maturity.

CommentID: 30889