Dear sir/madame,

Please permit me to illustrate my point with a story from my Island Home...there are times we would buy some fruit products from the market and it did not taste as it should, the color and texture was just not quite ripe and in some cases you had to buy another fruit.  My folks use to tell me that it was because the fruit was "forced ripe".

Well this is what we are doing to some of our precious students...making them into adults prematurely rather than allowing them to mature at their own pace...unfortunately we can't buy another child but are left to try and correct some permanent scars we have needlessly inflicted on them.   The teachers who say trust them are long gone, the other parents who say don't meddle with freedom of choice are no where around...unless their precious darlings happen to marry one of these wounded souls and then they are the first to recommend a divorce.  

So please, please err on the safe side.

I am in support of:

*advance parental notification of sensitive material

*identification of books containing sensitive material

*alternative books

*providing opt-out options for students who do not wish to be present in the classroom when discussions on sensitive topics may take place.

Please do the right thing in supporting parents' authority in knowing, understanding, and in managing their children's education.

Thank you.

Robert Shaw

Former PTSA President