Pine-Richland board tables decision on historical novel for 9th graders

Next year’s Pine-Richland High School freshmen must wait to learn if the historical novel “Angel of Greenwood” will be required reading.

The school board on Jan. 22 tabled a vote to approve the book as a core text for the ninth-grade English curriculum, as recommended by a selection committee following extensive review and opportunity for community input. Marc Casciani was the sole board member to oppose the delay.

A vote is likely to occur following a board academic achievement governance meeting with administrators and educators, scheduled for 6 to 8 p.m. Feb. 27. According to Philip Morrissette, board president, an objective is to address “the standard operating procedure of how curriculum changes are made, and what’s brought to the board and what’s not brought to the board.”

“This is not about yea or nay,” Morrissette said about the tabled vote. “This is all about stepping back a little bit, taking a look at the process, make sure we get this corrected so we can make a change coming forward.”

Casciani disagreed.

“We’re just kicking the can on something we didn’t want to do tonight,” he said. “It’s two separate issues. The process has nothing to do with the actual merit of the book right now, vote up or down. Two different things.”

“Angel of Greenwood,” as described in information presented at the board’s Jan. 8 planning meeting, is the story of two young protagonists whose “life changes on May 31, 1921, when a vicious mob storms the Black community of Greenwood (Greenwood Massacre of 1921), leaving the town destroyed and thousands of residents displaced. Only then, Isaiah, Angel and their peers realize who their real enemies are.”

The selection committee chose the novel, written by Randi Pink and published in 2021, from among three finalists for a new core text. All the books were available beginning Nov. 13 at the Pine-Richland High School and Northern Tier Regional libraries for parents and community members to review and provide input prior to the final recommendation.

During the public comment portion of the Jan. 22 board meeting, two residents spoke in favor of approving “Angel of Greenwood” and one against.

Board member Amy Terchick made the motion to table.

“I think ‘The Angel of Greenwood’ is a great book,” she said. “My opinion now is that I’d like to get the rest of the core texts situated before we add another book.”

According to information provided to the board, core texts are those taught at all grade levels “consistently over the course of several years.” One goal of aggregating such titles is to avoid repetition for students.

“Kids were being exposed to certain texts at one grade level,” Michael Pasquinelli, assistant superintendent of secondary education and curriculum, said at the Jan. 8 meeting. “But then perhaps at the next grade level, they were anticipating that would be the text that the students would be using for that course.”

The district launched an evaluation process for core texts in early 2022, with selections made for fifth and eighth grades for the current school year.

“We paused for ninth grade because the committee was not satisfied with the text that they had at the time,” Pasquinelli said. “And at the same time, we made some adjustments to the process in order to get even more input from our (English language arts) staff and our librarians collaborating together on identifying those texts that they wanted to go deeper into review.”

Members of the selection committee presented the board with justification for choosing “Angel of Greenwood”:

“Specifically, this text will allow students to analyze how a theme develops throughout a text, identify ways in which complex characters interact and advance the plot, and determine how point of view impacts the meaning of a text.

“Because it also shares themes with two additional ninth-grade core texts, ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ by Harper Lee and ‘Romeo and Juliet’ by William Shakespeare, ‘Angel of Greenwood’ will unify the ninth-grade curriculum and give students a variety of resources in order to make meaningful intertextual connections.”

When Terchick questioned the thought that “Angel of Greenwood” would be engaging for students, Superintendent Brian Miller gave a reply.

“We have our certified teachers who spend every moment working with that age level of student,” he said. “And so as they have examined a number of core texts to get to this point, they understand what is meaningful for the students in the classroom.”

Board member Christina Brussalis expressed concern about consistency within decision-making processes.

“It’s hard for us to monitor or to ensure that what we are telling our community is being taught in the classroom isn’t fully transparent to the board, as well as to our community,” she said. “So I do feel like we have to take a step back, to make sure that we are all on the same page, that administration and the board understand what our curriculum is.”