Norwin delays decision to remove book from 5th grade classes
Fifth grade students in the Norwin School District will have to wait another month to find out how the story ends regarding their supplemental reading curriculum.
The school board Monday voted 5-3 to consider replacing the 2005 novel, “Al Capone Does My Shirts,” with a “more responsible resource,” as Director Shawna Ilagan described it.
Directors Ilagan, Christine Baverso, Alex Detschelt, Raymond Kocak and Robert Wayman voted to have the discussion at their March 13 meeting, whereas Darlene Ciocca, William Essay and Patrick Lynn opposed it.
Ilagan, who proposed the board discuss removing the book, did not reveal the nature of her criteria for determining a replacement text. The board would not be banning the book, nor would it be removed from the school libraries to prevent students from reading it, Ilagan said.
The debate over the appropriateness of the book began in January and has focused on the author’s use of the word “rapists” as being in the prison population, some sexual references among the teenage characters and the use of an outdated word to describe a mentally challenged person.
Assistant Superintendent Natalie McCracken said the district offers alternative reading material for parents who do not want their children to read the book.
Detschelt repeated his claim that “Al Capone Does My Shirts” is “completely inappropriate” and should be pulled from the curriculum. One of his complaints last month was that the book, which depicts events from 1935, uses an inappropriate word in describing one of the central characters, a teenage girl with autism.
Detschelt’s demand to remove the book from the curriculum came three months after he posted a political meme on social media that used the same derogatory word for a mentally challenged person.
Kocak said he had “trouble” with Detschelt’s approach to having the book removed from the classroom. That approach would have Norwin “eliminate Tom Sawyer from the library,” he said.
“I believe the book should stay in our system,” Kocak said.
Essay, a retired Franklin Regional teacher with 35 years teaching fifth and sixth graders, found the book “totally appropriate” and one that has “a lot of value.”
Heather Newell, director of curriculum and assessment, said the novel is for the fifth grade reading level and has been on the supplemental reading list for 12 years.
The attempt to ban the book from the curriculum drew a mixed response from several people in the audience.
Fran Bevan, a former school board member, said those who want the book banned from the classrooms are “not a book banner or a book burner,” but were being responsible.
Tammy Moreno of North Huntingdon complained that her daughter had to read the book and had to “brainstorm” about it and then write about it.
All 200 copies of the book should be removed from the schools, Moreno said.
Candace Laffey, also of North Huntingdon, said anyone can read quotes from a book and “show clips to prove their point.”
Joe Napsha is a TribLive reporter covering Irwin, North Huntingdon and the Norwin School District. He also writes about business issues. He grew up on Neville Island and has worked at the Trib since the early 1980s. He can be reached at jnapsha@triblive.com.
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