Over the school year, the English language arts mini-renewal curriculum team brought together seven handpicked novels to be proposed to the SD#308 Board of Education in hopes of approval for the English curriculum.
This change in curriculum was prompted by the sunsetting of College Board’s SpringBoard curriculum and textbook. This planned termination affects grades six through 12 in SD#308.
“Sixth through eighth-grade levels decided to go in a different direction with a product from Houghton Mifflin,” said Humanities Curriculum Director Megan Mann.
The Houghton Mifflin product is similar to the SpringBoard curriculum, in which short stories and writing are a key focus.
The high school committees, however, chose a different path than the middle school committees. The high school mini-renewal committee curriculum team chose to add full-length novels to the curriculum and deviate from the pre-made curriculum options.
“I feel like we have been using [SpringBoard] for a long time, so just some more updated materials could be a good addition,” said OH English teacher Kristen Wood.
Initially, 17 novels were recommended by the committee. This number was gradually reduced as the process went on. The novels that saw the process to fruition included the titles “Unwind”, “All American Boys”, “We Are Not Free” (a collection of published works), “American Like Me”, “The Book of Unknown Americans”, “Home is Not a Country”, and “Patron Saints of Nothing.”
“I’m not exactly sure who approves or disapproves of the books, we just get a person at [the] district who tells us information and who we tell information to,” said OH English teacher Abby Bartle.
Another unclear item is the district standard for novels, which is not outlined either on the district website or on any provided information for the BOE.
“‘Indivisible’ by Daniel Aleman was rejected. We are not happy about it. They said it is not the right moment for this novel, and the novel is not balanced in its perspectives,” said Bartle.
“Indivisible” is a novel about a Mexican-American teenager whose parents have been detained by ICE as they struggle to keep their family together. Many of the reviews cite the novel as a timely novel that handles the topic with deep emotionality.
“It’s hard when we as teachers want what’s best for our students and we know our students well…It hurts a lot because we are so passionate, we work so long on putting the best books forward, and then we get let down,” Bartle added.
Another novel that never even saw the BOE was “There There” by Tommy Orange. “There There” follows the lives of several Indigenous peoples in Oakland, California, all leading up to a big Powwow. It goes in-depth on indigenous history and the struggles these peoples face today.
“[‘There There’] was a novel we saw showing up in other curriculums, around the state and around the country,” said Wood.
One local school district that has “There There” as part of its curriculum is St. Charles Community Unit. School District 303, which lends to the book’s inclusion in the curriculum proposals.
“[It’s rejection] is kind of surprising because this is taught at a lot of other places,” said Wood.
Though 10 novels never saw the board, both English teachers and administrators remain positive.
“I’m so excited about the changes that have been made. It’s easy to focus on like one of our novels didn’t get approved… I’m really excited to be able to teach this new course,” said Bartle.
Hi, I'm Skye, this is my first year as a student journalist here at the 42Fifty. I am in my senior year and involved in various extracurriculars including, Speech, LASO, and YAG. Follow me on all socials! @eskyeeeeee
