[CASL-L] Newly Revealed Records Detail 2013 Decision to Remove Persepolis from CPS Classrooms

[Michelle Luhtala]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Kristin Pekoll <kpekoll at ala.org>
Date: Thu, Feb 19, 2015 at 9:24 AM
Subject: [stateifc] Newly Revealed Records Detail 2013 Decision to Remove
Persepolis from CPS Classrooms
To: "stateifc at lists.ala.org" <stateifc at lists.ala.org>


OIF Blog Post - http://www.oif.ala.org/oif/?p=5333
Newly Revealed Records Detail 2013 Decision to Remove Persepolis from CPS
Classrooms

During the week of March 11, 2013, directives were issued by administrators
at Chicago Public Schools’ Fullerton school network
<http://www.oif.ala.org/oif/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/PersepolisEmailtoFullertonNtwk.pdf>
and Lane Tech High School
<http://www.oif.ala.org/oif/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/LaneTechMemo.pdf> to
remove Marjane Sartrapi’s acclaimed graphic novel *Persepolis*
<http://www.randomhouse.com/book/160892/the-complete-persepolis-by-marjane-satrapi>
from school libraries and classrooms on the grounds that the book contained
inappropriate language and images.

The directive to remove *Persepolis* from CPS’ libraries and classrooms
became public after students at Lane Tech alerted their colleagues in the
school’s journalism program. Bloggers and critics publicized the directive
and the apparent effort to ban the book from CPS classrooms
<https://preaprez.wordpress.com/2013/03/14/cps-book-banning/> and students
took to the streets to protest the book’s removal
<http://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20130315/roscoe-village/lane-tech-students-protest-cps-stance-on-persepolis>.
As the protests mounted, CPS administrators slowly backtracked on the
initial directive; CPS Chief Barbara Byrd Bennett eventually issued a
letter denying that there was any effort to ban the book and limiting the
directive <http://cps.edu/News/Announcements/Pages/3_15_2013_PR1.aspx> to
remove *Persepolis* to 7th grade classrooms.

ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom <http://www.ala.org/offices/oif> and
the Freedom to Read Foundation <http://www.ftrf.org> were involved from the
beginning, supporting the students and organizations that sought to keep
the book in CPS classrooms, publicly protesting the apparent censorship of
a critically praised work of literature <http://www.oif.ala.org/oif/?p=4651>,
and seeking information about the events leading up to the decision to
remove the book. In response to a FTRF Freedom of Information Act request
<http://www.oif.ala.org/oif/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/CPSFOIARequestPersepolisxATT.pdf>
that asked for all correspondence and electronic communications related to
the decision to remove *Persepolis* from CPS classrooms, we only received
the directives and letters that had already been publicly disclosed, and a
copy of the agenda for the chief of schools meeting on March 11, 2013.
That document contained no information at all about *Persepolis* or the
decision to remove or recall the book. We remained in the dark about who
had filed the initial complaint about *Persepolis* and who had made the
decision to remove the book from CPS classrooms.

Then Jarrett Dapier, an intrepid MLIS candidate at the University of
Illinois’ Graduate School of Library and Information Science
<http://www.lis.illinois.edu/>, filed his own FOIA request in order to
gather materials for his paper on school censorship. And in December 2014,
CPS provided Dapier with the emails and correspondence we – and other
organizations – were told did not exist in 2013.

Ben Joravsky of the Chicago Reader has already written about the contents
of the emails
<http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/e-mails-show-cps-officials-pull-persepolis-classrooms/Content?oid=16355626>.
With the permission of Mr. Dapier, we are now sharing the actual emails and
correspondence
<http://www.oif.ala.org/oif/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/CPS-FOIA-DocumentsDapierDec2014.pdf>
– which reveal that, contrary to CPS’ public statements in 2013, there was
in fact an effort to remove *Persepolis* from all schools and libraries in
CPS. The emails detail the initial complaint, the decision to remove the
book, and the eventual modification of the original directive to remove the
book from CPS classrooms and libraries. (It’s important to note that*
Persepolis* remained in school libraries only because a strong
reconsideration policy – CPS Policy 604.7
<http://policy.cps.k12.il.us/download.aspx?ID=93> – prevented its removal
without sufficient review and due process.) The emails are an object lesson
in casual censorship, the ability of one person to pass judgment on a work
of literature, and the chaotic decision-making that occurs when a school
system fails to have policies in place to address demands to censor
classroom materials.

Our thanks to Mr. Dapier for his initiative and perseverance in obtaining
these public records.

*Kristin*



Kristin Pekoll, Assistant Director

Office for Intellectual Freedom

www.ala.org/oif



American Library Association l 50 E. Huron St. l Chicago, IL  60611

(312) 280-4221 l (800) 545-2433 x4221 toll-free l (312) 280-4227 fax
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