Persepolis off CPS classroom shelves. No explanation given.

The story of the removal of Persepolis from CPS classrooms and libraries gets stranger and stranger.

One CPS teacher wrote me:  The book is included in the Common Core curriculum for both 7th grade and 11th grade, so there’s no way for the Board to plausibly claim the book was ordered “by mistake.”

-Fred

I’m a CPS librarian very worried about the possible banning of the book Persepolis. We received the email below today, after HS librarians raised the issue days ago on our listserv. We have a CPS listserv for librarians, but a friend of mine tried to comment on this issue and was censored from discussing the issue further on this listserv.  We were also told it was Fullerton Network where the book was being removed.

-N

———- Forwarded message ———-

From: Dunn, Jeremy <jdunn4@cps.edu>
Date: Thu, Mar 14, 2013 at 12:16 PM
Subject: IMP: Update on Persepolis in School Libraries

Dear Librarians –

We have received clarification from the Chief Education Office that the directive to remove Persepolis from schools does not apply to school libraries, and that any further challenge or attempt to remove this or any other book from a school library must be guided by the Collection Development policy which outlines the review procedure.

This clarification and a copy of the Collection Development policy has been forwarded to all school chiefs. As you know, the Collection Development policy is posted on the Department of Libraries wiki at http://cpslibraries.wikispaces.com/collectiondev

Any questions regarding copies of Persepolis that are not in the school library should be directed to your principal.

Thank you,

Jeremy

—————

Jeremy Dunn

Chicago Public Schools

Department of Libraries

Educational Tools & Technology 

773 553-6215