SOUTH COAST TODAY
Anika Clark | October 27, 2011

The classic debate over what’s appropriate for school children to read and when has a new local chapter — at Old Rochester Regional Junior High School and in the pages of “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian.”

A few parents are scheduled to meet with staff and School Committee members today about their concerns over the book’s assignment, for the second year, in eighth-grade English. Penned by Sherman Alexie, the novel is a New York Times best-seller, a National Book Award winner and, according to the American Library Association, was one of the top 10 banned or challenged books of 2010.

“I’m a Constitution guy. … But the First Amendment doesn’t say (that) freedom of speech means that a teacher can bring in whatever they want and assign it,” said James Babineau, an eighth-grade parent who helped sound the alarm after reading the book and said that when he first approached administrators about it, they hadn’t read it.

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MY.HSJ.ORG (My High School Journalism)
The Spectrum
Heather Gagne and James Rider | October 25, 2011

Last January, the Dartmouth School District installed Fortiguard Web Filtering to regulate school Internet use. This year, complaints have arisen among students and teachers alike who are unable to reach websites containing “banned words” or streaming media which could be used to improve the educational experience.

The administration is working to find a balance between retaining Internet infrastructure and satisfying student and teacher Internet needs.

Student opinion about Fortiguard varies in magnitude, but there is a general consensus that Fortiguard goes too far. According to our recently conducted student survey, 89% of students have run into issues when researching school-related topics.

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Related article:
Mind/Shift: When School Web Filtering Comes Home

NEW YORK TIMES
Abby Goodnough | September 21, 2011

It took only 105 years, but “Eve’s Diary” is back on the shelf.

Richard Whitehead was researching his new role as a trustee of the public library here when he stumbled on an old, forgotten controversy about the book, Mark Twain’s sly interpretation of the Adam and Eve story.

In 1906, he learned, the library’s trustees voted to ban “Eve’s Diary” because the illustrations, by Lester Ralph, showed a naked (though not graphically so) Eve exploring the wonders of Eden.

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WORCESTER NEWS-TELEGRAM
Winston W. Wiley | July 14, 2011

The library board of directors voted last night to suspend the meeting room reservation privileges of North East White Pride after a video surfaced in which, board members believe, the group is attempting to incite violence at a meeting Saturday.

The video, found on YouTube, announces the group’s meeting at 3 p.m. Saturday and invites people to show up with their bike locks. Board members said the reference is to an assault that allegedly took place on June 4, when about 10 people, some of them masked, barged into a White Pride meeting in the Banx room. One of the intruders was carrying a metal bike lock.

No one was arrested, according to board members, but police did recover the bike lock.

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Follow-up article:
Disinvited White Pride plans to come to library, opponents do too(Worcester News-Telegram | Aaron Nicodemus, July 14, 2011)