Sign up for the Today newsletter
Get everything you need to know to start your day, delivered right to your inbox every morning.
Danvers teachers respond to flap over teaching of ‘All American Boys’
“Silencing the reality, viewpoints and perspective of the Black American experience and story is not teaching from a place of truth."
The Danvers Teachers Association responded to residents at Monday’s school committee meeting who raised concerns about the teaching of a book that depicts racism and police brutality.
Eighth graders in Danvers are currently reading the 2015 novel “All American Boys” by Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely. It tells the story of two boys, one Black and one white, whose lives are changed by police brutality, according to Kiely’s website.
Some Danvers parents have opted their children out of reading the book over concerns regarding use of profanity and depictions of substance abuse and violence.
Middle School teacher Sarah Stone read a letter to the town’s school committee on behalf of the Danvers Teachers Association. “By objecting to the book ‘All American Boys,’ an acclaimed novel by Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely, some within the Danvers community are expecting the district to censor this book and are denying their children the opportunity to attend ELA class alongside their peers,” Stone said.
Advertisement:
Stone also read a quote from Jason Reynolds, one of the book’s authors. “Specifically, for a lot of us, it doesn’t always feel like you’re banning the book itself. Sometimes it feels like you’re banning the people that those books are about, that you’re saying that those lives are lives that should only exist in the shadows,” Reynolds said in a 2023 NPR interview about book bans.
The Danvers School Committee clarified that no books have been banned or restricted in the district. However, the inclusion of “Stamped for Kids: Racism, Antiracism and You” by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi in the district’s curriculum was paused a few years ago and later allowed, Stone said.
Advertisement:
Stone continued, “Silencing the reality, viewpoints and perspective of the Black American experience and story is not teaching from a place of truth. We simply should not reject stories that are uncomfortable or difficult to understand when they are the lived experience of people who are different from ourselves.”
One unidentified Danvers man, who said he is the grandfather of Danvers students, was among several people who raised concerns, urging that book selections be conducted by teachers and not by consultants who are behind the “equity industrial complex.”
While Stone called the pushback “deeply troubling,” there was overwhelming support at Monday’s meeting for the book to remain a part of the curriculum.
“The subjects of racism, violence, bias, and privilege are really uncomfortable topics … This book makes students think critically, foster empathy for others … assess situations, assess facts, and understand how all of us have a lens through which we view situations that is shaped by our own experiences and biases,” said Suzanne Wright, the mother of a sixth grade student.
Andrea Sherman, a mother of an eighth grader and the president of the Beverly Teachers Association, supports the book’s spot in the curriculum. “‘All American Boys’ is award-winning, age appropriate, and it addresses issues of race, identity, justice, and empathy. Issues that are not hypothetical or distant … They are already the kinds of topics that our kids are already engaging with in their lives,” she said.
Advertisement:
Sherman added that profanity and violence are in many of Shakespeare’s works, and the Holocaust and famine are the subjects of “Night” and “A Long Walk to Water,” respectively, all of which are a part of the Danvers curriculum.
Sherman continued, “While I respect every family’s right to engage in their child’s education, I do not believe we should allow discomfort to dictate curriculum. Discomfort is not harm.”
Only 5% of eighth grade students opted out of reading “All American Boys,” School Committee Member Gabe Lopes said.
“I’m a big believer that in most cases, if someone tells you not to read a book, it’s probably the first book you should go find,” said school committee member Eric Cane.
Kristine Parker, a new Danvers resident and parent of a first grader, said, “There is facism going on outside today … Facism is going to win when they tell us whose history we can learn and whose history we can’t learn.”
“Books like ‘All American Boys’ are not dangerous and it’s not propaganda. Experiences, conversations, and how we treat one another shape our kids far more than any single story or lesson ever could,” Lopes continued. “That is the genius of this book. It flips our assumptions upside down. It challenges us to examine the quiet biases we might not even know we carry.”
Advertisement:
“In the hands of trained educators that you have in Danvers, this book becomes a powerful tool, one that guides students through difficult conversations,” Sherman added.
Danvers Teachers Association “members believe we are standing at a crossroads. Option A is to have faculty teach with books that we select based upon curricular review, our expertise, and the developmental needs of our students. Option B is to pretend that some of the most pressing and relevant issues of our time simply don’t exist, and to fail in giving our students the experiences and tools they need to think critically in an increasingly complex world,” the association wrote in a press release. “Only one of these options sounds like a reasonable path for our school community.”
The Danvers School Committee did not make any further statements on whether or not the book will remain in the curriculum, although parents may continue to opt their children out of its teachings as a short-term solution.
To comment, please create a screen name in your profile
To comment, please verify your email address
Conversation
This discussion has ended. Please join elsewhere on Boston.com