Eastport-South Manor district's disposal of controversial books questioned by NYCLU
Eastport-South Manor Junior-Senior High School Credit: Heather Walsh
The New York Civil Liberties Union is questioning a Suffolk County school district's decision to get rid of hundreds of copies of 14 books, several of which have been the subject of recent bans elsewhere in the nation or contain themes of race and identity that have been controversial.
The Eastport-South Manor school board voted in July 2024 to declare "obsolete" the titles, including acclaimed literary works such as Toni Morrison’s “The Bluest Eye,” Zora Neale Hurston’s “Their Eyes Were Watching God” and Richard Wright’s “Black Boy.”
A district official told the NYCLU that those three titles continued to be in the district curriculum and that the copies were too damaged to be used in school, according to documents provided by the civil rights organization. It was unclear from his letter whether the rest of the titles also continued to be in the curriculum.
Documents obtained by the NYCLU suggested the disposed copies have not been replaced and that most of the 14 titles have not appeared in the syllabus for the district’s English and social studies classes in its junior-senior high school since 2019.
WHAT NEWSDAY FOUND
- The New York Civil Liberties Union is questioning the Eastport-South Manor school district's decision to declare "obsolete" hundreds of copies of 14 books, several of which have been the subject of recent bans elsewhere in the nation or contain themes that have been controversial.
- A district official told the civil liberties organization that the copies were too damaged to be used in school and at least three of the books remained in the curriculum.
- Documents obtained by the NYCLU suggested the books were not replaced and most had not appeared in the syllabus for the district’s English and social studies classes in its junior-senior high school since 2019.
"The unexplained disposal of widely recognized works written by and about people of color sends a deeply troubling message to students and community members alike," the NYCLU wrote in a letter to district officials dated July 21.
School officials said they could not comment last week. School board president Jeff Goldhammer said the district office is closed until Aug. 4 and they could not respond until then.
The Eastport-South Manor district, located in Manorville and Eastport, educated more than 2,700 students in the 2023-24 school year, including about 450 Hispanic students and roughly 50 Black students, according to state data.
Book bans
At least half of the books on the district's “obsolete” list were titles that have been the subject of book bans or deal with themes commonly targeted for ideological reasons across the country, said Emma Hulse, education counsel for the NYCLU, based in Manhattan.
The “obsolete” list of 14 titles included 11 literary works, a dictionary for children, a writing handbook and a literature textbook. At least 4 out of the 11 were on PEN America's index of book bans from 2023-2024. “The Bluest Eye,” for example, is among the most commonly banned books in the country, according to PEN America. Morrison's “Song of Solomon,” “Their Eyes Were Watching God” and “Go Ask Alice" by Beatrice Sparks have also been the subject of bans.
Wright’s memoir “Black Boy” and “Things Fall Apart,” a novel by Nigerian author Chinua Achebe, deal with themes of race and colonialism. “Inherit the Wind" by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee, an American play based on a 1925 trial in which a teacher in the South was tried for teaching evolution, was historically controversial, Hulse said.
In the 2023-24 school year, PEN said it counted more than 10,000 book bans affecting thousands of titles in the country’s public schools and the most frequently targeted books deal with racism, sexuality, gender and history.
Many book removals nationwide were triggered by challenges. Eastport-South Manor, however, did not produce any documents indicating challenges to the books on its list, according to the NYCLU, which had requested the information under the Freedom of Information Law.
Timothy Laube, the district’s assistant superintendent for business and operations, told the NYCLU in an October letter that “The Bluest Eye,” “Their Eyes Were Watching God” and “Black Boy” continued to be part of district curriculum, according to documents provided by the civil rights organization.
He wrote the district intended to amend its July 2024 resolution declaring the books obsolete to clarify which titles remain in the curriculum, and pass a separate resolution to “surplus” items that are no longer in good condition for use in school. It doesn’t appear such a resolution was since introduced or approved by the board, according to the NYCLU, which reviewed board agendas and minutes.
The civil liberties union said it also requested purchase orders and syllabuses for English language arts and social studies classes for students in grades 7-12 since 2019. The documents the district produced revealed that only one title from the "obsolete" list — “Fahrenheit 451” by Ray Bradbury — was included in a 10th-grade English class for the 2024-25 school year, the NYCLU said.
Bradbury’s novel was also the only title for which the district made a purchase of 150 copies. That purchase was made in June 2023, a year before the board approved the list, the NYCLU said.
The NYCLU is calling on the district to offer more transparency in its decision-making process and make clear whether the titles in question continue to be used in district schools.
“People have a right to know what young people are learning in school, particularly in this moment when so many books are being ideologically targeted,” Hulse said.
Dandan Zou covers education for Newsday. Previously, she worked for a community newspaper in Maryland and a personal finance magazine in Washington, D.C.
