Higley board approves book purchases over split votes, content objections

By Tom Blodgett
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The Higley Unified School District governing board approved two expense vouchers tied to classroom books Tuesday, but both passed on split votes after some members objected to sexual content in several assigned titles.

The board voted 3-2 on June 23 to ratify expense voucher 1114, which included the purchase of “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian.” It then voted 3-2 to ratify expense voucher 1110, which included “Invisible Man,” “Crying in H Mart” and “Where the Crawdads Sing.”

Board member Anna Van Hoek said she asked to pull voucher 1114 because it included “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian,” which she said contains sexually explicit material.

“We’re purchasing and assigning these books to our students and they contain very sexually explicit content,” Van Hoek said.

Van Hoek said she understood the district uses parental consent forms for such books, but she argued that did not resolve her concerns about exposing students to graphic material. She cited Arizona laws dealing with sexual content and material harmful to minors and questioned whether assigning the book aligns with the intent of state law.

“And we continue to use taxpayer dollars to purchase such books and assign them to students for classroom instruction,” Van Hoek said. “I can’t support continuing to give such material to our children in our schools.”

Board Member Scott Glover asked Van Hoek whether she had read the entire book. She said she had read parts of it and objected to references including masturbation. The board approved voucher 1114 despite her objections.

A similar debate followed over voucher 1110, which covered purchases including “Invisible Man,” “Crying in H Mart” and “Where the Crawdads Sing.”

Board member Sara Jarman said she had asked for voucher 1110 to be pulled because of “Invisible Man,” though she framed her comments as a reminder to parents rather than a broad objection to the district’s approval process.

Jarman said some books assigned in upper grade levels carry stronger content and families should pay attention to course materials and permission forms.

“I really want to make sure that we’re following up and that the parents are notified that in some of these higher grade levels that these are some of the books,” Jarman said.

Van Hoek said she also had concerns with titles included in voucher 1110. She singled out “Crying in H Mart,” which she said is designated for an adult audience but assigned to 10th graders, and “Invisible Man,” which she said includes sexual situations, violence and disturbing themes.

“We’ve had many concerns within our district from parents about such material,” Van Hoek said.

Board President Amanda Wade pushed back on how the books were being described during the meeting and defended the district’s review and parental notification process.

Wade said parent permission slips are required and argued that board discussions can reduce complex works to isolated passages rather than their full literary and instructional context.

“Oftentimes when we sit up here and we talk about it, we make it seem as if that’s the content of the book and that is not,” Wade said. “It is a paragraph or a page out of hundreds of pages.”

Wade said the books are selected because of what they offer students and how they connect to the curriculum. She also stressed that parents who do not want their children reading a particular title have other options.

“For parents who have issues because we care about parental choice, don’t choose that book for your child,” Wade said.

The board then approved voucher 1110 on another 3-2 vote. Van Hoek and Jarman were the dissenting votes on both vouchers.

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Tom Blodgett
Senior News Editor | Gilbert

tblodgett@iniusa.org

Meet Tom
Tom Blodgett joined Independent Newsmedia, Inc., USA, in 2022, when the company acquired Community Impact Newspaper's Phoenix-area properties. Raised in Arizona, he has spent more than 35 years in journalism in the state.

Community: He has served as an instructional professional in the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication since 2005, and is editorial adviser to The State Press, the university's independent student media outlet. He also is director of operations for an 18U girls fastpitch softball team from Gilbert.

Education: Arizona State University with a BS in Journalism. 

Random Fact: He lived in Belgium during his freshman year of high school.  

Hobbies: Tweeting enthusiastically about ASU softball (season-ticket holder) and grumpily about other local sports (pessimistic fan).