Higley board removes Trevor Noah’s ‘Born a Crime’ from expense voucher

By Tom Blodgett
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Higley Unified School District effectively stopped the purchase of copies of Trevor Noah’s “Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood” after two governing board members objected to its content.

The board voted 4-0 Sept. 1 to ratify expense voucher 1013 with the book removed, allowing the district’s other purchases on the voucher to proceed.

The decision came after a lengthy discussion that divided board members over age-appropriate material and parental choice. The book already is on Higley’s board-approved novel list for 11th grade, with parental permission required for students to read it.

Board Member Anna Van Hoek, who asked that the voucher be pulled for discussion, said she objected to using district money for the book because it contains profanity, racial slurs, sexual references, violence and other mature material.

“I don't believe that we should be normalizing material for students in a classroom that would otherwise be inappropriate to use at school,” Van Hoek said.

Board Member Sara Jarman said she also was uncomfortable with the purchase after learning the district was buying the original version rather than an adaptation intended for younger readers.

Board President Amanda Wade defended keeping the book available, noting parents already could prevent their children from reading it by withholding permission.

Wade also argued that Noah’s account of growing up under apartheid offers students a firsthand perspective on history and that removing the book would take that choice away from other families.

“I struggle when we remove the choice for people,” Wade said. “I struggle when we remove the choice for parents.”

Board Member Tiffany Shultz also supported leaving the decision to parents.

“Parent choice is important, and that's what we're giving these parents is parent choice,” Shultz said.

Van Hoek rejected Wade’s characterization of removing the book as a book ban. She said families remain free to purchase the book themselves but that the district does not have to spend taxpayer money on it.

Jarman said she could understand arguments on both sides but ultimately remained uncomfortable with the material for minors and wanted the book removed.

With the board appearing headed toward a 2-2 split, Wade moved to approve the expense voucher without “Born a Crime,” allowing the remaining expenditures to move forward. The motion passed unanimously.

The book was not Van Hoek’s only question about voucher 1013.

She also questioned the district’s purchases involving MindPlay and Senior Wooly, particularly whether digital materials available through the programs complied with state requirements governing review of library materials.

District officials said MindPlay is a supplemental reading resource used with special education students who receive resource-room support. Parents participate in the students’ individualized education program teams and are informed that MindPlay is being used.

Higley Special Education Executive Director Shauna Miller said MindPlay initially offered a digital library containing more than 10,000 selections, which prompted concerns from Higley staff.

District staff rejected both the original library and an alternative offered by the company, according to the administrator. A Higley team instead reviewed the selections over the summer and chose about 1,000 for a district-specific library covering different Lexile reading levels.

Miller also said the materials are generally excerpts rather than complete books.

Van Hoek asked the district to have its legal counsel determine whether use of the digital library complies with state requirements, including a 60-day review requirement, even though MindPlay previously was approved by the board as a supplemental resource.

The district also told the board that its Senior Wooly purchase was for teacher licenses rather than student licenses and that the resource previously had been approved by the board.

The board then turned to expense voucher 1128, where Van Hoek raised a similar question about Garbanzo, another digital resource.

A district official said Garbanzo already was on Higley’s approved supplemental list and the expenditure was to renew licenses the district has used for the past three years.

Van Hoek again asked Superintendent David Loutzenheiser to make sure the district’s use of the resource complies with requirements governing digital libraries.

The board approved voucher 1128 by a 4-0 vote.

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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).