The Pine-Richland School Board voted against incorporating “Angel of Greenwood,” a novel set during the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, into its ninth grade curriculum during an often hostile meeting Jan. 13 that stretched nearly to midnight.
Board members, administrators and several public attendees traded barbs over the district’s ongoing controversy surrounding the board’s proposed library policies and book policies, more generally.
Several speakers pressed the board to approve “Angel of Greenwood,” including high school Language Arts Chair Elissa Mitchell.
“I’m here tonight in the spirit of collaboration urging you to work with us as we come to agreements on curricular decisions,” she said. “The only agenda I have is to teach kids and make them feel valued and respected and, by way of our curricular choices, show them that we care.”
Although the board approved, 5-4, a revised ninth grade Language Arts curriculum that could have included the novel, members ultimately voted down Randi Pink’s young adult work, 3-5-1. Joseph Cassidy, Ashley Fortier and Amy Terchick voted in favor of the novel’s inclusion while Phillip Morissette, Lisa Hillman, Marc Casciani, Christina Brussalis and Michael Wiethorn rejected it. Leslie Miller abstained.
Morissette, Hillman and Brussalis all expressed skepticism about whether the novel was at a high enough literary level for a ninth grade curriculum. That conversation took place among a drawn-out attempt by board members and administrators to define exactly what the term “curriculum” meant.
Audience members jeered and clapped throughout the meeting, often leading to hostile exchanges with board members. Verbal arguments even dragged into the parking lot after the meeting adjourned.
At one point, numerous audience members shouted down Brussalis after she repeatedly interrupted Assistant Superintendent Michael Pasquinelli as he attempted to answer a question.
Numerous residents, parents, alumni and students spoke for more than an hour, often shaming the board, praising Pine-Richland administration and staff and demanding a change in course.
Pine-Richland senior Matteo Rotelli spoke in favor of allowing district educators leeway over what materials are utilized in the classroom.
“Let them guide us through the tough conversations rather than pretending the tough conversations don’t exist,” he said. “When you ban books, you deny students the opportunity to learn, to question and to grow.”
All of this took place among more mundane business such as updates on the district’s pool and the addition of a new German course.
Monday’s five-hour meeting came after a nearly seven-hour board meeting Jan. 9, which also saw large crowds and bickering among the board over its Library Resources policy.
Previously, the district formed a committee for the review of 14 books challenged by parents in 2023, many of which focused on LGBTQ characters.
The committee offered recommendations to Superintendent Brian Miller who ultimately recommended that the titles remain. Last year, board members began to discuss a revised policy that would give them the final say over library books.
Though Brussalis proposed resuming discussions about that policy on Jan. 13 around 10:45 p.m., board member Casciani threatened to leave if discussions resumed. Other members voted down Brussalis, 8-1.
Miller offered an extended speech soon after, where he insisted that he respected the will of the board but continually asserted its proposed library policy was “unnecessary and potentially harmful.”
Before the vote on “Angel of Greenwood,” Miller lamented the possibility of its rejection and the potential workload this would place on the Language Arts department to fashion new curricula.
“My first suggestion is that we pause and step back because what has been happening is not working,” he said. “We’re not on the same page. We can’t keep doing this.”