I Mess With Texas, Part 11

It doesn't take long. While Texas has been battling more wildfires and an onslaught of wild kids visiting for South By Southwest (officially the One Redeeming Thing About Texas), it looks as though San Antonio is keeping up the great traditions of this messed up place alive:

Judson ISD considers removing controversial book from curriculum
Web Posted: 03/20/2006 11:28 PM CST

Amanda Taylor
KNES 5 Eyewitness News

Some parents are calling "The Handmaiden's Tale" by Margaret Atwood sexually graphic, and now the Judson Independent School District superintendent wants it out of the curriculum.

However, some teachers say it should stay.

"We've had some ripples over the last years on it but not to this extent," district spokesperson Sean Hoffmann said.

Eleventh-grade students at Judson High School have been reading it for the last 10 years.

"The district certainly does not want to censor our students from appropriate materials, but being a public school system, we can't turn a deaf ear to things and allow our students to be exposed to things the community may not uphold," Hoffmann said.

Atwood's book is about a lower class woman serving as a birthmother for the upper class.

However, a Judson parent noticed more than the story line. She came forward citing the book's more than 60 sexual innuendos and other graphic descriptions.

So the superintendent opened it up.

"The superintendent read several of the passages and decided because of graphic content the book should be pulled from our curriculum," Hoffmann said.

But that's not the end of the story.

A committee of English teachers, students and other parents, has voted to appeal that decision. They want this book to stay part of the advanced placement curriculum.

It'll now be in the hands of the school board, and it will meet on Thursday, March 22 at 7:30 p.m. to discuss it.

On the bright side, if they remove "The Handmaiden's Tale," then really nothing will happen, because the book is called "The Handmaid's Tale."

Clearly the newscasters in Tex-yus need a little more education themselves.

UPDATE: Book has been reinstated.

Judson senior Robbie Cimmino, who read the book in class last year, said the sexual content in the book was being taken out of context. If anything, he said, the book is a cautionary tale that teaches students to respect their bodies and respect the rights of others.

"It made me stop. It made me think. It made me reflect," he said. "If I had not had a chance to read this book, I feel I would've been cheated out of an opportunity to learn and grow."