Book is pulled from Tabiona college prep class

TABIONA, Duchesne County — A Duchesne County mother is calling for the firing of two teachers who said her daughter, a rape victim, is unqualified to object to reading an assigned novel that was later pulled from a class after parents complained about foul language and racy material.

School officials have taken no disciplinary action toward the teachers, but Duchesne County Schools Superintendent John Aland said the district will now move quickly to create lists of approved books and movies.

In the past, according to district media supervisor Diana Hanke, administrators "liked the idea of trusting teachers to make the right choices based on their students and the objectives for their class and things like that. For the most part it's worked out fine."

However, out of a class of eight college prep English students at Tabiona School, parents of two students contacted the Deseret News, saying they were shocked by material in a novel assigned by English teacher Glenda Norviel. The book, "My Sister's Keeper" by Jodi Picoult, contains profanities, sex scenes, dialogues mocking religious beliefs and directions for making a bomb.

"It's sort of a new concept in education now, that you meet children at their level," Norviel said. "A book that approaches kids, especially teenagers — of course this book is not recommended for lower grades, but for 11th- and 12th-graders as they're ready to head out to adult life — the philosophy is, if you can approach kids at their level, they will read and they will learn."

Norviel said she read the book and "couldn't put it down until after I was finished."

The book was brought to her attention during a 2007 summer seminar in Salt Lake City taught by a Texas-based education consultant, Danni Kay Scates, who said it was recommended by a nongovernmental organization called the Bureau of Education and Research.

Norviel acknowledged the book contains racy material, but that she had told students to ignore troubling elements. "I've instructed them if they encounter something, in reading or movies we watch, they should learn to skirt by those things without letting it ruin their day or do any negative things to them," Norviel said.

After one student shared concerns with her mother, the mother contacted Tabiona School and said she did not want her daughter forced to read the book.

The 16-year-old female is a rape victim whose attacker is serving a lengthy prison sentence. Her history became known to peers at Tabiona School partly because she became pregnant from the rape and gave birth to the baby in early January.