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Constitutional Law Keyed to Stone
Board of Education, Island Trees Union Free School District No. 26 v. Pico
Citation:
457 U.S. 853, 102 S. Ct. 2799, 73 L. Ed. 2d 435 (1982)Facts
In 1975, three members of the Island Trees Union Free School District Board of Education attended a conference sponsored by Parents of New York United (PONYU), a politically conservative organization. At this conference, they obtained lists of books described as “objectionable” and “improper fare for school students.” Upon discovering that nine of these books were in the high school library and one was in the junior high school library, the Board ordered their removal from library shelves for review. The Board later appointed a “Book Review Committee” consisting of four parents and four school staff members to evaluate the books based on “educational suitability,” “good taste,” “relevance,” and “appropriateness to age and grade level.” The Committee recommended that five books be retained, two be removed, and made various recommendations for the remaining books. The Board rejected most of these recommendations, ultimately deciding to return only one book to the library without restriction, make another available with parental approval, and remove the remaining nine books. The Board characterized the removed books as containing “obscenities, blasphemies, brutality, and perversion.” Students challenged this decision, claiming the Board removed the books because particular passages offended their social, political, and moral tastes, not because the books lacked educational value.
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