Page 6/The Sun and News, Saturday, September 17, 2022“We learned from our
eighth grade teachers that the
assignment and the class dis-
cussion accompanying the
novel would provide the
same thought-provoking dis-
cussions and impact of the
rites of passage that were
intended with the original
unit,” McCarthy said. “The
greatest value of the assign-
ment is the in-depth discus-
sions they’ll have with our
instructors.”
“The House on Mango
Street” will be available for
students to read during
“choice reading” time,
McCarthy said.
“It’s not been banned, it
has not been removed. It’s
just not a primary focus of
this unit, this year,” he said.
Next year, the plan is for
teachers to provide opportu-
nities for students to read
both books “in a comprehen-
sive, interactive reading
group approach,” McCarthy
said.
Hoskins and others who
signed the letter weren’t con-
vinced that the change would
provide an equivalent read-
ing experience for students.
“Why wasn’t an opt-out
permission slip required for
‘The Outsiders?’” Hoskins
asked. “We find the choice
lacking relevancy to the
present day. ‘The Outsiders’
is a great novel. However, it
portrays gang violence,
underage smoking and drink-
ing, strong language/slang,
family dysfunction, murder,
and suicide by cop. Yet a
permission slip was not
required.”
McCarthy concluded hiscomments by saying the
intent of switching to a dif-
ferent book was to maintain
public trust and transparen-
cy.
“We aim to be transparent
in all of our operations, and
include all of our students in
our educational process,” he
said. “We aspire to do what
we say and to say what we
are going to do, and will con-
tinue to operate in that mat-
ter, to the fullest possible
extent.”
Several residents spoke
out about what they saw as
the sexually graphic nature
of “The House on Mango
Street.”
“Those books that I have
read personally had sexual
content in them,” said Lori
Buchanan, a TK grandpar-
ent. “Pornography isdescribed as any scene or
photograph that is intended
to elicit a sexual excitement
response. These books that I
have personally read are
such books. I’m wondering
if anyone on this board ...
would approve of having a
Hustler magazine or
Playboy magazine on their
library (shelf).”
Buchanan also objected to
the wording that was left out
of the opt-out permission slip.
“To me, that was a telltale
sign that they were trying to
hide something from a par-
ent,” she said. “It doesn’t
matter how many parents
decide not to have their child
participate in that curricula.
It doesn’t matter. The parents
are the ones to decide, not
you, not the teacher and notthe other children.”
TK parent Keara Hilton
saw the book’s content as
something that should be
considered in a sex education
class.
“Elements of the Mexican-
American culture and themes
of social class, race, sexuality,
identity and gender are inter-
woven throughout the novel,”
Hilton said. “Since ‘The
House on Mango Street’ has
themes of sex interwoven
throughout the novel, it would
be logical to assume that stu-
dents would be discussing
this topic and be sparked to
ask questions about that topic
that would require teacher’s
feedback. Being that all edu-
cation surrounding the topic
of sex is by law required to be
contained to a state-approvedsex education class ... this
should never have been
approved.”
But another parent, Reagan
Gielincki, spoke out in sup-
port of teachers and their abil-
ity to determine appropriate
content for students.
“I believe in the education
they’ve obtained, and the
dedication they have to all of
our students,” Gielincki said.
“I do not believe there’s any
agenda other than to grow
our children’s minds, their
ability to think critically and
to enhance their empathetic
side. I do have concerns that
a vocal minority is causing
unfounded harm, not only to
the staff but to my children’s
rights to a balanced, public,
non-religious education.”
Parent Cheri Bruinsma
echoed Gielincki’s support
of teachers being able to
decide on appropriate read-
ing material.
“‘The House on Mango
Street’ addresses many rele-
vant issues in our society
today, and that really is the
purpose of great literature –
to make someone see what
another person has experi-
enced through the set of that
person’s eyes, to challenge
the thoughts that you have in
your worldview, and to make
you ask questions about the
world that you live in,”
Bruinsma said.
“Switching the book at the
last minute took that oppor-
tunity from many of our chil-
dren. I have a child in eighth
grade. I think it’s very upset-
ting that the board denied the
opportunity to talk about
these issues and address
them in the classroom.”
Monday’s school board
meeting was the first for the
board in its new meeting
space inside the district’s
new Early Childhood Center.Supplement your income
by delivering newspapers
each week.Papers are delivered Friday night and Sat-
urday each week. Dependable adults with a
driver’s license and dependable transporta-
tion necessary.Carriers are paid each week
for papers and inserts
delivered.Call today to set up an in-person interview
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1351 N. Broadway (M-43) Hastings
IMMEDIATE
OPENINGS
in
Middleville
Rural Zip Code
Area 49333
&
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AreaBOOK, continued from page 1
TK schools finish 2021-22 fiscal
year comfortably in the black
Greg Chandler
Staff Writer
Thornapple Kellogg
Schools ended the 2021-
fiscal year with better than
expected financial results,
the district’s assistant
superintendent reported on
Monday.
The district ended the fis-
cal year on June 30 with a
surplus of $438,529, boost-
ing TK’s general fund
reserves to $6,268,149. The
district had projected a
$370,000 surplus when it
approved the budget in June
- That fund balance
represents 15.8 percent of
the district’s annual spend-
ing, Assistant
Superintendent Chris
LaHaie told the school
board.
“That’s a great place to
sit,” LaHaie said. “You
really don’t want to see that
(fund balance) over 20 per-
cent, because we’re not a
bank and we want to be
spending our money on stu-
dents, but at the same time,
this fund balance allows us
to not have to borrow from
the state (to pay teachers
and staff until state aid
funding comes in).”
That 15.8 percent rep-
resents the highest percent-
age of fund balance in the
district in more than a
decade, according to dis-
trict documents.
TK ended the year with
revenues of more than
$40.9 million, about
$68,000 more than had been
budgeted. Its expenditures
were more than $40.5 mil-
lion, and only $17 less than
budgeted, LaHaie said.
“In my career, I’ve never
seen anything that close,”
LaHaie said. “That’s a trib-
ute to Barb VerHoef, our
accountant here at TK.
She’s the best of the best.”
LaHaie reported that thedistrict’s food service fund
gained nearly $227,000 of
surplus on expenditures of
nearly $1.82 million during
the fiscal year, to boost that
fund balance to more than
$784,000, a figure the state
says is too large a fund bal-
ance.
“You’ll recall for the last
two years, all meals —
breakfast and lunch — were
free for all students (because
of the COVID-19 pandem-
ic),” LaHaie said.
“We did have a spend-
down plan for having too
much money last year. We
followed the plan, we spent
it down, we did everything
right, but we brought in too
much revenue once again,”
he added.
LaHaie said that now
that most meals are no lon-
ger free, he doesn’t expect
the issue of too much reve-
nue to be an issue again.
The district plans to spendthat fund balance down
during the 2022-23 fiscal
year.
LaHaie also reported on
the district’s enrollment in
advance of the official fall
count on Oct. 5. As of
Monday, TK’s enrollment
was 3,170 students —
exactly what district offi-
cials had projected when
the 2022-23 budget was
drawn up and an increase of
12 students district-wide
from a year ago.
Enrollment at the high
school is up by 28 students,
offsetting slight decreases
at the middle school, all
three elementary buildings
and the Early Childhood
Center, LaHaie said.
The district will have its
annual audit at next month’s
board meeting, which is
scheduled for Monday, Oct.
10 in the meeting room of
the TK Early Childhood
Center, 3316 Bender Rd. Chris LaHaie