Belleville Parents and Students Win WLA/WEMTA Intellectual Freedom Award

For their staunch dedication to preserving First Amendment rights and for their well-reasoned defense for keeping Chris Crutcher’s Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes as part of the ninth-grade curriculum at Belleville High School, the parents and students of Belleville who supported retaining that book have been selected to receive the 2011 Intellectual Freedom Award given jointly by the Wisconsin Library Association & the Wisconsin Educational Media & Technology Association.

The WLA/WEMTA nomination review committee voted unanimously to give this year's award to the six parents and four students from Belleville who successfully overcame a censorship challenge at their local high school. Their campaign supported a well-reviewed book which had been part of a teacher’s curriculum for nine years. Steadfast advocacy on behalf of intellectual freedom for high school students is neither an easy nor a quick undertaking. It was, however, grass roots organizing at its best.

The circumstances began in September 2010, when the Belleville parent of one ninth-grade student opposed keeping Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes on the reading list put together by the student’s teacher, Peggy Kruse. The parent criticized the book’s inclusion in the list because of that individual’s perception that the book contained “pornographic and sexual content” on several pages. In addition, the parent considered the book to be religiously biased because it had “at least 52 pages where the Lord’s name is taken in vain or there are swear words or other vulgar words.” The complainant also asserted “characters ‘portrayed as Christians’ are sometime ridiculed or portrayed in a negative way.”

The parent was offered the option of having her son read a different book. This solution, however, was rejected. A committee put together by the school reviewed the book and said it should be kept. That decision was appealed to the school superintendent who in due course agreed with the committee. His assessment led to the parent appealing that judgment to the school board.

Then the parents and students supporting the book began organizing. They contacted Stacy Harbaugh at the Madison office of the ACLU and worked together on developing ideas for retaining Crutcher’s book. The parents:  Trish Paris, Teresa McMahon, Kelly Forman, Julie Sutter-Blair, Gregg Furseth and Tricia Droes; and the students: Bridget Droes, Dylan Paris, Taylor Forman and Patrick Blair created an outstanding public awareness campaign which brought more than 200 people to the school board’s meeting. The outcome of that gathering was that the book was kept in the curriculum. As Sandy Walejko, in attendance that night put it, “it was a great night for freedom.”

The Parents and Students of Belleville, WI High School who successfully defended the right to keep Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes in the curriculum will be recognized and honored on Monday evening, March 21, 2011 at the WEMTA Awards Banquet which will be held at the Monona Terrace Conference and Convention Center Madison, Wisconsin.

Financial support of the Intellectual Freedom Award is provided by TeachingBooks.net and the Center for Information Policy Research at the UW-Milwaukee School of Information Studies.

Dr. Robert Smiley Receives 2010 WLA/WEMTA Intellectual Freedom Award

Robert Smiley, PhD, has been named the recipient of the 2010 WLA/WEMTA Intellectual Freedom Award. The award (formerly the WLA SIRS/Proquest Intellectual Freedom Award) recognizes the contribution of an individual or group who has actively promoted intellectual freedom in Wisconsin. It is administered by the Intellectual Freedom Roundtable of the Wisconsin Library Association (WLA IFRT) and the Wisconsin Media and Technology Association Intellectual Freedom Special Interest Group (WEMTA IF-SIG). Sponsorship is provided by TeachingBooks.net and the Center for Information Policy Research at the UW-Milwaukee School of Information Studies

Dr. Smiley, who recently became Director of Technology for the Waunakee Community School District, has been a powerful and effective advocate for unfiltered access to the internet for school district students and staff. As Director of Technology for the Stoughton Area School District, he responded to federal legislation demanding that schools and libraries receiving e-rate funding filter internet access by weighing the fiscal impact of accepting the funding against the impact on student learning if filters were installed. The result: Stoughton Area School District does not filter.

The principles of intellectual freedom apply regardless of the format in which information is delivered, noted award committee chair Megan Schliesman. “Instead of saying, ‘We don’t have a choice,’ when it comes to filtering, Dr. Smiley’s actions said, ‘We do have a choice, and that choice is to make student learning our first priority.’ The work he has done serves as both model and inspiration for educators in the state and nationally.”

Dr. Smiley took the lead on developing a Telecommunications Use Policy for the Stoughton district that provides the foundation for supporting unfiltered access to the internet. He has educated administrators, community members, legislators and others about the importance supporting open access to information and its positive impact on student learning. In addition to speaking to district staff and community members about the capabilities and limitations of the internet, he has presented at conferences and has attended local, state and national advocacy days for libraries to lobby for intellectual freedom and access for all.

Dr. Smiley has also made it a priority to educate others on navigating safely in an unfiltered world. In her nomination letter, Erlene Bishop Killeen, a library media specialist for the Stoughton Area School District, wrote that Smiley has “upheld the need for educating and proactive supervision of our students so that they are savvy technology users yet safe consumers.”

Additionally, Dr. Smiley has been an advocate and educator on the issue of net neutrality, emphasizing the importance of the internet as a place for the open exchange of ideas and information without restrictions based on content or that would limit or control access. He chaired the WEMTA Legislative committee that developed the WEMTA position on this issue, which states in part, “WEMTA supports the continued access to the Internet as an open forum for the free exchange and dissemination of information and opposes any legislation that would limit or control access . . . . Common carriage is the fundamental principle that supports the Intenet as an open, unbiased medium, and it should not be abandoned.”

The award will be given at the WLA Annual Conference Awards Banquet on Thursday evening, November 4, in the Wisconsin Dells.

The 2010 WLA/WEMTA Intellectual Freedom Award Committee was comprised of three individuals from the WLA IFRT board of directors and three individuals from the WEMTA IF-SIG. Members were Marcia Aas, School Library Media Specialist, Darlington School District; Nancy Biese, School Library Media Specialist, Menasha School District; Val Edwards, Library Media Specialist, Monona Grove High School; Judy Eulberg, retired library media specialist; Joyce Latham, Assistant Professor, UW-Milwaukee School of Information Studies; and Megan Schliesman, Librarian, Cooperative Children’s Book Center, UW-Madison.