Community Commentary:

Eight-year-old child rape, young female molestation, lesbian fantasy, teen sex and teen pregnancy — are these topics for free-range reading right off the library shelf in our elementary and middle schools?

As an elected public school board trustee, I can assure these topics are absolutely inappropriate for our young 8- to 13-year-olds to read without teacher or parent intervention.

And yet, all of our local elementary school districts have Maya Angelou’s “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” on their central library bookshelves.

I am proud to have been the “point person” prodding our district to act responsibly and limit access with parental permission.

A member of the community stood up at the Ocean View Board of Trustees meeting to read the most offensive rape scene. While the board feigned shock and dismay, one trustee later retorted, “Well, the rape scene was read out of context,” revealing her real feelings.

This reaction was typical of many community members who have blogged in response to Los Angeles Times online articles about this topic with amazing comments claiming, “Children are going to be confronted with this stuff in real life, so they should get used to it in school.”

While the trustee and many Los Angeles Times readers apparently believe there is a correct and incorrect context for graphic rape scenes to be portrayed to our students, I do not.

There is no need and no place for our young and innocent children to be exposed to salacious reading material. Enough other good books exist that we don’t need to over-sex our children more than they already are.

Surrounded by a barrage of “Sex and the City” media outlets, our public schools should be a calm oasis of peace and tranquillity. The school library should be an escape from licentious literature, not a source.

While I approved the added requirement by administration that parental permission be obtained before children can read the book, I was disappointed to find that same administration failed to require the approval be in writing. While there was a bobble-head nod by the board in support of written permission, the actual book review committee recommendation only requires a parental head nod or wink-of-the-eye. This is no way to run the ship.

Furthermore, the findings did not address the 300 private classroom libraries teachers maintain for their children. Perhaps the reason the central libraries have so little circulation is because the individual classroom libraries are providing the book free-range to children. Ocean View has no inventory, control or review of these private collections, even though they are the direct responsibility of the superintendent.

In summary, the book “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” is inappropriate for elementary and middle school children. Even though the public and some trustees believe there is a “context” for child rape literature, I believe instead there is no context for this material to be in the hands of our children. The tentative first step taken by Ocean View to require a wink or head-nod of parental approval is just that, a first step.

We must install a written approval system so the district is not at risk of the affirmative head-nod later turning into a negative head shake. And Ocean View administration must take control and manage the private classroom libraries to assure appropriate and approved literature is available for our children.

JOHN BRISCOE is a trustee for the Ocean View School District.