By admin 
A split vote by a Midlands school district will restrict usage of a controversial worksheet that led to accusations of racial insensitivity, even as the works by a celebrated Black author on which the lesson was based remained untouched.
Read more SC traffic fatalities down this year so far, DPH data shows. These counties have the most deaths
The Lexington-Richland 5 school board voted on a formal challenge brought by a parent over a high school English lesson based on a book by author Zora Neale Hurston. The complaint said the lesson included the use of racial slurs and stereotypes that had left students disturbed.
After hearing from critics of the plan and supporters of academic freedom, the board voted 4-2 to restrict use of material on Hurston’s “Harlem Slanguage” to approved uses by instructional staff only.
School board member Catherine Huddle categorized the decision as saying the offensive material is “not distributed to students” but “teachers can have it to answer questions about the ‘slanguage’ in the essay.”
The complaint came about after a Dutch Fork High School lesson on Hurston’s 1928 essay “How It Feels To Be Colored Me,” an examination of the author’s experience moving between Black and white spaces in segregated Florida and its impact on her understanding of her racial identity.
While Hurston’s work is an approved classroom resource, a subsequent letter from the district acknowledged in an in-class worksheet also included “Harlem Slanguage” terms from Hurston’s glossary of African-American slang of the period.
That material did not go through the district’s approval process, the district later said, and led a parent to file a complaint over its use of “racial slurs, offensive stereotypes, and degrading classifications of African Americans,” including derogatory references to African Americans’ color, appearance and behavior, according to the complaint.
Mother Brenda Thorpe told the board on Monday that the material, presented without context, was harmful to a diverse classroom of students.
“My concern has always been the students,” Thorpe said. “They deserve to understand that racial stereotypes, colorism, the comments about African-Americans… does not represent the values I teach my daughter, the values of the school or the community.”
A student in the class said the lesson left her feeling “uncomfortable, confused and hurt” as to “why language and descriptions like that would be presented in a classroom setting.” She said a white classmate later told her he took the material home and “his family laughed at it.”
“It would have helped all students to understand this language and stereotypes are not acceptable, and should not be presented as a joke,” she said.
Read more Beloved SC special education teacher dies in crash in Spartanburg County
Board chair Kimberly Snipes clarified that the move would apply only to the controversial, unapproved material, as Hurston’s books used in the lesson plan are instructional material approved by the state. Other requests the parent sought in the complaint, such as a formal apology and an in-class explanation, are beyond what the school board could consider in a review of classroom material.
The restriction was approved by Huddle, Scott Herring, Mike Satterfield and Kevin Scully. Snipes and Jason Baynham voted against.
Courtney Thomas with the American Civil Liberties Union of South Carolina also spoke at Monday’s meeting, saying some of what the complainants requested was more coercive than is allowed under the state’s regulations on classroom material, which she said “the ACLU is not a fan of.”
“Some of the relief sought goes beyond the regulation and leans more on the side of censorship than what the regulation says,” Thomas said.
But Thomas did agree the district was able to act to remove unapproved material from classroom usage.
“I want to acknowledge the impact on students,” she said. “It’s clear context was not given and that the material was not approved. I affirm that the district’s actions were appropriate” in its initial response to the complaint.
The offending material was included as part of a “close read exercise” assignment in a high school English class. Other worksheets included in the complaint reference Hurston’s novel “Their Eyes Were Watching God” and “Barracoon: The Story of the Last ‘Black Cargo,’” a work based on Hurston’s interview with a man believed to be the last survivor of the “Middle Passage” bringing people from Africa to slavery in the Americas.
Hurston was a Black anthropologist and a celebrated author of the Harlem Renaissance during the 1920s, which was being studied in the class.
The teacher explained to an administrator that the “Harlem Slanguage” transcript was included “to highlight Hurston’s work in capturing the richness and nuances of Black culture, and to underscore Hurston’s belief that this language is worthy of academic study,” according to a letter subsequently sent to the parent.
Read more Want to pick SC’s next governor? As polls open, here’s what you should know