News Report 5
Ohio Principal Judges Magazine by its Cover
http://www.ala.org/ala/alonline/currentnews/newsarchive/2009/march2009/nintendopowerpulled.cfm?persistent=&expy_dt=
American Libraries- March 27,2009
A Nintendo magazine cover has stirred up some issues with a Cleveland Ohio middle school library. The principal of Cleveland Heights-University Heights told the librarians to pull the November issue of Nintendo Power Magazine off the shelves. The principal stated that the cover showed a “violent figure” of a woman holding a handgun. He was very objective to this image. This issue has caused the principal some unwanted attention from the teachers union and the American Civil Liberties Union. Apparently, the principal failed to follow the request for reconsideration procedure that the school board had set. The board is upset with his actions because they feel administration thinks they can simply remove materials that they have dubbed as inappropriate or doubtful literary quality. They are calling the principals action a “dangerous precedent” for the district. The American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio even went as far as to call the removal of the magazine a violation of the First Amendment. The district attorney of the American Civil Liberties Union is now seeing to it that the school board clarifies their policies. He agreed that the removal of the magazine was a violation of the First Amendment, and also added that it was a violation of the student’s educational freedom. He made a point to state that the school administrators such as the principal’s involvement in the librarian’s selection process undermine their role as professionals. Through all the controversy, the school boards is supporting the principal’s decision and are not anticipating further action on the incident.
I think that this whole issue was totally blown out of proportion. A photo of a woman holding a gun in the library of a middle school is inappropriate, and removing it should not be causing such problems. The librarians probably receive a monthly subscription to the magazine, and cannot help what the magazine chooses to put on its cover. Being regular receivers of the issue that they are, they probably saw no harm in the one time slightly violent cover. I agree that middle school kids should not be exposed to images with violence; they get enough of that outside of school. To avoid all of this fuss, the principal should have simply had a meeting with the other administration and librarians to discuss what they should do about the magazine. He shouldn’t have just taken matters into his own hands like he did. Taking it to these councils and attorneys’, to me, is blowing things way out of proportion. This matter could have been dealt with in 15 minutes in the convenience of there own school, but because someone thought it was breaking an amendment, it got way out of control. I agree with the fact that the administrators simply doing as they please in the library undermines the librarian’s roles. That is for them to determine, and if they found it appropriate, then that was there choice to leave the magazine up on the shelves. Next time, if there is one, hopefully they will think the situation through before time.
