Poor Mark Hasiuk - Wrong Again!

In his most recent attack on our beleaguered Social Responsibility Team, Mark Hasiuk of The Vancouver Courier ("Vancouver school bureaucrats unleash bizarre theories on race and culture: Budget cuts spare ‘Diversity Team", April 19, 2011) tries again to target the good work being done by our respected teacher colleagues.  Their work enables many students to thrive and succeed who might otherwise not; I can think of no educator who could support Hasiuk's position.  That includes me, the district librarian he refers to in his concocted account of the removal of books.  No such thing ever happened, in a district that annually celebrates Freedom to Read Week in February, nor would it, and it is upsetting to think that there are people who, perhaps because the system didn't offer opportunities to learn to think critically about issues and the importance of corroborating evidence, might just believe him.

Here is what Suzanne Hall, District Librarian in Maple Ridge, wrote in response to one of Hasiuk's attacks on the same target:  You, sir, are remarkably misinformed! Teacher-librarian Moira Ekdahl of the Vancouver School District has clearly refuted your claims about book-banning in her blog.  This letter was published!  Here is what she is sending in response to this most recent attack:

Dear editor:

Mr. Hasiuk’s latest misinformed, misleading rant about the Diversity Team certainly proves how important their work is. Again, his column reflects a lack of background knowledge, selective hearing, and the arrogance needed to make personal attacks. Why is his reaction so personal? Since much of the Team’s work is aimed at preventing all three of those faults, I am left to wonder: feeling threatened by a broader perspective, Mr. Hasiuk?

Suzanne Hall, District Librarian
District Facilitator: Mentoring
Chair of Professional Development Committee, M.R.T.A.

My full response to his last articles was posted during Spring Break in the Reader Soapbox section online.  "Vancouver’s teacher-librarians keep books in student hands: School libraries do not ban books, have plenty of works by Dickens" (March 23, 2011).  How insulting is that to be put into the soapbox category when you want to set the record straight and are a most credible source!  Forgive me -- soapbox, did you say?

VSB TL Cecil Baird sent a letter on behalf of the VTLA that was edited and published on March 23:  Teacher librarians enjoy autonomy.  While I take this section from Cecil's longer letter, the letter clearly indicated teacher-librarians are not under any mandate to remove books!  I don't think Hasiuk gets the "autonomy" part or the need we feel to ensure all students find themselves and people like themselves fairly portrayed within accounts and images they encounter in our schools and curriculum and resources and the particular attachment teacher-librarians have for freedom of expression. The last blast took place during Freedom to Read Week.  Cecil wrote,

Teacher Librarians in Vancouver have a great deal of autonomy and defend freedom to read as a major tenet of literacy.  In my experience, there are actually few books removed from shelves, which is testament to the fact that we are getting it right. Nothing gets weeded from the fiction shelves of my school's library that doesn't contain inappropriate content, meaning works that are not sensitive to genders, sexual orientation, or cultures, or that are not damaged beyond repair .... Teacher Librarians choose materials based on a wide set of criteria including quality, appropriateness to curriculum, and reader interest.


To say more, there is a cultural aspect beyond your own worldview that must be considered when making these decisions. Thanks to the VSB team for their consultations. Nothing is mandated by them, and we defer to their expertise in cases where we are unfamiliar with the subject area ....


Cecil Baird, Co-President, Vancouver Teacher-librarians' Association

Read also Steve Mulligan's letter to the editor, Diversity Team Saves Lives (March 23).

The Vancouver Courier editor Barry Link did contact me to let me know he does include my blog address so I know that inquirying readers could find the truth if they could find the soapbox.  Some besides our own district readers actually did, as Suzanne's response would indicate.

Did I forget anything?  No, except thanks again, Team, for what you do for us and for our students.

PSSST! Over Here for the Truth ...

... about Vancouver's School Libraries

Recognize that any click on the link in this paragraph will represent a reader to The Courier, thus contributing to its online presence, and will likely be used as data to try to attract advertising dollars.  Go here if you can't find the print version.  The latest salvo into the midst of our Vancouver School District Learning Services Team, as well as intrusion into a school library and retrieval of the retirement considerations of a career teacher-librarian, can be found here:  "District Diversity Team costs $762,495: Teacher-librarians react to school book-banning effort" (The Vancouver Courier, Mar 16, 2011, EW09).

Thanks to Mark Hasiuk of The Courier and also to some well-placed and supportive tweeting, my blog readership more than doubled last week!  May consider advertising dollars myself soon.  Thanks too to stay-home VSB mom Julia who affirms my belief that Vancouver parents participate as models of the value of social responsibility and critical thinking -- that is, they do the research and corroborate the facts before believing everything printed in newspapers.  As we say to the kids, just because it's in print doesn't make it true.

Hasiuk gets the situation all wrong and he does this on purpose; his opinion piece is riddled with misconstruction and error.  For example, in this article:

• He attempts to pit teacher-librarians against the Social Responsibility Team composed of teacher-mentors and managers.  This is not something we TLs feel at all comfortable with, nor are we comforted by this sudden convenient profession of support for school libraries.
   
• He deliberately plays with figures -- when you teach full-time, are experienced, and have a master's degree and then you also teach a night school class and/or summer school, you get paid over scale because you work all the time.  Two days a week of work as an educator at the VSB or in a classroom costs the same, no matter which master's level, highly experienced teacher does it.  
• Bible stories get weeded in the same way as other material; they do not occupy sacred space.  If they are not circulating well or are not aligned with curriculum, if they are worn or damaged, they go.  An overabundance of Christian picture books that appear to be simple fictional storybooks are not the same as The Bible or stories in the Bible.  Informational and reference books on Christianity, including The Bible as a primary source document, and materials from or about other world religions abound in VSB collections.  Students learn about their own and other cultures, including religious or spiritual beliefs.  Some books that are Bible stories do, in fact, exist at Carleton ... I checked using our web-based catalogue, the same library management automated system as is used to check availability of materials at the VPL.  
• And as I work here at the VSB Ed Centre on the same floor as The SR Team, we talked -- quite literally in passing, shaking our heads while en route to the photocopier -- about how we could use this "tale told ... full of sound and fury" to advantage.  Let's collaborate: our district, a flagship for diversity initiatives, should create a more current, home-made checklist or set of guidelines to identify anti-racist materials that could be recommended by TLs and Social Responsibility educators for use in classrooms and for selection for school libraries.  We could update the MARBLES Bibiliography (where this stands for Multicultural, Anti-Racist Book Loving EducatorS) of Canadian books recommended for classrooms or school libraries. We should, in my view, be sending our materials and experts to the States! 

Who can find fault with any of that?  Well, the truth is, when you do a half-baked investigation to support a pre-determined thesis and additionally to construct a situation that is expressly aligned with ultra-conservative views, nothing anyone says will correct the direction of the story or clarify the account. 

Further, it is contrary to the teachers' code of ethics and standards of behaviour; it is not acceptable for one group of teachers to actively participate in lobbying to place greater value on its services over another group.  In an earlier blog, I allude to Philip Pullman's term for this; he calls it a "bidding culture" and it is often created as part of the neo-liberal agenda to force choices that cut funding to public services.  All teachers deplore the bidding culture and are cautioned against engaging in it. 

Let me state, as I did unequivocally on the phone during the interview with Hasiuk, there is tremendous respect for the work done by our VSB SR Team.  Hasiuk was not encouraged to make a pitch in the interests of TLs over this Team's.  My suggestion?  Of course you can let The Courier know how you feel about the use of lies and omission to create a "horsefeathers" editorial, but might I suggest you do it by slow mail.  This is least consistent with the intended purpose of such writing, that being to draw more advertisers through evidence of a substantial readership.  In your letter, tell them about your dissatisfaction with the level of journalism and the integrity of this writer; ask them not to deliver the paper any more. 
Continue to search the social media networks for alternative versions of the truth.  The interactive or Comments feature is the real strength of this blogging tool, so please use the opportunity to get involved in the discussion here too.  While I do admit to having editorial control, so far everything has been supportive of the work done by teachers and by those who are intent on making school a better, safe, inclusive place for kids ... and their teachers as well.

And finally, a personal message, stated emphatically:  Mr Hasiuk, quit this mindless and insensitive campaign.  I am very direct and generally don't "bristle."  If I failed to send the message of complete negation at your allegation of book-banning and at your obvious unwillingness to discern weeding or de-selecting from book-banning (although you were clear about this when we talked), please hear that message now.  Similarly, get the message that there is considerable support for our Social Responsibility Team, that teachers deplore the idea that, in the seemingly unending "million cuts" that have characterized public education under the Liberals, any one group would be chosen for elimination over another; please hear the buzz of irritation coming from here.  That this purports to be any kind of printable educational commentary, well that's simply ridiculous. 

Needless to say, I have greatly appreciated how much Mr Hasiuk has done for my readership numbers.  Thanks, Suzanne, for the word I needed:  it's all horsefeathers, and from me, he'd get a D for this stuff!  Sounds as though we'd be in agreement. 

Thank you, readers, for coming here today. Please share this with others who may be concerned at those who would foist their singular views on a diverse and caring system.  Further, from a legal perspective and perhaps most importantly, Mr Hasiuk might acknowledge the forward-thinking Vancouver School District for its work in the areas of social responsibility and diversit.  He might recognize that, in a post-Azmi Jubran v. North Vancouver School District context, school districts have the obligation to be pro-active on racism, homophobia and other forms of harassment and discrimination in the school system.  Most people are calling for more of this work, not less. It’s hardly a misplaced priority.

Vancouver Schools Celebrate Freedom to Read

Despite incendiary allegations in an article published this week in The Vancouver Courier newspaper, let me state unequivocally at the outset of my commentary that there is no flagging, removing, or banning of books going on in Vancouver schools. 

And I am very proud of that fact.

I and others at the VSB Ed Centre Learning Services division work collaboratively with teacher-librarians and teachers to ensure we support and create a dynamic, responsive reading culture where students have a wide range of choice to read quality print and online resources for information and interest, with attention to their different cultural and social backgrounds, their abilities and skills.

That said, the first lesson in media literacy is that you don't need to believe everything you read, that it is important to critically examine the foundations upon which any argument is made.  The use of incendiary tone and masterful literary allusion cannot be allowed to mask shoddy groundwork that amounts to an unpleasant blast "signifying nothing," built as it is on the fabricated account of banning and removal, very poor research, and obfuscated, questionable intent.

Teacher perspective:  he should have done his homework.  Oh, and some of these alleged bureaucrats are members of our local teachers' unions.

Here is my response, sent to The Courier yesterday for their consideration for publication, not as a letter but as an opinion piece to offset the dismal piece by their writer.  I love blogging -- it's my decision to publish!

Freedom to Read Week:
VSB Celebrates Reading – not Banning – Books

Ironically, exactly as Mark Hasiuk was working himself up into a lather over the deplorable conditions in Vancouver schools where strict compliance with the forcible removal and banning of classical literature and other worthwhile books is overseen by The Group of 6 Bureaucrats (Vancouver school bureaucrats target children’s literature: ‘Diversity’ guidelines threaten classics, The Vancouver Courier, Feb 28), Canadians celebrated Freedom to Read Week (Feb 20-26).

In the US, Americans concerned with freedom to read promote awareness of the issues during Banned Books Week in the Fall, but Canadians celebrate the freedom to read, no less in Vancouver schools than elsewhere, as we head into the light of Spring. The theme of this year’s Freedom to Read Week event, sponsored by Canada Council for the Arts and the Freedom of Expression Committee of the Book and Periodical Council, is Yes/Oui. The Councils’ views are grounded in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms which protects the rights of Canadians to the fundamental freedoms of thought, belief, opinion, and expression, including the freedom to read as part of that precious heritage. For more information, check out the website (http://www.freedomtoread.ca/) or find them on Facebook or Twitter.

I am sorry Mr Hasiuk didn’t get back to me as he had indicated he would by email last week when he inquired about a list of “flagged or removed” books to support the thesis of his article. Had he called, I would have enjoyed telling him it was Freedom to Read Week, and it would have taken me mere seconds to check our web-based catalogue and reassure him that over 100 copies of the original Charles Dickens version of Oliver Twist have resolutely remained propped on shelves in 109 Vancouver elementary and secondary school libraries, with countless additional versions of graphic, easy, abridged, re-told, adapted and other iterations of this wonderful story as well, such that there is little excuse for any child not to have access to the joy of an age-appropriate or ability-considerate Dickensian tale told here in Vancouver. It would take a little longer to get information on how frequently students take this particular title out.

Another quick check of our district’s online school library catalogue would have allayed Mr Hasiuk’s fears about works by Twain, Alger, Carroll, Lewis, and Dahl. I would have enjoyed telling him about our district’s reading culture where 1.7 million items circulated amongst our 60 000 students and staff in the ten months, September to June, making us the 10th largest circulating library system in the province. Empty bookshelves are a goal, not a dilemma, here in Vancouver school libraries! It means our students are reading lots.

As the teacher-librarian who works with those Mr Hasiuk terms our district “bureaucrats” and with the district’s teacher consultants, I was surprised to see the American checklist, copyright 1998, which, in no particular order, lists criteria for selection. The checklist was provided simply as an example of how criteria are used for selection of materials, and yes, how criteria may be used for de-selection (or weeding). I can assure you there are more recent guidelines for selection of resources for BC classrooms and school libraries, including Evaluating, Selecting, and Acquiring Resources (formerly a BC Ministry of Education document, revised 2008, for Educational Resource Acquisition Consortium / ERAC - search VSB Webcat for pdf version) which asks reviewers to consider 13 different social aspects of the work to “identify potentially ... offensive elements in content or presentation and to highlight [the ways] resources support pro-social attitudes and promote diversity and human rights.” Again, this is available online through the Vancouver web-based catalogue which I could easily have shared, had Mr Hasiuk called to continue his research as he had indicated he would.

Mr Hasiuk needs to understand that books are selected in Vancouver for their quality, their appeal to particular groups of readers, and their match with curriculum and inquiry needs. Qualified teacher-librarians are resource experts in their schools; they learn how to select and de-select materials according to accepted criteria. While they appreciate materials recommended by district experts, including members of the Social Responsibility team, as teachers, they have the rights and the responsibility to give thorough consideration of all materials provided to students; while the Ministry provides lists of prescribed resources for use in subject areas, other lists of resources are recommended, not mandated, for use in classrooms or school libraries. Whatever the reviewing process, the final decision to acquire and use the suggested resources rests on the educator’s autonomous assessment of its suitability for a particular educational purpose, including reading enjoyment. One important criterion in the search for depth in our school library collections is the principle that it is important to strive to provide every child with opportunities to read and learn about others like him/herself.

Finally, commitment to freedom to read and access to information is real here in Vancouver; no books are removed from shelves and no orders are issued to have them removed unless the materials contravene the district policies posted online, including, for example, VSB Policy IIAD on Hate Literature. Should members of the public or other staff find materials offensive, they may pursue a rigorous Challenge process which is articulated in VSB Policy KLB on Public Complaints.

It is a great source of pride to me that I have lived, parented, taught, and worked in a city and a school district that are both diverse and so accepting of the range of differences that reflect the Canadian – the human – experience. Fear not for the reading well-being of Vancouver’s children. The agenda here is simply to ensure that very good books are in very good hands.

Moira Ekdahl
Teacher-librarian and TL Mentor, Vancouver School Board