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Extra Credit

Daily education news and conversation

“Tortilla Curtain” debate keeping SR in the news

Tuesday, at 11:21 by

Remember the kerfuffle over T.C. Boyle’s “The Tortilla Curtain” that sparked debate over the book’s merits versus its sometimes rough language and scenes? That debate has landed Santa Rosa in a USA Today story on book banning in the U.S. To read more about what happened in the local debate last year, click here: http://bit.ly/98TzU0 and http://bit.ly/dEsEr6 To read the USA Today story and see a map of where other book debates have erupted, click here http://usat.ly/ff8AnK

“The Tortilla Curtain” author coming to local book store

Thursday, at 7:00 by

T.C. Boyle, the author who wrote “The Tortilla Curtain” that caused a furor among some Santa Rosa City Schools parents who felt it was too graphic and sexually explicit to be taught in classrooms, is coming to speak in Pt. Reyes Saturday. For a taste of the response discussion of Boyle’s 1995 novel triggered, read a few past stories and blog entries here:  http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20100213/ARTICLES/100219733 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20100213/ARTICLES/100219733 http://extracredit.blogs.pressdemocrat.com/11730/parent-seeks-to-remove-book-from-school-reading-list/ Boyle will speak at 7 p.m. at The Dance Palace, 503 B St. Point… Read More »

Parent not convinced “Tortilla Curtain” belongs in class

Friday, at 6:00 by

Interest has been high in the debate over whether to keep T.C. Boyle’s “The Tortilla Curtain” on high school reading lists at Santa Rosa City Schools. The school board voted Wednesday 7-0 to maintain its policy of keeping the book available and limiting it to juniors and seniors while allowing students to opt out and read something else. Montgomery High parent Liz Franzel said Thursday that she was disappointed but not surprised that the school opted to keep the book… Read More »

Parent seeks to remove book from school reading list

Tuesday, at 10:43 by

A ton of action is expected at Wednesday night’s Santa Rosa School Board meeting, not the least of which is part one of two sessions that could see $5.6 million cut from next year’s $88.2 million general fund. (see Wednesday’s story for what is coming up Wednesday night on the budget front) But also on the agenda is a move by parent Liz Franzel to get the novel “Tortilla Curtain” by T.C. Boyle off the reading list for high schoolers.… Read More »