The State : Court Opposes Book Banning

A state appellate court opinion has restricted a Kern County school district’s ability to ban two books from its curriculum and said the school board had no authority to ban the books if the decision was based on religious grounds. The case stems from a 1986 lawsuit filed by English teacher Lee McCarthy against school administrators and Wasco Union High School District’s Board of Trustees after the principal said “Grendel” by John Gardner and “One Hundred Years of Solitude” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez could no longer be used in school. A school administrator had expressed concerns about the books’ vulgarity and profanity, and described “Grendel” as “anti-God, anti-religion and anti-personal dignity.” The Court of Appeal reinstated the lawsuit, which had been dismissed in 1987 by a Kern County judge, and held that the school board had no authority to ban the books based on religious grounds.