Honig Defends Yucaipa Schools in Book Battle

Wading into a hot local political campaign, state Supt. of Public Instruction Bill Honig on Friday commended Yucaipa’s school board for resisting intense community pressure to remove a set of controversial textbooks from the classroom.

About 40 parents--carrying signs with messages like “Heil Honig”--picketed the appearance, and an angry crowd shouted down the state’s top education official several times as he delivered a speech. One woman called him a “satanist.”

But Honig became rattled only once, when hecklers laughed and applauded after he stuttered briefly while responding to a question: “Gee,” the superintendent said icily, “you guys are really nice, aren’t you.”

Honig said his visit to Yucaipa was designed to provide “moral support” for Steve Miller and Jan Mishodek, two board members who face a recall vote Nov. 6 over their decision to retain the “Impressions” reading series.

The books, anthologies of poems, fables, stories and literary excerpts, have been attacked by parents who believe they contain violent and satanic material as well as negative messages unsuitable for children.

Numerous districts in California and throughout the West have tussled over the textbooks, but Yucaipa, a semi-rural community east of San Bernardino, is the first in the nation where a recall vote on the issue has qualified for the ballot.

Honig, defending the books as a key part of the state’s effort to stimulate children’s interest in reading, said the outcome of the election would “most certainly” have statewide ramifications.

Parents protesting Honig’s visit said his appearance on the local issue was inappropriate. Recall proponent Steve Allen, a leading foe of “Impressions” and a school board candidate, said he was “suspicious of the timing” of Honig’s appearance 11 days before the election.