Panel Rejects Bid to Take Auel Books Off School’s Reading List : Moorpark: The parent-teacher committee says concerns over explicit material in the works do not outweigh the educational benefits.

A special committee of Moorpark parents, teachers and administrators Monday rejected a school board member’s bid to have “The Clan of the Cave Bear” and other works of popular novelist Jean Auel removed from Moorpark High School’s recommended reading list.

The seven committee members who attended the meeting agreed unanimously that board member Tom Baldwin’s concerns over the explicit sexual content in Auel’s novels did not outweigh their educational benefit.

Committee member Robert Coughlon said he recently began reading “The Mammoth Hunters,” one of four books that drew Baldwin’s objections.

“So far, what I’ve read in the book has a lot of value,” Coughlon said. “As far as the sexually explicit material, it’s there. But as far as it being titillating, I don’t think I agree with you, Tom. I think I see material on MTV that’s just as titillating as anything in this book.”

In the wake of the decision, Baldwin pledged to appeal the matter to Supt. Tom Duffy, who will have 15 days from the time of the appeal to decide whether the books will continue to be used.

Baldwin’s quest to have the material taken off the recommended 11th-grade reading list had already been rejected by a high school-based committee and Assistant Supt. Frank DePasquale before Monday’s rejection by the committee appointed by school district administrators.

If Duffy also sides against him, Baldwin said he would appeal directly to the school board and would cast his vote against the books.

“I’ve been through three levels now and everybody seems to think I’m blowing smoke,” Baldwin said after Monday’s meeting. “So I have to wonder if I’m wrong. But I still think there’s a principle involved.”

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In testimony before the committee, Baldwin said that by putting the books on a “recommended” reading list, the school district was essentially advocating the materials and signaling to parents that they were appropriate. Students choose titles from the recommended list for book reports and extra credit projects.

“I don’t believe parents want their children exposed to explicit sex,” Baldwin said before reading aloud graphic excerpts from some of the novels. “If these books were a movie, they’d be rated X.”

Although Baldwin wanted the books removed from the recommended reading list, he did not press for them to be banned from the school library.

Peggy Blakelock, high school language arts chairwoman, spoke in defense of the materials, saying the books contained valuable tales of early men and women, and urged the committee not to get swept up in the fever of censorship.

“Any work is subject to censorship by someone, somewhere, sometime for some reason,” Blakelock said. “If early man had abstained from sex, it would have been the end of the human race.”

Blakelock said the books were placed on the reading list several years ago after the state recommended use of “The Clan of the Cave Bear” for ninth-graders.

Because of the long length of Auel’s novels, Blakelock said that only one student has ever used the material for a book report and that no one had ever checked any of the books out of the high school library.

DePasquale reminded committee members and Baldwin that any parent has the right to object to specific educational materials used by the district, and that children whose parents object are assigned other work.

“We do not force your children to read material that you find to be objectionable,” DePasquale said. “There are books on this list that I would not want my daughter to read.”

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The committee apparently felt comfortable leaving such decisions to parents, instead of removing the titles from the reading list.

One of the meeting’s most telling exchanges occurred when Coughlon asked Baldwin where he would draw the line on what should and should not be placed on the reading list.

“Would you have us take any book off the reading list that deals with alcohol or drug use?” he asked.

“I don’t know the answer to your question,” Baldwin said. “I just know these books cross the line.”

“Whose line?” Coughlon shot back. “Your line?”