Update: The Color Purple to stay in North Carolina classrooms...
...FOR NOW:
The Brunswick County school board voted Friday to keep Alice Walker's novel "The Color Purple" in district classrooms and libraries but plans to consider placing restrictions on it at an upcoming meeting.
The decision was a reversal of a vote minutes earlier to remove the book. The votes followed a hearing that drew a crowd of people and speakers for and against removing the book.
Here's a bit more about that whole "reversal of a vote minutes earlier" part:
Board member Charlie Miller made a motion the book “remain in the AP classes and that this is an agenda item at our next curriculum meeting on Jan. 21, at which time we will look at the policy that is currently in place and make any revisions that we see fit.”
Board of education members John Thompson and Shirley Babson agreed, while Catherine Cooke and Bud Thorsen opposed the vote. Thorsen made the first of three motions Friday to uphold Superintendent Edward Pruden’s decision to keep the book on the curriculum, which failed 3 votes to 2 votes–removing the book from the curriculum for about 10 minutes before again voting on the issue.
It'll be interesting to see how/if they end up revising the standing policies & how they compare.