DBS CODE:  6161

INSTRUCTION:

Equipment, Books, Materials:  Provision/Selection:

It is the policy of the Board of Education to provide educational materials and equipment that support and enrich the curriculum and further the achievement of the district’s instructional goals.

Section 10-229 of the General Statutes of Connecticut states:  “No Board of Education shall change any textbooks used in the public schools except by a two-thirds vote of all the members of the Board, notice of such intended change having been previously given at a meeting of such board held at least one week previous to the vote upon such change.”

The selection of basic textbooks will be carried on continuously in order to keep up with the great expansion of knowledge and the rapid changes going on in our world today.

Where applicable, all textbooks should present balanced views concerning the international, national and local issues and problems of the past, present and future.  Textbooks should:

1.  Provide materials to stimulate growth in factual knowledge, literary appreciation, aesthetic and ethical values.

2.  Provide materials that will help students develop abilities in critical reading and thinking.

3.  Provide materials that will help develop and foster an appreciation of cultural diversity and development in the United States and throughout the world.

4.  Provide for all students an effective basic education that does not discriminate on the basis of race, age, color, religion, national origin, sex or physical disabilities.

5.  Allow sufficient flexibility for meeting the special needs of individual students and groups of students.

The Administration will develop and review administrative rules outlining a procedure to select textbooks which meet the above criteria.  This process shall include:

1.  Analysis, evaluation and recommendation by professional staff, and,

2.  The opportunity for interested citizens in the district to review recommended textbooks.

The Board by statute will make the final textbook selection decision.

Cross Reference:  1220   - Citizen’s Advisory Committees

1312     - Public Complaints

4118.21 - Academic Freedom

6144  - Controversial Issues

Legal Reference:  Connecticut General Statutes

10-15c.  Discrimination in public schools prohibited

(as amended by P.A. 80-405).

10-221. Boards of Education to prescribe rules.

10-228. Free textbooks, supplies, materials and equipment.

10-229. Change of textbooks.

President’s Council, District 25 v. Community School

Board No. 25, (457 F.2d. 289 (1972), cert. Denied

November, 1972.

Minarcini v. Strongsville City School District,

(541 F.2d. 577 (6th Cir. 1976)

Academic Freedom Policy (adopted by Connecticut State

Board of Education, 9/9/81)

Adopted:  May 10, 1982