6161

Instruction

Equipment/Books/Materials:  Provision/Selection

General

The Board of Education shall provide educational materials and equipment that support and enrich the curriculum and further the achievement of the school system's instructional goals.

Adoption of new textbooks shall require a two-thirds vote of all the members of the Board, notice of such intended change having been previously given at a meeting at least one week prior to the vote.  Textbooks shall be defined as the primary or basic reading for students in a particular subject and student section in a semester or during the entire school year; supplemental and reference books shall not be considered to be textbooks.

Selection

Basic textbooks will be continuously reviewed to keep up with the expansion of knowledge and rapid changes in the world and to present balanced views on international, national, and local issues and problems of the past, present, and future.  Textbooks should further:

1. provide materials to stimulate growth in factual knowledge, literary appreciation, aesthetic and ethical value;

2. provide materials to help students develop abilities in critical reading and thinking;

3. provide materials to 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, sexual orientation or disabilities;

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

Any textbook or learning material that will serve the function of a textbook must be processed through the district primary learning material adoption procedure and formally adopted by the Board of Education. This applies to a textbook or material that will be used as a primary learning tool on an ongoing basis with the majority of students in a class, course, or learning group within a class.

Primary learning materials are textbooks, paperback books, audiovisual kits, or other instructional materials which are:

•  used for the duration of a course or school year; the majority of assignments are derived from such material.

•  used by all students in a class, course, or learning group within a class.

The administration will develop and maintain a procedure for selecting materials which meets the aforementioned criteria.  Such procedure shall include the opportunity for professional staff to analyze, evaluate, and recommend primary learning materials for adoption.

Instructional Materials

Basic textbooks, instructional materials, and equipment shall be furnished by the Board of Education for all district students with the following exceptions:

1.  Individual project materials to be used in the industrial arts, homemaking, and art courses.

2.  Materials to be used for special projects not required for credit in a course.

3.  Personal clothing items worn for physical education and other in-school athletic activities.

The administration will develop rules for textbook selection which meet the above criteria, including:

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

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

According to state law, the Board of Education will make final textbook selections.

(cf. 1220  Citizens' Ad Hoc Advisory Committees)

(cf. 1312  Public Complaints)

(cf. 4118.21  Academic Freedom)

(cf. 5145.2  Freedom of Speech/Expression)

(cf. 6144  Controversial Issues)

Legal Reference    Connecticut General Statutes

10-221 Boards of Education to prescribe rules.

10-222a Boards to have use of funds derived from repayment for school materials.

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 409 U.S.C. 998 (Nov. 1972)

Minarcini v. Strongsville City School District, 541 F.2d 577 (6th Cir. 1976).

Island Trees Union Free School District Board of Education v. Pico, 457 US 853 (1982).

Academic Freedom Policy (adopted by Connecticut State Board of Education, 9/9/81)

Policy adopted: