From Staff Reports 

Buncombe County schools should continue to use the novel “The Kite Runner” in the classroom, a committee recently recommended.

On June 16, the committee voted to recommend that the county school board uphold an earlier decision by a Reynolds High School committee that found the book was appropriate for use in an honors English class.

During the meeting of the District Media and Technology Advisory Committee, Erwin Middle School Principal Joel Hathaway said, that, while the book has some disturbing content, “this book forces you to think. To me, that’s the definition of literary value.”

The Buncombe County Board of Education was expected to consider the panel’s recommendation at a June 30 meeting (after the Daily Planet’s press deadline for its July edition).

The use of the novel in a 10th-grade honors English class at Reynolds High earlier this year was suspended by school officials after former school board member and parent Lisa Baldwin filed a formal complaint about the book.

A school-based committee later determined the book was appropriate, at which point Baldwin appealed to the district-wide committee.

Gathering to hear the appeal were more than two dozen members of that group, including principals, parents and other school personnel.

In her comments at the June 16 meeting, Baldwin said that she is not trying to get the book banned from the school, but instead questioning its use in the classroom.

“This is not about one parent controlling what your child reads. Your child can still read the book in the library of Reynolds High School,” she said June 16. “Do parents want their child to participate in an adult-guided discussion on this book? Then why don’t these parents discuss it with their children? This is not about stopping discussion.”

In the novel, Khaled Hosseini tells the story of a wealthy boy in Afghanistan and his best friend, who is the son of his father’s servant. In one passage, the servant’s son is beaten and raped by an older boy. His friend sees the attack, but is too afraid to help.

After Baldwin’s challenge, the teacher sent a note home to parents informing them about the content and offering them the chance to have their child opt out of the assignment and read another book instead.

Baldwin criticized the language in the book as well as the passage involving the rape. 

During the June 16 meeting, she read from the passage and then asked, “Why does the school district deem it so important, so essential, to include graphic descriptions of rape in classroom materials for 15-year-olds?”

Eric Grant, English language arts specialist for the school system, said the school district’s policy says books “should be judged by weighing the merits of the materials against the alleged weaknesses, and considering the whole item instead of isolated passages.”