SIMI VALLEY : Board to Discuss ‘Racist’ Novel

The Simi Valley school board will hold a special meeting Thursday to consider whether the controversial novel “The Cay” should be used in the classroom over objections from the local chapter of the NAACP.

In December, officials with the Ventura County chapter of the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People thought they had reached an agreement with the district to remove the book, which they say contains racist stereotypes, from required reading lists, an NAACP representative said.

But officials of the Simi Valley Unified School District and the NAACP have disagreed whether teachers still have the option to use the book, rekindling the controversy.

Supt. Robert Purvis said the district had agreed to pull the book from the mandatory reading list from which seventh-grade teachers must choose, and place it on an optional reading list. Students could read another optional book if they were offended by “The Cay.”

But Theodore Green, vice president of special committees for the Ventura County NAACP chapter, said it was the group’s understanding that the book would not be used in the classroom, and that students who wanted to read it could check it out from school libraries.

The school board is expected to vote on the issue at Thursday’s meeting, which is slated to begin at 4:30 p.m. at district headquarters, 875 E. Cochran St. Purvis said the school board will likely choose one of three possibilities: keep the book on an optional reading list, make it available only in the library or ban it from schools.

Green said “The Cay,” which is about a white boy who is shipwrecked on a Caribbean island where he is befriended by an older black man, contains derogatory and stereotypical statements.

The Moorpark Unified School District decided early last year to continue using the book.