By PETER MCCONNELL

Special to The Press

Despite rousing cries for action from opponents and supporters, East Penn school board will not discuss the question of whether to include two hotly contested materials on the curriculum until their next meeting.

At the Sept. 10 meeting, parents of East Penn students presented excerpts from two books on the suggested summer reading list for ninth and 10th grades allegedly featuring material of a sexually explicit nature.

Julian Stolz moved to have the books, "Prep" and "Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test," removed from the suggested summer reading list. President Charles Ballard ruled the motion improper but slotted it for the Sept. 24 meeting.

In a preliminary statement, Ballard declared Stolz's motion would not proceed until a formal complaint was filed online according to school district policy. As it happened, a challenge was filed that very evening, setting off a chain reaction of procedures leading the board to take action.

According to district policy, two committees will now be formed, headed by the superintendent, to review each book respectively and determine what action should be taken.

Superintendent Tom Seidenberger said committees would start forming Sept. 25, but could give no clear estimate on the timeframe of reviewing the books in question. "Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test" is over 400 pages. Public representation will be sought for the committee, which will form recommendations on each text and present them to the board at public meetings.

The public left standing room only in the conference room, and everyone from parents to students to non-East Penn residents took the podium to address the board.

Two seniors of Emmaus High School, Neil Ren and Isaiah Zukowski, spoke ardently on behalf of many students. Ren argued for the "intellectual integrity and freedom of teachers and students," and for the merit of selecting texts outside of the classical canon to show students books can be "frightening and realistic," a catalyst for making a child want to read. Ren took part in an online petition with 125 signatures of students and parents.

Zukowski spoke for the trust and respect he holds for his teachers, and dismissed the excerpts from both books as "paling in comparison to what's available on the Internet," saying restricting such materials is only "the illusion of control." Both students urged those present to focus on the bigger issues of education.

"My children will be exposed to the real world," Nicole Bassett said, whose daughter is a student and who supports the reading materials. "It is not the role of the school to dictate what is appropriate for my child. All art must be questioned and appreciated. These books challenge students to think about themselves in the context of the real world."

Garrett Rhodes decried the books' marginalizing of women. "Replace this reprehensible piece of literary trash," he said.

Ballard noted the irony of the issue's timing when Banned Books Week is approaching in October but rounded off with the statement that with a formal citizen request filed, the district will proceed according to its normal process.

The board president pointed out the complaint against the books was made publicly, thereby ensuring their exposure to the public, including teens.

"Those of you who know teenagers know that telling them not to do something is like waving a red flag in front of a bull," Ballard said.

Ballard recognized some individuals might wish to protect children from books that challenge the norms but said no government agency has the right to restrict or repress these legally expressed ideas.

"Prep" was similarly challenged in 2007 and removed from the Eyer Middle School reading list as a result of the same process of review that will occur now.

Ballard expressed confidence in the system of procedures for investigating and finding facts on challenged curriculum material but cautioned the board with news of communication from several national organizations. He expressed his concern the district could be placed in a precarious position if censorship dictates which books are removed from the reading list.

"I can't fathom how anyone could believe that simply not including this on a summer reading list is censorship. It's common sense," Stolz said, who had appealed the motion of the chair to postpone discussion.

Lynn Donches moved that all board documents include identifying information dates and authorship of revisions for the purpose of forming a traceable path in the event of questionable changes. This along with another motion to include budget codes for each check number in the financial report were made at the last meeting and ruled improper at the time.

Stolz then moved that the district publish the superintendent's report to the board on the district website. Seidenberger was open about his desire to have an open relationship with the school board and said his reports for them and for the public are written for different audiences.

"This school board is far more transparent than most," Ballard said, "and we go to great lengths to insist certain matters are discussed in public."

The school board will also consider a formal request for the formation of a Tax Increment Financing Committee for the Hamilton Crossings project developing at the intersection of Route 222 bypass and Krocks Road. The project entails the construction of a high end shopping center anchored by Target and Costco, potentially generating over $1 million a year in tax revenue for the district. The TIF will be developed to help offset the cost of infrastructure remediation at no liability to the district. The formation of this committee will be voted on at the next meeting.