Anchorage Committee Retains
It’s Perfectly Normal
The Anchorage School District’s Controversial Issues Review Committee voted 10–3 September 18 to maintain unfettered student access to the Robie Harris sex-education book It’s Perfectly Normal despite the objections of two families to what they deemed its unwelcome value judgments about sexual activity.
“We’re not here to ban every book on sex,” complainant Andrew Steele asserted. The other complainant Joan Egeland agreed, “Sex is normal. I’m not saying it isn’t,” but added that “It’s not normal at 5th or 6th grade.” Among their objections were the book’s illustrations, which range from depictions of intercourse to masturbation, proper use of condoms, and, according to Eric Egeland, “a student having an erection in front of a school class.”
Before voting to keep the title, the committee discussed adding the title to the district’s parental opt-out list. But teacher and committee member Marcia Indahl insisted, “It’s not going to work” in families with uninvolved parents.
The retention decision will be revisited by the school board at a public hearing slated for October 8, according to the September 19 Anchorage Daily News.
Posted September 24, 2001.
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