ELKHORN — Parents of Elkhorn High School 11th graders will get permission slips asking whether they want their kids involved in classes that cover controversial subjects as part of an English literature unit.
The Elkhorn School Board decided Monday to add permission slips to the enrollment process after some parents raised concerns a few months ago.
The unit in question studies discrimination using homosexuality as a case study.
The research topic is one of nine students can choose from. Others include black titles, Hispanic titles, Asian American titles, religious freedom titles, Middle Eastern titles, disability titles, family titles and Native American titles.
The class studies socials issues and personal challenges that focus on a variety of literature dealing with discrimination. Students are given the option of choosing a research topic in the spring of their junior year.
Some parents had concerns and asked the school board for the option of letting their children enroll in a specific topic.
According to Cathy Pomaranski, director of instruction for the Elkhorn School District, students and parents also will be informed if the books students choose to read contain explicit language, sexual content or violence.
Pomaranski said the homosexuality unit became particularly controversial after a featured article published in Teaching Tolerance Magazine, a national publication aimed at reducing prejudice in schools.
Sarah Arnold, an English teacher at Elkhorn High School, applied for a grant to purchase more books and her story was featured in the article. Pomaranski said the angle of the article, which highlighted the teacher's experience teaching a unit on homophobia, caused parents to worry that their kids were being forced to learn a topic they might not be comfortable with.
Instead, she added, the topic was supposed to explore multiculturalism in a wide range of areas. While the course itself is a requirement for graduation, that particular unit isn't, Pomaranski added.
Elkhorn High School juniors will begin the unit next week and are expected to return their permission slips about 10 days later, she added.
Students who don't return signed permission slips won't be allowed to take their chosen topics. They would instead read books dealing with the wider topic of discrimination, Pomaranski said.