Springdale : Teacher slammed for poetry choice
Posted on Monday, June 26, 2006
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/adg/News/158828/
SPRINGDALE — Lauren Zulpo, 14, never considered leaving the room when her Southwest Junior High School substitute teacher said an audio-recorded poem the class was about to hear contained some profanity.
The language couldn’t be that bad, the eighth-grader thought.
Then she heard the recording.
It contained three different variations of the “f-word,” as Zulpo called it, as well as several other profanities and vulgarities.
“I was very surprised,” Zulpo said.
Administrators are considering punitive action against the teacher who approved the use of the poem on May 2 while she was absent on maternity leave.
Administrators say the teacher violated two school policies by signing off on the poem, one that requires approval of any supplemental material the state has not OK’d and one that requires an administrator to sign off on any “controversial” material.
Superintendent Jim Rollins said teachers are relied upon to determine exactly what qualifies as controversial.
The incident came to light af- ter Lauren told her mother, Toni Zulpo, what happened in school that day. Toni Zulpo obtained a copy of the recording from school officials and then criticized its classroom use during the June School Board meeting.
Toni Zulpo said Southwest English teacher Reagan Mauk approved the use of the poem during a section on poetry.
The poem, titled “The Wussy Boy Manifesto,” encourages adolescent males to embrace their sensitive sides. It is a type of verse known as “Slam Poetry,” a performance style that incorporates elements of Hip Hop and spoken-word poetry.
“We remember shouting in high school, ‘No, Dad, I’m not gay. I’m just a little sensitive,” the poem reads. “We tried to like hot rods, and jet planes and Budweiser poster girls, and f ****** football, but we never got the hang of it.”
“This particular poem has zero educational value,” Zulpo said after the meeting. “I’m at home teaching my daughter morals and standards to go by, and then I send her to school and behind my back there’s this teacher who’s saying, ‘ It’s OK to write this kind of language; it’s OK to listen to this. ’”
EDUCATION FRAMEWORKS
A number of district administrators say the poem should never have been played in the classroom.
“I would totally agree that it’s totally inappropriate for children,” said Principal Brice Wagner. “I’m embarrassed that it happened in my school.”
Rollins said the poem was played to students during the previous year, as well.
“This may be too great of an expectation, but I think most thoughtful, intuitive people would understand what’s reasonable or appropriate,” Rollins said. “But when you move out into the margins and you make decisions without that kind of introspective look, there’s an opportunity for controversy.”
School districts across the state rely upon Arkansas Department of Education frameworks when developing curricula.
The frameworks are a gradeby-grade guide that spell out exactly what and when students are expected to learn.
The framework specifies that students should be exposed to a variety of poetry, with an emphasis on free verse — the free flowing style employed by slam poets.
There is also a state-approved list of texts that teachers may choose from when trying to meet the goals of the frameworks.
Other than that, decisions on texts are left to local school officials.
“Arkansas is still very much local control when it comes to schools,” said Arkansas Department of Education spokesman Julie Johnson Thompson. “But you don’t see any mention of teaching profanity in the frameworks.”
Most school districts provide oversight of supplemental materials through staff meetings and classroom visits by administrators.
The state also requires districts to offer parents a way to challenge texts used in classrooms or stocked in the library. ALTERNATIVE ASSIGNMENTS
In Fayetteville last year, a parent petitioned to remove three books from the library she deemed sexually explicit and immoral. The School Board first voted last summer to remove the books from the shelves, but then agreed to allow students in ageappropriate grades to access the texts last fall. On Thursday, the School Board voted to allow a “parent preview” time in which new books are displayed before placed on the shelves.
Parents also can ask the school librarian to put their children on a “do not allow” list that restricts them from checking out certain books.
Parents can request alternative assignments for their students if they disapprove of classroom texts.
“If we have a parent who says, ‘ I don’t want my kid to read this book,’ for whatever reason, they can get an alternative assignment,” said Judy New, Fayetteville’s assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction.
Zulpo said she is happy with Springdale’s response to her complaints.
School Board President Doug Sprouse and Rollins both met with her within days of the School Board meeting.
Zulpo now feels confident the material won’t be used in a class again.
Mauk could not be reached for comment at the school or through her school district email address.
Elaine Kelley, president of the Springdale Education Association, said teachers sometimes incorporate unorthodox material in an effort to engage students uninterested in traditional texts. “Personally, I think they hear [profanity ] at home and they hear it in the streets, but still, a teacher probably shouldn’t be teaching it,” Kelley said. “But sometimes I think we come down on people at schools like we are supposed to be perfect when the home isn’t perfect, when the society isn’t perfect.” The poem’s author, Eirik Ott — who goes by the stage name Big Poppa E — makes no excuses for the teacher. “The person who played the audio recording was an idiot, and [she ] deserves to be chastised,” said Ott, who has performed twice on HBO’s Def Poetry. “Whenever I perform in schools, I excise the curses and the sexual references. “ Every time I hear something like this, it’s just a huge step backwards.”
To contact this reporter: jkrupa@arkansasonline. com