John Steinbeck's "Of Mice and Men" will remain on ninth-grade reading lists for whole-class instruction in the Coeur d'Alene School District.

During Monday's school board meeting, trustees voted 4-1 in favor of leaving "Of Mice and Men" on the list of books available to teachers to assign to freshman students. An ad hoc curriculum committee recommended last month that the school district should make the Steinbeck book available to students in small groups only, on a voluntary basis because it contains racial slurs, profanity and is "negative."

Trustee Terri Seymour cast the only dissenting vote, stating she does not think the book should be removed from use, but that classroom reading of it should be limited to small groups.

During the board discussion prior to the vote, Trustee Dave Eubanks, the board's liaison to the ad hoc literature committee, noted that the controversy surrounding "Of Mice and Men" in the Coeur d'Alene School District is not unique.

"I have discovered, folks, that this little novel has been by all counts the most argued text in American public education in the last 50 years," Eubanks said. "So, what's the next step for us, where do we go from here, especially considering that this board has no clearly defined boundaries regarding language in the literature in our schools?"

Eubanks said banning the book is not being considered, and regardless of the board's decision, all ninth-graders who want to read the Steinbeck novel for credit can do so.

"However, unfortunately, as is to be expected in our highly politicized environment, there are some folks on both ends of the spectrum regarding this book who are upset," Eubanks said. "A middle ground designation for them simply will not do. So here's the path I have found toward resolving this issue."

Eubanks then said the Steinbeck novel has been on the district's list for required reading for about a dozen years. He said thousands of high school freshmen have read the book.

"All those many kids over all those years, would you like to know how many parent complaints about this book have been received by this district? I'm informed by Mr. Nelson, our director of curriculum and assessment, that the answer is zero - not even one complaint," Eubanks said.

In 12 years, he said, there have been no opt-outs.

Eubanks said the lack of complaints or opt-outs should be taken as the community's position on the book, and it should be left on the list for ninth-grade whole group class instruction.

"But I would have one caveat to this, and that is that our board needs to sit down and create very specific boundaries or guidelines regarding language or literature so we can avoid this kind of a problem in the future," Eubanks said. "And once we've made those boundaries clear, if we need to come back to 'Of Mice and Men' again, then that would be a good time to do it."

Brianna Cline, an English teacher at Lake City High School, told the board that "Of Mice and Men" is a "gripping novel" that many students strongly relate to, especially "young men who are often the most difficult to engage with literature."

"Regarding the offensive language presented by the novel, many teachers, including myself, address the issue head-on by discussing why the N-word is offensive. This is an incredibly important lesson. Some students may have never heard the word before. Some students come from families where the word is used interchangeably with African-American," Cline said.

Many students are desensitized to the word, she said, making it important that it be discussed in the classroom, where students can learn the word's historical and cultural framework.

Derogatory words used in the book to describe women and those with disabilities are also discussed in the same manner, she said.

During the board discussion, trustees Tom Hearn and Christa Hazel each supported continued use of the book for whole group instruction. They pointed to the district's policy that allows parents to have their children opt-out of reading novels to which they object.

"I support their choice to do that," Hazel said.

Prior to the discussion and vote to keep the book on required reading lists, district curriculum director Mike Nelson presented the board with new guidelines for the ad hoc committee. He said the district will be seeking a greater number of community members to serve on the committee because there are 80 books that need to be reviewed, at the board's direction, over the next few months. The reviews are to determine if the books are relevant for students and that they have educational value.

Mary Jo Finney, one of four ad hoc committee members who voted to remove the Steinbeck novel from whole group instruction, spoke to the board.

Finney, who has been at the forefront of several book challenges in the Coeur d'Alene School District for a decade, said she believes the committees are just a formality, and the committee members are expected to simply vote based on teachers' literature requests.

"This last invariable message from the media bullies, to me personally, has been very clearly received," Finney said. "If I vote differently than the teachers and the administrators then my name and my information gets released to the public and I am bullied by the newspapers, television stations, radio stations and national coalition groups. At this point, I have to be cautious answering my phone, opening my front door, and I receive emails from strangers. This is bullying mentality at its highest level. It is shocking that there is such outrage because a person is outspokenly conservative."

She said she was one of six votes, and feels she was targeted.

"This meeting and discussion should be about guidelines and selections, not a particular book or a particular committee member," Finney said. "I have every right to not personally like this book, but I would not be horrified if my 12-year-old read it."

She said she would be horrified if her child was told to read the offensive language out loud at a teacher's direction in the classroom. Finney said that did happen to one of her own children.

"It has been 10 long years that I have worked to get this district to be more accountable to parents with safeguards and standards, but now I would suggest that parents pull their children from 271, or better yet, never put them in."

She said her children haven't been in district schools for four years, and she is grateful they have been safe from retaliation from teachers because of their mother's views.

Finney told The Press following the meeting that her daughter opted out of reading "Of Mice and Men" while attending a Coeur d'Alene public high school.