Though Monday’s monthly meeting of the Waterloo School Board featured an uplifting presentation on the district’s kindergarten class and a short list of agenda items, the evening took a turn as a handful of audience members voiced their distaste of a book which was removed from the high school curriculum late last week.

The book in question is “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian,” a semi-autobiographical novel which tells the story of a young teen who has grown up in the Spokane Indian Reservation and begins attending an all-white school.

Written by American Indian author Sherman Alexie and published in 2007, the book has been challenged or banned in a number of school districts and communities as it contains strong language and addresses themes such as alcoholism, sexuality and racism from the perspective of the teenage protagonist.

Though, according to Waterloo Superintendent of Schools Brian Charron, the book has been in and out of Waterloo High School’s 12th grade curriculum for the past 4-5 years, controversy arose this year as some district parents in a Facebook group expressed their disapproval.

Anonymous posts in the Stand Up For Students – Waterloo Facebook group contain some pictures of excerpts from the book which were seemingly found to be inappropriate.

One excerpt contains a character – seemingly a bully of the protagonist – saying “Did you know that Indians are living proof that (plural for N-word) f— buffalo?” followed by the protagonist’s internal monologue saying “That was the most racist thing I’d ever heard in my life.”

The expletives are uncensored in the actual book.

Another excerpt shared in a Facebook post features the protagonist’s internal monologue talking about masturbation in a seemingly comical, gratuitous way for several paragraphs.

A third excerpt features a similarly-toned internal monologue from the protagonist talking about how he feels “hormonal” about isosceles triangles, adding that “I spend hours in the bathroom with a magazine that has one thousand pictures of naked movie stars.”

Per another anonymous post in the group, a parent seems to have gotten in touch with WHS Principal Tim McDermott who said the book had been removed from the mandatory reading list to be replaced with another book. The post adds that neither McDermott nor the current teacher were there when the book was added to the curriculum, and as several students said they were enjoying reading the book, there aren’t currently plans to remove it from the school, and it will still be available.

At Monday’s school board meeting, discussion of the book began during public participation. Though no member of the audience approached the podium to address the board, a number of individuals spoke from their seats.

While none of the audience members provided their names while speaking, Scott Tepper provided his name to this report after the meeting, and Nathan Brinkmann was also identified following the meeting.

Echoing the Facebook posts, speakers in the audience voiced their disapproval of the book given the profanity and sexual content.

The first individual to speak seemed unable to name the book, making mention of “this book that’s going around, part-time, something about an Indian.”

He further described what book he was referring to by quoting the phrase “(N-word) f—— a buffalo.” Charron seemed to admonish him for his language, pointing out there were young children present at the meeting.

Audience members questioned Charron and the school board in an exchange that went on for nearly 20 minutes.

They questioned how the book was added to the curriculum to begin with and whether or not the book was still available in the library.

Also in the exchange, it was argued that the teacher who supplied the book should be reprimanded, and someone asked the board if they are “trying to demoralize these kids.”

One audience member brought up an apparent controversy from October regarding a performance at Waterloo Junior High School.

Speaking with the Republic-Times after the meeting, Charron explained that the performance in question was done by Echo Dance Team, a group based in New York which regularly conducts school assemblies with an emphasis on anti-bullying.

Though Charron said the school performance was appropriate, he added that the apparent controversy arose as students searched the name of one of the performers online, encountering apparently nude or otherwise sexually explicit content for a separate project of his.

Regarding the board’s response to those members of the audience, board member and former teacher Jodie Burton was the most vocal speaking against “book burning” – though an audience member noted no one was expressly calling for book burning.

“It’s not my job to ban books or to say what your child can read,” Burton said. “It’s my job to say what my child can read. It’s your job to say what your child can read or access or whatever… Book banners want to keep books out of other people’s children’s hands. Book banners want to say what they believe should pertain to other people, and that’s not your job.

“Your morals and standards are maybe not the same as mine,” Burton continued. “Maybe they are, but maybe they aren’t, and so it’s not your job to make that decision for the children of Waterloo.”

Board member Nathan Mifflin – who is married to Stand Up For Students – Waterloo administrator Elizabeth Mifflin – said of Waterloo students, “We have to make sure that we’re not giving them material that is controversial,” though he was quickly rebuked by Burton and board member John Caupert, who both questioned “Who makes that decision?”

Charron spoke at length toward the end of the exchange, noting the board only heard concerns about the book recently, with issues raised last Thursday and the book removed from the curriculum the next day.

“It’s been in and out of the curriculum for four or five years, and nobody’s ever brought that to our attention before,” Charron said. “It was brought to our attention on Thursday, and we decided to remove it from the curriculum. We appreciate the parents that brought it to our attention. There is a system that is in place for a reason that was exercised on Thursday, and we removed it on Friday.”

Charron further argued that it is a “slippery slope” as the district determines what “edgy” or “thought-provoking” material is and isn’t allowed – though the district is in the process of reviewing literature that is part of the curriculum.

He also pointed to the ability of parents to determine what their students read.

“It is difficult for us to keep out every sentence, every word that might be offensive to somebody. That is going to be a difficult task,” Charron said. “There may be times that somebody finds something that is offensive to you that we’re unsure of, and we convene a committee to look at it and we decide that the educational value of that material, lesson, et cetera, outweighs the few parents that objected, and we’ll give your child an alternative assignment… You have that right. It’s in our policy, you have that right. People exercised their rights, we responded with what we thought was the right thing to do with the knowledge that we then had.”

While the book discussion dominated a large chunk of the meeting, the first part of the meeting featured a lighter subject: kindergarten at W.J. Zahnow Elementary.

As part of the Waterloo Classroom Teacher Association’s monthly feature of different classes in the district, Zahnow kindergarten teacher Jennifer Moehrs, joined by many of her peers, spoke about the experience of teaching some of the district’s youngest students each day.

“We are your people who hug, who dispel fears, assure parents, dry tears, tie so many shoes, zip coats, wipe noses, hand out so many band-aids, teach empathy, teach kindness, teach sharing, teach how to sit and line up, teach how to hold a pencil and cut, teach how to work out a problem, teach how to work independently and so much more, and this is all before we actually teach our curriculum,” Moehrs said.

She shared a video pointing out some of the daily activities kindergarten students enjoy, going on to speak about additional details.

Moehrs noted the district’s success with the Orton-Gillingham approach to phonics in its second year. The program caters to a wide variety of learning needs among the students.

She also spoke about the popularity of themes among students, with themes ranging from ginger bread to Hawaii helping students engage with their learning material throughout the year.

Moehrs emphasized her pride in the kindergarten program as it provides students with a strong foundation for the rest of their academic career in the district.

“We are so proud to show that our students leave stronger academically and socially because of our program and our teams dedication,” Moehrs said. “It is absolutely amazing where our students begin when they enter Zahnow and how much they grow during our year because of our compassion and consistency. They always say, ‘Everything you need to know, you learn in kindergarten.’”

Another substantial presentation was provided by Waterloo grades 6-12 curriculum coordinator John Schmieg, who offered his annual assessment and highlights from the Illinois Report Card.

In district committee reports, Board of Education Vice-President Neil Giffhorn noted the progress that is being made on the renovations at Zahnow.

“There’s gonna be a lot of value added to that building for everybody in there,” Giffhorn said. “I think it’s gonna be a really, really nice update and addition to that building that will last the district for a long time.”

Regarding action items addressed by the board, a tentative tax levy was approved along with a public hearing on the tentative levy which is set for the December board meeting.

The board also approved the first reading of Press Plus Issue 117 policies as well as consideration to review and discuss the 2025-2026 WHS school course guide to be ultimately approved at the December board meeting.