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HUDSON, Ohio – Schools in the town of Hudson used the book “642 Things to Write” in a college-level classroom without a problem for five years, until outcry over its inappropriate writing prompts prompted the Hudson Mayor Craig Shubert to threaten school board members with legal action. if they don’t resign.
Parents of students were required to sign a consent form acknowledging that the course, run in conjunction with Hiram College, contained “adult themes,” although it did not specifically list sex, murder, and alcohol among them. them.
The district has provided a copy of the form to cleveland.com. Check it out below.
“We absolutely signed off that we understand that these are college level courses and that there may be adult material that they are exposed to,” said Monica Havens, mother of a high school student, in cleveland. com Thursday. “I agree with adult content, but I guess it depends on your definition… I don’t know if even students should write about someone’s murder and how they would do it and why they would do it.” Granted, there have to be better writing prompts to get your creativity flowing.
Jennifer Reece, director of communications and alumni outreach at Hudson High School, told cleveland.com that prompts in the book are used about once a week in the classroom.
“With 642 prompts and less than 40 weeks in a school year, most prompts have never been used,†Reece noted.
Reece did not say whether Hudson Schools or Hiram College were responsible for choosing class materials. However, she said the district is “reviewing our processes for how books are selected.”
Reece declined cleveland.com’s request for interviews with Superintendent Phillip Herman, Hudson High School principal Brian Wilch and class teacher as controversy soared in a nationwide report. Instead, she released this statement:
“On Friday, September 10, the Hudson City School District was notified of the writing prompts in an additional resource, a writing journal, titled 642 Things to Write About, which contains inappropriate content in a secondary setting. The resource was used in a college course at school. Course registration includes parental recognition of a college environment that may include themes or content that is not found in a more controlled high school environment. Despite this, given recent concerns expressed by parents of students in this course, the district collected the books and stopped using them.
The Board of Education, the statement said, will undertake a “full investigation” and use the findings to determine whether further action needs to be taken.
“While we respect the position of the mayor within the Town of Hudson, in accordance with the laws of the State of Ohio, the supervision of public schools in this district is the responsibility of the Board of Education,” the statement said, adding that no board member had “indicated any intention to resign”.
Hudson Town Schools Education Council members David Zuro, Steve DiMauro, James Field and Tom Tobin did not respond to cleveland.com inquiries on Thursday afternoon. Member Alisa Wright responded to an email, but referred a reporter’s investigation to the school district.
Havens, the mother of a high school student who worked as a teacher for 11 years, shared some of the book’s prompts at a recent school board meeting. They understand:
- “Choose how you die.
- Write a scene that begins: “It was the first time I killed a man.
- Describe your favorite part of a man’s body using only verbs.
- You have a dream that you murdered someone. Who is it, how and why did the murder take place, and what happens after?
- You are a serial killer. What TV shows are on your DVR list? Why?
- Write a sex scene that you wouldn’t show your mom.
- You have just been surprised in bed by a jealous spouse. How are you going to get by?
- Write a sermon for a beloved preacher who has been caught up in a sex scandal.
- Describe a time when you wanted to reach an orgasm but couldn’t.
- Ten euphemisms for sex.
- Write a letter from the point of view of an addict.
- Drink a beer. Write about the taste.
- Write an X-rated Disney scenario.
- The first time you had sex.
Other topics are perfectly harmless, like the description of the worst Thanksgiving dish you’ve ever eaten, how you mistreated a friend and how your cat sees the world, according to a video posted to Amazon by the bookseller.
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