The following transcription is only a small part of the Board discussion about This Boy’s Life. Unfortunately, the official tapes contained only a small portion of Clint Robinson’s final comment. In this discussion, Clint compares the discussion about the content of This Boy’s Life to a Web site location that reviews movies, and in particular, the movie Finding Nemo.
February 9, 2004
Clint Robinson:
"….I find Finding Nemo to be one of the funniest kids movies I’ve seen in quite a while. And in that location there was a page and a half explaining violent acts that happened in Finding Nemo. So I would caution this Board in their establishment of policy, in their review of books for curriculum and instruction, that there are things that that some people view as being objectionable, and other people don’t, and we’re trying to meet the needs of all kids. So in light of fair and balanced reporting there is a page and a half of violent acts in Nemo so be careful."
John Fuller (Board President):
(laughs at Clint's comments) "On that note, is there any other discussion? OK, call for a vote, all those who vote in support of the motion as made to uphold the decision reached by the district in previous school committees concerning the book This Boy’s Life please raise your right hand. All opposed? Motion carries 7-0.
Now that being said, I think Tom you heard, from in my opinion a majority of the board that would like you to direct staff, in some manner or some form, to tackle this ten-thousand-pound gorilla. And I’m not sure schedule-wise C&I can handle it this year. I’m not sure the process can be implemented in the short-term. I know some patrons have said, “Can we do something for the next school year?” I don’t know based on what we have up in front of us on budget cuts and all that, that can be accomplished, but I’m going to ask you to explore a schedule as well as see if you can explore developing a process to recommend to the board to review that. And whether that’s to remand it to C&I or as Sheryl brought up an ad hoc committee we will let you wrestle with that and come back with a recommendation for the board on how to deal with that.
Did everyone on the Board understand that to be the direction of the Board? OK. Let’s move on then. Thank you.
Are the Harmons still here? Oh, I’m sorry, you keep hiding behind people over there. Again I wanted to thank you for your cordial communication. Everything you did in this process in terms of communicating with the Board was done with the utmost professionalism, and with the utmost respect for us, and for this District, and I can’t tell you how refreshing that is. I have utmost respect for you and your husband, and your ability to go through this process, particularly in a public setting. You did not sign up for this and I understand that you did not put your name on a ballot to be drug through the paper, and I just wanted to let you know that I appreciate your professionalism and the way you handled this."