Author de la Peña Is Donating Books to Tucson School

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By Lauren Barack
February 3, 2012

The Tucson Unified School District's (TUSD) decision to shut down its Mexican American Studies (MAS) program and remove seven titles that were used in the program has sparked a rallying cry among librarians and other educators. National groups, including the American Library Association (ALA) and the network of Teacher Activist Groups, are protesting the book removal, demanding that the titles be returned to classrooms.

"Students in the TUSD MAS Program develop critical thinking skills through the study of literature written by ALA award-winning authors," reads ALA's resolution. "And students have demonstrated proven academic success, graduating from high school at the rate of 90 percent and entering college at a rate of 80 percent."

Author Matt de la Peña is taking a more hands-on approach: he's using his $1,000 speaking fee to purchase copies of his novel Mexican WhiteBoy (Delacorte, 2008) for the Tucson High Magnet School, where he's scheduled to appear on March 13.

"I'm using my honorarium of $1,000 to give the students books, and Random House is donating some, too," de la Peña says from his home in Brooklyn, NY. "I think it's going to be cool."

In January 2011, Tom Horne, Arizona's attorney general, declared that TUSD's Mexican American Studies program was illegal. During the past year, administrators, teachers, and students have challenged Horne's ruling, but on January 10, TUSD's school board voted 4-1 to cease all Mexican American Studies classes immediately for fear of losing its state funding. As part of TUSD's decision, the district removed seven titles, including one of de la Peña's, from classrooms that taught the curriculum, which the state says violates education statutes.

TUSD says that the books in classrooms district-wide were boxed and put in storage. But the district says the titles are still available in most of its school libraries, and students can request them. That has done little to stem the rising anger over TUSD's decision to halt the program and remove the books—in at least one case, packing them up in front of students.

This was not the course the district initially wanted to take, as legal records show. TUSD appealed Horne's ruling, hoping to prevent the program from being shut down. Ultimately, however, the district didn't prevail and was told that Arizona Superintendent John Huppenthal would cut 10 percent of its monthly stipend if the district didn't revamp its program.

"We did go down that road and fought it," says Cara Rene, TUSD's director of communication, "and we lost."

De la Peña first heard from a Tucson teacher that his acclaimed novel Mexican WhiteBoy had been yanked. The story follows 16-year-old Danny, as he grows up multiracial in San Diego, CA, and grapples with issues about his identity. The book earned a Best Book for Young Adults nod from the Young Adult Library Services Association in 2009.

Yet Mexican WhiteBoy is singled out in the 37-page legal decision supporting the state's decision to end the Mexican American Studies program. "Proposed required reading for these classes include Justice: A Question of Race by Roberto Rodriguez and Mexican WhiteBoy by Matt de la Peña," reads the legal document.

That's chilling to de la Peña who was invited to speak at Tucson High Magnet School about six months ago, after a student asked her principal to invite the author. de la Peña says the invitation still stands, and he's going to use the opportunity to talk to students about his novel.

In the meantime, however, TUSD says it's working to potentially reopen the program in alignment with the state's educational statutes for next fall. And the Arizona Department of Education (DOE) says it will continue to watch the district to ensure the curriculum that was pulled won't be taught in classrooms again.

"There will be some monitoring that occurs," says Andrew LeFevre, Arizona DOE's director of public relations. "What we don't want to see is that schools are continuing to utilize the curriculum in Mexican American Studies classes that we found to be out of compliance."

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