California School District Bans All Dictionaries

http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_14256926

The Associated Press
Posted: 01/23/2010 09:19:22 PM PST
Updated: 01/23/2010 09:19:22 PM PST

MENIFEE, Calif.—A Southern California school district has pulled dictionaries from classrooms because a parent complained when a child came across the term "oral sex."

District officials said Friday that the Menifee Union School District—which serves 9,000 kindergartners through eight graders in Riverside County—is forming a committee to consider a permanent classroom ban of the Merriam Webster's Collegiate Dictionary.

A memo from Assistant Superintendent Karen Valdes acknowledged it is a respected resource but district officials found that "a number of referenced words are age-inappropriate."

Some parents and free-speech advocates said the district is overreacting.

Peter Scheer, executive director of the California First Amendment Coalition says "common sense seems to be lacking in this school."

Menifee is a city of about 67,000 people 80 miles southeast of Los Angeles.