Language too trashy even for school board members
Song of Solomon is on required reading lists for high school students in Richland School District One
By John Temple Ligon

Pam Clark addresses Richland School District One School Board

Pam Clark, mother of A.C. Flora High School senior Casey Clark, protested to the Richland 1 School Board Tuesday night, October 10. She held in disregard the decision to assign Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon to her daughter's honors English class summer reading program.

The school board allowed two or three young children to leave the board room before Clark's recitation of Morrison's objectionable language, as Clark quoted Morrison in a September letter to The Columbia Star.

As Clark began her presentation, however, the board chair asked Clark not to announce the book's objectionable language to the (mostly adult) board room audience.

In other words, albeit literature, Song of Solomon had language inappropriate for the school board audience. Presumably, by censoring Clark, the board agreed the book's language was also inappropriate for a high school rising senior.