Bellevue schools book dispute ends in firing

A Sebastopol library consultant hired to improve literacy in the Bellevue Union School District says he was fired after administrators threatened to ban a science fiction book.

School officials say they were unsatisfied with Richie Partington and terminated his contract after he refused to discuss whether Rodman Philbrick's "The Last Book in the Universe" was appropriate for elementary school students.

Partington, 52, reviews children's books on his Web site and is preparing to teach an online library course for San Jose State University. He recently was named to the selection committee for the 2009 Caldecott Medal, a prestigious children's literature award.

He was hired in October by the Bellevue district in southwest Santa Rosa to help develop the library collection and consult on policies to promote lifelong learning.

As part of his duties, Partington regularly read to students in the district's four elementary schools.

One of the books he read was "The Last Book in the Universe." Published by Scholastic in 2000, it is a dark tale of an epileptic boy living on the edges of a post-apocalyptic society.

Navigating a violent world and enduring his seizures alone, the boy deals with gang leaders who threaten to "cut his red" or "blow you into particles" with their splat guns as he journeys from his criminal life to reconnect with a leukemia-stricken sister.

Partington's firing last week drew protests after he detailed his story on his Internet page, catching the attention of librarians and authors including Jane Yolen, who wrote Caldecott Medal-winning "Owl Moon" and other children's stories.

"He's a national treasure, and those of us outside the district and district politics are agog at what has happened," Yolen said in an e-mail.

School officials say Partington's dismissal has been misrepresented as a case of censorship.

"There is no banned book," Kawana School Principal Jesse Escobedo said.

Escobedo said he asked, via a library clerk, to speak with Partington on Nov. 19 about the appropriateness of "The Last Book in the Universe" for elementary school students after Partington read the first chapter to two sixth-grade classes.

Partington refused to meet, demanding that Escobedo read the text prior to any discussion. Escobedo said he read excerpts of the book online, questioned some of the themes and described Partington's stance as unreasonable.

"All I wanted to do was talk to him," he said. "The librarian mentioned it to him and told him I wanted to talk to him first, and he left kind of angry."

Contract terminated

Partington acknowledged that he left without speaking with Escobedo. Instead, he sent an e-mail to the principal and district Superintendent Tony Roehrick, asking among other things if Escobedo had read the book. He also asked whether either had read professional reviews of the book.

"It seemed to me that they clearly felt that they had the right to make decisions on what books would be in the library, whether or not they had read them," Partington said.

His 35-week, $21,000 contract was terminated in a letter dated Nov. 20. The letter signed by Roehrick arrived at Partington's Sebastopol home Nov. 21. The district said it will pay him through Dec. 14 for a total of $7,200 for 12 weeks' work.

"It's not about banning a book," Roehrick said. "(His termination) was the culmination of a perception on my part of what we asked for and were getting, were not fitting."

"The Last Book in the Universe" isn't available at any Bellevue Union district campus. Partington said he had hoped to add it to Kawana's collection after reading it to the sixth-graders.

Library serves grades 1-6

Scholastic, the publisher, lists among the book's themes technology, changes and new experiences, friends and friendship, reading and siblings. The recommended age is 12-18 and grades seven through 12.

If it were in an elementary school library, Escobedo said, "the book would be available to everybody. I just thought it was inappropriate for our level. For middle school it might be great."

That argument makes little sense, according to Deborah Caldwell-Stone, deputy director of the Office of Intellectual Freedom of the American Library Association.

"Essentially you are saying that a sixth-grader can't read anything that is inappropriate for a first-grader," she said. "There are other ways of addressing that issue. . . . That is more a matter of managing the library and guiding students to books that are appropriate to their age and development."

No discussion

Elizabeth Sesma-Olinyk, principal at Taylor Mountain School in the Bellevue District, said her librarian raised some concerns about Partington over "minor procedural" things during his six-week tenure.

Sesma-Olinyk said Partington's call for a district policy on how administrators should deal with complaints became moot when he refused to discuss the book with Escobedo.

"If Mr. Partington is talking about engagement about what is appropriate -- let's not pick up our bag and walk off," she said. "How can you say let's have a policy and let's have a conversation when the person who is claiming that needs to happen (walks away)?"

You can reach Staff Writer Kerry Benefield at 526-8671

or kerry.benefield@

pressdemocrat.com.