LTHS Set To Add 'Culturally Responsive' Book

LA GRANGE, IL – Lyons Township High School is likely to add a "culturally responsive" book to one of its English classes.

Teachers are asking for the school to buy "In the Heights" by Quiara Alegria Hudes. The musical was done by Lin-Manuel Miranda, who also produced "Hamilton."

The book, which is set in a Dominican American neighborhood in New York City, is being proposed for the high school's English IV: The Visual Word course.

The book would replace "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" by Ken Kesey.

At this week's school board meeting, Scott Eggerding, the school's curriculum director, said "In the Heights" is a popular visual. By contrast, he said, students don't connect well with "Cuckoo's Nest."

"'In the Heights' gives us an opportunity for a little more culturally responsive pedagogy, so that one seems to make a lot of sense," Eggerding said.

The school is also aiming to drop "A Tale of Two Cities" by Charles Dickens for English II Honors. It plans to replace it with a book on writing.

"It's a book that's been taught for a long, long time in English II Honors, but it's also a very long book, and we're seeing that students are doing a lot of novel reading and not enough writing. So the idea is to take out a very long novel and put in a long writing unit."

The school board is set to vote on the proposals at a later meeting.