Palmyra school board OKs popular French reader after book ban debate

After more than a month of residents voicing their concerns, Palmyra Area School Board members narrowly approved a popular French language reader to be taught in the district.

Board members voted 5-3 Feb. 12 to approve “Alice: La Liste” for use in the district classrooms. The administration recommended that it be used as a French 2 reader, for teachers to purchase as part of the district’s 2026-27 school budget and used in the spring 2027 for a French II class.

“Alice: La Liste” is a 2019 self-published young adult French language novel by language teacher Cécilia Lainé. According to the author’s website, the book follows a French-Algerian girl, Alice, whose family is moving from Southern France to Paris. The book deals mostly with Alice’s self-discovery as a teenager during this move, but does touch on issues such as racism towards people of North African origin in France.

Officials have said that French II is an immersive course, with 95% of the class time speaking the French language and teaching through stories. This year the district has 36 students taking French II.

Palmyra Supt. Bernie Kepler described “Alice: La Liste” as a pretty basic text developing grammar and vocabulary skills.

“What I heard tonight was the desire to make sure we are providing an foreign language material, a book in this case, in the parent’s native language, and we can make that happen,” he said about the board’s discussions.

In a Dec. 19 committee meeting, two school board members said they would reject the book based on cultural topics and influences, saying it contains “fringe topics.” Since that meeting, the school district has received numerous comments in emails on online about the potential ban of the French reader.

For multiple school board meetings, many residents have said that members’ concerns were unfounded. Palmyra resident Carrie Bonanno urged board members to read the book and “make a decision based out of knowledge.”

“‘Alice: La Liste’ provides an engaging, relatable story that gives our students the opportunity to exercise their French skills while also modeling setting goals, determination, tenacity and maturity,” she said. “None of these sound like fringe topics to me, and none of those sound like a reason to reject the book from the French curriculum.”

Board members’ concerns

During December discussions of the book, board members Seth Steinmeltz and Corey Andrew expressed concerns over reviews of the book. Steinmeltz said there were “some topics and insights that are found in general Google searches regarding the book” that he didn’t believe were appropriate topics the school should discuss. Those “fringe topics” included Islamophobia, anti-immigration of tourists, Islamic immigration into France, and racism and derogatory names.

Despite residents’ multiple messages not to reject the book, some board members still voted against using “Alice: La Liste” within the district.

School Board President Jill Martin said she was voting against “Alice: La Liste,” not because of the content of the book, but because it did not have any English language translations for her to review.

“I can’t read French, I don’t know what’s in it,” she said. “Maybe it’s the best book in the world, may not be. But I don’t know and as a parent I would like to have easy access to that book to be able to just read and know what it’s about.”

Before the Feb. 12 vote, Andrew insisted that citing those concerns was about board approval of the district’s curriculum, and that those who want board approval should be prepared to defend their reasons for wanting that approval.

“I think the core concept I would like people to take away from this meeting is that this has not been about banning books,” he said. “It never has, and has not been the crux of any of this discussion. And those who want to continue that argument just want to make a political statement.”

Andrew added that he wanted to know the information he was approving, and the board had a right to have that information “given to us freely and willingly, without being called all sorts of names and being accused of doing certain things or being a certain way.”

Martin cited an email from Jana Bridwell, who stated as a taxpayer she would be “unhappy about paying for several dozen copies of such a low-quality book like ‘Alice: La Liste.'” In her email to the board, Bridwell describes the French language primer as “not even passably decent literature.”

“The writing is painfully trite, the plotting half-hearted, the characters poor,” Bridwell wrote to the board. “It reminds me of the highly infantilized plots we offer to 3-4 year old children.”

School board member Larry Geib responded to the comments by saying “Alice: La Liste” is a 3rd to 4th grade reader, and that the board should trust the teacher’s discretion.

“It’s going to be interpreted within the educational community of the Palmyra School District that the board does not trust a teacher’s recommendation,” he said. “You may not mean that, but that’s the way it’s going to be interpreted.”

The district does have a policy for district parents to opt children out of reading a book for a class, and has resources to provide translations of their multi-language materials for parents. However, Kepler told the board he is not sure of the last time he received a request for either service.

Residents looking for more information about how to contact the Palmyra Area School Board can visit the district’s website at pasd.us.