SAN DIEGO — A local parent is speaking out about an explicit book that was given to his 14-year-old to read for English class.
The dad says he's frustrated this book was assigned to his daughter. He was reading the book to her when he came across the explicit content.
"It made me uncomfortable to say the least. It was like I let her down," said Frank Powell, the 14-year-old's dad.
Powell's daughter is a freshman at University City High School. She has cerebral Palsy. Over Thanksgiving break he began reading, "The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian" to her for her English class. He says the sexual content inside the book was shocking
"This is not about banning books. This is not ban this. This is just one thing I found that's inappropriate to read to a 14-year-old female. Disability or no disability you don't show them it's okay to talk about masturbation publicly," he said.
He says the book also talks about a student assaulting a teacher.
"It portrays an angry student throwing a book at his teacher and breaking his nose. That's what it talks about. He smashed a teacher in the face,"
He confirmed with his daughter's assistant that the book was not picked out freely from the school library but instead was assigned by the teacher from an approved list of books.
"I'm not really blaming the individual school, she goes to nice school, or the principal. I am blaming the district for putting this on," he said.
CBS 8 reached out to San Diego Unified and was given the following statement: "The district is committed to providing students with a broad and inclusive education that represents the diversity of its student body and the community at large.
The district is sensitive to the concerns of all parents and students, and takes into account diverse perspectives. The district has long made supportive educational materials available to parents and staff in advance of every school year on the district website.
Teachers base their syllabi on guidance provided by their principals. Any parent who may be concerned about any book may work with their teacher to discuss an alternative assignment for their student."
Powell says he just wants parents to be aware of what their children might be assigned to read.
"I'm not on a crusade but see something, say something and hopefully they'll do something," he said.
This book received the National Book Award for young people's literature in 2007. It was also named one of the best books of the year by the school library journal book list.