President of South Jersey school board that removed ‘The Bluest Eye’ from curriculum resigns

The president of a South Jersey school board that removed Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye from an honors freshman English class has resigned.

The resignation by Brian Ellis on Feb. 9 came a little more than two weeks after the Washington Township school board unanimously voted to remove the book from the high school curriculum. The board agreed to keep the book in the library, pending further review.

Ellis, who holds a doctorate of philosophy in global leadership from the Indiana Institute of Technology, said his resignation was unrelated to the recent controversy surrounding the book. In an interview Wednesday, he cited personal and professional reasons for resigning from his seat on the nine-member board. He was appointed to the board in 2019 and elected to a three-year term the following year.

“It was a tough decision to make,” said Ellis, who with his wife has three children in the district’s schools. “Something had to give in my life and unfortunately it had to be my role with the board.”

» READ MORE: A South Jersey school district has pulled Toni Morrison’s ‘Bluest Eye’ from its curriculum

A 25-year resident of the Gloucester County community, Ellis is the associate dean for academic program administration at Drexel University’s LeBow College of Business. He was the first Black male to serve as the school board president.

Board member Carol Chila was unanimously chosen by the board Tuesday night to succeed Ellis as president. The board is seeking candidates to apply by Feb. 27 to complete his term, which expires in December.

“He has been a vital part of our board and we appreciate all he has done,” said board vice president Elayne Clancy.

At a hotly debated board meeting in January, Ellis and the eight other board members voted to remove Morrison’s book from the ninth- and 10th-grade honors curriculum, effective immediately. A parent had filed a complaint and a book review committee recommended moving the book to the curriculum of a higher grade level.

Ellis agreed the book should be read by older students, possibly juniors or seniors. He said more information was needed at the January meeting before taking up that recommendation.

“I don’t think it should be removed,” Ellis said. “This is a slippery slope that I don’t think we want to follow.”

» READ MORE: More than 60 books have been challenged or are under review in Central Bucks, district employees say

Washington Township, which enrolls about 6,900 students, joins a growing number of school systems and public libraries that have banned books for content deemed inappropriate. Morrison, a Nobel laureate and Princeton University professor, has been a frequent target because of The Bluest Eye’s portrayal of rape and incest.

The Bluest Eye, set in Lorain, Ohio, in 1941, tells the story of a young Black girl sexually assaulted by her father. Struggling with her identity, she wants the bluest eyes because she relates that to “whiteness.”

The Washington Township school board approved The Bluest Eye for the freshman honors curriculum in 2018, when it was also placed in the school library. A parent who admitted not reading the book in its entirety complained that it was sexually explicit.

At Tuesday’s board meeting, the book ban remained a heated topic. The board has said it needed more information to decide to move it to an older honors or AP class. Other books may be reviewed, too.

“This is not about banning every book. This is about setting standards to protect our kids,” said parent Andrea Fulginiti.

Said Patricia Kline, another community member: “It’s wrong. It’s pornography, and I’m glad to see that the book is out.”

Ron Lucarini, a former teacher in the district, said the board has more pressing matters to tackle.

“Censoring books — the conversation is getting carried away. We got too many other problems,” Lucarini said.