Recently, a letter with my signature was distributed to students in a class at Searsport District High School. The letter asks that a list of well-known books be temporarily removed from the curriculum, “because of escalating conflict in the Middle East.” It is my understanding that the letter was used in a class studying the impact of censorship.

Although a class activity focusing upon the issues related to censorship may be appropriate, I was personally offended that the Department of Education’s letterhead and my signature were used to add authenticity. As a young girl living in Nazi Germany, I escaped from a dictatorship that represented exactly what the letter was about — censorship — and the denial of personal freedom. I came to America to live in a country where basic freedom is insured by the Constitution and I would never be an advocate of removing books from the public.

I hope that the young people and their parents who are involved with this situation recognize the implications of the letter as well as my concern with the issue. Eve M. Bither Commissioner Department of Education, Augusta

I wish to extend a sincere apology to Commissioner Eve Bither for the undue embarrassment and affliction caused by a classroom project on the subject of censorship. The association of their names and positions with a simulated classroom activity that was meant for classroom use was never intended to be any kind of political sabotage or slander. It was my intent to provide my students with a problem dealing with censorship on a local, state, and national level. Ironically, I used agencies that I thought would be remote from the classroom.

It is unfortunate that my overzealousness in creating a facsimiled copy of an official letter did not include the foresight to realize the consequences of using Commissioner Bither’s name. The letter was read to my students, not distributed, although copies were given to the principal and members of the English and Social Studies departments with whom the project had been discussed.

The objectives of the lesson were integrated with the Social Studies department, and included introducing students to their rights and privileges as citizens as well as encouraging students to explore how far they were willing to go to defend those rights. The threat of censorship often occurs when controversial issues are removed from context; it is ironic that a classroom activity removed from its context could be misconstrued as a political maneuver, but that must be the beauty of living in a democracy.

One of the greatest challenges of teaching is to remain open to the possibilities of learning. This was an exercise in which some valuable lessons were also learned by the teacher.

Again, the simulated classroom activity or the “official” letter in no way intended to become a political or personal smear to any individual or agency. Leslie A. Gregory English teacher Searsport District High School

I am writing in response to the Bangor Daily News article of Oct. 1, titled, “Class on book banning spills into political arena.”

In reading the article one is led to believe that Leslie Gregory was the only teacher at Searsport District High School directly involved in the exercise on book censorship. This is not the case.

The exercise was an English/Social Studies interdisciplinary projet which Ms. Gregory and I coordinated for our respective English and history classes. While Ms. Gregory was presenting her unit on censorship with respect to the book, “Johnny Got His Gun,” I was presenting a unit in which students were to compare and contrast representative accounts of and attitudes toward the realities of war (e.g., death, wounding).

Ms. Gregory’s English class occurs immediately after my history class. On the day she read the “fake” directive from the Department of Education, I had my class analyze Mike Royko’s column, “It isn’t cool to talk about war” (BDN, Sept. 25). The class also discussed how good a job the text does in presenting what really happens in war — it does a poor job. I ended the day’s class with a question. Where are you learning what really happens in war? The answer, of course, was in English class with “Johnny Got His Gun.”

While I deplore what resulted from the simulation Ms. Gregory and I coordinated, I deplore even more the singling out of Ms. Gregory alone to shoulder the blame for the incident. Others knew of my involvement. As events unfolded last week, I immediately made my involvement known to the administration. I submitted a copy of my goals and objectives to the administration. In addition, I asked to be included in a meeting Superintendent Michael Cormier held with Ms. Gregory on the simulation. I was not included.

In closing, I wish to state that singling out Ms. Gregory as the sole individual involved in the incident is doing great disservice to a potential master teacher. Charles Francis Chairman, MSAD 56 Social Studies Department Searsport