Ottawa High School Board will not remove ‘The Kite Runner’ from curriculum

The Ottawa High School Board isn’t going to forcibly remove “The Kite Runner” from the school’s English curriculum despite complaints from a Monday school board meeting.

“We never had a complaint about the use of this book in my time as the principal or superintendent at OTHS,” said Superintendent Michael Cushing, who has been with the district for 12 years. “If a parent or student has a concern, they need to first speak with the teacher and then the administration, not speak about this for the first time at a school board meeting.”

Cushing said the district is willing to work with any parent who wants their child to study an alternative piece of literature, as is standard procedure in the case of parental objections.

Of the six parents that spoke during the public comment period of that school board meeting, two were residents of the district. Parents complained Monday of vulgar words and disturbing scenes in the book, according to a report from WCMY.

“The Kite Runner” is a novel by Afghan-American Khaled Hosseini, telling the story of a young boy growing up in Kabul, Afghanistan.