OTSEGO, MI — A school district’s decision to remove a short story from the eighth-grade curriculum has ignited a debate between parents and teachers.
The controversy centers on the removal of the award-winning dystopian story “Ponies” by Kij Johnson.
Multiple parents criticized the decision at an Oct. 6 school board meeting. Teachers defended the story as a valuable educational tool for exploring complex themes and authoritarianism.
The removal process itself has raised concerns, with teachers arguing that a “small group of passionate parents” bypassed established procedures, setting a “dangerous precedent” for curriculum review.
These are the 4 takeaways from the original article:
1. School district removes story, sparking backlash
Otsego Public Schools removed the short story “Ponies” by Kij Johnson from its eighth-grade curriculum, a decision that drew immediate criticism from parents and teachers at a school board meeting.
The 2010 Nebula Award-winning story was pulled after a committee reviewed the text, according to Superintendent Christie Robinson, who declined to specify the reason for the decision or who initiated the review.
During the public meeting, multiple parents and teachers spoke out against the removal. Nobody present spoke in favor of it, but one parent in favor of the removal reached out to MLive/Kalamazoo Gazette. The conflict highlights a sharp division within the community over what material is appropriate for middle school students.
2. Story’s content is interpreted in different ways
The debate is fueled by starkly different interpretations of the story, in which a girl is pressured to mutilate her magical pony to gain social acceptance.
Jonathan Bush, a Western Michigan University English professor and Otsego parent, defended the story as a lesson on authoritarianism and a reflection of the exclusion and isolation many middle schoolers experience.
Conversely, parent Stephen Sisson, in an email, called the story “totally inappropriate” and a “macabre lesson in cruelty and inhumanity” that is more “demonic than dystopian.” He argued that the story lacks hope or redemption and corrupts childhood innocence.
3. Removed text was an ‘integral’ part of the curriculum
According to Otsego Middle School English teacher Ashley Leneway, “Ponies” was not an isolated reading but a foundational “mentor text” for the entire eighth-grade dystopian literature unit.
She explained that many subsequent lessons and discussions were designed to “intentionally refer back” to the story for literary analysis and thematic investigation.
4. Removal process is criticized for setting ‘dangerous precedent’
A key point of contention is the process by which the story was removed. Teacher Ashley Leneway argued that a “small group of passionate parents” managed to bypass the district’s established procedures, forcing a decision for all students in just three days.
She raised concerns that this circumvents the formal process for challenging materials, which is typically applied to library books rather than core curriculum.
Leneway warned that this action sets a “dangerous precedent,” potentially allowing small but vocal groups to dictate educational content for the entire student body without proper review.
Generative AI was used to summarize takeaways based on an originally reported story. It was reviewed and edited by MLive.
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