Review for Graham Swift's 'Waterland' Planned for Feb. 8

A decision on the return of Graham Swift's Waterland to Plymouth-Canton AP English classrooms could come as early as mid-February, the district has indicated.

According to Frank Rugirello Jr., the district's director of community relations, the public review will be held Feb. 8 for the book, which had been removed by superintendent Jeremy Hughes in December after Matt and Barb Dame, two Salem High School parents, raised objections to its explicit sexual content.

Hughes later , allowing the book to undergo the same review process as Toni Morrison's Beloved, another book challenged by the Dames on the grounds of its violent, sexual and thematic content. Beloved, which had not been removed from the classroom, was allowed to stay in students' curricula after Hughes agreed to from a committee that determined the book was an appropriate and effective teaching tool.

That process included a panel of parents, administrators, district teachers, librarians and a college professor. The new panel will shuffle its members, so the same people who voted during the review of Beloved won't also be deciding the fate of Waterland, Rugirello said.

A time has not yet been made available for the meeting, but it is scheduled to take place at the , 454 S. Harvey in Plymouth.