The process would also allow the Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board to create a book list teachers can use to select acceptable material for classroom lessons.

"We're working on a report to take to the board in November that would propose a centralized process around how resources are selected for use in classrooms," said Marianne Mazzorato, the board's program superintendent.

In recent years the local Catholic school board has wrestled with the appropriateness of some reading material on library shelves and in classrooms after complaints from parents and others. Books such as The Golden Compass and Snow Falling on Cedars underwent review by board officials when content in the novels were criticized and called unsuitable for Catholic schools.

This past summer, the principal at St. Edmund Campion Secondary School pulled the classic American novel To Kill a Mockingbird from the school's Grade 10 classrooms after a parent lodged a verbal complaint.

Mazzorato insisted recommendations to develop a centralized approval process and universal list of acceptable books is not a response to any one specific incident, but will help deal with the use of books some might consider controversial.

Currently some core resources are selected centrally, such as math and science textbooks. However, the board gives teachers some latitude in selecting literature for use in their individual classrooms.

All schools would essentially be using the same textbooks, but reading material in an English class could vary from class to class and school to school. Some teachers use books or novels based on student interests, needs and other factors that must be considered when educators attempt to engage young minds.

"What's going to be new, is if teachers are going to decide to use novels in their classroom, we're going to be asking them to submit the novels that they want to use," Mazzorato explained.

Presently, teachers would work with their department head or principal at the school level to bring in a novel. Mazzorato said the process is less about "gate keeping" and more about allowing the board to develop resources around those individual literary choices that support a teacher's lesson plan.

"What we're attempting to do through this process is ensure that centrally we're aware of all the novels that teachers are wanting to use in their classrooms," she said. "If we're aware of those novels being used then we can help support teachers and develop strong lesson plans."

Besides ensuring the development of critical literacy skills and delivery of relevant messages for students, she continued, the process should also help mitigate against some of the sensitive subject matter that might occur in novels.

Teachers will be able to give input and submit books for consideration. The board needs to expand the repertoire of literature teachers can choose for their classrooms, Mazzorato added.

Committees of teachers, guided by religion and literacy consultants, will be reading books and recommending literature that should be on the board list of approved material. Formal adoption of a process is anticipated next September.

The list will be accessible to teachers and schools. Schools and teachers should also be making parents aware of what is being read in classrooms, Mazzorato said.