Group Seeks to Persuade Anaheim Union High School Board to Ban Two Books : Education: ‘Ordinary People’ and ‘The Great Santini’ are laced with obscenities and sexual references, its leader says.

ANAHEIM — A group describing itself as “a bunch of old ladies and one old man protesting dirty books” will try tonight to persuade a school board to ban two books: “Ordinary People” and “The Great Santini.”

But Anaheim Union High School District officials say the board has already heard the group’s complaints and has recommended that the novels be kept on an optional high school reading list. In addition, it also required parental permission before students are assigned to read “The Great Santini.”

The group, however, wants the school board to reconsider and ban the books.

“If parents knew what these books are about, they would be in an uproar,” said Treva Brown, a parent of two students in the district and a leader of the unnamed group.

She said both books are laced with obscenities and sexual references. Brown is particularly incensed about a scene in “The Great Santini,” in which a teen-age boy fantasizes about having sex on a church altar.

“This is a profane, vulgar book,” she said.

Written by Pat Conroy, “The Great Santini” is about a career Marine pilot who runs his family like a military unit.

“Ordinary People,” by Judith Guest, is about a suicidal teen-age boy and his relationship with his family after his older brother drowns. It was made into a movie in 1980 and won an Academy Award for best picture.

“The book is a springboard to suicide,” Brown said about “Ordinary People.” She added: “Are English teachers equipped to deal with the emotions this book could bring out in troubled teens?”

F. Jock Fischer, assistant superintendent for education, said separate nine-member committees reviewed each book, taking into account its place in the curriculum, why it is on the reading list and whether it meets community standards on decency. Both books are on a long list of novels that high school English teachers have the option of assigning to their classes.

“I think this district has done a good job listening to the community and ensuring that the books we use do not violate its standards,” Fischer said.

The school board meets at 7:30 p.m. at district headquarters, 501 Crescent Way.