At a Dec. 16 meeting, the Collaborative Team decided that the New York Times crosswords and other puzzles distributed by the library would not be discontinued.
At a previous meeting, the notion was raised that students disrupt class by completing the puzzles. Principal John Dodig reiterated that teachers can prohibit anything disruptive in class.
Lisabeth Comm, the English 6-12 coordinator, said that the craze started a few years ago when a student used to create them himself.
James Farnen, assistant principal, chuckled at the idea of a controversy being created over them.
“Crosswords are no different than a chicken parmesan grinder; they need to be enjoyed at the right place and time,” Farnen said.
Conversely, social studies 6-12 coordinator James D’Amico felt that the crosswords should stop being printed.
“They are a waste of paper, and are unnecessary for the Library Media Center to print out,” D’Amico said.
A representative from the New York Times Rights and Permissions department said that the distribution of New York Times crosswords is a legality and a copyright issue.
“The library would need proper licensing to distribute those crosswords to students, as they are in possession of the New York Times,” the representative said.