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NJ School District To Assess Diversity

WEST ORANGE, N.J. (AP) -- Officials in a northern New Jersey school district will hire a company to assess diversity of its curriculum and staff.

The action in West Orange comes after a Liberty Middle School teacher handed out a paper containing the "N" word to a seventh-grade class.

The handout about the Agatha Christie mystery novel "And Then There Were None" contained a scene from the stage adaptation of the 1939 novel that used a racial epithet.

The Star-Ledger of Newark reported an African-American couple complained after their son read the epithet in class.

West Orange Superintendent Anthony Cavanna told the newspaper the district will consider what it can do better.

(Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

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