Posted on 10/30/2006 5:46:15 AM PST by paltz
(CBS4) FT. LAUDERDALE An art teacher at a Fort Lauderdale charter school is facing indefinite suspension after showing a self-made documentary on ‘good and evil’ to a group of 10 and 11 year old students, featuring gory abortion scenes. Some students and parents complained, and the school objected, but teacher Marc Greenblum says he has no regrets in showing the graphic video.
The film was shown approximately two weeks ago in Greenblum’s art class at the Downtown Academy of Technology and Arts, a charter school funded with tax dollars and under the oversight of the Broward County School Board.
The video, as described by parents who saw it with school officials, included graphic images of the Holocaust, 9/11, and the Ku Klux Klan, among others, and juxtaposed them with extremely graphic images which were allegedly from abortions.
School officials declined to allow CBS4 to view the video, saying they wanted it first to be viewed by Broward County School District administrators, but one student shared his memories of the presentation.
“It was very gory, and all red all over the place,” said one 11-year-old student whose identity is being withheld by cbs4.com at the request of his parents.
“I don’t have any regrets for having shown it and presented it,” teacher Greenblum said Thursday, admitting that even he found the abortion video in the documentary disturbing enough to make him cry. Some of his students said the video was upsetting.
“There was this disturbing picture of a baby’s hand reaching out from the Mom’s stomach and grabbing the doctor’s finger, and there was a baby in a bucket,” the boy said, describing the film played to his art class by Greenblum.
“It’s just so graphic, and I broke down in tears,” said parent Joan Daniel, whose son attends the school and viewed the documentary. Daniel said she viewed the video for the first time Thursday, after her son complained to her, and she complained to the school.
The film was made with the knowledge of the school, and even featured an interview with the school’s principal, according to parents who viewed the video. However, school officials say they were unaware of the full content of the final product and had not authorized its presentation to students.
“He should not have shown this,” said principal Jim DiSebastian, who suspended Greenblum Thursday after CBS4 News began investigating reports of the video’s classroom presentation.
Daniel said she was upset it took two weeks for the school to show her and another parent the video after they complained, and in that time, other parents were not notified the film had been shown, and teacher Greenblum continued to meet with students. When they viewed the video Thursday, the school has yet to take action against Greenblum, and she was at a loss to understand why.
“Someone that’s an educator should know that this is not acceptable, should already know what’s acceptable and what’s not acceptable, and this is way over the line,” Daniel told CBS4’s Evan Bacon in an exclusive interview.
“There are consequences,” said DiSebastian, “and he didn’t think, and it can’t ever happen again.”
But despite the objection of his employers, Greenblum remains unapologetic for showing his young students the graphic and bloody images without the permission of the school or their parents.
“I regret maybe showing it a little prematurely,” Greenblum said, “but having done it, no, and having shown it and educating them and maybe it will change their lives, and they’ll say ‘hey, I saw that' and they’ll talk with someone why may be considering it, and then they can actually touch other lives that way, no, how could you say I would regret that, no.”
Not all parents objected to the video. Some gathered at the school Thursday and spoke in defense of Greenblum, saying they believe students need to know about ‘evil’ in the world.
“Instead of keeping them in the dark”, said one parent, “Might as well they be exposed to everything. That’s my opinion. I have no regret.”
The film was turned over to the Broward County School Board, which controls the charter under which the Downtown Academy of Technology and Arts operates. The Academy receives tax dollars for every student enrolled, and most follow all state laws and meet state and county requirements to keep its charter.
Thursday, school officials said they were looking into the situation but had no immediate reaction.
At least one parent was reported to have withdrawn her child from the school over the incident.
Excellent points, in both comments.
It's a charter school. Charter schools are public.
C'mon...evidence be damned...you're not gonna win with the argument that "there's a baby in the bathwater you're throwing out" (that metaphor won't work against abortion supporters anyway).
My mom is a devout Christian, but she still has not seen "The Passion of the Christ". She knows she cannot handle seeing the violent images. She doesn't need to. There is no need for her to see it.
In California, they have to get your permission and they have to show you the materials that they are going to be showing to the class.
It should be that way everywhere, but unfortunately it isn't.
My daughters know a little bit. They have the book from American Girl that explains about periods.
When they asked where babies came from, I told them. I didn't go into too much detail.
Next year, before they have "the talk" in fifth grade. I will get them another book about reproduction from the Christian point of view. I got the boy's version for my son. My son learned more about sex from me than the public school, and that is my intent. By the time he was in middle school, he knew about STDs, homosexuality, etc. I just waited until he was starting middle school to educate him.
My daughters are only in 4th grade. They are also going to go to a private Christian middle school. They will not be exposed to as much as my son. However, they will be fully educated in reproduction when they start middle school.
They go to a private school. The public schools cannot make you get any kind of vaccination. It is very easy to get out of vaccinations.
One of my daughters has brain damages, so the doctors and us are very careful about what vaccinations she is given.
That was my point exactly.
My only point is that I think the day is coming when public schools will try to force young girls to have the HPV vaccination.
I don't have any problems whatsoever with requiring written parental approval before a child sees either the film described in this article or the one you describe. In fact, that is my preference.
My point was, if the parents are only whining about the abortion images and not the other 'graphic' images, then they just need to shut up and stop being hypocrites.
Oh good grief, quit with the melodrama. If abortion is murder, then these women are murderers, not victims.
Thank you! It's interesting how some people have to present grown women who make their own decisions as "victims". You can make a decision you regret, admit it, learn from it, and go on with your life. This casting of women as victims is an admission that many, many women have had abortions in this country, and it's just a little too uncomfortable to cast them as criminals.
It doesn't take a really long bed. It takes two chairs, facing each other really closely.
I know this to be a fact, because a friend of mine told me that's how men and women "Do It", and she imparted this information to me in a treehouse at summer camp. And she was from New York City, and her parents were divorced, and you just don't get any more sophisticated and knowledgeable than THAT.
The Task Force found that women were misinformed about their choices, and that overwhelmingly an atmosphere of coercion surrounded the abortion, both from outside forces, and from the staff in the abortuaries.
I have told my twin daughters how babies were born. Not in great detail, but enough. One of them did not want any more details and still has not asked any more questions.
The other one said about the little boy she intends to marry "I'm going to tell *** to do that to me."
Her twin sister was shocked. I then had to explain that she had to wait until she was married because she wouldn't want to have a baby when she was still a kid herself.
Then she says "If *** does that to me then I'll kick him in the privates." I said I thought that was a good idea.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.