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.
BINGO!!!
From what I have seen, he is the exception to the rule - unlike you, most parents leave the character-building of their childeren to the teachers' unions.
You deserve praise for raising him up with a Biblical world-view, as he will be part of the solution, not part of the problem - good for him, good for your family, your neighborhood, and our nation.
Thank you.
Years ago I counseled at a crisis pregnancy center. I spoke to young girls to women in their middle-ages. It was beyond me how many believed that what was growing inside them was not a child yet. When faced with images of the children at different development stages, the women would be shocked and decide against abortion. They would tell me outrageous lies that Planned Parenthood had told them.
" They would tell me outrageous lies that Planned Parenthood had told them"
I heard the exact same thing from my friends who had abortions.
Planned Parenthood isn't about helping women or about giving them an "informed choice." It is all about the hard sell and getting their money in cash up front.
Thank you.
Oh yeah, I remember that now. Goodness, it's not really controbersial as far as I can see. Unless of course, you want to shield people from the fact that the *fetus* is indeed a tiny human being.
susie
We could just about end abortion in a day if ALL who were about to get one were REQUIRED to see graphic photos and videos of "live" abortions, especially PBAs!!!
We could at least strongly influence the next generation of kids, not only to not get abortions, but also to DEMAND CRIMINAL PROSECUTION of those who perform them.
They are liars and the daughter of lies. They want the babies murdered. They offer abortion as the only way out. They not only rip the babies out of the wombs, they rip the souls of very young girls away and leave millions of women on the trash heap with their children.
"We could at least strongly influence the next generation of kids, not only to not get abortions, but also to DEMAND CRIMINAL PROSECUTION of those who perform them."
My kid had a friend that showed her "silent scream."
This friend was trying to impress upon my kid how far the "wacko right" in this country is willing to go to endanger the womans' right to choose.
At the end of the movie, with tears in her eyes, my daughter stated to her "friend" that she would NEVER get an abortion and will forever consider it murder.
They've not spoken since.
I won't argue with you there. I'm guessing 10%-20% of his school has good kids. Thank God, all of his friends that I know of are in that group.
We are also in a well-to-do part of San Jose. It's fairly conservative (compared to the rest of the Bay Area). I'm sure there are a lot less good kids at other public schools in our area.
I am pro-life and I do think there needs to be more public awareness as to the truth about abortion.
I also don't disagree with your criticism of "some" parents.
But ....it's the parents call to make.
Teachers don't know which parents are being hypocritical and which parents are not being hypocritical...and in the end it doesn't matter, because it isn't the teacher's call to make.
Many parents are going to object to 10 yr. olds being shown this level of gore.
Let's take the abortion argument out of this, and pretend the teacher was trying to teach the children the truth about genocide in Rwanda.
What if he'd shown 10 yr. olds images of people being murdered by machete...decapitated bodies of men, women and children...mass graves. I'm going to guess parents would object to that too. Would they object if 8th graders where shown this? Maybe some - but fewer. Highschoolers? Probably very few would object.
Just what I was thinking---this is like the conservative version of similar "stunts" pulled by Liberals all the time: done surreptitiously, hoping to get the indoctrination successfully conveyed before anyone hears about it, etc. etc. Just because Greenblum is on the right side of the issue doesn't mean what he did was right, or smart, or would ultimately be effective in communicating the message he wants the kids to receive.
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