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.
I suppose we were better off when the school was teaching how to put a condom on a cucumber...
I bet many would change their minds if they saw what I saw.
Exactly.
Yes...And you'd think the people that wave them on the sidewalk would. They usually have four or five kids, themselves.
Exposing sensitive little kids to abortion in such a brutal fashion is not helping the Pro-Life cause any. The people that NEED to understand those images probably wouldn't be affected by them.
I heard of "The Silent Scream" at least twenty years ago.
(I've not seen it. Don't need to as this issue is upsetting enough for me as it is.)
hmmmm.....maybe the age group was a little young, although the kids ARE getting pregnant at 13 & 14 now instead of the 'ole 16 & 17.
There are plenty of teachers out there pushing the pro-abort message and smearing pro-lifers without getting suspended.
Did this guy show anything that wasn't true?
The item about a baby reaching out for the doctor was not filmed during an abortion - it was filmed during a life-saving surgery while the baby was still in the womb. That child is still alive, and I would think such footage wouldn't be "disturbing" at all.
Are these kids being shown footage of the realities of war in other classes? Are they being shown disturbing images from other historical events?
Give him back his job - have a legitimate debate on what is appropriate for what age.
It sounds like this should be no problem for a high school class.
A graphic film is more than a slight hint.
A few blocks from my house, there is a man who faithfully sets up his display of 12-15 giant, full-color images of mutilated fetuses, several times a week. Every time I drive past him, I am grateful I don't have small children in the car.
I would have complained had one of my kids been shown the film at 10 or 11. I would also question the judgement of any teacher who would show such a film to children, and especially without getting the parent's and school administration's permission.
I just am floored by the hypocracy shown on this thread. The guy was an ART teacher. He had NO business showing this...it's his agenda. If it were anything else but abortion you guys would not only be calling for his resignation, you'd be calling for criminal charges. When it comes to abortion with you guys, all common sense and propriety go out the window.
Ever spend hours on end trying to convince a woman not to commit suicide after the enormity of her actions settles in months or years after the fact? It's a little more serious than a childhood nightmare.
I had a friend in college who had an abortion, and was so torn up with grief, she got pregnant right away to make up for the baby she killed. She was an emotional wreck.
It nearly always hits women eventually, often after they have a child.
NOTE: Was this a civics class?...
If more people knew how the odds are against you to conceive a child each month, they'd appreciate the true miracle that life is. Something made so complex is God-given, and should NOT be taken for granted.
an art class
No, that's terribly wrong, putting condoms on cucumbers. It sets up all the girls for nothing but disappointment, later in life.
And that's my whole point.
Abortion isn't about sex or porn. It's about violence and murder.
My own sons, ages 12 and 9, have seen these sorts of photos from a very young age. The little guy was maybe 2 years old when he went to his first March for Life in Washington, DC.
That anyone would procure the murder of her unborn baby is beyond them. They know what abortion is - violence and murder against innocent human beings.
I like it that way.
That's all well and good, but you don't get the right to impose your methods on other people's young children without parental permission. I have been pro life since I was a young child, and it isn't because someone forced me to watch a abortion video. Not everything that happens in real life is appropriate to show to young children- there are other ways to get through to them without stealing their innocence.
I totally disagree with saying that abortion is an "adult choice" when a huge percentage of women having abortion are under 18. This is a class of 10 and 11 year olds, within a few years, every girl in this class will have had her menses and could become pregnant. Will they be making "adult decisions."
You're right, there is plenty of information out there about the horrors of abortion. But all these girls generally hear in school is how it's just a choice, they are never told any of the negatives. Then when it becomes real to them, they go to a center that has NEVER suggested anything other than abortion.
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