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School 'stonewalls' over pregnancy poll
Parents erupt after children also ranked for AIDS, death

Parents whose children attend a Mississippi school embroiled in controversy after a science teacher had 6th-graders vote on who was most likely to become pregnant – or be dead – by age 19 say officials now are stonewalling them.

Parent Curtis Lyons wants to see the assignment given his daughter, but is being told he won't be allowed to review it.

"I have a right to see that assignment," he told WND today, "but I've been refused."

The controversy erupted when a science teacher at Chastain Middle School in Jackson, Miss., asked 6th-graders to vote from among themselves who was the most likely to be pregnant, infected with HIV, or dead by the age of 19.

The students initially refused to vote, but the teacher overruled them. The 6th-graders then were horrified to see their names listed on a chalkboard, ranked in lists for everyone to see.

Parents like Lyons, whose 12-year-old daughter was voted among those most likely to be pregnant, were outraged. Lyons' concerns were heightened when he sought to see the assignments his daughter's class was given, and he discovered the school had confiscated them.

"My daughter told me the first page listed percentages of African Americans that drop out, get pregnant, get HIV, or die before adulthood. The second page listed names of students within the class and then instructed the children to vote who was most likely to fulfill the statistics on page 1. I have asked the school repeatedly to see the actual assignment," said Lyons, "but the school hasn't yet told me when, or even if, I'll get to see it."

Parents are scratching their heads over the purpose of the assignment, too. Informed by a school publication that the week's curriculum would focus on preparing for statewide standardized tests, parents told WND that they don't understand why the teacher in this predominantly black school would ask children to surmise who would become statistical fodder.

WND asked the same question and was told by a school official that the issue had become "a personnel matter" and that all questions would have to be "shuffled up the system" to wait for response approved by the district's legal counsel.

Eventually, WND was told, "The assignment was designed to be an exercise in statistics."

Parents are still waiting for meaningful answers, and their children are struggling with the consequences.

"My daughter used to come home from school and run to the mirror to put on her lip gloss," said Lyons. "She told my wife yesterday that she doesn't want to wear lip gloss anymore, concerned about why the students in her class voted for her. She's 12; she should be able to enjoy lip gloss without worrying about how people look at her.

"I'm concerned about the students who were voted most likely to be dead, too," he said. "Some of them may have parents who died young; it's a real possibility in our community. How is that going to affect them? Some of them may get in a situation that threatens their safety, and are they going to remember that their peers expected them to die anyway?"

Other parents who did not want to be identified confirmed to WND that their children will be going to counseling, or will be transferring to another school.

A school official told Lyons there always are counselors at the school and they would help students "should the need arise."

As for the parents, Lyons wants to make sure they aren't kept in the dark. He's invited the community to an informational meeting later this week.

"Many of the parents were at work when this happened," he said. "I was able to go the superintendent and file the complaint, and so I can disseminate that information to parents, some of whom may still not know what has happened."

Graphic arts class gets overly graphic
'Gay' porn pops up on screen: 'The whole class saw it'

Sheila Harmon found out about the situation at her son's high school in Fairfield, Calif., through a disturbing text message he sent: "Oh yeah. My teacher accidentally brought up his gay porn."

Students in a computer graphic arts class at Armijo High School have reported their instructor was teaching a lesson on Adobe Photoshop Monday when the image that was projected to the screen revealed two men engaged in sex.

Freshman Chris Matthews told KXTV-Television in Sacramento that the teacher was clicking on random files when, "All of a sudden this big image of literally gay porn shows up. And he's going crazy. Just by that reaction that shows that he didn't expect it."

Students report that the image remained on the screen for four or five seconds while the teacher scrambled to remove it.

District officials are conducting an investigation to see whether the sneak peak and the image itself – stored on a school computer – will require disciplinary action.

"He was like, 'Oh, oh, oh, no,'" freshman Garett Cameron told the television station. "Then he hid it away and just kept on going like nothing happened."

"He showed it and he clicked out of it really quick," added sophomore Joshua Moose.

Sheila Harmon's son, however, was not so casual about the incident. He texted his mother, who later said he was "mad and disgusted" with it.

She texted him back, asking who saw the pornographic image. "The whole class saw it. The whole class," he replied.

"The rules are very tight about pornography at school, and here it's the teacher looking at it. I think he should be fired," Harmon told the station.

"I was like, wow, that's odd that a teacher would have that on his computer at school," said senior Livia Qasevakatini.

"Well, I know how it happened, but I just don't know why he would have it on his computer. It's kind of questionable," added Cameron.

Armijo Principal Steven Peters has launched an inquiry.

"We'll send the information to the district office," he said.

According to Sgt. Joel Orr of the Fairfield police, it's not likely that there would be a criminal violation if there was no intent to show a pornographic image to minors.

The incident is reminiscent, however, of the much publicized case of Julie Amero, a substitute teacher in Connecticut, who in 2007 was convicted for "accidentally" exposing her class to computer porn. She could have faced up to 40 years in prison. Six months later, a superior court judge threw out the ruling and released Amero.