Soldier4Christ
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« on: May 15, 2008, 12:46:04 PM » |
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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."
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