ACLU slams Barrington schools over banned film

I decided to post this here instead of in the Political area because it concerns parents with children in the public schools. This movie that the ACLU wants shown in schools has no educational value except to educate our children in things that should not be seen by adults let alone 8th grade children. There is explicit sexual scenes, homosexuality and other such degenerate displays.

I can't, won't give the full article because of the content not being fitting for this forum. Following though is a snip of it so you can get the idea of the situation.

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BARRINGTON - The Rhode Island Affiliate, American Civil Liberties Union sent a letter to the Barrington School Department on Friday denouncing its recent decision to ban the film "Dirty Deeds" from ever being shown in local schools.

The letter, written by Rhode Island ACLU Executive Director Steven Brown, stated that "this decision sets a dangerous precedent that does damage to the mission of the public schools in Barrington and seriously erodes the principles underlying the district's instructional material selection policy."

The issue grabbed headlines last month when a pair of Barrington parents, Richard Gamache and Pamela Lowell, filed complaints over the middle school screening of the film, which was co-written by accomplished author and middle school volunteer Jon Land and Barrington High School graduate Jon Thies. The district followed policy and created a review panel, which examined the material involved and issued a finding on Thursday, Nov. 3 — banning the film forever from local schools.

That didn't sit well with the co-writers or the ACLU.

"I was very surprised to see what they had decided," Mr. Brown said. "This type of broad-based censorship doesn't seem to happen much anymore, especially not in a town like Barrington. It's clearly an over-reaction."

The letter from Mr. Brown opened with the following statement: "I am writing to express our organization's extreme disappointment with the school district's decision ... to completely ban the film 'Dirty Deeds' from being shown at any time in any classroom in Barrington."

In the letter, Mr. Brown questions the policy used to decide the banning.

"The ban, we submit, appears to fly in the face of this carefully crafted criterion," he wrote, referring to the review policy. "A decision to completely ban any classroom — whether in sixth grade or twelfth grade — from screening a PG-13 movie clearly fails to undertake the more nuanced consideration that this policy envisions."

The letter also challenges the rationale underlying the judgment because of "the complete secrecy surrounding the decision-making."

In fact, the very little is known about the review process, a point that disturbed Mr. Brown.

"As we understand it, the complaint prompting the review of the film is private, the deliberations of the review committee were done in secret, and the rationale for the decision and documents explaining the decision are not subject to public scrutiny either."

Mr. Brown said he would have thought a film — despite its questionable material — would be used as a shining example of the success of the high school's senior project program, rather than being banned for eternity.

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Again I strongly urge all parents to insure that you know what your children are being exposed to in the public schools and to take action to let them know (including the ACLU) that you don't want your children being exposed to such.

If the ACLU gets their way then I am more inclined than ever to go along with the S.Baptist convention of incouraging people to take their children out of public schools.