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School officials are investigating a complaint that a teacher showed a violent R-rated movie to a special education class at Cromwell High School.

Wendy Darling said she was shocked when her 15-year-old daughter said last month that her teacher had shown her class "Saving Private Ryan," the much-praised film about World War II that includes some scenes with graphic violence. Darling said the teacher also planned on showing "Gladiator" to the class, a special education history class. That film, which is also rated R and includes violent scenes, was never shown. The R rating stands for "restricted," and people under the age of 17 are not allowed to see movies with that rating at a theater unless accompanied by an adult.

Darling said her daughter was upset after seeing "Saving Private Ryan." She has asked that her daughter be removed from the class. Sharon Golder, who teaches the class, declined to comment on Darling's complaint. She was hired by the school system in August.

"I was flabbergasted that the teacher considered showing those two movies, especially considering these are special education students that are involved," Darling said.

Darling filed a written complaint with School Superintendent Mark Cohan on Monday. He and high school Principal Rod Story are investigating the matter but would not comment on Golder's performance or Darling's letter. But they did say the complaint raises several issues they, too, are concerned about.

"People in education are not perfect and often good, well-intentioned people make mistakes," Story said. "But if a mistake is made, we work to avoid having it happen again."

Darling said she is worried about the emotional effect such movies could have on students as well as the reliance on them as a teaching tool.

"Why have the students watch so many movies, where is the teaching process there?" she said. In addition to "Saving Private Ryan," Darling said Golder had shown other films to the class that she objected to, including "Jesus of Nazareth."

"My family is Christian, but what about students in that class who might not be Christian?" Darling said.

Darling first complained about Golder's use of films in December and was assured by Story that her concerns would be addressed. Late in February, her daughter told her that "Saving Private Ryan" had been shown earlier that month.

Cohan said there is no written policy on the use of films in classroom instruction and that he expects staff to use good judgment in choosing them. But he said films usually are not used extensively in the classroom and that it would take extraordinary circumstances to warrant showing an entire R-rated movie to a class.

"Films are used infrequently here," Story said. "When I was teaching, I would use them to make a point but even then we would use only a snippet from the movie. Whether you would show the entire movie is questionable, because then we're talking about using valuable teaching time. A class period here is 56 minutes long and we try not to devote all that time to just one activity."

Story said teachers generally clear the use of a film with the head of the department they are in and then order it through the school's library. It was not clear if Golder followed that procedure with the movies she showed.

Darling complained that Golder did not inform parents that the movies were going to be shown. Cohan said that he expects staff to communicate with parents about what they plan on doing in the classroom.

"I would expect there to be communication between teachers and parents on sensitive classroom issues and if that breaks down we would review the situation to avoid it happening again," Cohan said.

Darling said the teacher also planned on showing "Gladiator" to the class, a special education history class.

Last edited by SuperJail Warden (2022-06-05 12:34:43)

SuperJail Warden wrote:

The lesson gun advocates would take away from this is that being gay causes mass shootings.

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Reviewed in the United States on June 8, 2022
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