District 36 Teachers, Staff Will Not Be Fired For Showing Controversial Video

No District 36 teachers or staff members will lose their jobs for showing a film about slavery to fourth-graders at Greeley School.

In a statement released Tuesday, the district said the matter was investigated and officials "personally addressed" the incident with Greeley School staff. The statement was signed by Ken Cull and Mark Friedman, interim co-superintendents.

Some classes at the school were shown parts of the film "The Middle Passage," which touches on the horrors of slavery including suicide and rape on slave ships. The HBO documentary is "a realistic look at the horrors of the slave trade, told entirely through the voice of a dead African slave whose spirit haunts the ocean route," according to IMDB.

"As it was said early on, we agree with concerns brought forward by a number
of parents regarding this video," the statement reads. "Although the video tells a very important part of our history, we believe it is too graphic and mature to be appropriate for most 4th grade students and should not be used as part of our District’s curriculum."

As a result, District 36 officials are changing the policy about using supplemental materials in classrooms. The policy will be discussed at the next board of education meeting on March 22.

The full text of the statement is below:

The administration completed its review of the showing of the video entitled The Middle Passage to the fourth grade classes at Greeley school. We wish to assure everyone we gave this matter our complete and prompt attention and we reported our findings to the Board of Education.

As it was said early on, we agree with concerns brought forward by a number
of parents regarding this video. Although the video tells a very important part of
our history, we believe it is too graphic and mature to be appropriate for most 4th
grade students and should not be used as part of our District’s curriculum. As a
consequence, we are implementing procedures to ensure that, in the future, all
supplementary curriculum materials are approved by administration before they
are presented to students. The Board of Education will begin to address the policy
implications of this incident at its next regular meeting on March 22, 2011.

We also personally addressed the showing of this video with certain staff members at Greeley school. Like most employers, the District treats personnel matters involving its employees in a confidential manner and will continue to do so. However, we can assure the public that the staff members involved in this incident were treated fairly and appropriately. No employees were or will be fired as a result of this incident.

It is our hope that the community and its schools can move beyond this incident and refocus on our central learning goals.

Dr. Kenneth Cull
Dr. Mark Friedman

Co-Superintendents