Schools

Film Controversy at Ridge Leads to New High School Policies

A number of changes, including removing teachers' full discretion over the use of supplemental materials in their classrooms, were made by the Board of Education's curriculum committee.

The strong, negative reaction to a film shown at Ridge High School has led to new policies in the classroom. 

As a result of a partial viewing of a perceived anti-Catholic film in a Spanish class at Ridge in November, the Board of Education's curriculum committee agreed on policy changes intended to prevent a repeat scenario.

Susan Carlsson, Vice President of the Board of Education, led a meeting of the curriculum team this month to address some of the concerns voiced by parents and community members on the film.

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Regulation on the Use of Supplemental Materials

Teachers will no longer have full discretion over the supplemental materials they use in their lessons. Instead, teachers have to submit requests to be reviewed by their curriculum supervisor. The committee discussed establishing review committees in the future to approve supplemental materials as well.

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"In the past the supervisors knew what was going on through the lessons plans, but for these types of items we are asking [teachers] to get approval in advance now," Carlsson said.

How far in advance has yet to be determined. "That is something we are still working on, right now anything new has to go to the supervisor, and what they are working on in department meetings is the actual process for that, as well as the revised permission slip that will be used," Carlsson said.

New Permission Slip Policies

Parents complained about the permission slip process, saying it was released too late (the day before the controversial film was shown) and did not adequately describe the potentially objectionable content in the movie.

Carlsson said the curriculum has not decided on a new permission slip policy yet, but they talked about it at their last meeting and will continue to review the issue until new guidelines are in place. "

"We have another curriculum meeting on [Feb. 12] and we will be talking about [permission slip policies] there," Carlsson said. "This is going to be a work in progress. We're probably going to be talking about [the film issue] at every meeting until June."

One idea being considered is to have teachers release a list at the beginning of the year of all films that will be shown in their class. "If it is an established course, not something new that we are working on as we go along, it should be pretty clear what the teacher is doing," Carlsson said.

Establishing a Safe Classroom Environment

The committee also discussed ways to improve the specific unit in the Spanish V Honors class in which the movie was shown.

A partial piece of the film was shown for the first time this year and was pulled after parent complaints. "Obviously it won't see the light of day again," Carlsson said. She also emphasized that the film, "which never should have been shown," was only one piece of a larger unit on the history of the Catholic Church in Mexico.

The unit included several activities on the role of religion in Spanish speaking countries around the world. However, parents and students complained that the classroom setting, including the need to speak in a foreign language, was an uncomfortable atmosphere for students to discuss their views on religion.

In response, the curriculum committee has suggested moving the unit to a later point in the school year when students will be more familiar with the teacher and their peers in the class. Another suggestion was to depersonalize the questions asked of students.

"Instead of saying, 'What do you think?' make it more of a global, 'How do you think Spanish society would react?" Carlsson explained.

R-Rated Movies and Religion in the Classroom

The committee held firm on two issues that were brought up from concerned parents. They will not ban the use of R-rated movies entirely as a teaching tool in the classroom nor will they discontinue educational units that deal with religion.

"The New Jersey Core Curriculum Content Standards require us to look at the role of religion throughout world history and across cultures in subjects like history, social studies and world languages," Carlsson said. "That is written in the state code."

The committee will focus on ensuring students do not feel threatened or uncomfortable rather than removing religion units entirely from the curriculum.

Similarly, the committee ruled in favor of use of some R-rated movies as a teaching tool. "We still believe firmly that some R-rated movies have merit in the classroom," Carlsson said. "With a movie like Amistad [an R-rated movie depicting a slave ship], which is part of the state curriculum … the teacher could talk all day and not really convey how awful those conditions were."

College-Level Material Appropriate for High School Students

Part of the problem with choosing materials in classes like Spanish V Honors is that the school uses college-level texts and curriculums in advanced and AP classes.

"When you get to the upper levels in foreign languages, our students are at an advanced point that some of the high school texts just don't cut it anymore," Carlsson said. The curriculum committee has discussed reviewing supplemental materials that accompany college-level texts to ensure that they are appropriate for high school students.

"We still have some work to do and we will be talking about this in the coming months, but I think we made a good stab at the first meeting," Carlsson said. "We had a very good honest exchange of ideas and feelings."


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