Lynching coloring assignment for Atlantic Beach second grader spurs investigation

[Judi Lynn]

Lynching coloring assignment for Atlantic Beach second grader spurs investigation
Posted: March 1, 2013 - 3:43pm | Updated: March 1, 2013 - 8:49pm
By Topher Sanders

A coloring assignment sent home to an Atlantic Beach Elementary second grader during Black History Month featuring minstrel caricatures of African-Americans, blackface and a lynching has prompted an investigation by the Duval County school system.

“It was just highly inappropriate use of imaging for coloring for second graders,” said James Hill, father of a student who received the material.

Superintendent Nikolai Vitti said the materials “raised immediate concerns that warranted an investigation.”

It’s unclear how many students received the material.

The assignment came from the website edHelper.com, which said the materials were suitable for eighth- and ninth-graders.

More: http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2013-03-01/story/lynching-coloring-assignment-atlantic-beach-second-grader-spurs#ixzz2MQGx2AmH

[bluedigger]

1. Eighth and ninth graders have coloring homework now?

No wonder our schools are screwn!

There should be a job opening in that district on Monday.

[HiPointDem]

2. "sent home to an Atlantic Beach Elementary second grader"

It’s unclear how many students received the material.

The assignment came from the website edHelper.com, which said the materials were suitable for eighth- and ninth-graders.

Hill said he and his wife, who is the “room parent” in Flores’ class, don’t hold the teacher responsible for the assignment. He said he believed the assignment either “snuck” by Flores or was handed out by an assistant. Instead, he blames edHelper.com for the material.

“Any scene depicting a murder of any kind just seems inappropriate for coloring,” he said.

EdHelper.com, which has not returned inquiries for comment, does not identify the assignment as a coloring exercise. The 13-page document uses drawings and text to address the history of slavery and Jim Crow, a term used for what was once government-sanctioned segregation in the South.

http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2013-03-01/story/lynching-coloring-assignment-atlantic-beach-second-grader-spurs#ixzz2MQGx2AmH

[bluedigger]

3. Thanks, I didn't see the additional info.

The problem seems to be in the classroom, not the on line service.

[HiPointDem]

4. The parent doesn't seem to think so.

[bluedigger]

5. But I do.

You?

[HiPointDem]

6. because you're more in the know than the parent. after a cursory reading of an article which

led you to misidentify even what was presented in the article.

[bluedigger]

8. I have to have equal exposure to form an opinion?

Makes the whole point of a discussion board kind of moot, don't you think? Unless you can show me where the material was presented by the company as age appropriate for second graders, I'm comfortable with my judgment.

[Tempest]

10. If they provided the materials, they are also responsible.

Product liability laws would apply.

[bluedigger]

11. Does provide mean the same thing as produce?

If the students were sent home with pornography would the producers of the porn be liable?

[dballance]

7. I'm Glad the Kid's Parents Are Trying to Take a Look at a Mistake and Call it a Mistake...

rather than insist on the "lynching" of the teacher. There must be a lot of context associated with this story that a newspaper can't really address in its limited space for stories.

While I'm pretty much certain teaching 2nd graders about some of our horrible past like lynchings and minstrels is not age-appropriate instruction we do have to own the horrible things we've done and teach about them so we don't repeat them.

[HiPointDem]

9. +1