Teachers, parents vent film-viewing concerns

The showing of TV segments and clips from films such as "October Sky" brought concerns raining down on St. Charles Unit District 303 board members Thursday night.

District teachers and a handful of parents engaged in a tug-of-war over what is appropriate viewing material for children versus what is a useful teaching aid in the classroom since about September when "October Sky" was included as part of the science curriculum at Thompson Middle School. The film, about rockets, is rated PG and won a Critics Choice Award for Best Family Film in 2000, but does include profanity and teen sensuality that parents may find unsuitable for younger children.

That set the school board in motion to develop a policy regarding the use of films in classrooms. In response, teachers lashed out with letters urging the school board and parents to trust their judgment about the films just as they do in allowing them to teach their children in the first place.

On Thursday, school board members established a new committee of teachers and parents to decide how to handle the matter after everyone vented.

Parents said they don't want a blanket policy that doesn't account for different maturity levels of students and parental discretion about what is objectionable for their own child. Teachers said they don't want their teaching tools limited or to be forced to employ the same censoring techniques they teach against in government classes.

High school students said they don't want to be told they are young adults and then have "insulting" limits placed on what they can view or be taught.

All parties already seem to agree R-rated films have no place in classrooms before high school and parents should have some notice about what clips their children will be exposed to. Everything else is up for debate, including exactly what is "objectionable," what to do if a parent doesn't want their child to view a certain clip, and possibly even copyright legalities of using such clips in a classroom.

All are issues nearby Wheaton Warrenville Unit District 200 struggled with in late 2007 when it placed a moratorium on film clips before drafting its own policy.

District 303 hopes to have a solution to the issue by March to put in place for the next school year.

Until then, all teachers are being advised to use extra caution in using TV and film clips.