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August 25, 2007

Westside 300, Once more.

Couple of News links and quotes:

"Friday, Whitfield County school administrators defended the teacher's decision to show it. [A clip from the movie "300."] ...School officials say the teacher, Brad Barrett, made the right choice**. "We saw nothing in that clip that they would not see in a regular tv program," administrator, Richard Schoen said.

Administrators say the clips were educational and fit in with Barrett's lesson. The teacher will not lose his job. " (**Emphasis Mine. Source: Channel 3)

Notwithstanding, I suppose, that the movie is Rated "R," and no one under 17 is allowed to view such movies. Notwithstanding, I suppose, that the Whitfield County School systems rules were broken: "The Whitfield County school system's policy states that a movie must be on an approved list before it is shown in class. If it is not, then the permission of the principal is required. There are no R-rated movies on that list, including '300.'" He made the right choice alright; that is, if breaking rules is the "right choice."

"Officials determined the first five minutes of the movie had been shown, but found nothing questionable about the content." (Source: Channel 12)

Irrelevant "determination." Whitfield County disallows unapproved movies without permission. If it cannot be proved that this movie was approved--and from what I have read, this seems to be the case--then the movie should not have been shown; period.

"Also, a fellow bus rider, who has a sibling in Mr. Barrett's class, was talking about the incident and said that Mr. Barrett asked the students if their parents would object to their watching this clip and none of them spoke up. Had they done so, knowing him, he would've let them stand outside the door until the clip was over." (Emphasis Mine; Source: Channel 3)

Apparently the teacher did seek permission to show the movie. Those dang newspapers! They get everything wrong. More from that comment thread.

Yet another blog post: The Theologians Cafe.

Westside 300: Part I.

Westside 300: Part II.

Westside 300: Part III.

That about covers it for now.

UPDATE:

Just found this.

"Teacher Fired for Showing an R-Rated Film in High School: Sloan Roach, a spokeswoman for Gwinnett County Public Schools told reporters that Youngblood had failed to go through the proper channels. "Mr Youngblood did not ask for a local review of the film prior to showing it," he said. "Nor did he allow parents the option of opting their students out of the viewing." (Source: Guardian.co.uk, via World Magazine Movie Blog.

Now by citing that story, I am NOT saying that the teacher at Westside should be fired. I am simply observing the consequences to another teacher who acted in a similar manner. That teacher was also from Georgia.

UPDATE:

Yet another site carries the story.

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NEWS | By Carl | 12:11 AM

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