CEDARVILLE (KFSM)-Winter weather has delayed a U.S. Department of Justice training session that was supposed to be taking place this week at Cedarville Public Schools, after profanity-laced videos were shown in a second-grade classroom, last month.
Superintendent Dr. Dan Foreman issued this statement Wednesday (Feb. 25):
Due to the bad weather conditions Cedarville Public Schools was not in school on Tuesday, February 24, 2015.
Also, the presenter of our program titled “Drop by Drop” from the United States Department of Justice: Community Relations Service was not able to travel because of the bad weather. We have been in contact with the presenter from the United States Department of Justice: Community Relations Service and will reschedule as soon as possible.It is important to have our program as soon as possible. We promote corporation, friendship and diversity with our students at Cedarville Public Schools. Cedarville Public Schools, also, promotes diversity between students and adults.
Chris Hernandez’s daughter was in the class where the parodies were shown. He said while the training sounds like a good idea, he’s still not satisfied with the way the district has handled the incident.
“We were promised an official apology, which never happened, which was given as an official statement that would happen, and that promise has fell short,” he said.
Hernandez said his daughter's 2nd grade teacher showed her class parts of two explicit video parodies about Martin Luther King Jr. on MLK Day.
“It was originally denied, and then after going over the I.T., it was found that the teacher did look up and play for an extended amount of time,” Hernandez said.
Hernandez said once his family spoke publicly about the incident, they began getting death threats. His wife was later kicked off the PTA, and they soon decided to remove their two daughters from the Cedarville Public School district altogether.
“It`s very frustrating and as a parent, as a husband, it`s very unnerving that we would get death threats just over being concerned parents,” he said. “Just asking for the truth for what our child and other children were exposed to.”
While Hernandez thinks the sensitivity training is a step in the right direction, other Cedarville residents don’t think it’s necessary.
“I think we know,” Mary Delavega said. “You know sometimes the Judicial Department goes a little overboard in trying to correct situations, but I don't think there's really a problem there.”
“Seems like overkill, but I mean teachers should know what they ought to show students or not,” Kenneth Hauser said.
Hernandez said after moving their two daughters to another school district, things have been much better for their family.