A Greenwich, Conn. public school showed video to second-graders that is likely only intended for children who have experienced intense trauma and are undergoing therapy as a a result.
A Greenwich, Conn. public school showed video to second-graders that is likely only intended for children who have experienced intense trauma and are undergoing therapy as a a result. The video showed a cartoon of a man with a fully erect penis standing over a traumatized, sad looking girl.
According to the Greenwich Free Press, the students were shown an animated video called "Alfred Jr. & Shadow: A Short Story about Beeing Scared." The purpose of the lesson was emotional learning. But the video, about 10 minutes long, is actually intended for children undergoing therapy.
The video is narrated by two cartoon owls who discuss really terrifying and scary things that kids can forced to experience. These include, per the video, "stuff that's very difficult to talk about." Kids who have drunk, abusive, or drug addicted parents that make children feel unsafe are brought up.
"The cartoon suddenly cuts to an image of the silhouetted man with an erect penis standing over a sad-looking child," reports the New York Post. It's at this point that there's a voice over giving context to the disturbing graphic, saying "children have experience an adult touching or putting their penis in the child's private parts or mouth," and that they are "terrified that this will happen again."
The video, available on YouTube, has the disclaimer: "CAUTION: The film contains some graphic material regarding sexual abuse - so please watch the film before you show it in a classroom setting or a similar setting."
On Greenwich parent, who is also a conservative political commentator, called for an investigation into the showing of the video and called for whoever had authorized it to be terminated. He was outraged, tweeting: "this is not OK!!!!"
In response to the outcry from parents, Greenwich Schools Superintendent Dr. Toni Jones sent out an email saying that the video was likely intended only for kids in therapy who may have undergone this kind of extreme trauma.
"The content at this point in the video was not appropriate for our [Greenwich Public Schools] second grade classrooms," Jones wrote. There was advice on how parents should talk to their traumatized kids about the video intended for victims of trauma.
The Department of Children and Families (DCF) was also informed as to this incident. The New York Post requested comment from the school district.
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