Controversial reading assignment has some Texas parents angry
CARROLLTON, Texas -- Racial slurs, sexual violence, and a school shooter who is called a hero.
Those are all part of a movie script that freshmen at a Carrollton, Texas, high school are being assigned to read in a theater class, CBS Dallas-Fort Worth reported.
Haylee Block walked out of Creekview High School with a script in her hand that she refused to read.
"We first got it last Thursday and I thought it was just terrible," said Haylee told the station.
The Carrollton freshman was given an assignment in theater class to act out a scene from "Hello Herman."
It's a play turned into a movie about a high school shooter who gives an interview before he is executed.
Some of the lines in the profanity-laced script include: "There may be a Texan in the White House now, but before we know it, there'll be a Mex, or a Catholic or a n*****", "I blew that dumb b**** head off" and "I hope you enjoy getting (expletive) in prison."
"Talking about stuff like that in the hallways would be wrong . So I don't understand how it was appropriate for kids," Haylee said.
Her parents said the script contains words that would get their daughter expelled
"As vulgar as it is as descriptive as it is I just don't think it's appropriate," said Dana Block, Haylee's mother.
Her father says the props used in any performance or production would get her arrested if brought to school.
"It talks about a student getting shot in the back of the head," said Jeremy Cozart, Haylee's father.
"It was more like a fun class to take as an elective but this didn't make it seem any fun anymore," said Haylee.
The script was "...an activity used to solicit social commentary in a Socratic style and the students would write the last portion (scene) of the script," according to Angela Shelley Brown, Executive Director of Communications for the Carrollton-Farmers Branch Independent School District.
But the complaint from angry parents has led to the school canceling the script read and the principal apologizing to the 15-year-old.
Not only will the script be removed from the classroom, the school district says the principal has been ordered to review policies so that only age-appropriate educational materials are used.