CONEJO VALLEY : Schools Seek Parent Consent on Films
In response to parents’ protests, Conejo Valley school officials said Thursday that they have changed district policy to require that parents give their consent before films not rated “G” are shown to kindergarten through eighth-graders.
Parents of high school students must be given the opportunity to pull their children out of class if an R-rated film is shown. The revised policy also states that parents should have the opportunity to preview films and that all movies shown in the classroom should relate to the curriculum.
Changes in the Conejo Valley Unified School District’s film policy came after parents protested the viewing of “Quest for Fire” by seventh-graders at Sequoia Intermediate School in September. The 1981 R-rated film, chronicling a tribe’s search for fire 80,000 years ago, depicts cannibalism and nudity that some students found offensive.
Teachers who violate the district’s new policy would be subject to discipline ranging from a reprimand to termination.
Principal Max Beaman said Thursday that films with ratings of PG, PG-13 and R are shown only a few times a year.
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