Policy forbids R-rated films in schools

Michael Miller

The Newport-Mesa Unified School District has adopted a policy

forbidding the screening of R-rated movies in classrooms, following

controversy over a violent film shown in a seventh-grade history

class last week.

Jaime Castellanos, the assistant superintendent of secondary

education for the district, said that on Monday, the district agreed

to ban all R-rated films from classrooms and to allow PG and PG-13

movies only with prior approval from the site principals. Numerous

parents complained after Corona del Mar High teacher Dan Granite

screened the R-rated film “The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc”

last Wednesday.

The new regulation, which applies to all grade levels from 7 to

12, is in effect through June. Castellanos said that after the school

year is over, administrators will look into a more lasting change.

“We don’t have anything in policy that prevents R-rated movies,

and [the new rule] will buy me some time between now and the end of

the semester,” Castellanos said. “The Messenger,” released in 1999,

contains a rape scene and a number of intense battles. Some parents,

speaking in Granite’s defense, said that he fast-forwarded through

the offending scenes in later class periods on Wednesday. Granite did

not return calls seeking comment.

The temporary ban on R-rated films marks the first time the

Newport-Mesa district has had an official policy governing the

showing of videos. Dan Diehl, the principal of TeWinkle Middle

School, said that previously, his only requirement for teachers was

that their classroom films be tied into the state standards for

curriculum.

“I think we have to consider that when the kids are here at

school, we are in place of the parents,” Diehl commented.