A middle school teacher rankles Republicans when she gives students anti-Bush editorial cartoons to analyze.
By MARY SPICUZZA
Published October 29, 2004
SPRING HILL - It's not the sort of material some parents would expect their children to see on the next FCAT.
In one cartoon, President George W. Bush has an elongated, Pinocchio-length nose as he reads a newspaper questioning the presence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.
In another, a debate between John Kerry and Bush is depicted as Kerry lecturing Bush, who sits hunched over wearing a dunce cap.
These and other political cartoons, which a seventh-grade teacher included in homework assignments for her Fox Chapel Middle School reading class, have some local parents and residents complaining of pre-election Bush-bashing at Hernando County schools.
"I wish that teachers wouldn't bring their bias into the classroom," Republican Executive Committee chairwoman Ana Trinque said. "There's no need for a teacher to be bashing a candidate in any class. And it's an election year. Passions are high."
Trinque said she began getting calls from outraged parents last week, after a teacher asked students to write about the cartoons and the topics they address, including stem cell research, the search for weapons of mass destruction, and issues of fairness and balance at Fox News.
After seeing the cartoons, she agreed that they were biased against Bush.
Trinque then contacted School Board chairwoman Sandra Nicholson, who brought the complaints - and copies of the cartoons - to the district.
"I was concerned," Nicholson said. "I don't disagree with using political cartoons or any cartoons as a teaching tool, but there needs to be balanced commentary."
Nicholson added that the teacher's analysis of the issues was "not always accurate."
"She needs to get her facts straight, which is a big issue," said Nicholson, a Republican.
But district officials say the whole cartoon debacle is simply a misunderstanding.
Fox Chapel principal Dave Schoelles refered all questions to Roy Gordon, communications manager for the Hernando County School Board.
Gordon said the teacher's lesson plan shows she was planning to assign cartoons about Bush last week, then cartoons about Kerry this week.
Gordon said he believed the teacher, whom he declined to name, had handed out a set of Kerry-inspired cartoons Monday.
"In hindsight, it probably would have been better to assign them at the same time," Gordon said. "Especially in an election year."
But Gordon said no formal complaint had been filed, and there has been no disciplinary action against the teacher.
He said the idea of teachers using political cartoons to encourage critical thought among their students is nothing new, adding that he analyzed a cartoon about Richard Nixon while in school.
"The idea behind it is to have the students thinking critically, to try to interpret what the artist is saying," Gordon said. "It's topical, and the assignment itself wasn't a problem."
Still, some local residents are not convinced.
Ken Ahrens of Spring Hill called the principal to complain, saying the anti-Bush cartoons have no place in the classroom.
"I'm an American citizen, and I can't believe that anyone in the school system would allow little children to be influenced by that stupid teacher and principal," Ahrens said.
He said he did not think the teacher was trying to encourage unbiased critical thought.
"The teacher is obviously a Kerry pusher and a Democrat," Ahrens said.
