An elementary school in Pittsburgh is in trouble with parents after a worksheet caused some significant double-takes about it’s anti-police message.

While this isn’t as extreme as you might think, remember that this was handed out to first grade students.

Parents started complaining directly to the school district on September 25th, with a district response the day after on the 26th calling it “inappropriate.” Local media picked up the story as well, but this didn’t make national news.

The superintendent was quick to say that this was the fault of one teacher, and that this wasn’t a part of their standard curriculum, but that they wouldn’t comment further since it was now a “personnel matter.”

There are so many things wrong here, but let’s start with the obvious thing. “Rob’s socks is wet from the pond”??? Not only is the subject matter a problem, but the grammar is completely wrong! Whoever wrote that line should be fired just for that alone!

As the mother of a first grade student, this is absolutely the wrong kind of story to plant in the heads of six and seven year olds. Rob and Tom, apparently the Sacco and Vanzetti of elementary school, should not be running from police. That is completely the wrong message to give to young kids, especially since we keep pushing school resource officers on to school campuses. Elementary students need to learn through their contact with police that first, they are there to keep them safe, and second, they are there to help. Let’s not push the Ferguson projection on young kids. Children don’t need to fear police – or their working dogs. Police often speak out how they hate being made “the bad guy” by adults looking to keep children in line. This is a terrible message for a school assignment.

Which brings into question the judgment of the teacher involved. Obviously, the teacher has none. That’s a problem for the elementary school and the district, because there were a whole lot of angry parents who clearly did not want even a hint of whatever social justice power trip this teacher tried. With the comment about being a “personnel matter,” the district is closing ranks. I hope that the teacher is never in a position to choose their own curriculum again.

Also, what was this curriculum company thinking? No one who has lived through the last several years can fail to see that this is deeply problematic – which means that it had to be intentional on the part of whoever wrote it, edited it, and gave the okay for its publication and distribution. I cannot find a definitive source for the worksheet, so I can’t say for certain what group or company was responsible for it.

First grade students should not be getting the message that cops are going to chase them down and set a dog after them. Neither should they get the idea that their first instinct should be to run from the police. As the mother in the Facebook post said, there are better ways to teach kids how to read sight words. Pittsburgh Public Schools need to make sure that their teachers leave their social justice impulses out of the curriculum.

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Featured image via Pixabay, Pixabay license