GREENWICH, Connecticut, April 7, 2021, (LifeSiteNews) — Second graders attending online school in Greenwich, Connecticut, were exposed to a lesson on “being scared” in the form of a cartoon movie featuring a graphic silhouette of a man with an erect penis standing over a sad-eyed child. A voice-over explicitly said, “Some children have experienced an adult touching or putting their penis in the child’s private parts or mouth.”
The seven-minute movie is called The Alfred Jr. & Shadow — A Short Story about Being Scared. Two little owl-friends discuss things that make them feel afraid. The video description reads, “All children are normalscared, but what do children who are embarrassedscared or painfulscared need?”
The content touches on things that would be terrifying for a child, like physical and sexual abuse, and alcoholism in families. It has since been removed from YouTube.
A second-grade father and local conservative political commentator, Carl Higbie, was “relieved” that his second grader was not shown the video, but is calling for the removal of the teachers who planned the instruction and exposed seven and eight-year-olds to the disturbing images. “That somebody thought this video was acceptable for second graders was abhorrent,” he told the local paper.
Higbie also took to his verified Twitter to say, “Greenwich schools superintendent Toni Jones has still not fired Ms Goodwin or Ms Hanzlik, who showed SECOND grade students an animated video with a man with an erection standing over a child…”
It is unclear why such mature material was part of the class instruction, and nothing more has been reported on the fate of the two teachers who planned the lessons. Superintendent Dr. Toni Jones issued an apologetic email after backlash from angry parents. Jones agreed the video would have been better suited in therapy sessions for children who have already experienced trauma and was not appropriate for classroom use.
“Around the midway point in the video there is reference to situations in which children may become afraid, including being afraid of abuse, both physical and sexual,” Jones email stated. “The content at this point in the video was not appropriate for our GPS second grade classrooms.”
“Dr. Jones said that due to the nature of the video, the district notified the Dept of Children and Families (DCF), which they do whenever they believe students may have been exposed to material or situations that may warrant a follow-up.” Jones is offering a “student session for those parents who would like more support.”