A Florida father is challenging high-school officials over inappropriate content his daughter was forced to deal with in her anatomy class.
Omar Austin, whose daughter attends Westside High School in Jacksonville, released a video on Facebook expressing his anger over the following graphic sexual scenario presented to his daughter in a homework assignment: “Ursula was devastated when her boyfriend broke up with her after having sex. To get revenge, she had sex with his best friend the next day. Ursula had a beautiful baby girl 9 months later. Ursula has type O blood, her ex-boyfriend is type AB blood, and his best friend is type A blood. If her baby daddy is her ex-boyfriend, what could her baby’s possible blood type(s) NOT be?”
Austin told Newsweek magazine that “what truly upset me is the fact that they’re talking about revenge sex. Talking about a teenager having revenge sex, or a person for that matter, having revenge sex to get back at someone, is not something I think is appropriate at any level. It’s not something that’s accepted in the workplace and it’s not something that is typically accepted socially. So, why should it be accepted on a scholastic level?”
Austin immediately contacted the school’s principal to complain about the inappropriate content. “This was a district-generated worksheet that her teacher just printed offline and it was given to the students,” he recalled. “I want it to be acknowledged. I want it to be reviewed. And I want it to be changed.”
Officials from Duval County Public Schools responded in a hastily prepared statement, saying that the item in question was “highly inappropriate” but insisted that it “was not part of a district assessment.”
“We are thankful to the parent who contacted the school directly to share his concerns,” the statement read. “Immediately upon being made aware of this matter, school and district leaders began conducting a review of the situation. Appropriate and corrective action will be taken. We encourage parents to contact their school leaders directly if they ever have any concerns about their child’s school and instructional experience so that we can immediately work to problem-solve.”
However, the district subsequently came back with a revised statement revealing that the offensive item had actually been written by another teacher within the district and shared on a “digital platform” for school staff. “While this was not a district created item, we recognize that this falls well short of our standard of providing instructional excellence for every student, every day and we would like to apologize to the students and their families,” the district said in the updated statement.
Austin said that the item was “sad and a disgrace to our educational system.” He added that the school should take greater care and thoroughly read every assignment that is passed out to students. “I think that we can do better.”
Image: Screenshot of Westside High School website
