Amanda Todd Video Angers Parents: Bullying Clip Shown in Classroom
Parents in the Durham region of Canada are upset after a video of Amanda Todd, a young girl who committed suicide after being bullied, was shown to a classroom of 10-year-olds.
Paul Kreutzer, the father of a 10 year-old girl, he has claimed that his daughter came home from school last week in tears following a viewing of a YouTube video made by Amanda Todd. The 15-year-old girl had made a video relaying her story of bullying just weeks before committing suicide. It was viewed by millions.
Kreutzer told a Canadian paper the he was infuriated not only with the fact that the teacher showed the video in class, but that the video was followed by a class discussion on topics that included "information of a sexual nature." He claimed that his daughter called in sick immediately after the class was over, and went home in tears. Kreutzer charged that the teacher's actions had been "reckless" and "highly inappropriate."
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The incident occurred at Goodwood Public School in the Durham region. Kreutzer also complained that the teacher had relayed violent stories that left his daughter frightened.
"The teacher in question, I guess, has a history of being a social worker," Mr. Kreutzer said. "For some reason or another she started sharing information about specific case details, a case she worked as a social worker where the father came home and murdered the kids."
School officials avoided making any comment, but Durham District School Board superintendent Anne Marie Laginski acknowledged that showing the video was "clearly not acceptable." Kreutzer stated, according to The Globe, that he wants the teacher fired.
In October, the B.C. Education Ministry sent out memos to all schools, stating that it was best to avoid showing the video in class because it contains "traumautic stimuli."
"It is preferable that teachers do not show the YouTube clip in class," the memo advised. But in a Huffington post poll, nearly 80 percent of Internet users agreed that the video should be brought up in schools.
See teenagers reactions to the Amanda Todd video below. (WARNING: Graphic language).
