School board ok's Ruby Bridges movie after parent complaint

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A Florida school review committee unanimously voted to keep a film about civil rights icon Ruby Bridges in an elementary school curriculum, after a parent complaint sparked controversy last month.

The committee of three teachers, two parents and two other community members voted in favor of continuing to show “Ruby Bridges” at North Shore Elementary School in St. Petersburg during an 18-minute meeting on Monday, the Tampa Bay Times reported.

The PG-rated 1998 television movie tells the story of Ruby Bridges, who made history in 1960 when she became the first black child to attend the all-white William Frantz Elementary School in New Orleans.

Bridges, then just 6 years old, was escorted to and from school every day by federal marshals, and endured years of violent, racist threats against her and her family.

The saga was famously memorialized in the Norman Rockwell painting “The Problem We All Live With.” 

Second-graders at North Shore Elementary, which is part of the Pinellas School District, watched the Ruby Bridges film in March as part of Black History Month, FOX 13 said.

Families received permission slips with links to the movie trailer before the showing and two families opted not to have their children watch the film, the outlet reported.

A few days after the viewing, parent Emily Conklin filed a formal complaint to remove the movie from the curriculum.

Conklin, who did not allow her child to watch the film, alleged that the movie’s use of racial slurs and depiction of racially motivated violence could teach white people to hate black people, the Tampa Bay Times said.

Initial reports that the film was banned from North Shore Elementary went viral, before Superintendent Kevin Hendrick clarified that it remained available.

Conklin did not attend Monday’s meeting, where several parents and community members spoke about the importance of showing the film to students learning about the nation’s history.

The committee also heard from members of the second-grade teaching team and a curriculum specialist, who confirmed that the movie’s content was age-appropriate.

“I personally found the Ruby Bridges film to be an inspiring story about Black people and white people overcoming challenges,” committee member Kyandra Darling told the Tampa Bay Times.

“I don’t believe the film teaches hate. Instead it displays the ugliness of intolerance … which our students should learn from.”

Another committee member, parent Molly Auld, said she thought the Ruby Bridges story was a helpful starting point for conversations she needed to have with her children.

“I personally don’t feel like this particular movie needs anything more than what already goes home,” she told the outlet about contextualizing the film.

Terri Lipsey Scott, executive director of St. Petersburg’s Dr. Carter G. Woodson African American Museum, said the decision to keep showing the movie “demonstrates … all of American history is important to be taught to our scholars.”

Speaking to CNN on Tuesday, the film’s screenwriter Toni Ann Johnson said she felt the committee did “the right thing.”

“While I don’t think it ever should have had to come to a vote, I am proud of and grateful to the people who did the right thing. I was losing faith in us and our ability to stand up to those who want to suppress history and suppress inclusive instruction in schools,” she told the outlet.

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