Pubdate: Thu, 08 Dec 2005
Source: Providence Journal, The (RI)
Copyright: 2005 The Providence Journal Company
Contact:  http://www.projo.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/352
Author: Katie Warchut, staff writer

NINTH GRADERS'S FIELD TRIP TO SEE RENT SPURS PROTEST

Some Parents And School Board Members Say The Movie's  Themes Of Drug
Addiction And Homosexuality Are  Inappropriate And Lack Educational
Value

GLOCESTER -- A planned field trip for Ponaganset High  School
ninth-graders on Monday to see the movie Rent  has sparked a protest
by some parents and School  Committee members who challenge its
content -- drug  addiction and homosexuality -- and its educational
value.

The movie, rated PG-13, is based on one of the longest  running shows
on Broadway, which won the 1996 Pulitzer  Prize for Drama and four
Tony awards, among other  honors.

It depicts young artists on New York's East Side,  struggling to be
accepted and to succeed, while  enduring poverty, illness and AIDS.

Teachers say the field trip will encourage classroom  discussions
about diversity and tolerance, said  principal Joseph P. Maruszczak.
The lessons are  interdisciplinary, using English, social studies, and
 even science -- to study the myths and realities of  HIV, he said.

At Tuesday night's School Committee meeting,  Cochairwoman Donna
Mansolillo said exposing 14- and  15-year-olds to the themes should be
up to parents, and  not schools.

"The lifestyles depicted in this movie are not the  majority, not the
lifestyles of 99.9 percent of the  kids that live in these two towns,"
she said.

She passed out a review of the movie, which she found  on
http://www.pluggedinonline.com, a Web site associated with  Focus on the
Family, a Christian organization that aims  to preserve family values.

Rent is built around an in-your-face glorification of  homosexuality
and lesbianism, the review says.

Maruszczak believes this is the root of the problem.  Students have
been shown violent images in movies such  as Bowling for Columbine,
but sexuality seems to cause  problems.

"I believe this has become a hot-point issue because of  human
sexuality, and gay characters in the film," he  said. "Some people are
very uncomfortable with that."

Mansolillo pointed out that there is also "injection of  drugs,
promiscuity and prostitution."

She said three or four parents contacted her with  concerns about the
trip, which history teacher Ben  Fillo is organizing. One of them,
Denise Dionne, spoke  at the meeting. She has seen the play, which she
calls  "graphic, crude and vulgar."

She said she has friends who are homosexuals, and she  believes it's
offensive even to them, because "they're  not drug addicts or
promiscuous. They make positive  contributions to society."

"They're taking a lifestyle and degrading it in such a  way that
there's no positive message to be taken away  from it," Dionne said.
"I believe we can educate our  children and expose them to differences
in a much  better way."

Cochairman Gary King said: "the curriculum value is not  there. I'm
not charged with the social education of  students. I have to protect
the integrity of students  in our district."

King said that just by hearing the title, he would have  thought the
movie was about "the trials and  tribulations of what it takes to pay
rent after high  school." When he found out more details, he said "I
was  shocked."

His fellow committee member Kelly Hunter was also  shocked, but for
different reasons. She was the only  member who had a son going on the
trip and said she was  stunned that there was a controversy at all.

"I just don't get what the problem is," she said. "If  you don't want
your kid to go, don't sign the slip."

The permission slip explained how the trip would  fulfill certain
standards, she said, and by seeing it  in a classroom setting,
students will be able to talk  about the issues.

"They have to understand there are other parts of  society than what
they see in town," she said.

Hunter also does not think that School Committee  members should be in
the position of approving  curriculum content, and that it should be
left to  teachers and administrators.

Maruszczak said he saw the movie and did not find  anything
objectionable. He said 75 of the 89 kids  involved are going to see
the movie at Providence Place  mall.

He said it's dangerous if a few parents who disapprove  impose that
will on the rest of the students.

It's the School Committee's job to approve overnight  and out-of-state
field trips, but not day trips, he  said. The committee can voice
their opinions, but their  primary role is to set policy, he said.

The committee did not vote on the issue Tuesday because  it was not on
the agenda. Though Mansolillo said she  hoped schools Supt. Mario F.
Cirillo would intervene,  Maruszczak said the field trip is still on.
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MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin