CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — A Gibson Elementary School teacher in the Corpus Christi ISD is at the center of a squabble about a controversial video that is being circulated around the school.
Parents said their kids told them it was an art teacher who shared a video containing vulgar language about wearing a mask. The song is to the tune of Beauty and the Beast’s “Be Our Guest” and contains lyrics like “Try not to be so grouchy. Put your faith in Fauci."
Parents like Robin Shover said the song’s lyrics are biased because they contain political undertones and persuade students to think a certain way.
“It is propaganda and I think it’s not only being pushed on our children, but it’s being forced on our children,” Shover said.
The song contains the lyrics, “Your ignorance is showing as the death toll keeps on growing,” which Shover said is psychological and emotional abuse of children and said it promotes bullying students that don’t wear masks.
Helen Kunkel was alerted by Shover that their kids were being shown the video in class.
She said it has a political agenda behind it and doesn’t allow students to think freely with lyrics like “While you sit watching FOX, ignoring science and the docs.”
She said it was an inappropriate use of school time and didn’t have anything to do with educating kids.
“If you can't have religion in school, say prayers or anything like that, why are you going to teach that?" Kunkel said. "Why are you going to show the kids that? That teacher is taking it upon herself to educate my kids in a way I don’t want them educated."
CCISD declined comment on the matter and did not allow interviews of Gibson Elementary officials, or the teacher that allegedly showed the video.
They did however release this statement:
“Corpus Christi ISD and Weldon Gibson Elementary School regret the use of a video in a Gibson Elementary classroom. The content does not reflect the district’s or the school’s values, and its use has been addressed as a personnel matter."
"Corpus Christi ISD and Gibson Elementary are dedicated to providing positive role-modeling and highly encourage mask-wearing as an effective measure to help reduce the spread of COVID-19 in our community.”
Kunkel and Shover both went to the school principal and said the principal didn’t know about the mask video until they brought it up. They said the principal told them the matter would be handled, but they should not go to the school board.
Kunkel and Shover said this was not the first time the teacher showed inappropriate videos.
Shover said last year the teacher showed nude images of people during a Zoom class, but she didn’t talk to the administration because she said it was hard to reach them because they were doing virtual learning.
CCISD released this statement about the situation:
“Corpus Christi ISD advises parents and guardians who have specific concerns and information about what their child hears or sees in the classroom to speak with the campus principal or district administration. All complaints are taken seriously and investigated while maintaining the confidentiality and the privacy of complainants, students and employees.”
