Teacher who showed students offensive Bush video is candidate for state office
By Holly Hollman
DAILY Staff Writer
SALEM — An eighth-grade science teacher, who is a Democratic candidate for state office, won't face suspension for showing students a derogatory, profanity-filled Internet film about the president.
Limestone County Superintendent Barry Carroll said Thursday that he talked with West Limestone High School teacher Steve White about showing the film.
"It's a personnel matter, and it's been handled," Carroll said. "Both I and Principal Stan Davis discussed the matter with him. He's not on suspension or anything like that."
Carroll would not specify how he handled it.
White has qualified to run for District 4 state representative, which includes portions of Limestone and Morgan counties.
White ran against Rep. Tommy Carter, D-Elkmont, in 1994 for the District 5 seat. During that Democratic primary, the Alabama Democratic Party ordered a new election because of balloting errors. Carter, who won the initial primary by 27 votes, criticized the party for that decision and tried to stop the new election.
In the new election, Carter won by 1,633 votes.
Carroll said he has notified school board members about the incident, but White won't go before the board.
Board member John Wayne King said he is "confident the matter's been handled, and it won't happen again."
White did not return THE DAILY's phone or e-mail messages.
The video by Filmstripinter
national.com opens with the words "American Civics Volume II" and shows black and white clips of war and what appears to be the Great Depression.
It refers to a country at war, the poor getting poorer and jobs moving overseas. Then it shows a color photo of President Bush with a profane caption.
That upset some parents, who complained to school officials about the content of the clips featuring Bush, members of his administration and his supporters.
Other captions, some containing profanity, are shown under photos of Texas Rep. Tom DeLay, Vice President Dick Cheney, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Focus on the Family's Dr. James Dobson and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.
The band Big Jim's Ego performs the film's song. As images of Bush's administration scroll across the screen, the song says:
And I know there are those people,
Who say they never are to blame;
And that's not my modus operandi,
I don't play that game.
And then there are some people, who claim the sun shines out their behind
And it's oh so hard to get them to change their mind;
And I've given up trying.
Carroll said White did not give a reason for showing the film. Carroll said the incident occurred before spring break.
Parent Christy Jackson, whose son saw the film in White's class, said she thinks the motivation was political. Jackson said White is anti-Bush.
Jackson said she is upset because she wants her son to respect other people's religion, beliefs and political views.
Pam Wallace, chairwoman of the local Democratic Executive Committee, said she is in Montgomery and had not heard about the incident.
"So I don't see how I can comment on it," Wallace said.
Jim Burden, chairman of the local Republican Party, said, "It bothers me that he took his political opinion into the classroom. That's not what we're paying him to teach. He should be teaching students how to make gold out of lead and stick to science."
District 4 Rep. Micky Hammon, R-Decatur, who is seeking re-election, said this is "absolutely not appropriate material" for eighth grade or high school.
"I know he's my opponent, but I would say this about any teacher who showed something like that. You shouldn't use your position as a teacher to influence children about your political opinions," Hammon said. "That is wrong. He's abusing his authority."
Hammon said legislators are debating getting the Bible taught in schools as an elective, and "we sure don't need to have to come back and battle over stuff like this getting in the classroom."
Hammon said the school system needs to reassure parents that "this won't happen again."
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