What happens if you play a Kendrick Lamar music video for an eighth grade class? Apparently, your community has lost $100,000.
This is what transpired after a Vernon Center Middle School teacher allegedly showed the students a video of the rapper that was “shockingly violent” during a lecture.
A student’s father eventually sued the town and school board, claiming they had caused “emotional damage” to his child.
After the father, a police officer, filed a lawsuit over the video’s purported graphic content and derogatory portrayal of the police force, the Connecticut town agreed to a $100,000 payment.The Vernon township, the instructor who saw the movie, and the school board were named defendants in the initial 2022 lawsuit.
It stated that as a result of psychological discomfort and PTSD, the pupil needed to be sent to a different school.
The settlement agreement with the father was “reached through negotiation,” according to Town Administrator Michael Purcaro, who also said that it was approved based on “advice of counsel.”
The lawsuit claims that the incident occurred in 2020 and included a kid who participated in a special education program.
‘Alright’ by Kendrick Lamar is the song that most likely sparked everyone’s agitation.
It was featured in a Songs that Shook America documentary program.
The complaint alleges that “The video depicted police officers as murderers and contained other shockingly violent scenes and controversial statements about police officers.”
In the court filings, it is stated that the instructor was previously disciplined for showing students videos that did not follow school policy and that she was aware that the student’s father worked as a police officer before displaying the film.
Following the incident, an assistant superintendent from Vernon Public Schools attested to the teacher’s viоlatiоn of both state and Board of Education policies.
The offending student was swiftly removed from the classroom, and the instructor was expected to maintain no further communication with them.
But according to the lawsuit, the instructor utilized Google Classroom to “criticize the student’s lack of writing skills and effort on an assignment in a demeaning manner” just one month later in March.
According to the lawsuit, the almost hour-long movie caused the student to have social disengagement, PTSD, despair, shоck, sadness, bewilderment, and other problems.
Additionally, it says that because of their dad’s line of work, their classmates “disassociated” with them following the video, causing them to experience “personal embarrassment.”
The funds are to be utilized to reimburse the family for the tuition now that the student has had to transfer schools, Superintendent Joseph Macary told the CT Post.
For comments, UNILAD has been in touch with the Vernon Public Schools, the Town of Vernon, and the Vernon Board of Education.