A children’s book about global warming and a companion video are under scrutiny in the Millard Public Schools after drawing complaints from parents, including the wife of Republican U.S. Rep. Lee Terry of Nebraska.
Robyn Terry, whose 12-year-old son attends Beadle Middle School, said Friday that the materials used in his class portray global warming as fact when scientists disagree.
“It’s a theory; it’s not fact,” she said.
Acting on complaints, district officials have launched a review of author Laurie David’s book, “The Down-to-Earth Guide to Global Warming,” and the video narrated by actor Leonardo DiCaprio to determine whether they are appropriate for classroom use.
David produced former Vice President Al Gore’s 2006 Oscar-winning documentary movie, “An Inconvenient Truth,” which skeptics of manmade global warming allege contains dozens of errors.
David said in 2007 that the book translates complex scientific facts about global warming into language that is easily understood by children.
“I hope children of all ages read this book because, ultimately and unfortunately global warming is the grim legacy we are passing on to them,” she wrote in an online column.
The book can be found in some libraries in the Omaha Public Schools, a spokeswoman said, but it is not required reading.
New to the Millard curriculum this year, the book is part of “Plugged in to Non-Fiction,” a collection of books on a variety of subjects. Parts of the book are required reading for sixth-graders in Millard reading and language-arts classes.
The materials in question will continue to be used in classrooms pending review by a committee of staff and parents, district spokeswoman Amy Friedman said.
“We don’t do anything knee-jerk,” Friedman said.
As of Friday, three parents, including Robyn Terry, had complained to the district, Friedman said. Another parent, however, contacted the district and expressed support for keeping the materials in the curriculum, she said.
Robyn Terry said she objected to the book after learning of it in a school newsletter and reading some pages on Amazon.com.
“I very quickly found it to be way over the top,” Terry said.
She said she e-mailed school officials, who cooperated with her request that her son be allowed to read an alternative book. After reviewing the video, she asked for its removal, she said.
In the video, DiCaprio attributes global warming to mankind’s “destructive addiction” to oil. He says “big corporations” and politicians gained too much money and power “on our addiction” making them “dangerously resistant to change.”
He urges viewers to vote, support nonprofit environmental groups and become environmentalists.
“We can vote for leaders who care about protecting your health, the air and the environment,” he says.
Terry said she expected the video to be similar to a Power Point for use with the book, but it looked to her like “a political commercial.”
“Honestly, I would challenge any parent who views that video to come away with any conclusion other than, ‘What does this have to do with reading?’” she said.
Robyn Terry said the video shouldn’t be shown to impressionable sixth-graders. “I will not be happy until they completely remove the video,” she said.
She said she would not object to the book staying in school libraries, but it shouldn’t be required reading.
Lee Terry, contacted for his opinion on the materials, directed questions to his wife.
Robyn Terry said her husband made a phone call to the principal when the couple were deciding how to handle the matter, but she said “his views about global warming are his own views.”
Last year, the congressman described himself as “light green” and questioned whether scientists have proved the extent of human activity’s contribution to climate change.
Another parent, Matt Butler, who also has a sixth-grade son at Beadle, described the book as “conjecture, junk science and, frankly, a political agenda that I don’t agree with.”
“This is supposed to be a reading class, not a politicial indoctrination and brainwashing class,” he said.
Butler, who said his son watched the video, said he objects to the book using celebrities to sound the alarm about global warming. “They even have SpongeBob SquarePants in the book,” he said.
Mark Feldhausen, associate superintendent of educational services for the Millard schools, said the committee reviewing the materials will not evaluate whether scientific assertions or theories are supported.
“The committee looks at the work within the context of its purpose within the curriculum,” he said.
“In this case, we’re talking about reading text material, nonfiction, and how students deal with nonfictional work, whether it be reading charts and graphs, captions of pictures, looking at and interpreting the intent of the author.”
Asked whether the district takes a side on the issue of global warming, he said: “We take no position.”
District policy allows parents to opt out of a lesson if they are uncomfortable with the material.
Officials from two other school districts said the book is not part of their curriculum.
Luanne Nelson, spokeswoman for the Omaha Public Schools, said the book is not required reading in her district. The Bellevue Public Schools do not use it in their curriculum, spokeswoman Cathy Williams said.
As for global warming itself, Bellevue teachers are provided no special guidance, she said.
“Teachers are expected to handle all controversial issues with careful scrutiny and objectivity,” Williams said.
OPS teachers, Nelson said, teach students to look at evidence objectively and not to accept any one point of view.
Students are taught the various ways humans affect their environment, both positively and negatively, and are taught how to draw conclusions based on scientific facts, she said.
Contact the writer:
444-1077, joe.dejka@owh.com
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