The Fulton Public Schools must claim an error in judgment.
A middle school lesson, called "Claim It!," went way beyond the boundaries of student privacy.
In the lesson, sixth-grade students were asked to acknowledge and "claim" personality traits and family history regarding religion, medical conditions, socio-economic status, criminal behavior and more.
Some of the students were justifiably upset by being asked, in front of their peers, to claim statements such as:
• You or someone in your family has been raped or sexually assaulted.
• You have been ever been physically abused by someone who said they love you.
• Someone in your family has been addicted to alcohol or drugs.
Claim It! purports to be "a simple lesson plan for exploring diversity in the classroom."
Assuming the exploration of diversity is a lesson to be taught in the schools, the execution of the lesson was, at best, ill-advised.
Drug, physical and sexual abuse are crimes. Victims must be treated by qualified professionals, not called upon to reveal personal information and recall traumatizing ordeals in class.
Some students are upset and some parents are outraged. They have every reason to be.
In an email sent to middle school parents, Superintendent Jacque Cowherd apologized for "any stress it has caused" families. That's a good first step. He also has assigned an assistance principle to investigate the episode.
"Claim It!" is a lesson plan from RaceBridges for Schools, which, according to its website, offers educators "online classroom tools to engage their students in the passion and satisfaction of working for racial justice and safe and welcoming schools."
Fair enough, but not every lesson plan that is offered is worthy, or appropriate, for classroom instruction.
Among the tasks for educators is to choose lesson plans wisely. That wasn't done in this case.
The educators involved should claim their error and pledge it will not recur.