Parents are concerned that the Gibson Elementary School in Corpus Christi, Texas is showing a politically-charged video about mask mandates to kids in the school. According to the children, an art teacher shared with them the video that taught them to wear a mask, but contained vulgar language inappropriate for children. The song in the video was set to the tune of Beauty and the Beast's "Be Our Guest."
According to Kris 6 News, the song included expletive-laced lyrics such as "Try not to be so grouchy. Put your faith in Fauci," as well as "Never seen folks so dramatic over a f***g piece of fabric! 'Hard to breathe!' 'Feels so hot!' Quit your b*****n." Other lyrics include, "While you sit watching Fox, ignoring science and the docs. Wow! Your ignorance is showing as the death toll keeps on growing."
Robin Shover, a parent whose child goes to the school, was shocked at the political content of the video. She said, "It is propaganda and I think it's not only being pushed on our children, but it's being forced on our children."
Shover shared the information to another parent by the name of Helen Kunkel, who believes that the video indeed has a political agenda behind it and does not allow children to think for themselves. She added that it was an inappropriate use of school time and had nothing to do with educating the students.
"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."
Conservative writer Todd Starnes is also sounding the alarm on how students were being shown propaganda video teaching them to "have faith in Fauci," writing that the incident is a "class example of the sort of classroom indoctrination." He argued, "Radicalized educators have turned our public schools into propaganda camps."
When Kunkel and Shover approached the Gibson Elementary School principal to alert faculty about the propaganda video being shown to the students, the principal promised to handle the matter and said that the parents should not go to the school board. Kunkel and Shover shared that this is not the first time school faculty had shown inappropriate materials to kids, as in 2020, the teacher showed nude images of people during a Zoom class.
Corpus Christi ISD and Weldon Gibson Elementary School went on to release a statement that illustrated how the propaganda video "does not reflect the district's or the school's values, and its use has been addressed as a personnel matter."
The school promised to provide "positive role-modeling and highly encourage mask-wearing as an effective measure to help reduce the spread of COVID-19" in its community. Lastly, it encouraged parents and guardians who have "specific concerns and information about what their child hears or sees in the classroom" to speak to the school administration.
