STORM2K

LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) - Showing the R-rated movie "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" during high school Spanish class this week resulted in suspension for the teacher.

Fernando Del Pino was suspended with pay Tuesday for showing the movie to students at Lexington's Tates Creek High School a day earlier, said Lisa Deffendall, spokeswoman for Fayette County Public Schools.

Del Pino, who was hired in August, could not be reached for comment.

The movie is about a 40-year-old single man whose friends try to help him gain experience in sex.

R-rated movies are not to be shown to anyone younger than 17 without a parent or guardian. The movie was rated R for pervasive, explicit and crude sexual content and drug use.

Del Pino's suspension letter said his suspension is for up to 20 work days while the incident is investigated.

Parents of Tates Creek students must give written permission for their children to watch an R-rated movie at school, according to the school's video policy. Students whose parents object must be given alternative assignments.

The policy also states that the videos/movies "must be part of the lesson plan with genuine instruction objectives."

Deffendall said the investigation was initiated because "it appears that the Tates Creek policy was not followed." The suspension letter was issued Tuesday, the same day a complaint was reported to the district, she said.
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Information from: Lexington Herald-Leader

Suspension in this case should be mearly a formalty preceeding his firing.

Terrell wrote:Suspension in this case should be mearly a formalty preceeding his firing.

I agree. I bet there are some really ticked off parents. Geez...the nerve!

I bet the majority of the class had already seen the movie. Kids pay for a PG-13 or under movie and quickly pop into whatever movie they want to go to. Most of the theaters I've been to lately, there is no attendants to keep them from entering.

Regardless it should have not been shown at school.

I could see a stern talking-to and a reminder of appropriateness, but suspension? And some think he should be fired? Jeez.

gtalum wrote:I could see a stern talking-to and a reminder of appropriateness, but suspension? And some think he should be fired? Jeez.

Parents send their kids to school to learn, not watch some R rated movie about a 40 year old virgin trying to have sex. Fired? Of course. No teacher in their right mind would think that was ok. He needs his head examined and then to get a job where he doesn't deal with kids.

I'm not exactly an antique and none of my teachers would have dreamed of such a thing.

Have y'all seen the movie? Granted the whole thing is pretty raw, BUT. Spoiler ahead: He stays a virgin until he's married. That's quite a change from the vast majority of 'guy beds the girl' story arcs out there.

Perhaps the teacher thought that was a good thing, and that the movie was the only way to get that kind of message to the knuckleheads that are high school students today?

southerngale wrote:

gtalum wrote:I could see a stern talking-to and a reminder of appropriateness, but suspension? And some think he should be fired? Jeez.

Parents send their kids to school to learn, not watch some R rated movie about a 40 year old virgin trying to have sex. Fired? Of course. No teacher in their right mind would think that was ok. He needs his head examined and then to get a job where he doesn't deal with kids.

I'm not exactly an antique and none of my teachers would have dreamed of such a thing.

I agree, he should not be teaching.

ROFL about your teachers not dreaming of showing such a movie. I still remember our senior year english teacher showing us a made for TV movie about the Titanic after we read a book about it; there was a scene that involved kissing, and she stood in front of the TV during it so our little eyes wouldn't see such adult things!

Kim

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If I would have shown that film, I would probably have been fired. The thing is... it was a SPANISH class for heaven's sake!!! Why would you show it in Spanish. Our district doesn't allow us to show movies unless they have some sort of bearing and can be tied into our cirriculum. I don't see how that ties into a Spanish lesson.

I can't imagine either what this teacher was thinking. I watched it with my 15 year old daughter and parts of it embarrassed me. It was extremely sexual in nature...D'oh, check the title.

What I've discovered is that some male teachers want to be THE cool teacher and will cross a line sometimes. My oldest daughter had a teacher like this and he was reprimanded for his behavior. Nothing terrible but he got all caught up in who was dating whom and would jokingly pair middle school aged kids up, you and you should date. Nina said all the kids hated him, he was NOT cool. More like annoying.

The cool teachers don't cross that line but somehow find that common ground with their middle or high school students. It's pretty neat to watch b/c you know instantly that person (usually male) seems destined to be a teacher. The above mentioned teacher was emulating a cool male teacher, we were told. And doing a very poor job of it.

You just want to take these teachers aside and say hey: be fair minded, stay on task (subject matter), don't be a jerk and teach them responsibility (no hand holding in middle or high school, this isn't Kindergarten).

Okay, that's my little teacher-related soapbox moment.

Mary

HurryKane wrote:Have y'all seen the movie? Granted the whole thing is pretty raw, BUT. Spoiler ahead: He stays a virgin until he's married. That's quite a change from the vast majority of 'guy beds the girl' story arcs out there.

Perhaps the teacher thought that was a good thing, and that the movie was the only way to get that kind of message to the knuckleheads that are high school students today?

In this case the teacher was one.

Suspension was very appropriate!

Eric

Wow, remind me never to work for one of you people.

gtalum wrote:Wow, remind me never to work for one of you people.

Well, someone would be on your arse about it...namely those parents who CARE!

Parents should care more about the teachers who don't teach a damn thing. That's what gave me a bad education, not a single video. In High School this is not a big deal.

kevin wrote:Parents should care more about the teachers who don't teach a damn thing. That's what gave me a bad education, not a single video. In High School this is not a big deal.

I for one had a wonderful HS education.

Sure it's a big deal...HS students are still at an age that is very impressionable IMO.

I remember in latin class we wanted to watch Gladiator and analyze its accuracy but they wouldn't let us. There were five of us in the class, and we had all seen it before. But no no, that would be wrong. So if my teacher had relented and gotten fired because of some fanatic, would you all be supporting her firing?

I doubt they are very impressionable. No more impressionable than adults. Can you provide evidence that the majority of adults are less likely to do stupid crap than adolescents? Because I have seen quite a bit of evidence that adults can be very childish.

kevin wrote:I remember in latin class we wanted to watch Gladiator and analyze its accuracy but they wouldn't let us. There were five of us in the class, and we had all seen it before. But no no, that would be wrong. So if my teacher had relented and gotten fired because of some fanatic, would you all be supporting her firing?

I've never seen Gladiator...does it have it alot of sexual innuendo in it so to say?

It has murder. Which do you consider worse?

kevin wrote:I doubt they are very impressionable. No more impressionable than adults. Can you provide evidence that the majority of adults are less likely to do stupid crap than adolescents? Because I have seen quite a bit of evidence that adults can be very childish.

Try staying on topic...we're talking about HS students being shown a distasteful movie...not adults.