The presentation of controversial issues which are relevant to curriculum objectives and appropriate to student maturity levels should be encouraged. Teachers should, however, guard against giving their personal opinion on such issues until the students have had the opportunity to find, collect, and assemble factual material on the subject; to interpret the data without prejudice; to reconsider assumptions and claims and to thereby encourage the students to search after truth and to think for themselves. The personal opinion of a teacher should always be identified as such and only introduced when it contributes to the student's understanding of the issue.

Our representative form of government demands that citizens be well informed and able to make responsible choices. Only by being allowed to practice rights granted under our Constitution can a student be prepared to fulfill his participating role in the ever-increasing complexities of modern society.

Among the most valuable products, therefore, of a free educational system is the development of the ability to meet issues without prejudice and to withhold judgements until facts are collected, assembled, and weighed, and relationships seen before making conclusions.

This policy sets forth four basic rights of students:

• The right to abstain from participating in an educational process that, in their judgement, constitutes an invasion of privacy, or an abridgement of their social or religious belief.
• The right to study controversial issues which have political, economic, or social significance on which, at their respective maturity level, students should begin to develop an opinion.
• The right to study under competent instruction in an atmosphere free from bias and prejudice.
• The right of access to all relevant information freely available in the school.

Emotional criticism and the promotion of a cause within the classroom are both inappropriate and unscholarly. The teacher's attitude, in all matters, should be that of the true scholar which is truth-seeking, open-minded, and tolerant.

Procedures

Film, Video Tape, and DVD Rating Guidelines

It is acknowledged that made for entertainment films, video tapes, or DVD's may have some limited use in schools. Occasionally, a film, video tape, or DVD is made with historical, scientific, or literary merit that expands on the established curriculum in a manner that makes it a worthwhile addition to the schools. Schools shall show movies only when there is a correlation between the movie and the school board adopted curriculum. Because the established rating system of such movies provides some general guidelines, it is incorporated into the District's procedures as follows:

Guidelines for Teaching of Controversial Issues

"Controversial Issues" are those questions, most often associated with current events that are apt to generate emotion on the part of students or community members when they are considered in the classroom setting. When such issues are a part of the approved curriculum, it is appropriate that they be thoughtfully examined.

• Planned activities which are outside of the approved curriculum should be approved by the building principal.
• Audio-visual materials to be presented in class must have been first previewed by the teacher.
• Teachers must have a general awareness of the content of any invited outside speaker for a class presentation.
• Whenever applicable in the approved curriculum, teachers shall encourage students to develop and base conclusions on collected, assembled, and weighed facts without bias, and to develop the ability to conduct such processes with tolerance and respect for differing conclusions held by others.
• Materials, issues, or teaching techniques that are intrusive of the privacy rights of students or parents shall be avoided.
• If a parent request or other circumstances require that a student be excused from some portion of the instructional program, the student shall be excused in the most appropriate, unobtrusive manner possible to another productive, but alternative, learning experience.
• The opinion of the teacher on a controversial issue should be introduced in the classroom only when it will contribute to the student's understanding of the issue and only when it is appropriate to the age and maturity level of the students. If teacher opinion is introduced, it should be clearly identified as such.