Middle Schoolers Celebrate Killing Baby

June 16, 2014 by Lennie Jarratt 72 Comments

On Friday, a middle school class at Churchville-Chili Middle School in Churchville, NY had a class assignment about Shaken Baby Syndrome. In the class students were asked to shake a baby until it stopped crying, i.e. it was dead. Below is the story of one student as relayed to me by their parent:

Image Real Care Shaken Baby

Today my 12 year old son came home noticeably upset. In school they learned about Shaken Baby Syndrome. Not a new topic for him as we have many little ones and we have explained how dangerous it is to shake a baby even playfully.
The students were asked to do a worksheet on the subject. They were then shown a video of a father explaining how he shook his baby because it wouldn’t stop crying. The video showed the baby in the hospital hooked up to wires and life saving measures. The video also stated the father was in jail for his actions.
The teacher demonstrated shaking and killing the baby. Once done, she told the students they were going to take turns killing the baby and then warned, “Just don’t go crazy, the doll is heavy”. They were instructed to shake it continuously as the ‘baby’ screamed and screamed until all the parts of the ‘brain’ had lit up indicating which part of the brain was being injured. They were instructed to shake the ‘baby’ until it was quiet.. Until it was dead. My son was the first to refuse to participate. He said his teacher was shocked. Others followed his lead.
About 4 boys and 2 girls participated in shaking the baby to death after the teacher demonstrated. The reaction was mixed. Some students put their hands over their mouths, some put their hoods of there sweatshirts up and heads down on the desk. Other students seemed to find this activity amusing and one exclaimed ” Yes!!” when it was her turn to participate. Some kids who found this HILARIOUS and beat the snot out of that ‘baby’ throwing it against the wall, smashing it into desks ect. until they rejoiced that the ‘baby’ was dead.

The 7th grade class this was taught in was Mrs. Amory’s Family and Consumer Sciences (FACS). FACS description is:

‘Career and Technical Education which includes Family and Consumer Sciences is a program designed to prepare students to meet their responsibilities as family members, consumers, home managers, wage earners, and parents. This course is designed to prepare you to become “Life Ready.”‘

On a page about the doll itself, there are resources for the curriculum and explanation on how this assignment is common core aligned assignment.

I have reached out to the Teacher and Superintendent for a response and neither have returned my inquiries. Contact information for the school is below:

Superintendent Dr. Pamela Kissel
139 Fairbanks Road
Churchville, NY 14428
Phone:(585) 293-1800

UPDATE: Principal Giulio Bosco is doing a full investigation of this incident and will update me on the findings late tomorrow.
UPDATE: Statement from Superintendent Kissel and Principal Bosco

From: Superintendent of Schools Dr. Pamela Kissel and Middle School Executive Principal Giulio Bosco
RE: Churchville-Chili District Response to FACS lesson: Shaken Baby Syndrome
The objective of the FACS class topic discussion is to teach students how delicate babies are and not to do anything that would intentionally harm them. After several interviews of students and other staff who were present in the classroom at the time of the Shaken Baby Syndrome lesson, it was apparent that these allegations were inaccurate. The district strives to provide classroom environments that are supportive during difficult discussions while preparing our students for life.

The statement did not answer my original questions so I revised the slightly and sent them back again. They are as follows:

• How many years have you been teaching this lesson?
• What has the typical response been?
• How many kids refuse to take part in shaking the baby to death?
• Is it correct that you are also saying that NO student was overly enthusiastic during the presentation?
• How is having students participating and intentionally harming the baby prop teaching them to treat a baby delicately?