PITTSBURGH, Penn. — When a woman in Pittsburgh posted a homework assignment for first graders that involved two people running from the police, it was shared more than a thousand times.
The assignment involved two people named Tom and Rob running from a cop.
“Tom will run. He will run from the cop. Tom will run with Rob. They will not stop,” the reading assignment said.
In a statement on Facebook, the Pittsburgh Public Schools called the assignment “inappropriate.”
They said it was given to first grade students at an elementary school in the district.
“The worksheet is not a part of the District’s curriculum or intervention programs,” the statement said.
“While we continue to support teacher autonomy to supplement classroom materials to meet the needs of their students, we must ensure that all materials placed in front of our students are culturally responsive, validating and affirming their cultural and ethnic identities.”
In a follow-up post on her Facebook page, Whiters wrote, “Well I feel like I accomplished my goal for our babies. I will not tolerate nor ignore the way our school system teach our children.”
“The purpose was to open parents eyes and mouths when you see something not right with their schoolwork. You have to ask yourself why are test scores so low in schools. Are we really caching the problem and attacking,” she continued, and urged other parents to pay attention to their children’s homework.
She also said her post brought “AWARENESS” and said meetings were set to resolve the issue.
