Westport High School teacher on leave for reading "Happy Endings" in class
WESTPORT - A teacher has been put on paid administrative leave after an investigation by the Westport Community Schools district found some provocative literature was read aloud to students.
A high school sophomore said her English teacher had the class read a story from a book that deals with sensitive issues like sex and suicide.
"She was just in shock this was actually being spoken about," the student's mother told WBZ-TV Friday.
The incident happened on her second day back at Westport High School.
"There was sexual stuff in there that I don't think is age appropriate. Even so, something like that, sexually, should be taught in home, not at school," said her mother.
This family doesn't want to be identified but said her daughter's teacher read a collection of short stories called "Happy Endings" by author Margaret Atwood aloud in class.
"It was traumatizing thinking that this is actually going on in a school," she added.
Westport Community Schools superintendent Thomas Aubin told WBZ that the reading material was not a part of the curriculum.
"We are certainly looking into it but at a very cursory look, I'm a little - I'm not a little concerned, I am concerned especially day two of school," Aubin said.
Margaret Atwood, who also authored "The Handmaid's Tale," is on a list of recommended authors provided to schools by the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.
"Happy Endings" discusses topics around sex, infidelity, drugs, and suicide.
"I'd be fine with that. I don't see anything objectionable," said Craig Dutra, a Westport parent.
Dutra's children have been students of this English teacher, who the district said has been employed in Westport for a decade.
"I'm a big First Amendment person," Dutra explained. "I believe that curriculum frameworks are just that - teachers should have the freedom to select the tools that they use."
While other parents argue topics of sex and drugs are too mature for teens, especially sophomores in high school.
"Think of your young ones. Would you want them in class listening to that?" asked the Westport mother.
Supt. Aubin added, "The most important thing we do is to protect our kids, whether it's their emotional or academic safety."