Long Beach Students Assigned To Depict White House, Obama Under Water
LONG BEACH (CBSLA.com) — A group of parents at Rancho Dominguez Prep School in Long Beach are asking for a long-term substitute teacher to be removed from the classroom after he told students to create images of the White House under water.
Junior Carnal Washington said his Digital Imaging instructor told him it wasn't enough to just submerge the White House, but somebody had to drown in their creations.
"My (project) was the president being saved instead of drowning him… so I drowned his wife and the dog," he said. "I felt bad. It didn't feel right drowning the president."
Washington and a classmate said the student who got the most praise from the teacher took the Photoshop assignment a step further.
"The highest grade in the class was a girl who had Obama swimming toward a bucket of chicken instead of his family. I thought that was sad, but when (the teacher) saw it, he started laughing," Washington said.
The Los Angeles Unified School District said the assignment was related to Hurricane Sandy, but students and parents said it just made them uncomfortable.
Parent Mouine Taylor said, "I see no reason that our president should ever be drowned. I see no reason why the White House should ever be drowned. What did the kids get from this project?"
"I think this whole assignment is uncalled for. First of all, why are you putting the White House under water?" said parent Sandra Hermosillo.
LAUSD officials told KCAL9's Kristine Lazar that they would not confirm if any disciplinary action had been taken against the teacher.
