NINTH GRADERS'S FIELD TRIP TO SEE RENT SPURS PROTEST

Some Parents And School Board Members Say The Movie's Themes Of Drug
Addiction And Homosexuality Are Inappropriate And Lack Educational
Value

GLOCESTER -- A planned field trip for Ponaganset High School
ninth-graders on Monday to see the movie Rent has sparked a protest
by some parents and School Committee members who challenge its
content -- drug addiction and homosexuality -- and its educational
value.

The movie, rated PG-13, is based on one of the longest running shows
on Broadway, which won the 1996 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and four
Tony awards, among other honors.

It depicts young artists on New York's East Side, struggling to be
accepted and to succeed, while enduring poverty, illness and AIDS.

Teachers say the field trip will encourage classroom discussions
about diversity and tolerance, said principal Joseph P. Maruszczak.
The lessons are interdisciplinary, using English, social studies, and
even science -- to study the myths and realities of HIV, he said.

At Tuesday night's School Committee meeting, Cochairwoman Donna
Mansolillo said exposing 14- and 15-year-olds to the themes should be
up to parents, and not schools.

"The lifestyles depicted in this movie are not the majority, not the
lifestyles of 99.9 percent of the kids that live in these two towns,"
she said.

She passed out a review of the movie, which she found on
http://www.pluggedinonline.com, a Web site associated with Focus on the
Family, a Christian organization that aims to preserve family values.

Rent is built around an in-your-face glorification of homosexuality
and lesbianism, the review says.

Maruszczak believes this is the root of the problem. Students have
been shown violent images in movies such as Bowling for Columbine,
but sexuality seems to cause problems.

"I believe this has become a hot-point issue because of human
sexuality, and gay characters in the film," he said. "Some people are
very uncomfortable with that."

Mansolillo pointed out that there is also "injection of drugs,
promiscuity and prostitution."

She said three or four parents contacted her with concerns about the
trip, which history teacher Ben Fillo is organizing. One of them,
Denise Dionne, spoke at the meeting. She has seen the play, which she
calls "graphic, crude and vulgar."

She said she has friends who are homosexuals, and she believes it's
offensive even to them, because "they're not drug addicts or
promiscuous. They make positive contributions to society."

"They're taking a lifestyle and degrading it in such a way that
there's no positive message to be taken away from it," Dionne said.
"I believe we can educate our children and expose them to differences
in a much better way."

Cochairman Gary King said: "the curriculum value is not there. I'm
not charged with the social education of students. I have to protect
the integrity of students in our district."

King said that just by hearing the title, he would have thought the
movie was about "the trials and tribulations of what it takes to pay
rent after high school." When he found out more details, he said "I
was shocked."

His fellow committee member Kelly Hunter was also shocked, but for
different reasons. She was the only member who had a son going on the
trip and said she was stunned that there was a controversy at all.

"I just don't get what the problem is," she said. "If you don't want
your kid to go, don't sign the slip."

The permission slip explained how the trip would fulfill certain
standards, she said, and by seeing it in a classroom setting,
students will be able to talk about the issues.

"They have to understand there are other parts of society than what
they see in town," she said.

Hunter also does not think that School Committee members should be in
the position of approving curriculum content, and that it should be
left to teachers and administrators.

Maruszczak said he saw the movie and did not find anything
objectionable. He said 75 of the 89 kids involved are going to see
the movie at Providence Place mall.

He said it's dangerous if a few parents who disapprove impose that
will on the rest of the students.

It's the School Committee's job to approve overnight and out-of-state
field trips, but not day trips, he said. The committee can voice
their opinions, but their primary role is to set policy, he said.

The committee did not vote on the issue Tuesday because it was not on
the agenda. Though Mansolillo said she hoped schools Supt. Mario F.
Cirillo would intervene, Maruszczak said the field trip is still on.