Middle School Parents Express Their Shock After Discovering the Sexually Explicit Art Their Children Were Studying In School

The parents of sixth graders at a North Carolina middle school are outraged after they learned about an art project their kids were asked to partake in. According to WSOC, the project focused on a single image.

That image was created by Kara Walker and it is titled Piece of Art. This particular work of art by the well-known artist who is featured in the Smithsonian is sexual in nature. And because the children subjected to it were only 11 to 12 years old, their parents were shocked.

Mom Couldn’t Believe the Sexual Art Her Teacher Was Asking Her to Study

Samantha Davis, whose child is a sixth-grader at Kennedy Middle School told WSOC, “I was shocked. I didn’t think I needed to look up what my child was learning in an art class.”

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Davis said she ended up putting two-and-two together after her child revealed that they were studying Kara Walker during their art class. Davis added that the curriculum was more aligned for college-aged students, not middle schoolers.

“I understand the topic being appropriate for college and adults. I don’t find this artist and what she depicts as something age-appropriate for middle school kids to see,” the bewildered mom continued. Now, the principal has reportedly taken action, according to WSOC.

“It was brought to my attention that there were some inappropriate artist images that were inadvertently included in a 6th-grade art lesson while the teacher is on maternity leave,” the principal said in a message issued to parents. “I worked with the art teacher to have the pictures removed from the CANVAS platform.”

Davis continued to tell WSOC that while she’s glad they took the inappropriate imagery down, she wonders if anything will be done to ensure it won’t happen again. “To just pull it is nice, that’s great — but it shouldn’t have been there in the first place.”

And in an effort to ease parents’ minds, Kennedy Middle School’s principal further added that digital protocols will be reviewed by teachers. And in addition to that, teachers will now only be allowed to post vetted images and links.

In this case, the principal said that did not happen. “The digital and print resources teachers use within their classroom or on assignments should be vetted and researched before making them available to students. In this instance, there was insufficient review and inappropriate images became apparent when viewed beyond icons that included less detail,” the principal said, in part.