Norwin board delays vote on CNN 10 newscast

After about an hour of debate over whether Norwin’s middle school students should be permitted to watch a morning newscast produced for students by CNN, the Norwin School Board on Monday narrowly decided to delay a vote on the issue.

By a 5-4 decision, the school board decided to vote at its Feb. 14 meeting whether to eliminate the CNN 10 morning newscast that has been shown to students since 2018, as well as any television programming, unless it is produced by the administration, teachers or student-driven.

Directors Christine Baverso, Alex Detschelt, Shawna Ilagan, Raymond Kocak and Robert Wayman voted to bring the issue to a vote, while Darlene Ciocca, William Essay, Joanna Jordan and Patrick Lynn were opposed.

Superintendent Jeff Taylor suggested the board could consider an alternative to CNN 10 if there is a student-oriented broadcast and possibly rotate it among other alternatives as an instructional resource. Taylor said the CNN 10 broadcasts are unbiased, are free and teachers can use the information in their instruction.

“I believe it is very factual … an unbiased resource for teachers,” Taylor said. Students are not required to view it.

But, Detschelt, a conservative Republican, contended “we know there is always bias,” and CNN 10 presents facts from only one source. He said the district is not showing morning newscasts from conservative outlets such as Fox News, OAN (One America News) or Newsmax, all conservative broadcasting companies.

“You are grooming the children” to a viewpoint by allowing the broadcast in the school, Detschelt said. While children are not forced to watch the program during a 19-minute homeroom period, they also can not turn off the television or change the channel, Detschelt said.

Detschelt, who ran for the school board in November with fellow Republicans Baverso and Ilagan under the slogan of “Norwin4Change,” had said last week that that eliminating the CNN 10 broadcast was one of the “core elements” on which the three campaigned for the school board in the 2021 election.

Kocak did not object to CNN 10 on political grounds, but said he did not want students to watch any television during the morning homeroom period. Instead, students should be socializing because Norwin is “having trouble with students getting along.”

Baverso said she had not made a decision on whether to remove CNN 10 from the middle school classroom, while Ilagan said she believes that there is a “subtle bias” and the CNN logo can be seen in one video.

Wayman, a retired Norwin teacher, questioned why the district should have students spending almost an hour a week watching television when there is no assessment to determine its educational value. He said he had objected to CNN 10’s predecessor, Channel 1, which was replaced in 2018 when it ceased to operate.

Essay, a retired fifth-and-sixth grade teacher at Franklin Regional, said the broadcast is unbiased and does meet state academic standards.

Cindy Corder, president of the Hillcrest Intermediate School PTA, who described herself as a conservative Republican, said that CNN 10 videos she has viewed were informative , student-friendly and “not even remotely close to the CNN broadcasts”

With board members admitting that CNN 10 is not biased, including Detschelt, the board should focus on educational issues “instead of baseless campaign promises that were made without any understanding of what is truly in the best interests of the students,” Corder said.

Kristen Ummer, an eighth grade social studies teacher at the middle school, said she has been able to connect information from segments of the CNN 10 broadcast to teaching, such as sedition.

“CNN 10 supports the district’s mission statement,” Ummer said.

The teachers need the support of the school board and not to be micromanaged, said Anna Whittaker.

Tracey Czajkowski, a former school board member and educator for the past 30 years as a teacher and a consultant, said that “removing CNN is not a meaningful action” by the school board.

To Robert Simmons, however, CNN 10 is associated with CNN, which he claimed broadcasts “blatant lies.” Students are “subjected to this kind of subversive indoctrination,” by CNN 10, he said.