The Norwin School Board pulled the plug Monday on daily broadcasts of CNN 10 to middle school students, and the television will be shut off in the classrooms unless students, teachers or administrators want them to watch the broadcast or videos pertaining to topics such as Veterans Day or the Dec. 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor.

By a 5-4 vote, directors Christine Baverso, Alexander Detschelt, Shawna Ilagan, Raymond Kocak and Robert Wayman supported the ban on the 10-minute broadcast during homeroom, while directors Darlene Ciocca, William Essay, Patrick Lynn and Joanna Jordan opposed the elimination of CNN 10.

The board agreed with Baverso to permit teachers to have the discretion to use the television to show the special videos, after an initial resolution sought to eliminate the watching of any television during the homeroom period before classes begin for the day.

Baverso made her motion after Megan Zobb, a seventh grade global studies teacher, said there are times when the teachers use the television to show patriotic-related programming. Zobb told the board there is no desire by teachers to indoctrinate students and that teachers do not want this kind of micromanaging by the school board.

CNN.COM Carl Azuz is host of CNN 10, a daily digital news program produced by CNN for students.  

Baverso said she wants teachers to use all sources for news on events, and Jordan said she believes the teachers should be permitted to use resources that are available to them.

By banning CNN 10, Essay, a retired teacher, said he believes the school board was stepping into an area the board should not enter.

The banning of CNN 10 from the homeroom classrooms was the first of about a dozen changes that Destschelt characterized in December as issues that were raised in his successful 2021 election campaign. In January, those issues had been elevated to core elements of his political campaign.

A contingent of about 30 teachers, including Ryan Lynn, president of the Norwin Education Association, were among about 55 people at the meeting. A group of opponents to the CNN 10 broadcast also attended. CNN 10 was both supported and bashed by several of about 10 speakers at the meeting. Lynn declined to comment following the meeting.

Kristen Ummer, an eighth grade social studies teacher, said CNN 10 supports the school district’s mission statement of civic engagement by the students.

It was selected in 2019 to replace Channel One, which provides a similar news program geared toward students.

To Ashley Egan of North Huntingdon, broadcasting a program associated with CNN is “feeding him (her son) every day that CNN is a label you can trust.”

Egan said there are numerous references by speakers on CNN 10 that recommend the students “visit our friends on CNN.com.”

“That is not unbiased,” Egan said.

Tammy Marino of Irwin said she does not understand why children should be exposed to the broadcast.

“This community voted for change,” Marino said, referring to the 2021 election of Detschelt, Baverso and Ilangan.

The school board should not be about politics or which political party controls the school board, but the board should be unbiased, Linda Funk said.

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