GILROY
– Video images of American Nick Berg’s beheading at the hands of
his Iraqi captors were deemed too graphic to be aired by the
mainstream media.
Nevertheless, 10 Gilroy High School students apparently watched
the videotaped execution in an English class after their teacher
helped them get to a Web site where they could view it.
Students in Margaret Ota’s Advanced Placement senior English
class said they were discussing the guillotine beheadings described
in Charles Dickens’
”
A Tale of Two Cities
”
when Ota asked them if they had seen Berg’s beheading.
GILROY – Video images of American Nick Berg’s beheading at the hands of his Iraqi captors were deemed too graphic to be aired by the mainstream media.
Nevertheless, 10 Gilroy High School students apparently watched the videotaped execution in an English class after their teacher helped them get to a Web site where they could view it.
Students in Margaret Ota’s Advanced Placement senior English class said they were discussing the guillotine beheadings described in Charles Dickens’ “A Tale of Two Cities” when Ota asked them if they had seen Berg’s beheading.
Ota, a 12-year GHS veteran, is now caught up in a controversy repeated across California and the nation, after trying last week to relate Berg’s graphic killing to the novel set in 18th-century France and England.
Ota would not comment, except to say, “(GHS) is investigating it; let them finish. … The truth will come out.”
Superintendent Edwin Diaz said GHS administration received a call Monday from a concerned parent whose child watched the beheading in Ota’s class and now is looking into a second incident at GHS. Through an initial investigation, the district found that Ota did not directly show students the video.
About 10 students tracked down the Web site to watch the video, students said, with Ota’s help, although she did not specifically provide them with the Web site’s address. Another group of students refused to watch.
“The room was kind of split fifty-fifty,” student Josh Arribere said. “I had no desire to watch the video.”
Using portable computer stations belonging to the school, Arribere said, students accessed the site on two or three monitors at the same time. He said he thought they turned off the sound because he did not hear Berg’s reported screams.
“I don’t know if (Ota) was trying to make a connection (to the Dickens novel),” Arribere said. “I don’t know if there was a student who got it, because I don’t see a connection, other than the fact that people got their heads cut off.”
Arribere said he has been contacted by the school and interviewed as part of its investigation.
Student Melissa Johnson also questioned the relation between Berg’s execution and guillotine beheadings.
“I didn’t think it served an educational purpose to be watching it,” she said. “It was inappropriate.”
A senior in another of Ota’s English classes who did not view the beheading said Ota told students about the incident, telling them she did not air the video images for the class.
“I think one student took advantage of what she had to say or was morbidly curious, and got himself in trouble and got (Ota) in trouble,” Melissa Nielsen said of the viewing.
Nielsen said she did not think Ota would show the beheading in class, or bring up the subject, if it did not relate to class subjects.
“She’s a very good teacher,” she said.
The video of Berg’s killing has not been shown in its entirety by the media, although the actions seen and sounds heard during the killing have been described in detail.
Three high school teachers in Southern California were placed on paid leave last Friday for allowing images of the beheading to be viewed in class. Teachers in various other parts of the country also are reportedly on leave following similar incidents. School officials in those cases are questioning the teachers’ judgment in displaying or allowing students to display the images or sound clips, according to media reports.
Ota was still teaching Tuesday. In a memo to all Gilroy Unified School District staff, Diaz said that other materials should be used to discuss the event with students.
“As a result of the investigation, all district employees have been directed not to show the video or allow the video to be shown to any students as it is not age-appropriate for students in grades K-12,” Diaz said.
School counseling services are available to students who may have been disturbed by viewing the video.
Berg, 26, was beheaded by five masked men that U.S. intelligence officials have linked to terrorist group Al-Qaida. The video was posted on an Islamic militant Web site May 11.
Lori Stuenkel covers education for The Dispatch. She can be reached at 842-6400 x277 or ls*******@************ch.com.
