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NORTH PLATTE, Neb. - North Platte High School has suspended one of its teachers after he allowed students to watch the video of American Nicholas Berg being beheaded in Iraq.
Parents and students said 19-year teaching veteran Dan Sheesley allowed students in his morning sociology and history classes to view the video Friday.
The school confirmed that a teacher had been suspended with pay the same day. A statement from the school, which would not identify the teacher involved, said the suspension is "not to exceed 30 days."
Sheesley would not comment on the matter. He said the teachers' union has advised him to not talk about the subject.
North Platte High School Principal Dan Twarling said about 30 students saw the video, but no student was forced to watch it.
A student took the video to school on disk Friday, Twarling said, and he first became aware of the situation when a parent called to ask about the disk.
Twarling said no formal rules were broken, but that he made "an administrative judgment call."
In the video, Nicholas Berg is seated on the ground and five armed men disguised by head scarves and masks are behind him. Standing in the middle, a man identified as terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi decapitates Berg. It is unclear when and how Berg, a self-employed telecommunications businessman, was captured. The video has not been shown on U.S. television but is available on the Internet.
Teachers in California, Arkansas and Texas have been suspended or placed on leave in the last two weeks for allowing students to see the video in class.
Twarling, who made the suspension decision in consultation with Superintendent Jim Merritt, said he believes the video was simply too much for high school students.
The school's statement reads: "The showing of such an act was determined to be inappropriate considering the potential psychological and emotional effects of such a graphic and horrifying image on adolescents."
Julie Creel said she did not have a problem with her 18-year-old son Luke Perez watching the video in Sheesley's class.
"I think they're babying a lot of these high-school students," Creel told the North Platte Bulletin. "Had Luke been 5 and in preschool, that would have been different. But he's 18. If he decided to join the Army, he'd be right over there."
Creel said since President George Bush has predicted the nation's war on terror could last as long as 25 or 30 years, that means it will span throughout her son's adult life.
"We'd better get our kids used to it, because it looks like they're going to be dealing with it long after we're gone," she said.
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Well, I'm not sure
how I feel about this. On one hand, I've
seen the video...and wished that I had not. On the other hand, these kids are old enough to decide for themselves whether, or not, to view it. I guess in the end, I have to agree with Julie Creel...if the kid's old enough to be over there, then the kid's old enough to see life's horrors.