Teacher quit for playing comedy

A Newport Heights Elementary School special-education teacher and two aides were forced to resign in early December after showing their special-education class an R-rated comedy containing nudity, drug use and profanity, the former aides confirmed Friday.

“It was a rainy day, we were bored, bad decision on us. And we’re definitely suffering the consequences,” said former aide Amber Rigsby. “It’s not like we sat them in front of the TV and said, ‘Here, watch it.’ It was like background music to us.”

Rigsby said she was told to quit or be fired, along with teacher’s aide Clarissa Parga and special-education teacher John Guzman. Efforts to reach Guzman were unsuccessful.

Rigsby and Parga said another aide who was in the class at the time complained to school administrators. Parga said she was not present for the movie. District officials could say little on the matter.

“We’ve addressed the issue. We’re not at liberty to discuss the issues surrounding it,” said Human Resources Director Elizabeth Novack. School board members declined to comment.

In the movie shown, “Road Trip,” the protagonist mistakenly sends a tape of his having sex with another girl to his girlfriend in Texas. He and his friends try to intercept the video on 1,800-mile trip, along which they swindle a school for blind people, visit a fertility clinic and watch a grandpa hallucinate from marijuana.

The children watch movies after lunch every other day, and they’re always Disney or other G-rated types, Parga said.

Rigsby and Parga said they did not know who played or owned the movie.

Parga and Rigsby think their dismissals were unnecessary.

“We really believe we should have gotten a slap on the wrist or a write-up and gone back to work. It’s a big drama that shouldn’t have occurred,” Rigsby said. “This is what I want to do for a career I love these kids to death.”

Novack said a new teacher has already been hired and is set to begin work Monday.

JOSEPH SERNA may be reached at (714) 966-4619 or at [email protected].