Texas School Draws Ire For Mass Shooting-Based Reading Quiz

AUSTIN, TX — There is such a thing as "too soon" after all: A Texas school district has been criticized for using the Sutherland Springs, Texas, mass shooting — the worst in state history — as the basis of an 8th-grade quiz testing reading comprehension.

Sweeny ISD officials acknowledged to KENS that one of its teachers administered the quiz, which used an article on the massacre last Sunday at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs. The slaughter by a lone gunman took the lives of 26 parishioners and injured another 20.

Critics of the study material have expressed umbrage at the selected topic as insensitive to victims, survivors and their families still trying to negotiate their grief just days after the deadly rampage.

Related story: Texas Church Members Gather For Private Service Sunday

The news station learned the test was created by an educational service named "Newsela" on Nov. 6, a mere day after the mass shooting that has left the small town reeling and its residents wracked with grief. KENS learned of the test from a concerned aunt of a student attending Sweeny Junior High School who provided the news station images of the test he took home.

Newsela partners with The Washington Post in producing such current events tests, describing itself on its website as "...an education website focused on building student reading comprehension by providing high-quality news articles and real-time assessments for students in grades 2–12." Selected stories are "student-friendly," the website indicates, with curated articles used to promote the utilization of nonfiction reading as a tool for "learning in every subject."

The news station found the Sutherland Springs article serving as basis for the quiz on Newsela's website using the search feature. At the bottom of the page, the news station noted, the company linked to related articles under a "You May Also Like" category, including one with the headline "Mass shooting in Las Vegas claims lives of 59 people, 527 injured."

That earlier mass shooting in Nevada took place on the night of Oct. 1 — a little more than a month before Sutherland Springs — when a mass shooter opened fire on a crowd of 22,000 concertgoers attending the Route 91 Harvest music festival from a makeshift sniper's perch on the 32nd floor of an adjacent hotel.

Facing backlash over the choice of study material for the class assignment, Sweeny school district officials offered an apology:

On Thursday, November 10th, Sweeny Independent School District was made aware of an 8th grade English Language Arts lesson that involved students reading an article about the tragedy at Sutherland Springs. While the purpose of the assignment was to use current events to support learning standards, we recognize that the timing was not appropriate. We sincerely apologize and will continue to encourage staff to be mindful when faced with emotional current events or sensitive topics. In Sweeny, we value family and community and our hearts go out to those impacted by this tragedy.

It's unclear if the teacher administering the current events quiz was reprimanded for the assignment. Sweeny ISD serves its namesake coastal city of some 4,000 residents in Brazoria County, located just under 170 miles east of Sutherland Springs.

>>> Read the full article at KENS 5

Photo: Law enforcement officers gather in front of the First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs after a fatal shooting, Sunday, Nov. 5, 2017, in Sutherland Springs, Texas. Photo by Darren Abate/Associated Press