FULTON, Mo. – Missouri’s Fulton Public Schools officials are scrambling to deal with the fallout of a lesson plan used in one physical education class that has outraged parents and likely violated federal laws.

Superintendent Jacque Cowherd apologized to parents last Monday about a “Claim It” activity used by physical education teachers at Fulton Middle School during a “character education day” March 20.

During the activity, teachers read 100 statements about sexual orientation, physical abuse, family finances, drugs and alcohol and other personal information, and students were instructed to “Claim It” by stepping forward if the statement applied to them, the Fulton Sun reports.

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Statements included:

“You or someone in your family has been raped or sexually assaulted.”

“You have ever been physically abused by someone who said they love you.”

“You worry or have worried about how your family will pay the bills.”

“Someone in your family has been addicted to alcohol or drugs.”

Students were rightly uncomfortable with the exercise, and they told their parents, who were outraged. School officials claimed the activity was aligned with Missouri Learning Standards that calls on schools to identify societal problems, model healthy communication skills, assess personal health needs and other standards outlined by the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, the Sun reports.

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Parent Murdine told the Sun her sixth-grade daughter was among students who participated, and she’s “dumbfounded” by the assertion that “Claim It” aligns with state learning standards.

“Now, I’m more angered and disappointed that the district pawned this off as a legitimate part of the curriculum,” she said.

Murdine wrote in a letter to FPS board members that the district’s supposed goal for the “Claim It” curriculum –  to “evaluate ideas and perspectives regarding the influence that family, friends and culture have on health choices and decisions” – doesn’t justify students’ invasion of privacy. Teachers reportedly informed students that the game was voluntary, but Murdine contends many felt compelled to participate.

“My daughter did not feel the activity was voluntary,” Murdie wrote in the letter. “No student in her class sat out from this very public activity. To have sat out would have opened her up to bullying.”

Last week, Cowherd told the media the “Claim It” activity had gone on for 7 to 8 years at the middle school, though he was unaware of it and had not received any complaints.

“I don’t think the activity was in line with appropriateness,” he told the Sun. “We strive to have (activities) in line with standards and appropriateness, but we’re taking the position that the questions in that activity were inappropriate.”

Cowherd followed up on the issue this week, announcing Monday that the district is self-reporting violations to the Family Policy Compliance Office of the U.S. Department of Education, KOMU reports.

“We had a complete legal review done of the activity and the questions and our counsel advised that we’d violated some federal privacy laws,” Cowherd told the television station. “We made the decision last night to go ahead and self-report those violations to the U.S. Department of Education, which has been done this morning.”

Another letter sent to parents also outlined what the district is doing to correct course, such as bringing in counselors to speak with students, self-reporting the federal violations, issuing a memo to district staff about student privacy, holding faculty meetings to review the policy, and weekly review of physical education lessons through the end of the school year, KOMU reports.

“We’ve worked through the self-reporting process. We’ve also worked with the middle school faculty on where the error was, and that’s the individuals involved and the faculty as a whole,” Cowherd told KOMU.

“We’ve asked that we review everything they are doing,” he said.