Sedalia school officials cancel trips to play

SEDALIA, Mo. -- Sedalia schools have canceled the remaining field trips to see a play based on the "Punch and Judy" puppet show after they deemed it inappropriate for younger students.

Assistant superintendent Brad Pollitt said he made the decision based on the violence in the show after some elementary school students in the school district saw the play at State Fair Community College.

The play showed "things that you, day in and day out, teach kids not to do," he said.

Horace Mann Elementary principal Julie Dill said she expressed concerns after some of her students saw the show. She said she didn't think the content was appropriate for students in kindergarten, first and second grades.

"Punch and Judy" has been around since the 17th century and was a 1950s television program for children. There are different versions of the play, but most show Punch behaving outrageously and triumphing in a series of encounters with the law.

Students at Heber Hunt and Washington elementary schools took the scheduled trip, as did the third, fourth, and fifth grades from Horace Mann, but students from Skyline and Parkview elementary schools didn't attend.

About 3,700 students from 23 area schools were expected to attend the show.

Eric Yazell, program coordinator for the college theater, said he called all the schools after concerns arose. He canceled trips from preschools and offered the elementary schools the option to cancel. About six or seven did so.

"I understand the concern of parents; I'm a parent myself. I try to monitor what my children watch on television, and I certainly would never promote anything that I thought advocated violence," he said.