Miami Teacher Showed ‘Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey’ to Fourth Grade Class: A ‘Mental Health Counselor’ Has Met With ‘Students Who Expressed Concern’
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Fourth graders at a K-12 charter school in Miami Springs got an upsetting Halloween surprise when their teacher screened the horror movie “Winnie the Pooh: Honey and Blood,” reports CBS News Miami. Despite the title of the film including “Winnie the Pooh,” the movie is not suitable for children as it follows Winnie and Piglet on a blood-thirsty rampage after Christopher Robin abandons them for college. The film was shown to fourth graders at the Academy of Innovative Education on Oct. 2.
“I feel completely abandoned by the school,” Michelle Diaz, a parent whose twins were in the fourth grade class, told CBS News, adding that the movie was shown because of a “careless teacher.”
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According to Diaz, the film played for “20 to 30 minutes” before the teacher shut it off. She said that the students were allowed to a pick a movie to watch and they selected “Blood and Honey,” but “it’s not for them to decide what they want… It’s up to the professor to look at the content.”
“He didn’t stop the movie, even though there were kids saying, ‘Hey, stop the movie, we don’t want to watch this,'” Diaz added.
Ms. Vera Hirsh, the head of the school, sent the following statement to CBS News: “The Academy for Innovative Education has become aware that a segment of a horror movie was shown to fourth graders, Monday, October 2, 2023, that was not suitable for the age group. Our administration promptly addressed this issue directly with the teacher and has taken appropriate action to ensure the safety and well-being of students.”
“We are actively monitoring the students and our mental health counselor and principal have already met with those students who have expressed concerns,” Hirsh’s statement added.
“Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey” was released without a rating, which could explain how the film ended up as an option for the fourth graders to watch.
The film’s director, Rhys Waterfield, revealed in an interview with Variety last year that he shot the project in only 10 days near the Ashdown Forest in England, the inspiration for the Hundred Acre Woods as depicted in the original “Winnie the Pooh” stories. The characters entered the public domain last year. To avoid copyright issues with Disney — which owns the interpretations of the character as seen in various films and television shows — certain elements were changed, including swapping Pooh Bear’s red shirt for lumberjack gear and omitting characters like Tigger, who are still under copyright.
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