Kentucky school board reviewing first-grade assignment that sparked accusations of ‘body shaming’

A Kentucky board of education has said it will review a school district’s first-grade curriculum after reports that an assignment had sparked accusations of “body shaming.”

Laural Lee Lewis said her daughter brought home a worksheet from London Elementary School that asked students to find a word’s definition by choosing a picture that best describes it, local news station WKYT reports.

For example, students were reportedly asked to circle the photo that best represented a “cow” or a “dish,” but another task told students to pick the photo that best represents “fat” by choosing between two illustrations of girls.

“I had to explain to her that it was body shaming,” Lewis told the station. “Even if it was a skinny girl or the example for skinny, I feel that would still be body shaming that person because some people don’t want to be called that.”

She added: “The way they illustrated it, it bothered me more than anything … They could have used an animal. I gave an example of a cupcake — bigger cupcake or little cupcake.”

The Laurel County Board of Education said in a statement to WKYT that it was “notified yesterday via news media of this concern” and that no parent had reported it to them.

The board said it will be “reviewing” the first-grade curriculum going forward.