Dear Superintendent Adkins,

I'm writing from TeachKind, PETA's humane education division, which works with thousands of
teachers nationwide to bring compassion into the classroom. We're contacting you because we've
heard disturbing reports that two Lee County teenagers are accused of violently abusing animals.
The first reportedly filmed himself kicking a cat and later bragged about it on social media. The
second allegedly hurled a cat more than 30 feet into the air over a street and then watched her fall
to her apparent deathan attack that was reportedly recorded on video and shared around the
individual's school for several weeks. Thankfully, authorities appear to be taking these matters
seriously and have arrested the latter suspect on felony charges. As mental-health and law-
enforcement experts well know, people who demonstrate a blatant lack of empathy and disregard
for life by committing violent acts such as this one often go on to harm humans as well.

Given the current focus on the national epidemic of bullying and its often tragic resultsas well
as Florida's law requiring that schools incorporate lessons on kindness to animals into their
curriculait's both vital and timely that a standard of compassion be set and that students
understand that harming any sentient being is wrong. In light of this act of violence, we're
writing to ask you to work with us to implement humane education in your schools and
urge students in your community to report cruelty to animals whenever they see it.

The prevention of violence can start in the classroom. Would you consider incorporating humane
education into your curriculum? That way, you'd have a chance to reach kids before they ever
lash out violently.

TeachKind is here to help! We're sending the elementary schools in your district free Share the
World curriculum kits, which are perfect tools for teaching younger students the Golden Rule as
well as the importance of compassion and empathy. We've also offered our free anti-violence
poster from our youth division to your middle and high schools. It encourages students to report
cruelty to animals whenever they discover it, for everyone's sakeand displaying it in a
prominent location could help save a life. Our staff is always available to send free materials
(including comics about elephants and other animals), suggest free lesson plans available at
TeachKind.org, and even host free classroom presentations with your students via Skype. We're
here to assist you in any way that we can in order to ensure that your efforts to teach kindness are
successful.

On behalf of our more than 6.5 million members and supporters worldwide, many of whom
proudly reside in Florida, we thank you for your consideration. I hope to hear from you soon.

Warm regards,

Kayla Wright
TeachKind Assistant, PETA
KaylaW@peta.org

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