red_tails.jpegDALLAS (AP) _ The Dallas school district treated about 5,700 fifth-grade boys _ but no girls _ to a screening of “Red Tails,'' a new movie about African-American fighter pilots in World War II.

 

The Dallas Morning News  reports buses began unloading Dallas school children Thursday morning at a theater in Mesquite, a nearby suburb.

In an email to the newspaper, school district spokesman Jon Dahlander said: “There is only so much available space at the movie theater, so the decision was made for boys to attend the movie. Girls stayed at school, but principals were given the option to show them `Akeelah and the Bee.'''

“Akeelah and the Bee'' tells of an 11-year-old girl from the South Central section of Los Angeles who participates in the Scripps National Spelling Bee.