<p>A Missouri Drama teacher quit rather than be fired after complaints because of tawdry scenes in her last production. She changed to a MidSummers Nights Dream, and the students were set to do the Crucible. A small church group complained about scenes in the first production that included smoking, drinking and kissing</p>
<p>before you peak, what play were they complaining about?</p>
<p><a href=“HeadlineAlley”>HeadlineAlley;
<p>Never did like that musical too much but it is pretty standard high school fare.</p>
<p>When my daughter was in 7th gd- she was in the Lysistrata ( it was a high school production). Most high schools tackle weightier topics than “Zombie Prom”. For instance the local Catholic school just did " The Laramie Project", and last year my younger daughters school did “Cabaret”- they have also done ThreePenny Opera
.
Perhaps they should do Romeo and Juliet? Too many students aren’t exposed to the classics. When my daughters class took a weeklong trip to the Ashland Shakespeare festival in middle school, they saw Romeo and Juliet. Towards the end when you could have heard a pin drop , one of her friends could be heard to exclaim " She Dies? " !!!</p>
<p>But Romoe and Juliet has egad kissing and stuff</p>
<p>heaven forbid</p>
<p>Grease is kind of tacky, but do they really think teens haven’t seen people smoke or drink?</p>
<p>And Shakespaere has some pretty wild stuff- murders, incest, sex, and all the good stuff</p>
<p>And here we’re told to only worry about the ayahtollahs abroad.</p>
<p>There was a discussion about this in the MT forum last month in case anyone’s interested in reading it:</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=146638[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=146638</a></p>
<p>I remember when my oldest daughter was a sixth grader and I took her to the Catholic high school to see “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum.” During a quiet moment, she suddenly blurts out “What’s a EUNUCH!” Shhh, says I, I’ll explain it LATER!</p>
<p>most schools around here read romeo and juliet in junior high - 9th grade. my 11th grade sister is currently taking shakesphere 1 and so far has read julius ceasar, macbeth, and a midsummer nights dream and they have a few more to do yet.</p>
<p>I still am abashed over the book I had my 5th grade reading book do.
“To Kill a Mockingbird”.
It had been a very long time since I had read it, and while the context of much of the book went with other books we were reading on social justice issues, my adult mind glossed over more violent aspects of the story that were probably a little much for 10 & 11 year olds.
But considering that the honors english teacher had them reading " Dante’s Inferno" in 7th grade, To kill a mockingbird was proably pretty manageable, and we had a great movie to watch afterwards!</p>
<p>We did Sweeny Todd in our HS, among other out of the box choices. Guess those MO parents would be in a bit of an uproar.</p>
<p>Has anyone turned on a television lately…these plays are certainly above the idiot boxes standards.</p>
<p>Rumors has some very colorful language, which the director changed to soften it, and people still complained. There were others, but the principal precluded us from doing Godspell even tho other schools in the district had done it, because she was worried about the community’s complaining.</p>
<p>What nonsense! This is why we need public schools. At least they wont be swayed by bible thumpers.</p>
<p>“What nonsense! This is why we need public schools. At least they wont be swayed by bible thumpers.”</p>
<p>w1cked, that could be any school around here. We had a wonderful English teacher who resisted such pressure and he managed to not be dismissed, but he did end up leaving a couple of years ago, much to the dismay of the AP English students.</p>
<p>Our health teachers are not allowed to discuss birth control because a Christian-based parents’ coalition believes it should be taught at home. Trouble is, it isn’t. Just ask the teacher who runs the speciaL program for pregnant hs girls and ask the principals of the hs’s where some of the girls opted to stay.</p>
<p>My son’s Spanish teacher in ms had scheduled studying Dia de la Muerta as part of the Mexican culture that is so near to us. A girl stood up and said that the class should not study it because she was a Christian and did not believe in it. The worthless teacher did not tell the girl that she could leave during the study and do an alternate project, but instead cancelled that part of the lesson plan. </p>
<p>My kids’ schools are all public.</p>
<p>I just noticed a HUGE typo. I meant to say PRIVATE schools. I can’t edit my last post! A private school can do whatever they want, and if a parent doesn’t like the current school they can always choose. Thats the problem with public schools-lack of choice due to zoning.</p>
<p>Listen, we’re all being swayed by bible thumpers. It’s the wave of the future.</p>
<p>w1cked. I make typos too!</p>
<p>I have to say though, that a high school teacher who can’t stand a little dissension, perhaps shouldn’t be teaching high school.
Doesn’t she have a union? How can the teachers union allow teachers to be fired because of a handful of church members who complain?
If she wants to teach in a high school where the views are all the same- good luck- I agree that the superintendent should have stayed out of it, but I think that it is more important that we continue to fight against censorship, who is going to fight for these kids if the only teachers are left are those who reflect the views of a vocal minority.</p>
<p>OH the NYT adds a little more detail</p>
<p>*The teacher, Wendy DeVore, quit on Tuesday, after she had criticized the superintendent’s handling of the matter in a message to a Web log that found its way back to school officials. Ms. DeVore said she was told her remarks bordered on insubordination and would make it difficult to persuade the school board to extend her contract next year. *</p>
<p>D’oh, you don’t complain about your boss online and not expect it to get back to him- this stuff is public- people! :rolleyes:</p>
<p>EK, I wondered about the type of support this teacher was getting or if it was one of those towns that are controlled by an extremely conservative church group. I lived in a similar town, for years no one could use the public school property on Sunday, they spoke out against Broadway musicals like that Sin filled “Okalahoma,” (“The girl can not say, ‘no!’” and they tried to stop Midsummer because the word “Ass”)</p>
<p>I don’t have an answer about the union, although I suggest that any state that has a sixth year teacher worrying about her job because of this foolishness needs to reform its tenure policy ad probably needs a stronger union. This type of pressure interferring with teachers is what tenure protection is all about.</p>
<p>I participated on the thread a few weeks ago on this topic on the Musical Theater Forum that AlwaysAMom has linked to in a post #5. I was appalled then and still am now reading this update. Besides my personal viewpoint that performing Grease or The Crucible is appropriate, I was taken back how these were not allowed due to complaints by just a few community members and that the school did not stand up for its standard but caved in to get rid of controversy. Since when does a minority rule? Where is the community input? This school has The Crucible in its academic curriculum, afterall. </p>
<p>I have been thinking of this case in the past few days again BEFORE I saw this new thread in the Parent Cafe with the latest update. The reason it came to my mind once again is due to my outrage at an incident in my kids’ high school this week that I just read about in my local paper a few days ago. I didn’t know of it until I read the paper as both my kids recently graduated so I am not as involved in school anymore (thank goodness!). A Latin teacher at our HS has been put on “administrative leave”. The reason is that she gave out materials in class regarding graffiti that is recorded on the walls of Pompeii. The list included the originals in Latin and their English translations. The lesson had to do with insights into the daily life, cares, and crimes of the times. The quotes reveal the life of the common man or everyday existence of Roman men and women of the fifrst century after Christ. She was using the materials to teach the culture and language of the ancient world in a real world context. </p>
<p>This is NOT a personnel issue, in my view, but an academic one. I cannnot believe the teacher was taken from the classroom. For one thing, ths teacher is one of the BEST teachers in the school and a highly dedicated one for years there. My kids did not take Latin, but I know the teacher and she accompanied my older D on a trip to France. Her husband is the head of the History Dept. and my kids have taken several courses with him and he is also one of the finest and most regarded teachers, extremely dedicated, in the school. Both are Middlebury graduates and commute a long distance each day to teach at our rural public school. My D attributes the teaching of that history teacher to some of her success in her course work at her Ivy college. </p>
<p>This incident came about because a parent of a kid in the class complained. I realize that everyone holds different views as to what material is appropriate in a classroom but since when does a vocal minority rule what can be taught? Where does this end? Is it OK in art class to view Michelangelo’s work? What about Shakespeare? What about teaching about birth control in health class? Etc. I recall an incident at our school with again, one of the top and most dedicated an challenging teachers in the school, a Middle school English teacher (it is a MS/HS) over a book she assigned that was on some approved English teacher or librarian list for that age group but some parents opposed the book. Between that and other things, that teacher eventually left as the pressures on her by the principal got to be too much. </p>
<p>Besides whether or not one thinks this material is appropriate for the classroom, I am just appalled at how this was handled. To put her on administrative leave is VERY heavy handed. This is a teacher, to my knowledge, with an impeccable record and is well regarded as an example of the finest teachers, so it was not like some last straw in some long list of “wrongs”. When I think of some very unprofessional things some other teachers have done at the school and nothing has happened, this is just outrageous. It is not like the teacher spoke using profanity in class or with a student. She was sharing educational materials. Ironically, she will be accompanying a group of students on spring break to Italy and Greece and they will be visiting Pompeii and can see this stuff first hand and likely will learn about it on some tour there (my child went on this exact trip two years ago). It reminds me of how The Crucible can be read in class but not performed. Here they will view the original stuff but can’t learn about it in class. Huh? </p>
<p>To me, if this question arose by a parent in the class, then the administration could talk to the teacher and then decide if this was appropriate or not and deal with it in some fashion with that teacher. There is no need for an administrative leave while they “look into it” as if her being in the classroom is harmful to the students in the meantime. I guess it will be reviewed by the school board. I called the parent who wrote the letter to the editor who told me that the school board would NOT allow ANY public input claiming it is a personnel matter. But it really is an academic matter as to what is taught in the classroom. Somehow the parent who complained was “heard” but now parents who would like to discuss the appropriateness of this material in the curriculum can’t be heard. That reminds me of The Crucible incident I had read about a few weeks ago where a few parents complained but where is the public input on curriculum issues? Does the vocal minority just get their way? Who decides what will be taught? Who decides if the material is not moral for the classroom?</p>
<p>I guess right now there is a decision making proces regarding disciplinary action (why she is on leave during that time is beyond me) and it could go to the school board to deliberate the appropriateness of the learning materials. But there is no policy about these materials so it is up to their own take on the matter. And where is public input on that “take”? The action taken so far with the teacher is just not right, in my view, and I hope the union can take part on the process here. Clearly, no matter which stand someone has on the materials used in the lesson, the teacher should go through a process and not need to be removed from the classroom over this in the meantime. It is not really about the teacher in my opinion but about the standards for the curriculum and who decides those standards and what these will be. There isn’t a policy that directly prohibit profanity in historical materials used in teaching. </p>
<p>Both the Missouri incident and now what is happening in our high school disturbs me in this day and age. I surely hope some democratic input will be taken here at our school but right now part of the outrage is that no community members may speak at the school board meeting or likely have our letters read on the issue!
Susan</p>
<p>Time to organize. I’m serious. Schools are run in the U.S. by and for the community. And I bet the majority needs to step in and rule with their votes and their voices. I am reminded of the IB “Marxist” incident in Pittsburgh. We can all laugh…but! Policies need to be in place. It looks like weak leadership in the school as well. Getting good people in the top positions who have values that describe their communities is a tough proposition. I’m not there but I understand the culture of schools. If your principal can’t protect you in a situation like this and you are a valuable teacher, then the principal is to put it bluntly, “no good.”</p>