Here is a strong candidate for teacher/blogger Rick Jones’ annual Curmie Awards on his blog Curmudgeon Central. He recognizes the most despicable conduct by teachers and school administrators, and while this year’s award may go to some fourth grade teacher who sets autistic kids on fire, I know he will share my disgust at this story.
The theater club at Maiden High School in North Carolina was in production of John Cariani’s newly-popular stage dramedy “Almost, Maine,” a series of vignettes about bittersweet love and romance. A brief scene touches on a budding same-sex relationship, and this so worried school administrators that before green-lighting the production, Principal Rob Bliss and Catawba County Schools Superintendent Dan Brigman decreed that every student wishing to audition or assist with the production must turn in signed parental permission letters. Only one student was prevented from auditioning through this screening process, and production commenced. The club to reserved the rights, rented the scripts, cast the parts and began rehearsals. The local churches learned that that the show contained (Ewww!) gay people, and the school abruptly reversed course, cancelling the production. Principle Bliss issued this weasel-worthy statement:
“In regards to the request for students to perform the play “Almost Maine,” careful review and consideration was given to the contents of this play. The play contained sexually-explicit overtones and multiple sexual innuendos that are not aligned with our mission and educational objectives. As principal of Maiden High School, I have an obligation to ensure that all material, including drama performances is appropriate and educationally sound for students of all ages.”
He did not mention that the production had already been approved, and that he and the school caved to community censorship by right-wing bullies, intolerant religious jerks, or local jerks who didn’t have the resources to go to New York City and picket “The Death of Klinghoffer.” He had one, and exactly one, response available to him once complaints began rolling in from anti-gay, anti-same sex marriage citizens of fair Maiden. It would be this...
“The students duly submitted “Always, Maine” for official approval, and it was approved by me, pending parental consent for their children to participate. Now the production is underway, and it would be unfair, a breach of the school’s integrity and a terrible lesson in promise-keeping to withdraw approval from the production now, when the drama club has invested its time and resources based on reliance on the school’s approval. To those who feel “Almost, Maine,” which is among the most frequently performed plays in high school theaters across the country, is likely to offend their sensibilities, I recommend the time honored and effective remedy of seeking other entertainment options. To those wishing to object to same-sex marriage and homosexual relationships, I suggest contacting the legislature, as the former is legal in our state, and the latter is protected by the U.S. Constitution.”
But no. Bliss and his fellow administrators at Maiden High are typical of their breed across America: timid, cowardly, without principle or integrity, quick to sacrifice the best interests of students and their respect for authority in order to take the path of least resistance. Individuals of such weak character are unqualified to train cocker spaniels, much less instruct and guide human children.
The students raised money for an off-site production, prompting a sigh of relief from Bliss and mistaken pronouncements from pundits that “all’s well that ends well.” Wrong. The students were betrayed, and the censorship of art by a government entity was allowed to stand. The students decided to be artists rather than civil libertarians, and turned down an offer by the ACLU to fight for freedom of speech. I would have probably done otherwise, but I like fighting even more than I like directing plays. I can’t blame them.
No, this story won’t have a happy ending until all school administrators like Bliss are purged from the education system, and students are safe from assaults by censors, bigots and fools.
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Pointer: Washington Post
Sources: Hesherman, ThinkProgress 1,2; WSOTV 1, 2
Ethics Alarms attempts to give proper attribution and credit to all sources of facts, analysis and other assistance that go into its blog posts, and seek written permission when appropriate. If you are aware of one I missed, or believe your own work or property was used in any way without proper attribution, credit or permission, please contact me, Jack Marshall, at jamproethics@verizon.net.
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Maybe this is a very naive question – forgive me, but I don’t have a clue about the dynamics between highschools and their local churches in the U.S.: Why would the principle give a flying you-know-what about what the local churches think if the teacher, parents and students are all okay with it?
Unless it was a private catholic school…
He’s a weenie, that’s all. He’s afraid of controversy. Letters to his bosses. Letters in the newspaper. “You know…morons.”
He might also be concerned about local politics. This is a small town with, presumably, a small voter base and a small board of education. Perhaps the local minsters wield disproportionate influence. If I had spent most of my professional life in education, landed this gig, and was close to my pension vesting or maxing out, I might be less concerned with students who will all be gone in a few years and probably not remember too much about that play they were in than I would be about church members coming on strong with their contributions and voting for whoever the minister tells them to, all aimed at removing me because I greenlighted something that was going to generate controversy and seemed like a good idea at the time.
Question, though, would you still reach the same conclusion if the play being produced were, say, the musical version of The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe and local atheists decided to kick up a stink? Although most educated folks know where C.S. Lewis was coming from, there are no overt references to Christ or Christianity in the adaptation (although Santa Claus does appear in one scene).
As you should know, given my background, I’d reach the same conclusion if the play was Hair, The Boys in the Band, Marat-Sade, of anything else. Once the production has been OK’d, there is no retreating. If I were the director, we’d be holding a performance in the school halls.
While the principal should not be concerned about the opinion of local churches per se, he does have an obligation to listen to members of the community. This would include pastors and church board members as individuals, assuming they were residents in the school district. This obligation to listen, importantly, does not bind him to any particular action, particularly when parental consent for their child’s exposure to the content has already been obtained.
He can listen, but that’s all he can do. The stopping the show train left the station, or should have. And responsible church members would not insist otherwise. (We don’t really know who squawked…the church theory comes from a student.)
In which case, the church theory is probably bogus. I’ve worked with various high-school clubs for years, and if anyone ever harassed or caused trouble for anyone else, it was the Gay-Straight Alliance antagonizing the Bible nerds. Michael Savage has an unscroupulous Junior army.
Oops, I think I mean Dan Savage. Got my angry-people-named-Savage mixed up.
Michael Savage is decidedly right of center and once told a gay caller to catch AIDS and die. Dan Savage is gay and uses “fuck” as much in one article as you or I do in a month. I would LOVE to see those two debate.
Only if Fred Savage can moderate.
Yuck. I would rather gouge my eyes out with a spoon while using the other hand to shoot carbolic acid into my ears with a squirt-gun.
(Rolling on the floor laughing my ass off). Not just any acid, but carbolic acid!
Jack, please tell us how you really feel!
I’m still not sure which one you mean. Maybe you meant Jessica Savich?
Humph!! Bullying is bullying, whether I agree with the issue at hand or not. Worse, being a weenie is being a weenie, no matter what the issue you cave on is. When, oh when, will people in authority develop a backbone and start standing up to these bullies? My guess, never. Religious jerks and Al Sharpton have a lot in common.
Exactly! The old and new Puritans!
Just to clarify, Cariani is a Maine native (although he now lives in New York), and the play is set there, but the brouhaha is in North Carolina, so the Maine legislature referenced in the what-the-principal-should-have-said letter is irrelevant. NC’s legislature in fact wants to fight same-sex marriage, but it’s currently legal there because of a court order.
Yep, and NC is a decidedly more red place than ME. It was the last place to outlaw Ben Down and Phil McCrevis marriages by popular vote.
Fixed it. I was getting this briefly confused with the “Almost, North Carolina” controversy in Maiden, Maine…thanks.
Lt. Frank Drebin: Hector Savage. From Detroit. Ex-boxer. His real name was Joey Chicago.
Ed Hocken: Oh, yeah. He fought under the name of Kid Minneapolis.
Nordberg: I saw Kid Minneapolis fight once. In Cincinnati.
Lt. Frank Drebin: No you’re thinking of Kid New York. He fought out of Philly.
Ed Hocken: He was killed in the ring in Houston. By Tex Colorado. You know, the Arizona Assassin.
Nordberg: Yeah, from Dakota. I don’t remember it was North or South.
Lt. Frank Drebin: North. South Dakota was his brother. From West Virginia.
Ed Hocken: You sure know your boxing.
Lt. Frank Drebin: All I know is never bet on the white guy.
I am actually a student here at this school, and I would like to know why this is such a big deal. We here at Maiden do not like all this…attention to put it. Yes, I do believe in gay rights as I think any Christian should, it is their choice, not mine to make and I should not have the power to restrict it.
What I do not understand though is why all of this attention? Why would the ACLU be involved? Nobody at out school even KNEW about this play, so when they cancelled it, none even really cared.
Homework: 1) See Rationalization #10 on the Rationalizations list, 2) look up the concepts of “principle” and “state censorship” 3) Read some history: the fact that “nobody cares” about infringements on rights is not a justification for infringing them.