Heyer Elementary School in Waukesha, Wisconsin, is receiving a whirlwind of criticism after the School District banned several songs from being performed during their spring concert due to a violation of their Controversial Issues in the Classroom. Teachers, students, and parents are outraged over the decision.
Two of the songs being banned from the concert are ‘Rainbowland’ by Dolly Parton and Miley Cyrus and ‘Rainbow Connection’ from the 1979 film The Muppet Movie. While students were very excited to perform the songs, they won’t be given the opportunity due to the School District’s controversial decision.
According to the policy, the songs are being banned because they “may be the subject of intense public argument, disagreement or disapproval’ and ‘may have political, social or personal impacts on students and/or the community; and which is likely to arouse both support and opposition in the community.”
One teacher at the school, Melissa Tempel, took to Twitter to voice her displeasure over the decision. “My first graders were so excited to sing Rainbowland for our spring concert, but it has been vetoed by our administration. When will it end?” she wrote, tagging Dolly Parton, Miley Cyrus, and the School District.
She also shared some of the lyrics from the song, which are essentially dedicated to living in a world where ‘we’re free to be exactly who we are’ and ask people to ‘brush the judgment and fear aside, make wrong things right, and end the fight.’ Overall the song is catchy and positive, and a lot of kids enjoy it.
“Living in a Rainbowland / Where you and I go hand in hand / Oh, I’d be lying if I said this was fine / All the hurt and the hate going on here / We are rainbows, me and you / Every color, every hue / Let’s shine on through / Together, we can start living in a Rainbowland,” Parton and Cyrus sing in the popular song.
While the school district allegedly banned the song because Miley Cyrus is ‘controversial,’ Tempel believes the song was banned because of Dolly Parton’s support of the drag community and the LGBTQ community as a whole. Still, she has no plans of stopping her students from singing it if they choose.
Heyer Elementary School Unbans ‘Rainbow Connection’
While the school district apparently has no plans of unbanning ‘Rainbowland’ from being performed in the spring concert, they did reportedly unban ‘Rainbow Connection,’ and it is now replacing ‘Rainbowland’ in the performance. It’s a small win, but more must be done to protect the rights of students and children.
“This is the most recent decision by a school district administration intent on stifling the diversity and denying equality to the community it serves, further ostracizing Waukesha in the eyes of the nation,” said Becky Gilligan of the Alliance for Education – adding that they’ll continue to fight for the community.
And Melissa Tempel wasn’t the only one to speak up. A mother of one of her students spoke out about the recent changes that were made to the school district as a result of unpopular COVID-19 policies. She criticized the changes as a ‘conservative flip’ that appears to discriminate against the LGBTQ community.
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One of those is a controversial topic policy saying that teachers can’t have any kind of signage that could be deemed political. … Discussion of pronouns with students was another thing that came up. And teachers aren’t allowed to wear rainbows,” said Sarah Schindler, who has a daughter in Tempel’s class.
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