Bull Fucking Shit!
My mom e-mailed me this article from the Florida Today website. I am completely appauled. Having inside info on the situation it is even more disgusting. Read, comment, protest, kill.
The original link is http://www.flatoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051021/NEWS01/510210346
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Drama club officers ousted over poems
BY JAMES DEAN
Doth the ladies protest too much?
Two Satellite High drama students, upset that no play is scheduled for production this year, are facing punishment after speaking out at a school-sponsored coffee house.
The school is investigating whether senior Beth Kancilia and junior Veronica Boehm crossed a line when they read poems critical of the drama staff during a fundraiser earlier this month.
"Free speech is fine as long as it doesn't create a disruption or violate a school board policy," said Principal Mark Elliott.
This week the students were removed from their offices as president and secretary of the drama club known as the Thespian Society, and they could
be barred from district and state drama competitions.
Elliott will decide that after meeting with families supportive of and offended by the students' actions, with drama teacher Christy Raub, and with Area Superintendent David Piccolo.
At the root of their frustration, the students say, is the school's decision not to produce a play this year, focusing instead on the musical, "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum."
"We have nothing against a musical," said Kancilia, who didn't audition for the show. "A musical will bring a name and money to Satellite that a play never will."
Several students said they simply aren't as interested in musicals.
As an advanced drama student who has acted in plays each year, Kancilia hoped to finish her high school career with one last play, and possibly to win recognition or scholarship money.
Instead she and Boehm said their lobbying for a play has led to harassment from fellow students. Meanwhile Satellite is emphasizing musicals as a way to get more students involved in drama.
"We've got a $4 million facility, and to have 66 kids involved in the drama program last year, and to have students leaving -- we had to make changes in the program," he said.
This year, Elliott brought in Raub, a 1989 Satellite graduate, to revive a program called "American Musical Theater." Now 123 students take drama classes, involving multiple disciplines.
In addition to the musical, the advanced drama class this spring is scheduled to perform a "dramatic showcase" featuring seniors in seven- to10-minute scenes.
Around the county and even the country, said Kevin Buck, drama director at Cocoa Beach Jr./Sr. High, "the norm is usually two shows, a scripted play and musical. But certainly, the director has discretion."
During the off-campus fundraiser for the Thespian Society, at Java Junkies in Satellite Beach, the two students expressed their displeasure in a venue they considered fair game for artistic expression.
The two students read poems that sometimes subtly, sometimes directly criticized the drama program.
"After trying so many times to get our point across and being turned down, we thought a poem would be the best way for our voices to be heard," Boehm said.
Elliott disagrees, saying the poems created a significant disruption to the drama program. While the students don't face suspension, he said they may lose some extracurricular privileges.
Boehm and Kancilia wonder how their passion for a play led to this point.
"Repercussions, bring them on," Boehm's poem concluded. "The pain is way too deep to hurt anymore."
Contact Dean at 242-3617 or jdean@flatoday.net
The original link is http://www.flatoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051021/NEWS01/510210346
---------------------------------------------------
Drama club officers ousted over poems
BY JAMES DEAN
Doth the ladies protest too much?
Two Satellite High drama students, upset that no play is scheduled for production this year, are facing punishment after speaking out at a school-sponsored coffee house.
The school is investigating whether senior Beth Kancilia and junior Veronica Boehm crossed a line when they read poems critical of the drama staff during a fundraiser earlier this month.
"Free speech is fine as long as it doesn't create a disruption or violate a school board policy," said Principal Mark Elliott.
This week the students were removed from their offices as president and secretary of the drama club known as the Thespian Society, and they could
be barred from district and state drama competitions.
Elliott will decide that after meeting with families supportive of and offended by the students' actions, with drama teacher Christy Raub, and with Area Superintendent David Piccolo.
At the root of their frustration, the students say, is the school's decision not to produce a play this year, focusing instead on the musical, "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum."
"We have nothing against a musical," said Kancilia, who didn't audition for the show. "A musical will bring a name and money to Satellite that a play never will."
Several students said they simply aren't as interested in musicals.
As an advanced drama student who has acted in plays each year, Kancilia hoped to finish her high school career with one last play, and possibly to win recognition or scholarship money.
Instead she and Boehm said their lobbying for a play has led to harassment from fellow students. Meanwhile Satellite is emphasizing musicals as a way to get more students involved in drama.
"We've got a $4 million facility, and to have 66 kids involved in the drama program last year, and to have students leaving -- we had to make changes in the program," he said.
This year, Elliott brought in Raub, a 1989 Satellite graduate, to revive a program called "American Musical Theater." Now 123 students take drama classes, involving multiple disciplines.
In addition to the musical, the advanced drama class this spring is scheduled to perform a "dramatic showcase" featuring seniors in seven- to10-minute scenes.
Around the county and even the country, said Kevin Buck, drama director at Cocoa Beach Jr./Sr. High, "the norm is usually two shows, a scripted play and musical. But certainly, the director has discretion."
During the off-campus fundraiser for the Thespian Society, at Java Junkies in Satellite Beach, the two students expressed their displeasure in a venue they considered fair game for artistic expression.
The two students read poems that sometimes subtly, sometimes directly criticized the drama program.
"After trying so many times to get our point across and being turned down, we thought a poem would be the best way for our voices to be heard," Boehm said.
Elliott disagrees, saying the poems created a significant disruption to the drama program. While the students don't face suspension, he said they may lose some extracurricular privileges.
Boehm and Kancilia wonder how their passion for a play led to this point.
"Repercussions, bring them on," Boehm's poem concluded. "The pain is way too deep to hurt anymore."
Contact Dean at 242-3617 or jdean@flatoday.net