Teacher Who Wanted to Feature Miley Cyrus and Dolly Parton’s ‘Rainbowland’ in School Concert Fired
Written by djfrosty on July 13, 2023
A Wisconsin elementary school teacher who got into hot water earlier this year for trying to include Miley Cyrus and Dolly Parton‘s anthem of love and acceptance “Rainbowland” at her school’s spring concert has been terminated.
According to WISN, the School District of Waukesha Board of Education voted unanimously (9-0), on Wednesday (July 21) to end teacher Melissa Tempel’s employment at Heyer Elementary School in Waukesha, WI after saying she violated three school board policies. District officials said Tempel was place on leave on April 3, followed by a May letter in which Superintendent James Sebert said he would recommend to the Board of Education that her job be “terminated.”
During the hourslong termination hearing Tempel and school administrators testified, with lawyers for the school board saying that the teacher violated board policies by expressing her feelings on social media before she talked to her supervisors.
“Ms. Tempel deliberately brought negative attention to the school district because she disagreed with the decision as opposed to following protocol and procedure and I believe that behavior is intolerable,” said Waukesha School District Superintendent Sebert; Tempel’s lawyers argued that their client was exercising her free speech rights.
“I thought that the fact that the tweet that I made, that ‘Rainbowland’ wasn’t going to be allowed, was something that the public would be really concerned about and that they would be interested in knowing about it,” said Tempel during the hearing.
Back in March, language teacher Tempel called out the school’s administration after claiming that they vetoed the inclusion of a pair of rainbow-themed songs in the spring concert. “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 tweeted at the time, along with hashtags for the school system, Parton, Cyrus and GSafe (which create safe spaces for LGBTQ+ youth in Wisconsin schools) and civil rights.
Tempel also included the lyrics to “Rainbowland,” the Cyrus/Parton duet about acceptance that appeared on Miley’s 2017 album Younger Now. “Living in 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,” they sing on the song.
On March 24, Tempel wrote, “The latest I heard is that the song was banned bc @MileyCyrus is controversial. D’oh, I thought for sure it was @DollyPartonvand her beautiful drag queen followers! Oh well, I can’t stop my students if they still sing ‘Rainbowland.’ It’s a fun, catchy song!” First grade teacher Tempel later speculated that the duet was pulled because of its “beautiful LYRICS. Because saying an ARTIST is controversial would be a very slippery slope and they wouldn’t want to go there. Amirite?,” she wrote.
When a commenter asked why the song was pulled from the concert Tempel responded, “no reason given.” A day later, Tempel reported that the administration had also banned the beloved Muppet Movie ballad “Rainbow Connection,” writing, “so it seems the reason is rainbows”; Tempel later clarified that “Rainbow Connection” had been unbanned after “parents sent emails to admin,” though at the time it appeared “Rainbowland” was still off the lineup.
The mother of a first-grader at the school said she was told the songs were pulled because they were too “controversial,” telling the Los Angeles Times that the local school board had undergone a “conservative flip” following COVID-19 mitigation strategies during the global pandemic. “One of those is a controversial topics 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,” parent Sarah Schindler said.
Another parent with a student enrolled in the district told the paper that the Waukesha school district has “really cracked down on anything LGBTQ… so this song being an ‘issue’ has not in any way come as a surprise.” The Board of Education reportedly said that the principal checked with the central office about district policy when the song was suggested and, “they determined that the song could be deemed controversial in accordance with the policy,” the board said in a statement in March.
The school’s principal, Mark Schneider, told the School Board at Wednesday’s hearing that he never said he thought the song should be vetoed or banned, according to Wisconsin Public Radio. Schneider also said that he was flooded with voicemails — some of which were threatening — which made him concerned for the safety of the school community, including “vulgar” messages that said he would “get what’s coming to (him).”
Superintendent Sebert also reportedly testified that he got a large volume of inquiries from parents, community members and people outside the district, which also included some threats. “I thought the way in which she disagreed with this decision was in direct violation of multiple board policies,” Sebert said at the hearing. Following a closed-door deliberation, the board voted unanimously to fire Sebert, saying she violated three different school board policies, including not following the chain of command by going to the media before airing her concerns to supervisors, engaging students on social media and making statement that “sowed disharmony among [the] staff.”
In the wake of the ruling, NBC reported that Tempel’s attorney said they believe they have a strong First Amendment case, with the teacher telling reporters she wouldn’t have done anything differently even if she’d known this would be the result. “And I really just want to say ‘hi’ to my students, because I haven’t been able to talk to them since March, and I really miss you guys,” Tempel said.