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Elementary School Music Teacher Suspended for Showing Opera Video
March 15, 2006
Bennett, Colorado: Music teacher Tresa Waggoner is on paid administrative leave, pending investigation, after she showed video excerpts of the Gounod’s opera version of Faust to a class of first, second and third graders.
Story Continued...
The video, which Waggoner found on the school premesis, was part of a 33-year-old opera educational series narrated by Joan Sutherland and featuring singing sock puppets. Faust is a medieval morality tale about a man who sells his soul to the devil and suffers the consequences. Waggoner was asked to leave January 30, in response to accusations from parents that she exposed the children to abortion and Satan worship and that Waggoner herself was promoting homosexuality.
Waggoner said that she chose a clip from the video to teach the children about vocal roles and props in opera.
A local paper reported that Waggoner would not be allowed to return, but school superintendent George Sauter has neither confirmed nor denied any reports. However, Sauter reportedly told Waggoner that her continued presence in the classroom would be “too much of a disruption.”
Former Mayor Karen Grossiant told the Rocky Mountain News that the furor actually arose from Waggoner’s apparent failure to include any Christmas songs in the holiday pageant. Grossiant herself resigned from the office of Mayor last month as a result of the culture wars in Bennett – the Faust issue was “the last straw,” she told the paper.
Stephen Rohde, Chair of PEN’s Domestic Freedom to Write Committee said, “The Culture Police have struck again. Here we have a creative teacher using a classic opera to teach stagecraft in an exciting and innovative way to young students. She should be applauded, not censored and drummed out of her school. This is yet another example of a sweeping climate of repression spreading through our public schools, undermining the values of free expression protected by the First Amendment.”
Waggoner is now looking for a teaching position elsewhere.
For the current Rocky Mountain News story, please click here: http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_4529857,00.html
WHAT YOU CAN DO:
Write Superintendent George Sauter and protest the school board’s response to this issue.
Sample Letter of Appeal
Bennett Elementary School
462 8th St.
Bennett, CO 80102
(Telephone: 303-644-3234)
Dear Superintendent Sauter:
I am writing on behalf of PEN USA, part of an international organization of writers dedicated to freedom of expression through the written word.
I was very concerned to learn that music teacher Tresa Waggoner was put on administrative leave when parents complained about her use of a clip from Faust. Among the accusations were that Waggoner exposed children to abortion and Satan worship.
It appears that Ms. Waggoner used an old, educationally-oriented video that she found on the school premises in a wholly appropriate manner, with the reasonable goal of stimulating the children’s interest in music. There were reports that some of the images scared the children, which is unfortunate. However, there is always some risk that comes with teaching children about even the highest aspects of our culture.
But your school’s response to Ms. Waggoner’s teaching methods sends a much more frightening message: that well-meaning teachers cannot bring diverse and creative educational tools into their classrooms without risking censure and reprisal. While I respect that some parents may object to the images their children saw, it is the school’s responsibility to keep classrooms free of the particular religious view-points agendas of a minority of parents.
I therefore protest the censure of Ms. Waggoner and call for her immediate reinstatement at Bennett Elementary School.
Sincerely,