Nos genuflectitur ad non princeps sed Princeps Pacem!
Listen, O isles, unto me; and hearken, ye people, from far; The LORD hath called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name. (Isaiah 49:1 KJV)
Posted on 06/09/2012 2:29:38 PM PDT by Rennes Templar
Gerald Molen, of Bigfork, MT, is a longtime Hollywood producer and worked on such films as “Schindler’s List,” “Jurassic Park,” “Twister,” and “Minority Report.”
If someone had told me that a school in Montana would bar an invited speaker from presenting his or her speech before a high school senior class, I would have said, “no way, not here, not now, not ever.” But then I would have been wrong.
Obviously the Ronan school district didn’t get the word that in America, especially in Montana, people — that reads all people — have a right to free expression and freedom of speech and to listen to varying points of view. I mistakenly thought that was part of an education. Evidently not in certain jurisdictions.
Recently I was invited to speak to the Ronan High School seniors. After three weeks of preparation, research and re-write after re-write, I arrived at the appointed hour only to be told my talk had been canceled. The reason: “some” callers had informed the principal that they were concerned about the scheduled speaker being too right-wing or having an opinion that might be counter to theirs or some other lame excuse.
When I was informed of the decision, I asked to speak to the principal and he agreed to meet with me. He apologized for the inconvenience of being canceled and said the decision to cancel was his alone. He was concerned about my presentation. No, he didn’t ask me of the content. No, he didn’t ask to read the speech for any clarification as to content. No, he would not tell me who the complaining party or parties were, nor would he give me any further explanation. Just that there would be no presentation by me that day.
I served three years in the Marine Corps so that others might stand before their peers or even a group of students, but never did I think my voice would be stilled by some mysterious caller(s) on the notion that I might say something they “thought” would not be in the students’ best interests. Reminds me of another time in history when voices were silenced by the mere suggestion they might be different or have a point of view. I never dreamed it might happen in Montana.
I feel the students missed out that day. I feel they were robbed of an opportunity to hear from someone who actually experienced the true facets of the American dream. But a high school principal failed the very students assigned to his leadership because he feared some unknown person or persons or some other factor not divulged.
For the record, my presentation that day had nothing political or capricious that would be harmful to a senior high school student (or even a grammar school student) or a teacher. It dealt with my hopes for their futures. It was a cheerleading presentation that allowed me to remind them of their individual greatness and opportunities for the future. My intent was to inspire and motivate those looking for an encouraging word and message of hope beyond the walls of the institution they were leaving to the next chapter in their young lives. It spoke to the contributions and greatness of their teachers, administrators, parents and peers but with an emphasis on their ability to conceive, to believe and to achieve. But I guess I was wrong about teachers and/or school administrators.
Since my career had centered around the motion picture industry, I had set out to challenge them with the thought that they might each write their own movie script. A script that would have them as the writer, director, producer and star. A script filled with step-by-step goals of proper preparation and scenes depicting them as lawyers, doctors, captains of industry and/or having careers as they saw themselves in 20 or 30 or 40 years in the future. Silly idea? Maybe. But of course we’ll never know.
Instead they were indoctrinated with a sense of fear and mistrust that a fellow Montanan just might stand before them and say something some official school administrator deemed “possibly harmful.”
In America today, are our children taught or indoctrinated? Is there censorship? I’ll let the reader decide.
Me? I now have the answer.
All correspondence with School Board is public information. The board does not accept anonymous correspondence.
You may email the School Board at rsd.board@ronank12.edu. All correspondance through this email is public information and will be posted on the Board Email website. This process is automated and unattended.
UPDATE: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2893514/posts
In an update, the superintendent informed HR that the principle had been fired:
The incident as described by Molen “did, in fact, occur,” superintendent of schools for the Ronan district Andy Holmlund told The Hollywood Reporter on Friday.
“It is my understanding that the high-school principal made the decision based on his point of view. It is not the view of the district. That’s not the expectations that the district maintains. That principal will not be serving in this school district for the upcoming school year.”
The public schools are a lost cause. Even the rural public school I went to in the 80s is nothing but a marxist factory now.
>>It is my understanding that the high-school principal made the decision based on his point of view.
I figured that was the case. When a leftist educator (yeah, redundant...I know) says that an anonymous person is uncomfortable with something, that is code for “I am uncomfortable and I am too chickenshit to admit it, but I will be happy to abuse my power to achieve my goals.”
Leftist stand for a lot of things, but they never stand in front of anything.
Common sense has finally won one.
The libs can’t stop shooting themselves in the foot.
HOME SCHOOLING. VOUCHERS.
I don’t care if he was fired.
FIRE *THEM*.
Wow, I can hardly believe this. My conservative, Marine veteran dad spent a lot of his retirement years in Bigfork, right across from Flathead Lake, and my husband & I visited him there several times in the late 70s. It sure wasn’t like that then, but I don’t know how far Ronan is. I see the principal was fired - good! There’s hope.
The political climate in Montana has changed drastically over the last ten year as we are being over run by out of state liberals. Unfortunately the infestation is probably permanent
Yep. Tough little town too. Turns out some first-rate wrestlers, boxers and other athletes.
The odd thing (well, one of the odd things) about this story is that Indian communities are fiercely proud of their own military men and women, of local veterans and people still in the service.
No wonder this principal got the heave-ho.
I have no comment about the accuracy of this map.
http://www.miglexfilms.com/2012/05/19/bernie-movie-map-of-texas/
Does that mean Elizabeth Warren Prince Liawatha will be the speaker? /sarc
Why can't they do us all a favor and aim a little higher up.
Yeah, after the Kalifornicators F----d up their state up with their "morals" and politics, they move somewhere else with less crime, debt and anger, bringing with them the very things that destroyed Kalifornicate.
Meanwhile, all the good people that make Montana so good, can no longer afford to live there, as Kalifornicates rich Drs and lawyers and Hollyweird crowd move in, paying TOP $$$ for land, driving out the normal people.
“Whatever else you can say about the white men, there is no getting rid of them” - Chief Dan George as Old Lodgeskins in LITTLE BIG MAN
( Quote as I remember it. Research shows slight deviations. )
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