Posted on 05/20/2026 5:11:47 PM PDT by Morgana
A 13-year-old seventh-grader at Drake Middle School in Colorado’s Jefferson County Public Schools was barred from reading her pro-life slam poem aloud in class along with other students.
She was prevented even though staff acknowledged it met all assignment requirements, according to the student’s family.
The assignment asked students to write and present slam poetry about a world conflict they felt passionate about. The girl chose the topic of abortion and prepared a poem that referenced biblical verses, Dr. Seuss literature and statistics on abortions since Roe v. Wade.
School staff told the family the poem satisfied every rubric criterion but could not be read aloud because it was “offensive,” “politically charged” and might make other students feel “unsafe,” the family said.
Other poems on topics such as criticizing the Second Amendment, mocking Jesus and supporting LGBTQ rights were permitted in the class presentations, according to the account shared by the student and her mother in an interview with the social media account Libs of TikTok.
The teacher initially tried to remove the seventh-grader from class during the poetry presentations but allowed her to stay after other students pushed back, the family reported.
Being pro-life is personal for the family.
The girl’s mother told the interviewer that her own mother became pregnant at age 14 and chose life, leading to a thriving family today.
“There’s hope in hard situations. There’s purpose in pain. Good things come out of situations that seem bleak. My family is proof of that,” the mother said.
Jefferson County Schools and Drake Middle School did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The incident drew widespread attention after the family’s interview went viral on social media Wednesday, with many users criticizing the school for what they described as viewpoint discrimination against pro-life expression while permitting other controversial topics.
The family said the student later read her poem during the interview so it could be shared publicly.
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Time for a lawsuit?
They would have broadcast it on the school PA system.
>> Time for a lawsuit?
You betcha! It’s the only thing they understand.
Perfect time for me to post this poem:
“It is difficult
to get the news from poems
yet men die miserably every day
for lack
of what is found there.”
-—From Asphodel, That Greeny Flower (1992)
by William Carols Williams.
“slam” poetry?
Then someone will have to explain “freedom of speech” without implying she herself can exercise such a freedom.
https://postalmuseum.si.edu/object/npm_1980.2493.2977
Yep.
Good for her.
Agreed.
That’s how morally bankrupt the public schools are.
Sickening.
Hopefully not in the 80s, we had none of this. Schools are so strange now nobody talked social issues back then when we had to give a speech, it was usually on some historic person or perhaps a personal person in your life, but it was never about some weird issue that they seem to be harping on today in schools. I’m glad I went in the 80s.
AI Overview: “Drake Middle School in Arvada, Colorado, does not have a single designated seventh-grade English teacher, but rather a dedicated team of eight Language Arts teachers who collaboratively instruct all grades across the school.The English Language Arts (ELA) teaching team includes: Jessica Conner, Thea Cudnowski, Abigail Kelly, Tanisha Lee, Kimberly Perko, Michelle Smith, Debra Swartz, Laura Wolf.”
My stepson’s second wife is from Colorado and her brand of feminism and hate have poisoned that entire side of the family. I am so glad they all live a thousand miles away from me.
“Slam” Poetry often means spontaneous, melodrama/ rants/ soliloquies/ not professional, grammar-rule-free, fast paced, heavy with slang/ ebonics/ gratuitous profanity/ Dogwhistles or insider lingo.
Thank you for the explanation.
They really are trying hard to confuse us into nothingness.. 0.o
A state’s school quality is iversely proportional to the number of Democrat Congresscritters. Colorado has been Californicated, with loads of barely literate and moral jokes of semi-human beings taking bodacious Obamas over our formerly respected Capitol.
May they all eat sh...er...Obamastuff and die.
Don’t forget that each generation which calls itself ‘young’ seems to delight in confusing the older generations about certain words and phrases.
These may be 2 old examples, but not too old to me: Some folks will use the term “BASE” when referring to somebody who the speaker thinks of as a solid citizen, who does not quickly give in to foolish thoughts or people. Some will say “TOTES” instead of “Very”.
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