Posted on 06/19/2006 2:02:05 PM PDT by Indy Pendance
A local high school graduation ended with roars of protest after school officials turned the microphone off right in the middle of one of the valedictorian's speeches. The microphone cut out after the valedictorian at Foothill High made reference to God.
The family says the District's decision isn't fair. Brittney McComb says she's a straight A student, number one in her class, and is headed to Biola University in the fall.
Brittney attributes all of her success to God. Trouble is, she tried to explain that during her speech which the school district said they told her beforehand was a no-no.
"God's love is so great."
This was part of the speech that Brittney McComb says she so wanted to give on graduation night. But because it did have numerous references to God and Jesus Christ, the school district cut off the mic, leaving her practically silent. That's when many people stood up and booed, showing their support.
Now, the day after, McComb says she got nothing but support from her fellow students. "All of my classmates came up to me and were so happy. They told me they loved me and I said God's awesome because I couldn't have done it without him."
McComb says the district reviewed her speech beforehand, just like everyone else. But she says they sent it back with the last half chopped off.
"They said it was offensive, it identifies a particular religion," explains McComb. "I really think it's free speech; we're American, we should be able to handle that."
We asked her father about that.
Rob McMillan: We have freedom of speech, but what about separation of church and state?
Michael McComb: They brought that up, and they say they were going to give us some documentation to prove why she could say that in her speech.
They said the documentation was ambiguous. That was when Brittney said she took it upon herself to go ahead and give her speech as written, no matter what the consequences might be.
The district tells News 3 there are guidelines for what valedictorians can and can't say, but they didn't get back to us on our request for an interview. A district spokesperson told us they were not trying to avoid interviews on this subject and that multiple graduation ceremonies prevented top administrators from giving us an interview.
The school district maintains it was simply following procedure at the Foothill Graduation.
We're told students are required to submit their speeches in writing ahead of time and they're told if they deviate from the script at all, their microphones will be cut off. The district maintains that's exactly what happened in this case.
Yep. People are attending for ONE purpose, to recognize a scholastic achievement. Pressing a personal agenda that has nothing to do with that scholastic achievement means you are cheating those attendees of their time.
Not EVERY venue is appropriate for political demagoguery, just as not EVERY venue is appropriate for sermonizing.
I'm not sure that is true in this case. Sounds like they could have shut down a Wiccan as well. They said she deviated ... I have to assume that if a Wiccan deviated they would get the hook.
I understand your scepticism but perhaps it is not warrented at this time. She sounds like a rule breaker.
That's pretty much how I see it.
You are making too many assumptions that are not in evidence from this article.
If we are to take the article at face value, the girl is not to be trusted. She may be a good Christian but she cannot be relied upon to follow rules.
"Inconvenient" ?
You think it would be merely "inconvenient" for those students to walk away from their own commencement, after spending four years and having all their family there in attendence ?
Another vote FOR the charter schools. Please FREEP this poll! http://www.delawareonline.com
It is only "voluntary" if you decide ahead of time whether to attend or not. Once you are there, you CANNOT leave without making a big scene.
Do you really think 25% of those students could have reasonably gotten up and left when this girl started her sermon ?
School administrators are above the law, and they know it. No one holds them accountable for anything.
Schools being run by retards.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
They are being run by people who are in an impossible situation. They can not respect the First Amendment Rights of some without ( at the same time) trampling the First Amendment Rights of others.
The solution is to begin the privatization of universal K-12 education.
Ditto here, I thought I wanted the corporate world, climb the ladder, become vp, eventually ceo, do the meetings, etc, oh and the travel, sounded so romantic (I had so many frequent flyer miles, I couldn't give them away). I'm much happier 'getting by' than all the education I've gathered. I'll be able to teach my grandkids stuff, so that's cool. I'm lucky, my hubby has a good stay near home job.
I guess those of us 'supporting' this kid are sick and tired of the pc crap. It's not 'one of those threads', moreso than, here's another example of pc correctness run amuck.
Whatever private employers allow is beside the point. The real issue is what is allowed on ceremonial occasions, and here she was shut down for using language that can be found in presidential inuguration addresses. As for performance, a certain deference might have been paid to what she had accomplihsed at school. Instead the school officials paid tribute to their fears.
I like working without a net. I'm a very poor fit for corporate, heirarchical environments. I have a hard time exceling in that environment, so I just ditched the enivronment.
I think she feels that her message about her religion supercedes the rules ... that rules aren't important when it comes to what she considers important. Sounds like every Liberal I've ever known ... the end justifies the means.
I wouldn't give someone like this a job (for instance) because they make it up as they go.
That's been one of the best moves I've ever made.
They had already told her to restrict her speech to PC speak. Why is mentioning God Radical speech?? Because it goes against the PC establishment of humanism. I commend her for speaking what was right and totally harmless. She could have said I am a lesbian with interspecies sexual interests and the ACLU would have been there to defend her to the gas chamber.
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