Valedictorian's speech cut short by school district

KBBC - Las Vegas ^ | 6-16-06

[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.

[jwalsh07]

That would be an obvious endorsement.

Only to a fool. SCOTUS case law, the shambles that it is, on establishement jurisprudence has what's known as a common sense test.

If the Pope is invited to speak, would an outside observer think that the Pope was representing the views of himself and the Catholic Church or the government.

Admittedly a few fools would choose B but the overwhelming preponderance of people would understand that the Pope was reflecting his views.

Which group are you part of?

[PeteB570]

I see we are in the minority. She was told before the event what she could and could not say.

We had a young girl who was told at the beginning of the school year what the dress code was for graduation.

A few days before the ceremony she said she would not wear a dress and would wear pants. The principle said if she did she would not be allowed to walk over the stage and pick up her diploma.

Big stink for a day or so and then she showed up in pants. The principle stood fast and the girl did not participate.

Gheees, after all the stories and letters to the editor over the next few days you would think she was Joan of Arch.

[N. Theknow]

Please point to me where the phrase "separation of church and state" appears in the Constitution.

I was told once that it only appears in the Constitution of the former USSR.

[Wurlitzer]

"Rob McMillan: We have freedom of speech, but what about separation of church and state?"

Once again the left is allowed to frame the debate and of course lies.

As we all know separation of church and state exists NOWHERE in the US Constitution yet the J. Goebel inspired left repeats the lie so much they believe it.

References to God an Jesus in a speech by a private citizen do NOT constitute government establishing or restricting any religion.

[HostileTerritory]

I imagine if the valedictorian had said the only path to salvation is through submission to Allah, he would have had his mic shut off. It's disrespectful to Christian students who disagree to be told that their faith is wrong and sending them to hell.

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

God is good. Satan is evil.

[EricT.]

Let the Rutherford Institute's lawyers teach this school what the First Ammendment ACTUALLY says.

[HostileTerritory]

I would love to see a transcript of her speech. I would guess she did more than mentioned God but also encouraged them to find in Jesus what she has found, as well, and which enabled her to succeed. It's called "bearing witness."

[mc6809e]

Cutting the mic effectively negates the speech. It's the girl's point of view, for crying out loud.

So what? She can express her point of view all she wants, but she's not allowed to use public resources to do it, especially to a captive audience.

Are you really going to align yourself with the North Koreans who are obviously running the graduations?

If I were aligned with the North Koreans, I'd be the kind of person that thought the purpose of school was to force my religious views on a captive audience during an official state ceremony. Oh, and I would get one of my best students to deliver the official message.

[sgtbono2002]

Schools being run by retards.

[stinkerpot65]

Public schools are evil.

[fr_freak]

anyone have a problem with the following

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 Satan.

This kind of analogy is BS. The Constitution was created to limit the power of the federal government, so that local communities could govern themselves as they saw fit. What we have now is a bunch of left-wingers seizing upon a faulty interpretation of the Constitution, an interpretation which says that somehow the Constitution now entitles the federal government to tell local communities what they can and cannot do, as a weapon against Judeo-Christian values.

If this were a community in which Satanism was an accepted practice, then I would say that a school administrator who cut off the girl's mic for praising Satan would be out of line. However, this was a community which most assuredly would consider Satanism an affront, and therefore preventing an open celebration of that would be appropriate. If any resident of that city/county/state doesn't like it, they can move to San Francisco or Seattle, where Satanism would probably be welcomed.

What people forget, or perhaps never learned, is that the Constitution was specifically an enumeration of federal powers, and any power not specifically granted to the federal government by the Constitution is considered reserved to the states or to the people. So, in effect, the Constitution is a limit on the FEDERAL government. Even the first amendment states quite clearly that CONGRESS shall make no law... So, even with the interpretation that says that the amendments apply to states also, there is nothing in the First Amendment which refers to state governments, and certainly only an activist would consider a valedictorian speech including references to God to be equivalent to government passing a law endorsing a particular religion.

[highimpact]

That would be an obvious endorsement.

You confused the word "endorsement" with "estatblishment." Words mean things.

[silverleaf]

When she went "off the reservation" with her speech she should have stated that she was grateful that her CREATOR endowed her with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.

It certainly would have made the mic cutoff transparent for what it was.

[Son Of The Godfather]

Who was being held "captive"?

[aligncare]

...following a dress code and being told you can't let who you are into the discussion...big difference don't you think?

[jwalsh07]

You don't know what you're talking about but if you'd care to know you can read the SCOTUS decision in Tinker.

To wit:

School administrators can only prohibit protected speech by students when it "materially and substantially interfere[s] with the requirements of appropriate discipline in the operation of the school."

Prohibiting a valedictorian from mentioning or witnessing during her speech is CENSORSHIP clown.

[Indy Pendance]

So what? What if the Pope was invited to be the guest speaker? Are you that afraid of an 18 year old girl that your beliefs could be altered?

[mc6809e]

...of course you don't get a free microphone. But once your told the microphone is yours...they can not 'separate' you from your core beliefs. Ones religion informs one. She should not have been censored.

The trouble is that the microphone is typically granted with the limitation that it must not be used for certain purposes. Most likely she ignored those limits that she had earlier agreed to.

[Neoliberalnot]

The Jackboots are running the schools. These people call themselves teachers of truth when really they are purveyors of PC indoctrination and assimilation. Free Speech isn't free anymore in this country and the schools are some of the worst violators of this right. Bravo for this brave, and obviously highly intelligent, young lady.