“None of the parents or faculty knew it was being taped to be aired. They were essentially held hostage and told to clap after this man’s responses to questions, even when they didn’t agree with them.”
That is explicitly illegal in the state of New Jersey and is probably also illegal in Rhode Island also.
Each child requires a permission slip signed by a legal guardian to have their likeness, voice, picture, video etc to first be recorded, and then redistributed.
Seeing as this group is a 501 nonprofit or religious organization that accepts donations on a url that will contain a direct hyperlink to this recorded speech, brings in a whole other set of legal precedents in New Jersey, and probably Rhode Island as well.
On top of that, as it was a religious topic, in New Jersey another permission slip would be required for each student to allow participation in the event, or alternatively a school wide flyer can be sent home with all kids to allow any objecting parent time to arrange for their child to skip school, or go to study hall or something during the event.
This school principal stepped into a huge pile of dogshite because of her lack of professionalism, and it didn’t have to be this way nor did the event have to be controversial during or afterwards,....
NO one wants their kids to be imprisoned in an auditorium while being lectures on Hadiths by radical Salafists, ... without giving each parent the choice if they want their child exposed to this.
Prison like a public school?
That is not remotely what happened. Are you put off by the mention of Opus Dei? It is, unfortunately, not uncommon for “Catholic” schools to be run by people with a less than solid commitment to Catholic teaching, and to serve parents who are if not hostile to those teachings, then equivocal in their acceptance. We live in uncertain time. Imagine my feeling when I run into a priest whose thinking about the Real Presence is less in line with Catholic orthodoxy than what John Calvin says in his “Institutes.”
The parents were given the choice to send their kid(s) to a Catholic school or a public school. It is tHey who chose the former. They can always transfer. Their darlings are not being held captive.
Except that this was a private Catholic school. It is implicit (and generally explicit in the agreements that parents sign upon enrollment) that the kids will be exposed to Catholic teachings.
If parents sent their kids to an Islamic madrassah, and then complain about Hadith instruction, I would similarly say "WTF were you expecting?".