School officials in Whitehall, Montana made the right call, and now they're being bullied by the ACLU and liberal newspapers in the area- so we wanted to give them a chance to be heard.

I spoke with Whitehall Principal Jason Slater and Whitehall Schools Superintendent Hannah Nieskens. They've been getting flack from liberal newspapers and the ACLU after they stopped a play called "I Don't Want to Talk About It" from being pushed on underage students in the Whitehall schools.

The play, which included themes of sex, suicide (without any helpful coping mechanisms), and questioning God was deemed inappropriate by school officials. Superintendent Nieskins and Principal Slater explained their decision-making process, emphasizing the need to protect students from sensitive content.

The drama director, who also publishes the local newspaper, has since resigned. This, after school officials raised questions about media being allowed access to underage students without parental permission.

Principal Slater: "I sat down and started reviewing the scripts, and in short order- I just...red flag after red flag, I said- no, this is not appropriate for our school audience. So I said, no. I said, we're not going to do this. It's just not appropriate. I mean themes included were sex, suicide, spirituality, different things that we're not going to expose our general school population to for a 45 minute play."

Superintendent Nieskens says that saying no to this play is not about shutting down artistic expression.

Superintendent Nieskens: "We think it's great that we have a drama club, which is an opportunity for students to express their creativity and collaborate on performances. But this is really a matter of the content of the performance, and it's about making sure our school's events reflect good judgment and commitment to student wellbeing."

Here's the full audio of our conversation in the 2nd half of the below podcast:

 


 

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