Heyer Elementary School teacher Melissa Tempel, who wanted to use Miley Cyrus and Dolly Parton‘s “Rainbowland” in a concert, has been fired.
Tempel’s termination comes after a board hearing involving several district officials on Wednesday, July 12. The Waukesha School Board voted 9-0.
Tempel first tweeted about officials at Heyer Elementary who decided to not allow the Cyrus/Parton duet from 2017 to be performed during a first-grade spring concert. Officials deemed the song “inappropriate,” citing lyrics and the artist in regard to the ages of the students.
Tempel and her lawyer said they are planning to continue this fight in federal court.
During the hearing, Tempel and school administrators testified, with lawyers for the school board saying that the teacher violated board policies by expressing her feelings on social media before she talked to her supervisors.
“Ms. Tempel deliberately brought negative attention to the school district because she disagreed with the decision as opposed to following protocol and procedure and I believe that behavior is intolerable,” said Waukesha School District Superintendent Sebert.
“I thought that the fact that the tweet that I made, that ‘Rainbowland’ wasn’t going to be allowed, was something that the public would be really concerned about and that they would be interested in knowing about it,” Tempel said during the hearing.
(Photo: Vijat Mohindra/NBC)
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