Urgent Appeal to Chelsea School Superintendent and Board

7/27/2019 Urgent Appeal to Chelsea School Superintendent and Board

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February 27, 2014

To: Nichole Seguin, Editor, Chelsea Standard newspaper, [email protected]

Gary Winkelman. Editor, Ann Arbor Journal, [email protected]

Kelly Frick, Director of Community News, The Ann Arbor News [email protected]

Chelsea School District Superintendent Andrew D. Ingall

All Members of the Chelsea School Board:

R. Stephen Olsen, President

Laurel McDevitt, Vice-President

Anne E. Mann, Secretary

Jon Bentley, Treasurer

Sally Devol, Trustee

Tammy Lehman, Trustee

Laura Bush, Trustee

The mission of Chelsea High School is to create independent thinkers who act with integrity and whoare invested in the global community.

We respectfully bring before you our concern over a musical selection for Chelsea High Schools showchoir, Company C, Live While were Young by One Direction (complete song lyrics are at the bottom ofthis letter), a selection which was made by the companys music director, Mr. Stephen Hinz. Theconcern over the sexual innuendo contained within the lyrics of this song was initiated by a studentmember of the company and resulted in 4 students withdrawing from that particular song because oftheir conscientious objection to the innuendo. These lyrics promote sexual activity among teens (OneDirections targeted audience) by implying a casual one-night hook-up and by hinting at the serious issueof sexting.

Chelsea High School Student-Parent Handbook , section titled Code of Conduct and StudentConsequences , item #20. Dress Code states : Any item with vulgarity or profane imprinting, sexual

innuendo/harassing imprinting including hooters shirts or imprintingis not permitted The codefurther state s that [t] he dress code will be applied as appropriate at all school-sponsored events andactivities. (Emphasis added.)

The Code of Conduct as outlined in the Student-Parent Handbook is there to regulate the behavior of allthe students of Chelsea High School and acts as a guide for the adult staff and faculty. With theexpressly stated prohibition against the imprinted expression of sexual innuendo, there is also an
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implicit prohibition against the uttered expression of such sexual innuendo within the context of publicdiscourse or of any musical expression whose purpose is purely one of entertainment.

It is the Chelsea School Districts Bylaws & Policies which regulate the behavior of the staff of ChelseaHigh School, and under Section 3000 Professional Staff, item #3310-Freedom of Speech, point E states

that the staff member should refrain from expressions which are illegal or vulgar, such as profanity orother expressions which violate community standards . (Emphasis added.) By insisting on using thelyrics of the song as is, Mr. Hinz is in violation of this policy forbidding expressions which violatecommunity standards, standards set up by the community for their high school and which forbid the useof sexual innuendo. By asking the students to perform a musical selection containing such sexualinnuendo he is causing the participating student members to be in violation of the Code of Conductforbidding the use of sexual innuendo outlined for the high school.

We first drew the attention of Mr. Stephen Hinz to this code and its implications for the lyrics of LiveWhile were Young, and then to th at of high school building principal, Mr. Michael Kapolka, when wewent to him with our appeal to Mr. Hinz decision to keep the song as is in the repertoire. We hadrequested that Mr. Hinz either drop the song from the company repertoire or make a change in thelyrics, thereby tempering them and effectively altering the context with the change of two words thatare repeated many times, from " tonight let's get some " to " tonight let's let go ." This idea came to usfrom a video posted online by an artist named Megan Nicole, who did just that in her rendition of thissong, and which we brought to his attention: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BaBux_2Qzg

Among the reasons stated by Mr. Hinz for keeping the lyrics of the song unaltered in the performance isthat each student has been called upon to play a character. Quoted from the list of reasons given by Mr.Hinz to all the members of Company C:

If you cant wrap your personal beliefs around thisconsider that in performance, youre called to playa character, it doesnt mean that embrace those ideals. Theater, music, art, dance, and literature offerus windows into other worlds and allows the performers and audience to SAFELY live out ideas they mayconsider but not actually pursue in real life. In other words, what we express in art, pop performance,or on state does not necessarily translate to what we would be comfortable doing in life.

This reasoning does not permit any and all forms of expression, nor does this allow the students toviolate the established Code of Conduct as outlined in the Student-Parent Handbook and which pertainsto all school -sponsored events and activities, neither does it allow the professional staff to violate theregulations of Freedom of Speech to refrain from other expressions which violate community

standards as outlined in the Bylaws & Policies.

All students and staff employed by the Chelsea School District are to be held accountable to the codesand regulations set forth by the district, regardless of rank. We therefore appeal to SuperintendentIngall and the members of the Chelsea School Board to uphold the Code of Conduct regarding sexualinnuendo and the regulations refraining professional employees from using expressions which violatecommunity standards. We request that Superintendent Ingall and the members of the Chelsea SchoolBoard prevail upon Principal Kapolka and Music Director Hinz to make two small changes to the lyrics of
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BaBux_2Qzghttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BaBux_2Qzghttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BaBux_2Qzghttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BaBux_2Qzg


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the song Live While were Young and thereby change the language of the lyrics into a family-friendlycontext for the benefit of the Chelsea community and others who will be attending Company C. sperformances, particularly for those who expect to enjoy a performance appropriate for all ages,including young impressionable tween-age girls and boys.

If Mr. Hinz is permitted to keep the unaltered original lyrics in the Company C programs, SuperintendentIngall and the Members of the Chelsea School Board will be granting exception to the Code of Conductcontained in the Student-Parent Handbook and the Regulation regarding Freedom of Speech containedin the professional By-Laws & Policies , thereby opening up a Pandoras Box allowing all forms ofexpression regardless of community standards or appropriateness to the audience.

Popular music does not trump integrity.

We plead for you to remember the Chelsea High School Mission Statement:

The mission of Chelsea High School is to create independent thinkers who act with integrity and who

are invested in the global community.

Respectfully Submitted,

Michael & Mary K. Stone

Live While We're Young Lyrics

Hey girl I'm waiting on ya, I'm waiting on ya.

Come on and let me sneak you out.

And have a celebration, a celebration.

The music up the windows down.

Yeah, we'll be doing what we do.

Just pretending that we're cool.

And we know it too (know it too).

Yeah, we'll keep doing what we do.

Just pretending that we're cool so tonight.


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Lets go crazy, crazy, crazy till we see the sun.

I know we've only met but let's pretend it's love.

And never, never, never stop for anyone.

Tonight let's get some.

And live while we're young.

Oh oh oh oh oh oh oh


And live while we're young


Tonight let's get some,

And live while were young

Hey girl it's now or never, it's now or never.

Don't over-think just let it go.

And if we get together, yeah get together.

Don't let the pictures leave your phone.

Oh oh.

Yeah, we'll be doing what we do.

Just pretending that we're cool so tonight.

Lets go crazy, crazy, crazy till we see the sun.

I know we've only met, but lets pretend it's love.

And never, never, never stop for anyone.


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Tonight lets get some, and live while we're young.



Wanna live while we're young


Tonight let's get some, And live while we're young

And girl, you and I, we're about to make some memories tonight

I wanna live while we're young

We wanna live while we're young

Let's go crazy, crazy, crazy till we see the sun

I know we've only met but let's pretend it's love

And never, never, never stop for anyone

Tonight let's get some, and live while we're young (young)

Crazy, crazy, crazy till we see the sun

I know we only met but lets pretend it's love

And never, never, never stop for anyone

Tonight lets get some, and live while we're young

Wanna live, wanna live, wanna live while we're young



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Tonight lets get some And live while we're young

Documents

Urgent Appeal to Chelsea School Superintendent and Board