July 13, 2023

Why aren't there so many songs about rainbows?

I see "Wisconsin teacher fired after criticizing district’s ‘Rainbowland’ ban/Administrators in Waukesha, Wis., had banned Melissa Tempel’s first-graders from singing the song by Dolly Parton and Miley Cyrus" (WaPo).

At Wednesday’s hearing, Tempel and her attorney, Summer Murshid... argued, the teacher’s tweets after school hours fall outside the scope of her employment and constitute "the type of speech that falls squarely within the protection afforded by the First Amendment," Murshid said. 

"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," said Tempel, whose supervisor deemed her a “master teacher” who was “magical with children” in her last employment review. 

Christina A. Katt, an attorney representing the district, said Tempel violated policy because she did not first take up her concerns with her direct manager and because she had “engaged” her students in her social media posts — specifically, by using the phrase “my students.”... 

Here's the tweet that led to the school board's dismayingly aggressive response:

You can listen to Dolly and Miley sing their song here.

61 comments:

Gahrie said...

I'd be hiring a lawyer right about now.

Sydney said...

The LGBTQ+s have ruined rainbows for everyone. Wait for it, doves and olive branches will be next.

rhhardin said...

Not to mention Chopin's Raindrop Prelude, well played by the villain Brax in James Bond
Clip

Kate said...

Any song about a rainbow is going to be painfully twee. You have to be magnificent -- "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" or "The Rainbow Connection" -- to overcome the built-in difficulty.

Heh. ISWYDT.

gilbar said...

that seems to be, THE WORST rainbow song.. Ever
Why not Somewhere Over the Rainbow?

Anyway, i PERSONALLY think that Stone Cold is The Best Rainbow song..
Joe Lynn Turner was The Best Rainbow singer.. (Not that there's anything Wrong with Ronnie James Dio)

MadisonMan said...

My first graders were so excited to sing Rainbowland for our spring concert
First graders are excited to sing just about anything at a Spring concert, in my experience.
Anyway, how could Tempel not know what control-freaks exist in School Administrations? And they called her a Master Teacher?
I don't tweet anything about my employer, ever.

Mark said...

Witch hunting is back in fashion among Republicans.

BUMBLE BEE said...

Dolly is the greatest! Been watchin her since my childhood. She was on CBC - the Porter Wagoner Show when she was a teenager. A voice as unique as Sinatra, Orbison and Joe Cocker. Rainbowland is OK by me.

Temp Blog said...

It'll end when you and your ilk quit pretending they're "your kids" and trying to indoctrinate them into your gnostic pleasure cult.

I'm amused that the article points out her supervisor said she was a "master teacher". As if they aren't all rated that way by their union friends.

rehajm said...

Goober Peas is a good song for kids...

M said...

As if there aren’t literally a thousand songs that those kids could sing that no one would have a problem with. These teachers intentionally pick something on the fringe of ok, something that could be seen either way, and then use that as a catalyst to get LIVs on their side in ignorance of what they are actually pushing. These are the most manipulative, repulsive, mentally ill people in history. Because they will happily destroy an entire generation of children to push their agenda. Even warmongers waited for young men to turn 18 before sending them off to be killed, maimed and mentally damaged.

Free Manure While You Wait! said...

I've heard that Rainbowland is powered entirely with unicorn farts.

Steven said...

Her tweet includes a rainbow with only the six-colors on the LGBTQ flag, not the seven colors of natural rainbows. As such, the text of the song and the tweet shows her as understanding the rainbow as a political statement. It has no place in public schools, especially grade school. The school board rightly rejected the song. It was political/religjious indoctrination. Moreover, the song tells us to "brush the judgment aside." Obviously we are no longer allowed to use our critical thinking skills; it is all about feelings.

Ice Nine said...

>My first graders were so excited to sing Rainbowland for our spring concert <

OK, groomer...

Enigma said...

Isn't this obvious?

Jesse Jackson politicized rainbows with his takeover of the "rainbow coalition" circa 1984, and 1970s-1980s gay culture adopted the rainbow too. The natural rainbow then morphed into gobs of alt-sex LGBTQ+ versions over the last 20 years.

It's an issue here because rainbows currently rile people up.

Rainbows were last apolitical with "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" and The Muppet Movie's "Rainbow Connection" of 1979.

"Why are there so many songs about rainbows?" asks Kermit the Frog: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jS5fTzMP_mg

Wa St Blogger said...

It will end when I submit to them making me yum my yuk.

re Pete said...

"It’s lonely at the top

Beyond the horizon, the sky is so blue"

Paddy O said...

A song that strangely has stuck with me since seeing the movie The Devil and Max Devlin in 1981 as a 6 year old: Roses and Rainbows

tim maguire said...

Given the sorts of things teachers put on social media, that’s very harsh. Why did the school cancel the song? The lyrics seem woke enough.

Inga said...

What’s next, The Rainbow Connection by Kermit the frog?

Right wingers have turned into rainbow-phobics so no rainbow for you kids! What a sad paranoid place elementary schools in conservative districts have become. I’m so glad my youngest granddaughter who lives in a conservative district will be entering high school in fall. My two youngest grandsons live near Madison, so they still get to sing rainbow songs.

tim maguire said...

I decided to burn a free article to find out what’s going on and it’s the opposite of my expectations—the school is cracking down on woke. Some rules seem silly—no rainbow lanyards; others quite sensible—no getting creative with the pronouns without parental consent. Not singing a silly Dolly Parton song sounds like more of the first than the second. The little girls especially were probably really looking forward to singing about being rainbows.

Left Bank of the Charles said...

The principal Mark Schneider testified to the Waukesha school board that he was opposed to Miley Cyrus not rainbows:

‘He told the music teacher that his concern with the song by Miley Cyrus and Dolly Parton stemmed from Cyrus, who he said has previously promoted content inappropriate for young children. Schneider approved the song "Rainbow Connection," a sing-along from Kermit the Frog. He noted that rainbows were "not at all" a concern.’

I wonder, when Rainbow Connection came out in 1979, whether any school principals made their first-graders sing the then 40-year-old Over the Rainbow instead.

Jupiter said...

WaPo's desire to make me feel sorry for this person does not outweigh WaPo's desire to make me pay to read about her travails. So I'm afraid they're failing on both counts.

Rusty said...

OK groomer.

mccullough said...

The lyrics are shit, even by 7 year old standards.

Rainbowland sounds like Pedophile Paradise.

Glad they fired her.

farmgirl said...

My daughter just sent me a photo of a huge perfect rainbow.
God’s promise to us. Why can’t they sing it?

Mikey NTH said...

Over the Rainbow.
Rainbow Connection.

Nope, can't think of any tried and true songs about rainbows.

Aggie said...

That smells a lot like bullsh*t. I'd be willing to bet $100 that there is much more to this story than is coming across here, starting (I bet) with a history of mavericking outside channels.

Robert Marshall said...

When did it supposedly become okay to take your disagreements with the organization that employs you, out to the public for debate and consideration?

Part of the employment deal is that you settle issues about how you perform your job, internally, with your supervisors. If you can't do that, then resign. And if you don't do that, then you get fired. That's real life, no matter what the Rainbowland folks think. Being a Rainbowland person doesn't make you special, doesn't give you an exemption from the real-life rules the rest of us live by. Get over it!

Was the administrations decision correct, banning that song from whatever program they were planning? Who knows. Maybe, in the recent nearly interminable "Pride Month," they were concerned that performing the song would be perceived as taking sides in the culture war, on behalf of the alphabet/rainbow people. And that some in Waukesha wouldn't be happy with that. Probably not an unreasonable way to look at it.

And why should a school take a position on one side or the other of that divide? Yeah, take a position on kids knowing how to read, knowing how to do math, and the other stuff parents are actually expecting. (And which the schools haven't been doing very well on, lately.) But, Rainbowland? Please!

Seamus said...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jS5fTzMP_mg

Ampersand said...

Tempest in a thimble.

Whiskeybum said...

@rhhardin - I clicked on your James Bond clip, and immediately recognized the scene as being the Grand Salon at the Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte, located a bit SE of Paris. When we had US visitors during the time we lived in the Paris, we would take them to see the nearby châteaux: Versailles, Chantilly, Fontainebleau and Vaux-le-Vicomte.

Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...

"All the hurt and hate going on here"

That line alone makes the song inappropriate for young grades.


Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...

Assumed hate taught to 1st graders.

So lame. This isn't about teaching acceptance... it's about inappropriate subject matter at young ages.... hiding behind "a rainbow".

Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...

Kermit's Rainbow Connection is 100% appropriate for children of all ages.

Mutaman said...

She's a Rainbow
Stones

Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...

Robert Marshall's post. #

Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...

I got your rainbow right here, Inga.

Free Manure While You Wait! said...

It's just another version of Drag Queen Story Time. Which we are told is done to teach little kids to be accepting of others.

If true, it begs two questions:

When will we be seeing Leather Bear Story Time?

When will we be seeing Police Officer Story Time?

john mosby said...

Glibar, Man on the Silver Mountain is the best Rainbow song. C’mon man!

JSM

Ann Althouse said...

Sunshine, lollipops and rainbows
Everything that's wonderful is what I feel when we're together
Brighter than a lucky penny
When you're near the rain goes, disappears, dear
And I feel so fine
Just to know that you are mine

gadfly said...

Here is Kermit

RMc said...

"Why are there so many songs about rainbows?" asks Kermit the Frog

I like "The Rainbow Connection" because it's actually a very sad song disguised as a happy one.

Sunshine, lollipops and rainbows

Lesley Gore sang this song in the movie "Ski Party" (1965), not on the slopes or on stage, but on a bus. Early in the film, we see the main characters headed up to the mountain, and Gore suddenly shows up, sings the song, and everybody claps. We don't see her again in the movie.

Fritz said...

Here comes that rainbow again

Jim said...

Gilbar for the win.

Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...

did my comments not come thru?

Two-eyed Jack said...

On the day I was born,
Said my father, said he,
I've an elegant legacy
Waiting for ye.
'Tis a rhyme for your lips
And a song for your heart,
To sing whenever the world falls apart.
Look, look, look to the rainbow.
Follow it over the hill and stream.
Look, look, look to the rainbow.
Follow the fellow who follows a dream.
Follow the fellow, follow the fellow,
Follow the fellow who follows a dream.
'Twas a sumptuous gift bequeathed to a child.
Oh, the lure of that song
Kept her feet running wild.
For you never grow old and you never stand still
With a whippoorwill singing beyond the next hill.
So, I bundled me heart and I roamed the world free.
To the east with the lark
Tow the west with the sea.
And I searched all the world and I scanned all the skies.
But I found it at last in my own true love's eyes.

lonejustice said...

Sometimes a rainbow is just a rainbow.

Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...

"All the Hurt and hate going on here"

That lyric = 100% inappropriate indoctrination.
The left are attempting to build hate and racism where it does not exist.
Shameful.

Also - Kermit's Rainbow song is 100% appropriate.

RigelDog said...

The song is not appropriate for first graders. It is also propaganda that doesn't belong in public schools.

That said, being fired for that particular tweet seems way over the line.

RigelDog said...

I experience the Muppet Rainbow Song as being deeply religious. It can bring me to tears.

lonejustice said...

I don't think Dolly Parton is a groomer.

Deirdre Mundy said...

I would ban ANY song by Parton for first graders because in tiny voices it's going to sound shrill, piercing, and irritating.

Just like when they used to have Elementary School kids sing "That's What Friends are For" and "We are the World, We are the Children."


Pop songs and first graders are always a losing combo for the audience that has to endure the concert.

Temp Blog said...

I think high it's time to let me true self shine - I now identify as a frog. Pronouns are rib/bit.

Robert Cook said...

"The LGBTQ+s have ruined rainbows for everyone."

Why? Why can't you still enjoy a rainbow, or decorate a party with rainbow motifs, assuming you ever have or would?

Robert Cook said...

"Dolly is the greatest! Been watchin her since my childhood. She was on CBC - the Porter Wagoner Show when she was a teenager."

I used to watch that when I was a kid.

Rocco said...

Jimmy Fallon as Jim Morrison singing the Reading Rainbow Theme: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--RYPHqbD50

Ambrose said...

I like the Stones' "She's a Rainbow" - I know I am in a minority.

Rocco said...

Steven said...
Her tweet includes a rainbow with only the six-colors on the LGBTQ flag, not the seven colors of natural rainbows.

Why are the LGTB such cyanophobes? I bet cyan represents TERFs.

gilbar said...

john mosby said...
Glibar, Man on the Silver Mountain is the best Rainbow song. C’mon man!

That whole album is Great.. It's on my heavy rotation.
BUT.. I'll take Joe Lynn Turner's Rainbow Power Any Day

ps. That's not really a very good version.. But; it IS pretty cool that it starts with an MTV commercial

Free Manure While You Wait! said...

"Her tweet includes a rainbow with only the six-colors on the LGBTQ flag, not the seven colors of natural rainbows."

Because the gays are abominations of nature?

(I keed; I keed.)