WTW131: Anti-Woke School Board Bans Song Mere Days Before Recital

Transcript

This transcript was generated automatically and may contain errors — the audio is the record.

0:00:03 Clip: What's so scary about the woke mob? How often you just don't see them coming. Anywhere you see diversity, equity, and inclusion, you see Marxism and you see woke principles being pushed. Wokeness is a virus more dangerous than any pandemic hands down. The woke monster is here and it's coming for everything.

0:00:33 Clip: Instead of go-go boots, the seductress green M&M will now wear sneakers.

0:00:41 Thomas: Hello and welcome to Where There's Woke. I'm Thomas. That's Lydia. How you doing?

0:00:44 Lydia: Hi, doing pretty well. Getting better and better every time I come on mic. So yeah, I

0:00:48 Thomas: Yeah. We've nursed you back to health.

0:00:51 Lydia: I guess so with story after story of obnoxious things that are happening across the country. But what can you do? That's the show. So you

0:00:58 Thomas: Yeah. It's been interesting, lady. Lady. Lady! It's been interesting lately. You've been doing these and I don't really know much about what you've been cooking up over there.

0:01:07 Lydia: Haven't heard anything like Yeah, I know. And it's interesting, too, because I think these have all been news to you. Also, like, for whatever reason, they haven't really crossed your feet independently. I've been finding kind of these little gems. And today's another gem. And away. This actually crossed my feet independently, you know, organically, I guess. But I also had a listener reach out specifically and say, hey, you might want to check this out with some links to school board meeting minutes. Thank you for including that. I love that so much. And so I spent some time in a, yeah, they're really good. Yeah, they'RE solid. Yeah. So I spent some some time over in Wisconsin. We actually did like like actually we spent some time in Wisconsin but I was digitally there this week over kind of halfway between Madison and Milwaukee, Wisconsin in a little area that is served by the Watertown School Board and we're going to be talking today about a decision that they made regarding whether or not the high school wind symphony would be be allowed to play a particular song.

0:01:13 Thomas: Pretty much. Yeah, I always love that. That was unrelated. That was just like, hey, check out these school board minutes because we know you're into that. Huh. Huh.

0:02:19 Lydia: Yes. And this story's got it all, you guys. It's got it all. I cannot wait to play some highlights from a school board meeting for everybody. There's going to be a lot going on here. We do have an outcome. I know a lot of times I've been like, I'm going to Be Following This Case, but this one in particular, we know how it's come down and I'll be able to share kind of the full story with everybody. So yeah, it's going to be a frustrating time but a good time too I think

0:02:47 Thomas: All right. Well, looking forward to that. I can't wait to hear what this wind ensemble has for us. I don't know what song will be banned. I'm trying to think of like, I couldn't even think, you know, like we will rock you or wind ensemble though. I don't think of any joke because I'm like, what's the go -to wind ensemble song? Winds of change.

0:02:54 Lydia: Star spangled banner yeah yeah

0:03:07 Thomas: No, I don't know. All Right. Let's take a break and then we'll dig into it. Hey, Hey, support the show, patreon.com/wherethereiswoke. Wokeys, support the woke mind virus so that we can fight the anti -woke mind virus and the petri dish called Culture Wars.

0:03:07 Lydia: Yes yeah okay

0:03:28 Ad: [Ad break 1 — ad music]

0:03:28 Thomas: All right. Hit it, Wind Ensemble.

0:03:32 Lydia: So this boils down to a single piece that the music director for this high school had selected we'll talk about the procedure that they went through why this is so contentious but the song itself was commissioned by an organization to reflect on the 1969 Stonewall riots, or riot, I guess, the singular. And in particular, this composer, Omar Thomas, was inspired by Marsha P. Johnson. And that's why this is controversial.

0:04:09 Thomas: Yeah, we all know who that is.

0:04:11 Lydia: Marsha P. Johnson. It depends who you ask. So if you ask the right wing, they're going to say she was a cross-dressing prostitute who believed in police violence because she threw a brick and she participated. The title of the piece by Omar Thomas is called A Mother of the Revolution. But she was an incredible activist. She was a sex worker. They like to say prostitute and demean her as much as she can. And she did participate in the uprising that happened at Stonewall.

0:04:18 Thomas: Who the hell are you talking about? Oh. Oh, okay. Sure. Yeah.

0:04:45 Lydia: And it gets diminished if you're on the right. And all nuance, as always, is stripped away so they can focus specifically on the things that are going to scare people, the things that they can focused on to fear monger, right? It's that this person liked to wear women's clothing even though they were born a boy. Okay, scary. So does Kristi Noem's husband.

0:05:09 Thomas: And we love him.

0:05:09 Lydia: This person, yeah, this person threw a brick at a police officer's head, I guess. I don't know if it actually was his head or just in general towards police because, you know, that was a very violent evening that was instigated by police. But it is something that has a large role in American history, in the history of the LGBTQ community with regard to rights for gay people and queer people and demonstrative of the things that they had endured for decades before. Four, right? So because this song is inspired by Marsha P. Johnson, the school board had a problem with the high school performing it.

0:05:59 Lydia: Now, I said that this was a wind symphony. There are no words in this song. There is no way to know anything about the meaning of this song unless you go search for it, basically. I mean, like, depending on what they would have included in the program or something, I guess, potentially. Yeah. So it gets really, really ridiculous. Uh-huh.

0:06:16 Thomas: I don't know. That C-sharp was pretty gender-bending.

0:06:23 Thomas: B-flat, like chest-binding. That's telling, yeah, that's exactly, that's indoctrinating young women into turning into trans men. Mm -hmm. Yep.

0:06:34 Lydia: Yep, exactly. You've got it figured out. But the school board will say, no, this hinges on, we have a policy.

0:06:43 Thomas: F-natural. Fuck your natural gender. I got it now. That's, it's, yeah. I actually am on their side.

0:06:46 Lydia: There you go. This is really dependent on a policy that they passed last fall, September 24th, 2025 was when it was adopted. And this is for the entire school district, policy 2240. Yeah. Controversial issues in the classroom is the title of this. And they say that if controversial issues, as long as they are properly introduced and conducted, the consideration of those issues can help students learn to identify important issues.

0:06:59 Thomas: Hmm. Was it because of Charlie Kirk? Lot's going to be on this conductor, huh? Conductor's just sweating it. I have to conduct this properly. Oh, my God. Yeah.

0:07:21 Lydia: Rhetoric. God, this poor music conductor. Yeah. And saying that, you know, if it's done properly, it has a role in the classroom. And it further says that a controversial issue with regard to this policy is a topic on which opposing points of view have been promulgated by responsible opinion and are likely to arouse both support and

0:07:34 Thomas: Yeah. What does that mean, though? What? That's everything.

0:07:45 Lydia: Opposition in the community. Exactly. These These issues may range across a wide spectrum of political, social, economic, and religious topics. And then they say, we will allow the introduction and proper educational use of controversial issues, provided that they're used in the instructional program, A, is related to the instructional goals of the course of study and level of maturity of the students, B, does not tend to indoctrinate or persuade students to a particular point of view, C, encourages open -mindedness and is conducted in a spirit of scholarly inquiry. And D, does not cause a substantial disruption in the school environment or create a hostile school environment.

0:08:24 Thomas: So we've gone full circle to the people, like, storming. I mean, I don't know if it's apocryphal or not, but, like. Storming out of the Stravinsky Ballet. Like, we're at that point now where it's going to be like. Yeah, I saw. This piece of music is too controversial.

0:08:40 Lydia: Yes. It goes on and says that if a staff member is unsure whether or not a specific item or issue is controversial as defined by this policy, they must consult the principal or designee for a determination. If the staff member disagrees with the principal, or the principal seeks additional clarification, they may request that the superintendent make a determination based on this policy. And then if they disagree with the superintendent's determination or if the superintendent also can't make a call, then they can bring it to the board and the board will make a final determination.

0:09:09 Thomas: Remind me. Where was this passed? What is this again? Is this. Okay.

0:09:11 Lydia: This is the Watertown Unified School Board.

0:09:14 Thomas: So it's a school board thing. Gotcha. Sure it wasn't like a state law or anything okay yeah

0:09:19 Lydia: This is just a policy that has been instituted by the school board. And they have procedures related to, you know, how to go about if you are moving forward with introducing something that is a controversial issue but has been deemed to be appropriate to introduce to students, that they can then pursue that instruction as long as they have then followed those procedures that the school board has identified later as well. Yep.

0:09:45 Thomas: What do you remember well you weren't you weren't a podcaster at the time but how much it used to be about like oh fuck your safe space and all that like wasn't that am I am I look I know I'm getting old getting long in the tooth old man thomas over here but I'm pretty sure they were all talking about I was overly sensitive the wokies were the left the regressive left the what was it before was the first one quickly correct but also yeah the social judge the pc police social justice warriors we couldn't handle disagreement I know they literally are passing shit at this you know not at the school board level I guess there's also laws like this too they're passing that's like if anything might make a christian sad then you need extra special permission to even talk about it

0:10:11 Lydia: Politically correct. Social justice warriors. Yeah. Yep? Yeah. So let's talk a little bit about what that procedure looked like because it was followed and folks on the school board will also admit that it was followed, okay? You can probably see where this is all going. But going back spring 2025, the music directors affiliated with the high school selected music for the upcoming year. They really wanted to focus on things that they felt were interesting that would advance the skills of the students. From everything that I've seen in the school board meeting and some of the coverage here too is that this is a pretty impressive music program

0:10:40 Thomas: Boo hmm

0:11:13 Lydia: That they have. It's a small town, pretty conservative, but they do have a pretty expressive music program that a lot of people participate in.

0:11:18 Thomas: They do have a lot of closeted gay kids that do art

0:11:22 Lydia: That could be true as well. So they make their selections last spring, spring 2025. Then in the fall, October 2025, part of this procedure is if you are moving forward with something that could be thought of to be controversial for whatever reason, then you have to notify families for the families to decide whether or not they want their children to participate.

0:11:39 Thomas: Well so they need a trigger warning everything was a lie we all you all were liars and oh no how could we have known because I was saying it at the time you're all fucking liars god so frustrating

0:11:52 Lydia: So they draft a letter that will be circulated to families. The instructor drafted this and then shared it with the high school principal for feedback. Then that draft letter gets shared and discussed from the high School principal to the superintendent.

0:12:07 Thomas: In case their feelings were going to be hurt by the skill we

0:12:13 Lydia: The superintendent approved the letter to be shared with families. Later that month, October 2025, The letter was sent to all families that were part of this program, the Wind Symphony, and through their various, you know, digital means, they cited Skyward and Rooms, which are just platforms kind of like Blackboard, Canvas, right?

0:12:16 Thomas: Topics jesus oh yeah we need eli on to make fun of all the school websites you have to log

0:12:38 Lydia: After that letter went out, three students requested to opt out. And there was an opt out option. It was that the students would learn a different piece and then demonstrate proficiency with that piece, probably like directly with the symphony conductor or whatever their title was exactly, music director for the program. Because, you know, oftentimes these are things that are written for 40 -piece orchestras.

0:13:01 Lydia: And so for them to like stand on stage like a group of three to perform something when like it's probably two flutes and like a trumpet.

0:13:09 Lydia: I guess if it's wind symphony, then that's not quite right, but probably no trumpet. Or maybe there is. Maybe I should cut that because I'm going to sound like an idiot, but

0:13:09 Thomas: Into I don't even know where yeah when it feels like when I was trying to think of that too it's like wind is both every instrument and also it feels like just a flute yeah oh

0:13:22 Lydia: Also just woodwinds. Yeah. But they would still be tested on it, you know, have these standards and expectations and things like that, but not made to perform it as a group of three in front of, you you know, all of these people and stuff in a concert environment. Only three students opted out.

0:13:36 Thomas: Sorry why a group of three oh like if they get a substitute song Oh, that's right. Okay. Gotcha. I would be in a real bind if I just hated the song. Like, man, this song fucking sucks, but I don't want the anti -wokes to win, you know?

0:13:48 Lydia: From what I understand that the three students that opted out, it was actually two families. So there was one family with two students and that family had requested discussion. So they reached out to the instructor because they wanted more information and planned to opt out at that particular point in time. The other family with the student that opted out did not engage in conversation with the instructor. The instructor described it as unprofessional communication that they had with that particular family. They had those conversations. The family that had the questions ultimately decided not to opt out. And from what I understand, those two students that were part of that same family would participate in the day -to -day rehearsal within the class. They would just not be performing it on stage.

0:14:30 Lydia: So they kind of like found a middle ground that was going to work for everybody. But the family recognized the importance of learning the music and participating in that element. Yeah.

0:14:38 Thomas: We still want to be bigots, but we don't wanna like, we don'T want you to be mad at us for being bigots.

0:14:43 Lydia: So then there was a secondary letter that went out based off of some of the feedback that the instructor received from those initial opt -outs and essentially saying, you know, clarifying certain things that there were additional questions that came from that first letter that I wanted to provide to everybody. So you had an additional opportunity if you had concerns to then also opt out at this point. So this is early November 2025. From what I understand, nothing happened after that point. And students received audio recordings of all the songs that they would be performing in the spring concert, again, at that early November 2025. And then in January 2026, the school purchased all the sheet music that they would be needing to use. They purchased it for A Mother of a Revolution, as well as the alternate piece that they were going to be providing for the student that opted out. Students received the material February 2026. six. And then they started rehearsing it and practicing it, you know, over and over for several months.

0:15:31 Thomas: Called bootlicking is great and I love it father of keep everything exactly the same was the other song I don't know wow

0:15:50 Lydia: They had their spring concert scheduled for May 18th. So this happened just a couple of days ago. And they finalized their playlist early May. And dann on, I guess, May 4th, something like that, the instructor, I don't know if it was truly May 4, but basically the The instructor gets called in for a May 5th meeting with the Educational Services Committee of the school board and saying, what do you think you're doing? This is May 5rd for a may 18th concert.

0:15:57 Thomas: Star wars day oh my god what am I doing the thing I've apparently provided 18 letters to all these fucking snowflake students who can't hear a fucking song otherwise they might start crying

0:16:31 Lydia: Yeah. Yeah. Why don't we go take a peek in the Educotional Services Committee meeting? I sent you the clip with the timestamp

0:16:39 Thomas: Oh I thought that you're just saying that to me for fun, yeah

0:16:43 Clip: My concern is that although it is a great thing that we have a controversial issues policy, and I think that was a great victory for parental rights, and I'm glad that we're employing it and we're deploying it appropriately, I do think that having a controversial issues policy does not preclude certain material from being inappropriate for a public school, you know, a neutral public school.

0:16:53 Thomas: Okay fuck you when I decide it is

0:17:09 Clip: And my concern with this piece in particular, as I was reading about it, is that it's described specifically as a celebration of Marsha Johnson, who was a cross-dressing prostitute who threw I just don't know that we have a generalization and not not the whole story I understand that there's debate over that but this is I mean, this is pretty well established It would would you what part of that would you disagree with? That was a very very quick summarization of the event itself. Well, I mean I I'm not sure so fine. Do you carry on? Yeah, so I think that uh having a piece that celebrates Marsha Johnson who was an individual who engaged in cross-dressing who did engage in sex work I think that that's

0:18:03 Thomas: Boy you're gonna um you're going to be real sad when you learn about checks notes every single other musician ever that you've heard of like Tchaikovsky or I can't wait for it to be like why don't we play something by tchaokovsky and just you know like the good old good old straight straight man yeah just a man's man believed in trickle-down economics Tchaikovsky you know just something like

0:18:22 Lydia: Real cowboys.

0:18:26 Clip: Pretty well established was a prostitute and during a raid on the stonewall inn which was being run as a speakeasy and uh and uh you know a location where the uh the mafia or the mob could traffic drugs, chose to throw either a brick or a stone at a police officer. I think that there is an issue with having a piece of material or curriculum that is celebrating that kind of activity. Although I do think that we should be thinking critically about these things, we should be learning about these times in American history, I think there is a difference between critical thinking and I guess you could call it critical theory or potential indoctrination and although there may be, you know, there may be good intent behind this piece, there maybe good intent behind selecting this piece and the piece may have a great deal of complexity it might be great. I haven't listened to it because to me I'm

0:19:09 Thomas: Okay wow

0:19:27 Clip: More interested in the background of the reason for writing it because of the state standards that we're talking about with the intent of the creator of the of the piece um I mean, I like disco. I like uh it sounds like it's a very good blend of genre disco and jazz and things like that however the subject matter it seems like it is not appropriate for for a public school which is supposed to be uh which is suppose to maintain neutrality

0:19:53 Thomas: Not even disco can make this song safe

0:19:56 Lydia: So skip ahead a little bit to 107 05 so we can hear a little bit more from the instructor who who chimed in there you'll hear where he was like that's a you know that's generalization whatever fine carry on like he sees this is going to go exactly how he expects they all know everybody in this town knows who this school board is and we'll we'll get into that a little bit later too

0:20:06 Thomas: Neutrality oh

0:20:19 Clip: I would just request that the decision is made that one of you from the board come directly to my classroom and explain to the students why their work is not going to be continued and promoted, given the fact that board policy was followed to the letter. Any further thoughts from the committee?

0:20:38 Thomas: God yeah fucking

0:20:43 Lydia: They can't even uh engage with that

0:20:44 Clip: I didn't know if there were further questions for Ray, though. Okay it would be my recommendation to move forward potentially to a I suppose we would want the full board to talk about and vote on it but to move forward to a special board meeting that this particular piece could be pulled from the upcoming spring concert we will discuss further how that is communicated to students that would be recommendation do I hear any agreement or disagreement on that I can agree with that yeah we'll discuss it further okay I'm sorry that

0:21:16 Thomas: Cowards wow

0:21:19 Lydia: So they decide in this committee, that everything that I walked you through on that timeline, the instructor also talked about in that committee hearing, he talked about the students that opted out, the students that opted back in just would not be performing on the stage for the piece itself. He talked about all of those things. He talks about the reason why he selected the piece, the different challenging components that he thought the students would really get a kick out of. Not just that, but like Like, also, he talked about a music instructor, especially in, like, a high school environment. You're trying to create a program where at least one piece resonates with each student, right? There's going to be times where students are playing songs. They're like, I really don't like this one or whatever. But, like your hope is to kind of touch on so many different things that it's going to pull somebody in and they're going to have these memories. They're going work especially hard at that piece because it means something to them. But the board is just, it's in one ear out the other, honestly. They recognized during this meeting that he followed the procedure to a T, as the instructor mentioned again towards the end. He followed the procedur. He did

0:22:28 Lydia: Exactly what they told him to do. And he got clearance to do this. And he had an alternate for students that didn't want to participate. That is the policy. He followed the policy.

0:22:28 Thomas: So ridiculous

0:22:37 Lydia: The students and the families followed the policy, but instead the educational services committee yeah the educational services committee doesn't care and they say we're going to bring this up to the full board and they are going to have a special board meeting for this so now we go to May 12th six days before this concert

0:22:37 Thomas: Yeah can't you just do it anyway or or you just didn't want to do that.

0:22:57 Thomas: Sorry, do you have any idea what sparked the... Did somebody say something? What sparked anyone giving a shit about this part?

0:23:04 Lydia: I have not been able to track that down specifically that board member that you heard speaking quite a bit his name is Sam Awaniel and he is the vice president of the board, he has said that like parents had reached out to him with concerns. Who knows? Because I don't know how that could potentially be when literally two families opted out. And especially like when you see how the students react to, I think you would be confused about how this made its way here exactly. I haven't been able to track that down. And the board has not responded to inquiries from the press at all. And we'll talk about that, too. They are cowards.

0:23:53 Ad: [Ad break 2 — ad music]

0:23:53 Lydia: So fast forward to May 12th, six days before the concert. And there is a special school board meeting. I want to play some highlights from this. I have a long list. I'm only going to play a few because I know we have limited time. But there's such great feedback from the community. The first couple of people are actually with the school board. They're like, yep, this is too controversial. I think it should be pulled. It's only a couple people. And then the rest of everything else that comes to follow is like, what are you talking about?

0:24:21 Thomas: Like they planted the first couple to start off strong.

0:24:25 Lydia: So yeah, it's somebody's like brother. Other. So we'll start with the first person that is speaking up on behalf of the students and the band teacher, 1544, the

0:24:38 Clip: Your idea of what's fair and what's right only includes the little bubbles that you live in and lastly I agree with Mr. LeDoux if this board ultimately decides to cancel this piece

0:24:57 Lydia: Music director.

0:24:58 Thomas: Why is music happening in the background?

0:24:59 Lydia: Oh, because he's playing the song.

0:25:02 Clip: I would think that the people on the committee that made this decision to have this meeting and got their underwear in a bunch go to the school and explain to the students but I don't think any one of you have the balls to do that and you are trying to take away a piece that they've

0:25:23 Lydia: All right, we get some

0:25:25 Thomas: You don't deserve that, Gabble.

0:25:25 Lydia: Gaveling from the board president. Yeah, all right, go ahead and pause. And the board President is Lori Hoffman. Remember that name because I'll be mentioning her a little bit later too.

0:25:34 Thomas: No chance I will, but okay.

0:25:35 Lydia: Well, to our listeners, yeah. I'm going to skip to 31 even. This is a seventh grader who stood up to speak.

0:25:37 Thomas: It's just church lady, just fucking...

0:25:50 Clip: Worked so hard on for months and before you ask yes I do understand all the like effort that goes into this because I'm actually a band student I play the trombone in the seventh grade band at And I don't think you guys understand how hard it is to listen to you guys, not accept them, because I know what it's like to not be accepted. Last year, I was bullied so hard because I told my friends, I came out to my friends about being gender fluid and I was bullying by everybody, whether it was my friends or just people in band. And to hear them play a piece by an LGBTQ composer would be would mean so much whether they're trans gay whatever because you're accepting them you're letting the students that need to be accepted to be accept it and these students the highest band in the school that has worked that worked for months to perfect everything need to work need to all of a sudden just drop drop a piece because it just came to your attention the they got so so good because they work and they work and they don't mess around. They just try and try until they give up. So it takes some months and sometimes playing college complicated level pieces, like we do, So when Symphony can work, makes them better for every concert because they just work more and more and work. Don't take away the hard work they put in appreciate their time and their effort.

0:27:24 Lydia: That was really important to me because it's like, you're making this decision based off of a high school. But like, again, this is a small community.

0:27:33 Thomas: God, I want so bad to just go and roast these fucking clowns.

0:27:38 Lydia: The entire town has 23,000 people.

0:27:42 Thomas: God this is a giant city. Okay.

0:27:42 Lydia: The school district serves 3,200 students total. So the impact that they're having here, it's truly felt by everybody. And that's why you're hearing these cheers, these frustration by, you know, not just older adults and stuff that have come because they have like grandkids that are in the district. Or maybe their kids have graduated and they don't have any kids in the district anymore, but their kids participate in band. Or they're an alumni and they're coming back to talk about this. Or their further down, they're not in the high school yet. They're in middle school. They just started middle school that they're seeing these opportunities being shaped by people who shouldn't have that kind of say about the material. Exactly.

0:28:26 Thomas: Yeah they have nothing to do with

0:28:29 Lydia: Like the music instructor is choosing things for a reason to teach you music to the best of your ability, to push your skills, to challenge you. Right.

0:28:35 Thomas: It hey you dumb fucks how about you come and play something why don't you okay you idiots why don'T you play something and we will go off of you you take take your you take the lead

0:28:44 Lydia: It's just so frustrating. So if you go to 3528, we'll hear from one of the parents.

0:28:50 Thomas: Does anyone have the guts to roast these fucking clowns as hard as they need to be

0:28:55 Clip: It and I find it frankly as a parent insulting to have it suggested that somehow I was bamboozled or fooled I knew exactly what they were doing they knew what they were doing nobody tried to pull up the wool over my eyes I knew what they were playing and I was perfectly fine with it I am perfectly fine with it not because I have some kind of agenda I want my child to go out and start a revolution but because I value the music education that she's going to be that she she's received. And when I talked to her last week about this, what she said she enjoyed about the piece was the musicality of it, how interesting it was, the percussion and the interesting things they do with the trumpets and percussion and all the fun different things. She said it was a challenge musically that she had to work hard and to rise to. And now she feels like she is being told that all of that work and all of that means nothing. I think it's very important to note that this is a situation that has been created that was not one. This was not a problem. This was not an issue. The parents who wanted to opt out, opted out. And the parents who didn't want to opt out didn't care. We were okay. I am not raising a child. I'm raising a future adult. I have raised three future adults. You have the ability to think critically and engage with the concept. And again, I think that when we talked about the specifics of this piece, what it came to was, she said, I didn't fully understand what Stonewall was, but when they got upset, I had to go Google it to figure out what everybody was so afraid of. So I want you to know that you personally, in bringing this to

0:30:22 Thomas: Roasted unlike you fucking clowns, yeah fuck

0:30:42 Clip: Attention actually created the education on Stonewall that you were trying very hard to avoid it is very important to note that policy was followed when you fail to follow your own policy you are setting a dangerous precedent with these students that you will create a policy but you don't feel that you yourselves should be held accountable to it when the outcome is not the the one that you personally would prefer. Hello, my name is Sophia Anderson

0:30:50 Thomas: You clowns yeah

0:31:12 Lydia: All right. Right.

0:31:17 Thomas: You absolute fucking clowns

0:31:20 Lydia: So now we're going to skip ahead to 4524. And this is actually the student that spoke to the news when this was all breaking. She's great. So I wanted to make sure that we heard from her.

0:31:36 Clip: My pronouns are she/her. I live on North 2nd Street here in town and you might recognize me from oh I don't know the news talking about you guys and this specific situation I thought you know might want to see the music for yourself There is zero lyrics on all three pages, let the people see that. Zero lyrics, yet you're worried about around 15 words on my sheet of paper right here that says, in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots and honoring Marsha P. Johnson. This is absurd. I have people messaging me, replying to comments, repying to videos from across the state, across the country, and across the world. I have received comments from Canada, Finland, Australia, the United Kingdom, and so many more about a little school in a a town of 20 ish thousand people in Wisconsin. We should not be this important.

0:32:56 Clip: It's a band piece with no lyrics that is very technically challenging. Take it from your first chair clarinet player This piece is challenging. And we have worked so hard for months to make it sound easy because that's how music should sound it should sound easy and sound good no matter what the meaning and we do that you wouldn't know I'm guessing considering you want to push it down for being a piece of music a bunch of band kids are gonna play but the concert is in six days. This was originally brought up 13 days before the concert. We still don't know what we are playing at our concert because of you.

0:33:49 Clip: This should not be an issue who are playing college level and professional level music are having, especially when we have one of the best music directors in the state.

0:34:06 Clip: We are always told to respect our elders, which is obviously all of you, but when are you going to start respecting us? Because respect is not given, it is earned. And you have yet to earn my respect. But I think me and almost everyone in this room with me here tonight has earned yours. So when are we going to get it? Because we sure as hell deserve it. This is a perfect example of what everyone

0:34:39 Lydia: Impassioned comments. The public comment went on for a long time. They normally allot 15 minutes for public comment and then have to vote to allow it to continue. And they did that several times. And yeah, at a certain point, I think a couple of the board members voted no. Initially, they voted yes. And then they're like, you know, then they started voting no after. But the board responds at 125 -26. We can kind of hear what their position is after an hour of public comment.

0:34:49 Thomas: Surprised yeah

0:35:07 Clip: Sitting at this table ran on which was ending indoctrination in the classrooms and ending radical curriculum wait we heard all of you speak please be polite enough to let us speak to thank you I think this is a great example of what

0:35:30 Lydia: Yeah, they're, like, say something worthwhile.

0:35:32 Thomas: Shut up you're the decision makers what are they saying yeah right

0:35:39 Lydia: Indoctrinate yourselves.

0:35:44 Clip: Happens when for decades in schools we teach these ideas and we validate a lack of civility,, we validate riots, violent behavior. It leads to social unrest, it leads to people trying to cut off and silence other people, which starts off as yelling, talking over people, and eventually results in what we've I think my point is being made fairly clearly here I don't know what that means yeah um so like I said it violates policy 2240 uh additionally I was notified that there is uh

0:36:39 Lydia: It doesn't violate 2240. You said they followed it correctly.

0:36:41 Clip: There's actually a clause in our policy about performances, 5722, and it states that the school will not permit the performance or the publication of any speech that endorses violent or illegal acts. Someone else may be able to speak to it more specifically, but according to case law, music is a form of speech, and education is most definitely a form

0:37:00 Thomas: Stupid

0:37:12 Lydia: We get this guy. All right. I would like to skip ahead a little bit to 13306 because we're going to hear from a board member that we haven't heard from yet who's a real piece of work too.

0:37:22 Clip: Of speech. I do think everybody in this room has a right to be appalled, but it's at your music teacher. He had the opportunity.

0:37:31 Lydia: Unbelievable.

0:37:38 Clip: Now, you guys can sit here and tell us how you feel. I'm gonna tell you how I feel. This is my personal opinion and none of my board's business. Your teacher had an opportunity to act like an adult when he chose a piece that was not controversial he chose a controversial piece from a plethora of over a thousand pieces at a concert that is going to be performed in front of the entire district so I do think that you do have a right to be disappointed. You should be disappointed in your educator that instead of educating you and picking a piece that wouldn't cause controversy that he instead chose a piece that was going to incite controversy in our community.

0:37:39 Thomas: Wow it's fucking morons you fucking clown oh my god what a fucking

0:38:22 Clip: Also, by the way, speech is music for the Supreme Court.

0:38:27 Thomas: Loser yeah speech is music all speech is music we've ruled the supreme court

0:38:27 Lydia: Okay. All right and yeah. And now we're gonna go to another board member we haven'T heard from who actually is a former English teacher that I have a little comment from Reddit I found that I'll I'll share after he speaks. 135 -45.

0:38:43 Thomas: I wonder what that's gonna

0:38:47 Clip: That culture is not created by the school board. No, sorry. Teachers should not be driving. But, hey, that's censorship.

0:39:01 Clip: Teachers should not be driving a wedge between parents and their children. They both want to stay anonymous because they're afraid of retaliation with a lower grade or peer pressure.

0:38:59 Thomas: Be what huh oh the people who like started this

0:39:16 Lydia: He's saying that other people reached out to him and then also business owners,

0:39:19 Clip: It was the same with local business owners.

0:39:22 Thomas: Oh sure what

0:39:22 Lydia: Why do they care?

0:39:22 Clip: They didn't want their businesses to suffer. They didn't want me to use their names. I do believe this was a test balloon.

0:39:25 Thomas: What look as the local car dealership. The high school concert is really make or break or break for me. That's a big deal. You can't fuck with my business. I'm sorry.

0:39:42 Lydia: Ridiculous.

0:39:48 Clip: This was a test balloon to the board, what the board would do. I'm only speaking for myself, but I want the grooming to stop.

0:40:00 Thomas: Grooming to staff.

0:40:02 Clip: And not just grooming sexually, but grooming politically as well we should not be training little liberals and calling kids thank you we should not we should

0:40:08 Thomas: What? Oh, my God. Huh. That seems like not something that you're supposed to do as a school board.

0:40:29 Clip: Not be training little liberals and calling kids from conservative families Nazis I also believe that it's the The parents' job, I also believe that it's the parents' job to raise their kids and our schools and all of its employees, including the board, their job to come alongside those parents, not become surrogate parents.

0:40:35 Thomas: What? And do it for them. What? That's what you're doing, you moron.

0:41:02 Clip: And it's not just this issue.

0:41:06 Lydia: Their truth.

0:41:07 Thomas: What?

0:41:07 Clip: They'll be back in two years with some new truth created by the new hot and trendy professor, like the one who gave us the term gender.

0:41:13 Thomas: What? What? I can't

0:41:17 Lydia: Yeah? All the high school kids are just laughing at him like it's crazy.

0:41:20 Clip: As for the argument that this should have been stopped in October, that it's too late now. If my daughter has already bought a prom dress, bought her shoes, got her grandma's pearls, and I find out a week before prom that her boyfriend rented a motel room, she's not going to prom with him. She can still go to prom with their friends. We're not

0:41:45 Thomas: Believe Steve Brule would do this to us.

0:41:47 Lydia: Crazy so that guy his name is Dan Voltner, he's a former English teacher. Yeah, so not quite, but someone has been going around Reddit. It is Reddit, so I can't say for certain that this is true, but they have been going around putting this everywhere saying that he was their freshman English teacher and they say and I remember him proudly telling us of the time he killed a dog with a frying pan.

0:41:53 Thomas: Boy, Dan, child molester. Sure.

0:42:13 Lydia: So, you know, great guy. I know, really.

0:42:12 Thomas: What is it with these assholes and dog killing?

0:42:22 Ad: [Ad break 3 — ad music]

0:42:22 Lydia: The way the board came down on this, they had an initial motion that was let the students play the song, but add a disclaimer to the program and that they would draft the statement, you know, that what is being commemorated in this piece is not the view of blah, blah, yeah, it failed.

0:42:33 Thomas: What's wrong with that? I mean, it's stupid, but they won't even go for that? Oh, my God. Absolute clowns. You fucking losers.

0:42:41 Lydia: It ended up in a tie. So that motion did not pass. Yeah.

0:42:47 Lydia: So then the next motion was that the students would not be allowed to play and that won seven to one. The one opposing vote was Lori Hoffman, the board president that was gaveling throughout the time. And people have been going around on Reddit in some places saying, like, don't bring Lori into this. You know, she voted no. Well, here's the thing. She's a Moms for Liberty person.

0:43:07 Lydia: She didn't vote no because she actually, like believes in the students right to play. It's that she knows this is politically not great. And it's a bit of a hot potato. And she could save face.

0:43:16 Thomas: How do you know that?

0:43:20 Lydia: Because after all of this happened, the news went out to get comment from people. So let me actually I'll send you that clip, too. Once this came down and they said that they were not going to allow the students to play the song in six days at their concert, May 18th, the following day, the students at the high school staged a walkout. Students at the middle school also wanted to walk out, but ended up being barricaded in and said that, you know, they were not going to be allowed to leave the premises, et cetera, et cetera, like they were being threatened, that they weren't going to be able to participate in a field trip coming up, all of these different things if they walked out to show support. And when this coverage of the walkout happened, we also got some attempts by the press to talk to the school board members to get more information about why they voted against this.

0:44:09 Thomas: Is that the secret newscaster knock they do?

0:44:12 Clip: TMJ4 has sent repeated interview requests to board members. They have all either declined or have not responded. That's why Ben Jordan showed up today they at their homes for unscheduled interviews. He shares how the few who came to their doors responded. Of the eight Watertown school board members who voted Tuesday to prevent high school students from performing a song now at the center of a controversy. Three board members answered their doors and they all had a similar response. We start with David Handyside. Hello, Mr. Handyslide. I'm Ben Jordan with TMJ4. We're here because we haven't gotten any response from the school board about this song controversy why is that because we don't want to talk about it

0:44:23 Thomas: That's funny. Here because we heard you're an insufferable loser oh

0:44:51 Lydia: Said

0:44:56 Clip: Why don't you want to talk about it sir because it is what it is and you were there so you saw us but I had nothing else to say

0:45:02 Thomas: It is what it is I didn't know

0:45:05 Clip: Handy side was among the majority who voted not to allow the high school wind symphony to play a song called A Mother of a Revolution it's inspired by a

0:45:11 Lydia: He was concerned about kids turning away from God. God.

0:45:13 Thomas: That ah oh

0:45:16 Clip: Trans woman during the 1960s LGBTQ movement and as you can hear from this performance by the University of Georgia Wind Ensemble it doesn't have any lyrics

0:45:28 Thomas: My god I just threw a brick through my own window holy shit that song is

0:45:28 Clip: The next to answer their door school board treasurer Carl Schwarz he also voted to ban the song for all who you're with turn the camera off we're not going to turn the off because you've refused to answer

0:45:39 Thomas: Dangerous you're a fucking clown you fucking

0:45:41 Clip: Questions for us via statement via interview we want to hear directly from you after this decision I have no comment if you want to comment from me you get it at the school board meeting Monday all right if this if this band director followed policy by allowing parents and students to opt out I position. I understand what you represent, and that's fine. You have a right to represent anything you want. Why ban this song, sir? Excuse me. The only member who voted to allow the wind symphony to play a song they've practiced for months was board President Laurie Hoffman. She then put forward an effort to allow The performance to go on with a disclaimer, which failed to pass on a four to four vote. You were the lone vote of against this measure. Could you share your position on this? You were at the meeting, your reporting was not balanced, and I'm not giving you a comment. I'm sorry.

0:46:08 Thomas: Clown the news huh yeah

0:46:45 Clip: If you think our reporting was non-balanced, why not share your perspective? All three shut the door on me, with only one telling us to show up to the next meeting this coming Monday to learn more details, the same night the song was scheduled to be performed.

0:47:00 Lydia: Crazy. So they also go on to the school board defends their choice. They have a press release that they have a separate, you know, page for on their school district website. But they also put it on like if you look at the board members, it starts with this press release at the top because I imagine they're getting flooded with emails as they should. And their statement says, it is the responsibility of a public school to provide a strong, values -neutral education to all students.

0:47:28 Thomas: That's why we're inflicting our values on these kids

0:47:29 Lydia: Yeah. As the encouragement of social violence continues to rise across the country, the Watertown Unified School District Board of Education stands firm on the principle that it is not the place of a pubic school to endorse or celebrate acts of violence. When concerned parents brought the upcoming performance of A Mother of a Revolution to public attention, the full board examined the situation to determine whether any violation of policy had occurred. Heard. The district's controversial issues policy is clear. Use of controversial issues is permitted, but only if it does not, quote, tend to indoctrinate or persuade students to a particular point of view. According to the composer, the piece, A Mother of a Revolution, was commissioned to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall uprising, a six -day riot which included the beating of police officers and attempting to burn down a building with human beings trapped inside.

0:48:09 Lydia: Based on the teacher's description, the lesson was intended to persuade students toward emotional alignment with And then they forgot to capitalize Stonewall in that sentence, by the way. That's not what he said. He was talking about empathy and empathy of people who have endured discrimination, harassment, violence for decades upon decades and what that can do for a community who's experiencing that and why Stonewall occurred. Right. And the empathy that you can give to other people and the life experiences that they have. He was not saying emotional alignment with the particular acts that occurred at Stonewall. They continue considering these factors. The board decided to remove the song from the concert due to its celebration of violence. The Watertown School Board remains committed to providing academic education free from indoctrination. Thank you, Lori Hoffman.

0:48:09 Thomas: I think what's incredible is every single board member was stonewalling that's the most incredible I think the newscaster should have used that you know are you stonewall me boy that's making me want to punch a cop right now because you're stonewall me and that apparently just inspires it's just saying the word inspires the action

0:49:16 Lydia: There you go. Oh, yeah. Now, this school board, it is tumultuous at the school board. In a span of about six months, five board members had resigned. So the schoolboard that we're looking at is full of zealots, many of whom were elected to be there and had a, I guess, compelling campaign. They just had signs all over the place that I think it was one, two, four, six, because those were the positions of the slate of four that they wanted to elect. Lori Hoffman, who's now the board president, David Handyside, who opened his door, he was the one that I said was incredibly religious, like former deacon, Sunday school teacher, said that his biggest concern is that all the kids are turning away from God. He said that during the school board meeting. Again, this is public school. So why is that happening? Christina DeGrave and Jelaine Appling. Jelraine Appling, folks in Wisconsin, I imagine will be familiar with She is the former CEO and I guess now president emeritus of the Wisconsin Family Council.

0:50:16 Lydia: She is behind trying to put in the Wisconsin Constitution that same -sex marriage is unconstitutional. She's behind these incredible movements that are dedicated to Christian fundamentalism. She is one of the eight on this school board and was elected, unfortunately. So as this school board had changed its makeup and five members had resigned in the span of six months, several of them cited continued disrespect from other members, authoritarian leadership.

0:50:51 Thomas: See but that that sucks I mean

0:50:53 Lydia: It does suck. It really, really does.

0:50:54 Thomas: We need people to stay in positions of power if they have them because this is what happens you know you can't just let assholes bully you out of everything and then ruin kids education that's that's not how it works

0:51:08 Lydia: I do not disagree at all. This has been a really high tension place in the state of Wisconsin for the last few years in the view of like parental rights and all of that kind of stuff. They way back in November 2024, they had approved a gender support plan, which was an incredibly restrictive policy for transgender students, considered the most restrictive policy in the entire state of wisconsin was at this school board. They were also one of the school districts in wisconsin that complied when trump came into office and And they had the entire litany of things regarding DEI and doing away with all that stuff. They complied, even though the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction told schools not to.

0:51:50 Lydia: This school board went along with the Trump administration's plans there in defiance of their state directive. On the plus side, three of the board members' terms are coming up for reelection in April of next year. So there's just one year left of these freaking people, potentially, if folks can kind of rally Watertown to vote differently. Apparently, that's Dan Voltner, the one that apparently killed a dog with a frying pan and accused the music director of grooming students either sexually or politically. Apparently, O 'Neill, who is the one from the Educational Services Committee that really that said, yes, you followed the policy perfectly, Mr. Ledoux. And still, I don't think you guys should play this.

0:52:29 Thomas: I don't get how there isn't some sort of legal remedy for that I don't get what this is a you know I know it's a small school board but like can't you rely on a school board which is a like arm of the state yeah like can't you rely on them to follow their own policy? That doesn't seem right.

0:52:42 Lydia: Elected officials. Yeah. Yeah, but I wonder because it was all happening so close to the concert. If that option then became a lot more difficult to pursue maybe that was an option and then they just couldn't because they timed it that way yeah I don't know

0:52:56 Thomas: Yeah. I mean, it probably was, but it probably was an option, but I don't know if anyone would have like gone to that trouble. I don't know.

0:53:04 Lydia: Yeah and then um appling the president emeritus of wisconsin family council who's you know piece of crap um she's also up for re -election in april

0:53:14 Thomas: For a piece of crap. Vote me for a piece of crap!

0:53:15 Lydia: 2027 yeah so so hopefully those folks will be on their way out next year Who knows? But I did promise you some outcomes.

0:53:21 Thomas: Well, who knows? Yeah. Well, yeah, that was an outcome.

0:53:25 Lydia: So we know that they were not allowed to play it. Yeah. We know they were Not Allowed to Play It at their concert, which occurred on Monday, May 18th.

0:53:31 Thomas: Yeah, just have their own concert, I guess.

0:53:33 Lydia: So great that you said that. What happened was Emanuel Evangelical Lutheran Church invited the high school symphony to come play, and they're flying out the composer to conduct it. Omar Thomas, who wrote the piece, is coming out, and that's happening today as we're recording, Wednesday, May 20th. It's open to the public.

0:53:48 Thomas: That's awesome. Oh man. I want to watch.

0:53:54 Lydia: It is free. It will be live -streamed.

0:53:57 Thomas: Oh that's so cool.

0:53:57 Lydia: It is actually about to start. From when we are recording, it is about 30 minutes. Snooze, you lose.

0:53:59 Thomas: I'm so glad glad we're telling people just after yeah if you're listening you have no way of you should have listened live you should have you should ha bought the live show ticket to our room to our house

0:54:12 Lydia: Yeah, but I think it is just so beautiful. There is going to be community members, local musicians, students from the area that are going to be attending. The church's website is demonstrating it. They are like, Like the students, they're not trying to be the center of attention. They just want to play what they've been practicing to play. And I think it's so beautiful and also that it's going to be like a house of worship, too. So it's like, good luck, school board. And on top of that, just a great thing today, Memorial Day weekend, the High School Wind Symphony has been invited to play in Madison, Wisconsin, the capital of the state at Minocqua Brewing Company's taproom over in Madison. So if folks are out that way, I know I didn't get this to you quickly enough so you could attend the performance at the church over in Watertown. But if you're out there and you can get to Madison for Memorial Day, they're going to be performing there as well, it sounds like. So, again, that's Minocqua Brewing Company, their Madison taproom. And, yeah, so I don't know. I think it's horribly depressing how this all worked out. But I personally left this research feeling so joyful for the kids that they're

0:55:24 Lydia: Going to be able to play this. It's not the way that they expected but it's almost an even better way because they're going to stick it to the man you know even more so

0:55:29 Thomas: Yeah you can be sure that they will be radicalized against you fucking pieces of cowardly conservative dog shit like there's no no child comes out of that experience thinking thinking these idiots were like in the right unless they already were firmly indoctrinated into it so good job losers

0:55:49 Lydia: And I feel inspired after hearing a lot of the the kids speak um I'll include the link to the full school board meeting if people want to poke around there was another um yeah okay so it's funny you say that because because I almost played this, but there was an adult man that came to speak who he said he was raised in a mixed race household and he was having a really hard time. He went to these schools and everything. And Dan Voltner, that school board member, had actually like taken his family and helped like support them and stuff. And he was like, and I will never forget that, like in the care and the compassion that you showed me. And He's like, you also invited me to join the church band. And I played there and he Was like, but sorry to tell you, Dan, but we played a lot of gay

0:55:56 Thomas: Did anyone roast these fucking

0:56:30 Lydia: Music, a lot of gay music constantly. So like, I thought that was great, too, that he just kind of called that out a little bit. And he had this personal relationship with that particular board member. But like I said, I leave feeling inspired. And I'm really excited for a lot of these students and making the most of the bad hand that they were dealt. And hopefully we can see some change happen in this little tiny town.

0:56:30 Thomas: Losers yeah that's funny being born in that shitty town yeah wow that's awesome good stuff I mean I'm so mad I just I want to go to what do we have any school board meetings to suck locally that I just need to yell I

0:57:03 Lydia: Yeah, our school board is not bad. There are neighboring school boards that are so we could go do a little field trip yeah thanks

0:57:09 Thomas: Just want to go I want to go yell at somebody they're just such fucking losers man ah all right well thanks so much hun that was a great breakdown vote me for piece of crap