Theater Arts at The Center School (TACS), part of M.S. 243 at 100 West 84th Street, is facing scrutiny as word spreads about the COVID-themed holiday show its students performed in December.
Students from grades five through eight performed various skits throughout the production. One was to the tune of “Safety Dance” by Men Without Hats. The lyrics were changed to, “It’s safe to vax/and if your friends don’t vax/then they ain’t no friends of mine,” reports the New York Post. Students were seen holding signs for Pfizer and Moderna during the number as well.
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Students in another sketch portrayed antagonists holding signs which read “I Fear God Not Covid” and “I Am Not A Science Experiment.” In the same sketch, “Other children appear to be dressed as conservative caricatures: a box of Kool cigarettes, a man in fatigues with an American flag, Napoleon Bonaparte and the so-called QAnon shaman Jacob Chansley, who was sentenced to 41 months in prison for his role in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot,” wrote JustTheNews.
After attending the play, Antigone Michaelides — whose child performed — wrote on Twitter that “…1 in 5 kids at that school are unvaxxed”.
Michaelides described the evening as “an abomination” when interviewed by the Post, going on to say that “It is discrimination and bullying and there is no reason you should make kids feel bad about themselves. Haven’t they been through enough in two years?”
Following the production, Michaelides also wrote a letter to the school superintendent, Christine Loughlin. In the note, she asks “How is it acceptable for a teacher, or teachers, to promote an agenda which encourages some children to turn against other children at the same school?”
The Department of Education is now investigating the matter. “Every student deserves to feel welcomed in their school and this incident was immediately referred for investigation,” said spokesman DOE Press Secretary Nathaniel Styer.
New York City doesn’t require public school students to be vaccinated against COVID-19 unless they are participating in “high-risk extracurricular sports and activities.”
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“We had to show a vax card and ID to get in, so the indoctrinated audience, with a handful, maybe, of exceptions, was clapping along. The school figured they were preaching to the choir,” Michaelides wrote in a tweet before mentioning that she knew parents who were denied entry because they weren’t vaxxed.
John Turley, a professor at George Washington University who’s testified at congressional proceedings about constitutional and statutory issues, shared his take in a Feb. 20 blog post. “Regardless of how these signs were presented, the controversy highlights the unnecessary politicalization of our public schools,” he wrote. “This is just a little play and a small school. However, it is indicative of a rising concern over teachers using schools — and our kids — for political agendas.”
How is this messaging any different than the commercials aired by the City urging vaccination of children? I don’t see how this is incongruent with the messaging (or values) of the City and the DOE.
Exactly!
This school has unethical practices forever.
It took this and Covid to bring it to light.
They have their progressive agenda in front of teaching.
“indoctrinated audience” Use of that phrase says it all… Bravo fer the kids show and school.
Kudos to the school for sending messaging that is consistent with science (what a concept!) and that could decrease hospitalizations and deaths.
North Korea indoctrination camp not school
I guess we’re supposed to find this play to be shocking, but why? All New Yorkers are well aware that they live in a city that has encouraged vaccination and required masks during the COVID pandemic. We’re also aware that people in other states are against that — we see news coverage of their behavior every day. The person mentioned in this story, Ms. Michaelidis, not only wrote the tweet that the story links to, she also tweeted this: “Greetings from the free state of Florida, where people are normal. Life is normal. It’ll be hard to go back to NYC. It’ll be harder for my son, after a week of maskless freedom, to go back to being muzzled.” We share Ms. Michaelidis’s regret about her return to the city, and we hope that she can find a way to stay in FL among her people.
What they said…
Thank you.
One issue not commented upon here is as critical as the immediate issue of Covid, vaccinations, masks, etc. And that is freedom of expression.
I’m not sure it rises to the level of “bullying,” but yes, the play probably could have done its “job” with less overt, “calling out” of those who are unvaccinated or don’t wear masks. But that’s beside the point.
Even were the school not following the DOE and DOM messaging – which, as many have pointed out, it clearly is – it is the right of the school to approve or disapprove any given planned event, productions, etc. by its students. So if the school was okay with this, and allowed its students freedom of expression, that is a good thing. The children not only learn the “facts and science” regarding the virus and pandemic, they also learn an important lesson about freedom of thought and expression.
Bravo to the school for this.
So sad to realize how brainwashed the UWSers have become. The most educated and cultured are now wearing mental blinders. And the children are not taught to engage in critical thinking. Lost generation. Hope they don’t do the same to their children. Otherwise, this country is a lost cause.
They keep piling on the reasons to get the heck out of NYC. I am with Turley on this one.
Hope my mask song ain’t too COINTREAU Vershal-
https://soundcloud.app.goo.gl/VfxueLd5MNz9fdR96
“If you don’t wear a mask, I will take you to task”
COVID lockdowns resulted in depression, anger, and a little creativity, too.
Too little I’m afraid. That was painful Wick. If you do wear a face diaper don’t talk to me.
I am much more interested in how the kids feel without the grown ups interference. Let them do what they want without all the indoctrination one way or the other.