Wisconsin teacher fired for criticising ban on kids singing Dolly Parton and Miley Cyrus song about rainbows

Critics say firing part of school’s anti-LGBTQ policies

A Wisconsin school board fired a first-grade teacher after she publicly criticised a decision by the district to not let her play a Miley Cyrus song called “Rainbowland” at the spring concert.

The Waukesha school board voted unanimously on Wednesday to fire teacher Melissa Tempel, who took to Twitter in March to protest the decision on “Rainbowland,” a song featuring Dolly Parton with inclusivity-focused lyrics like, “Wouldn’t it be nice to live in paradise / Where we’re free to be exactly who we are.”

"This is not a case about culture wars or rainbows. It’s a case about constitutional rights, and Miss Tempel has them like every other person in this country. I think we are moving forward with next steps and Miss Tempel looks forward to vindicating her rights in federal court," her attorney, Summer Murshid, told reporters after the decision.

Wisconsin teacher Melissa Tempel and her attorney speak with reporters on 12 July, 2023, after the educator was fired for criticising a district decision not to let children sing a Miley Cyrus song about rainbows. (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel broadcast screengrab)

The Independent has contacted the Waukesha Schoola District for comment.

The incident at issue began when Ms Tempel said her proposal to have her students sing “Rainbowland” at the Heyer Elementary School spring concert was rejected.

“My first graders were so excited to sing Rainbowland for our spring concert but it has been vetoed by our administration,” she wrote on Twitter. “When will it end?”

The post also tagged the school district, Dolly Parton, Miley Cyrus, the Department of Justice civil rights division, and a Wisconsin LGBT+ advocacy group.

In May, following an internal investigation, the district superintendent recommended Ms Tempel be fired, arguing she expressed her discontent in an “inappropriate” and “disruptive” way.

The case attracted attention from state officials, and the Wisconsin state superintendent of public instruction urged the district to reconsider, arguing, “We cannot afford to lose our educator workforce to misguided choices made in the name of student protection.”

During a nearly four-hour school board hearing on Wednesday, both sides of the issue presented their arguments.

School officials said Ms Tempel didn’t speak with her direct supervisor before taking the issue to the Twitter masses, prompting "hundreds of emails, calls, voicemails, many of which contained vulgar, obscene and threatening language” to be directed towards the school, requiring an increased police presence because of safety concerns.

Ms Tempel, meanwhile, argued she made the post while outside of work and was exercising her First Amendment rights.

Ultimately, the school board decided Ms Tempel violated the district’s “controversial issues” policy, forbidding personnel from engaging in behaviour that “may be the subject of intense public argument, disagreement or disapproval,” “may have political, social or personal impacts” or “is likely to arouse both support and opposition in the community,” according to The Washington Post.

Some community members saw the decision as a continuation of allegedly anti-LGBT+ district policies that have banned inclusive books, pride flags and rainbow lanyards in classrooms, and forced teachers to use children’s birth pronouns unless given parental approval.

“It seems like the board’s decision concerning Ms Tempel’s employment, much like their previous decisions regarding safe space signage and lunch program issues, aren’t truly representative of the opinions of a majority of Waukesha residents,” Dave Dringenburg of Alliance for Education in Waukesha, told the Post. “While Ms Tempel was terminated in part for being ‘disruptive,’ the board’s inconsistent implementation of policy has led the district to years of disruption in our schools and community.”

Others, like Marcus Schroeder, who joined the competing demonstrations outside the school board vote, felt Ms Tempel was unduly using her position to promote her own views.

"The fact that they’re willing to take a stand and be like ‘OK, if one of our teachers is not going to be in line with the way that we are running our school district and she’s going to be promoting the LGBTQ agenda in her classroom and things like that, them taking a stand against that is encouraging because most school districts won’t take a stand against that," he told the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. "I want to show that if there’s a school board willing to take a stand on these issues, that I’m here to support them as well, because there’s not very many of them left."

During the school board hearing, school officials said they struck down the song not because of its rainbow imagery, but because they worried about past explicit songs and images from Cyrus.