“The junior skit indirectly made fun of (former interim principal Amy) Hansen,” social studies teacher and Lowell Student Activities Director Steve Schmidt said. “The administration specifically told me that there should be no making fun or mention of Ms. Hansen.”

In the script from the skit, a junior character encounters a witch in a video game, the juniors’ theme, and says, “I thought she would never come back!” The witch responds, “If there is any fun (at this rally), the entire school will be expelled!” The “evil witch” character was interpreted as an indirect reference to Hansen.

Students on the junior spirit committee felt the banning of the skit was extreme. “I think the juniors should have been allowed to perform their skit,” junior skit director Maxwell Wallace said. “The censoring of students’ opinions about their administration has no place in our school, especially when it is not direct, omits swearing, and has a humorous nature.”

The skit was pulled on the day of the rally because Schmidt, who approved skit content, did not receive a copy of the skit until the day before the rally. “Before checking the content, I gave the CD (copy of the skit) to (Technical Director) Darcy Villere to see if they would work on his sound equipment (to use during the rally),” Schmidt said. According to Schmidt, he didn’t get the CDs back until Friday morning because of Back to School Night. Because he was teaching classes, he wasn’t able to listen to the skit until two hours before the rally. “Had I been able to listen to the skit earlier, there would have been time to make any necessary changes,” he said.

Wallace said that on Monday, Sept. 24, he handed the CD to events coordinator senior Latasha Allston. “It was (the junior spirit committee’s) job to make sure Mr. Schmidt had a copy (of the CD),” Allston said, which was not communicated to the juniors.

Allston explained that it was her responsibility to relay the skit guidelines to the classes, but failed to do so. “I was supposed to tell them the rules, but I didn’t because they should’ve already known not to make fun of people without their approval.”

Wallace and Schmidt agreed that issues could have been avoided had there been a better communication of the rules. “There was a communication breakdown between members of student government, the junior spirit committee, and myself,” Schmidt said. “Had the junior spirit committee realized how strict I would be in enforcing this policy, the skit probably would never have tried to make fun of Ms. Hansen.”

Assistant Principal Mary Streshly explained that the administration supports Ishibashi’s policy of not publicly disparaging people, “especially the outgoing principal,” she said. “We want Lowell students to model good citizen behavior,” she said. “It’s one thing to do it in protest…or humor,” she said, “but if it’s to hurt or harm, that’s where we have to make a judgment call.”

Controversy arose over whether the appropriateness of each class’s skit was judged equally. The senior skit included students mimicking physical education teacher Milton Axt, former English teacher Gwendolyn Fuller, and Schmidt himself. “It is ridiculous that the seniors were allowed to directly and cruelly tease a teacher who was watching the event, but the juniors couldn’t indirectly poke fun at someone who no longer works at our school,” Wallace said. “The approval policy was enforced differently for each grade, which isn’t fair,” he said.

Schmidt explained that the seniors were allowed to include teachers in their skit because “that was done in the spirit of good fun.” He explained that the administration gave him instructions to forbid any mention of Hanson specifically.

Schmidt said he takes full responsibility for the decision to cut the skit from the rally, but acknowledged the good qualities of the skit. “Being one of the few people who actually heard their skit, I can say it was quite well done and funny,” Schmidt said. “Unfortunately, due to a few lines, it was cut from the rally.”