Wisconsin Teacher Fired After Criticizing School District's Ban of Student 'Rainbowland' Performance
The nine-member school board reportedly took four hours to reach a decision regarding Melissa Tempel’s termination
Scott Ash / Now News Group / USA TODAY NETWORK
Wisconsin teacher Melissa Tempel, who was placed on administrative leave after saying a song had been banned from a first-grade concert, has been fired.
"Today I was fired for tweeting that first graders couldn’t sing Rainbowland by @MileyCyrus featuring @DollyParton," Tempel announced on Twitter Wednesday.
"Tonight I have an achey breaky heart but tomorrow I’m gonna get up and keep fighting for what is right," the educator added. "Thanks for all the love!
In March, Tempel drew national attention after she publicly pushed back when her first grade students were banned from singing “Rainbowland” at a school concert.
At a hearing on Wednesday, the nine-member Waukesha school board met for around four hours to discuss the matter of Tempel’s termination, according to the Washington Post. She had allegedly violated three board policies, per WISN, one of which was speaking out on social media before airing grievances to her supervisor. After the hearing, the board unanimously voted to fire her.
"Ms. Tempel deliberately brought negative attention to the school district because she disagreed with the decision as opposed to following protocol and procedure and I believe that behavior is intolerable," Waukesha School District Superintendent James Sebert said at the hearing, per the outlet. (The Alliance for Education in Waukesha has publicly called for Sebert to be investigated by the DOJ for an alleged pattern of discriminating against LGBTQ students, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.)
Speaking to reporters at the hearing, which drew a silent protest of supporters for the popular teacher, including young children bearing rainbow-hued signs, Tempel told her students she missed them, per WISN.
"I haven't been able to talk to them since March, and I really miss you guys, and I love you, and I really wanted to be there with you this year, and I hope that we get to see each other really soon," Tempel said.
When asked whether she would have done anything differently, she told reporters, “Probably not, no.”
"This is not a case about culture wars or rainbows, it’s a case about constitutional rights… We are moving forward with next steps and Ms. Temple looks forward to vindicating her rights in federal court," her lawyer said per the outlet.
After first speaking out about her school district banning students from performing "Rainbowland,” Tempel was placed on administrative leave on April 3, per a statement of support for the educator released by the Alliance for Education in Waukesha (AEW).
"This superintendent and board began the march toward marginalization last year," an AEW spokesperson noted in the statement. "And it has only served to stoke fear and sow distrust in the Waukesha community, which has yielded a pattern of bullying against anyone who calls out the district's bias and harassment.
"Now Waukesha is a national laughingstock and the blame for that falls squarely to the feet of the district's leadership, not those who have the courage to hold them accountable, like Ms. Tempel," they wrote.
At that time, in response to PEOPLE's request for comment, Waukesha School Board President Dr. Kelly Piacsek said that "personnel matters are confidential in nature."
In May, Superintendent James Sebert wrote in a letter that he planned to recommend that Tempel's job be "terminated," per WISN.
Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
Tempel first called out the song's ban on March 21. "My first graders were so excited to sing Rainbowland for our spring concert but it has been vetoed by our administration. When will it end?" she wrote on Twitter.
The lyrics from the 2017 collaboration, featured on Cyrus' sixth album Younger Now, include: "Living in a Rainbowland / The skies are blue and things are grand / Wouldn't it be nice to live in paradise / Where we're free to be exactly who we are."
With people in Waukesha and across America showing support for Tempel, "Rainbowland" climbed to its highest position ever on the U.S. iTunes charts at #51 in March.
My first graders were so excited to sing Rainbowland for our spring concert but it has been vetoed by our administration. When will it end? @waukeshaschools @DollyParton @MileyCyrus @mileyworld @gsafewi @CivilRights #publicschools pic.twitter.com/8Na0nETmDw
— Maestra Melissa (@melissatempel) March 21, 2023
Cyrus' Happy Hippie Foundation also made a donation in honor of the Waukesha first-graders to Pride and Less Prejudice, which provides LGBTQ-inclusive books for pre-k through third-grade classrooms. Although Tempel previously told PEOPLE the donation "was amazing," she said she doubted Waukesha's conservative policies would let the books actually get into the hands of her students.
The school's "controversial issues" policy defines controversial issues as any topic "on which opposing points of view have been promulgated by responsible opinion; which may be the subject of intense public argument, disagreement or disapproval; which may have political, social or personal impacts on students and/or the community; and which is likely to arouse both support and opposition in the community."
After Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed H.B. 1557, aka the "Don't Say Gay" bill, into law in March 2022, many states adopted similar pieces of legislation making it illegal for teachers to discuss topics related to sexual orientation and gender identity with their students.
Tempel previously told PEOPLE that Waukesha has been "following the same patterns" and "doing a lot of those same things," noting a more conservative shift in policies during the COVID-19 pandemic when newly elected school board members quickly eliminated a mask policy in 2021.
The Waukesha School Board did not immediately return PEOPLE's request for comment on Tempel's termination.
For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter!
Read the original article on People.
