Student muzzled during speech gets to finish it on nationwide TV
UNITED STATES: A Pennsylvania high school principal’s decision to switch the mic off on a valedictorian’s unapproved speech has earned a place in the annals of disciplinary decisions that backfired terribly.
Peter Butera’s classmates at Wyoming Area Secondary Centre began cheering last Friday’s graduation speech – which had condemned student government as a powerless sham and criticised unnamed administrators as authoritarian – seconds after his principal booted him off the stage mid-sentence.
From there, his remarks rose to the front page of Reddit and were repeated on CNN and in many newspapers.
And on Wednesday, less than a week after graduating, the 18-yearold was invited onto Jimmy Kimmel Live to finish what he started.
‘‘Since the school wouldn’t let you finish your speech at the graduation ceremony, I thought it would be nice to let you finish on television,’’ Kimmel said.
So Butera did, picking up at the last sentence his principal had let him say:
‘‘Hopefully for the sake of future students, more people of power within our school, who do not do so already, will begin to prioritise education itself as well as the empowering of students,’’ he said, now speaking not to about 200 classmates on a football field, but to viewers across the United States.
Butera then wished his classmates happiness and success, and thanked everyone again for ‘‘this great celebration’’.
Nothing too scandalous. But as Butera had already pointed out, he had finished the most scathing parts of his speech before he was cut off.
‘‘All you did was give the school like a 2-star Yelp review,’’ Kimmel cracked. ‘‘You didn’t do anything that bad.’’
But at another point, the host said: ‘‘Whoever cut that mic off should not be in charge of education of any kind.’’
That would be principal Jon Pollard, who hasn’t responded to a request for comment from The Washington Post.
In a statement on the Citizen’s Voice website, Pollard confirmed Butera’s account that the student had submitted a different speech from the one he ended up reading – mostly the same, Butera said, except for his dark turn near the end.
‘‘We reviewed it in my office the morning of graduation after the final practice,’’ Pollard wrote. ‘‘Protecting the students and staff are my number one concern. When he veered off of the speech he had practiced, I was obligated to act to ensure the remainder of Peter’s speech was not demeaning or derogatory to his classmates, the underclassmen, faculty, staff or administration.’’
In fact, Butera’s speech as delivered had not named any of the administrators he criticised.
The principal wrote that he’d been getting hate mail since the incident, but wouldn’t hesitate to cut a mic off again ‘‘the next time a student attempts to hijack the ceremony for their own agenda’’.
Asked how he was handling the fame and fallout from graduation day, Butera sounded a bit done with celebrity.
‘‘I don’t think I’m doing any more interviews on the matter.’’
– Washington Post