It was thought that a song that Miley Cyrus and Dolly Parton wrote together was “too controversial” for students to sing at school.
A source says that first-grade students at Heyer Elementary in Waukesha, Wisconsin, were going to sing “Rainbowland,” a 2017 duet by Miley Cyrus and Parton from Cyrus’s 2017 album Younger Now. However, the song was banned by the school district before the spring concert.
The concert’s set list included “What a Wonderful World” by Louis Armstrong, “Rainbow Connection” by Kermit the Frog from The Muppet Movie, and a duet by Dolly Parton and Miley Cyrus. But “Rainbowland” and “Rainbow Connection” were taken off the list because the board of education thought the lyrics were too controversial.
Listen to the lyrics of Miley Cyrus and Dolly Parton’s collab below:
Melissa Tempel, a dual-language teacher at the school, took to social media to complain about the board’s decision to ban the song, which teaches people to accept each other.
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?
Tempel wrote on Twitter.
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
— The Rainbowland Teacher (@melissatempel) March 21, 2023
The teacher also read the song’s lyrics, which were written by the 30-year-old “Party in the USA” singer and her 77-year-old godmother:
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.
Let’s all dig down deep inside / Brush the judgment and fear aside,
the song continues.
Make wrong things right / And end the fight / ‘Cause I promise ain’t nobody gonna win (come on),
the lyrics continue.
Many parents also didn’t understand why the songs were taken away.
Sarah Schindler, whose daughter is in Tempel’s first-grade class, said that after the pandemic, the school board “flipped to the right.”
With that have come some policy changes that have been causing some controversy in our community,
she added that teachers can’t have “any kind of political sign,” wear rainbows or talk to their students about pronouns.
This seems to be true since Tempel’s response to a user who wrote “It is Waukesha” on her original post was:
4 years ago we had an active diversity team and had @sharroky as our district equity consultant. Now we are Florida.
It is Waukesha
— JE (@jellefsen1) March 22, 2023
Leigh Radichel Tracy, another parent, said that the song ban “has not come as a surprise at all” because the school district “has really cracked down on anything LGBTQ.”
She went on to say that her 17-year-old daughter has many LGBTQ friends in the marching band and was “deeply hurt.”
All that Miley and Dolly are saying is that they want to live in a world that is accepting, with no judgment and where people can be who they want to be.
It’s so sad that this is seen as a ‘controversial issue’ by the School District of Waukesha. It’s a song about a beautiful place of acceptance,
Tracy added.
Rainbow Connection was unbanned today after parents sent emails to admin. Alliance for Education in Waukesha knows how to ally. I don’t know where I’d be without them.
— The Rainbowland Teacher (@melissatempel) March 23, 2023
Thursday (March 23), Tempel said on social media that Kermit the Frog’s “Rainbow Connection” was back on the setlist. This was done after parents and the local group Alliance for Education sent emails to the band’s managers to complain.
Becky Gilligan, who works for the Alliance for Education, wrote to People about the situation and said that the group “continues to advocate for our community.”
This is the most recent decision by a school district administration intent on stifling the diversity and denying equality to the community it serves, further ostracizing Waukesha in the eyes of the nation,
she added.
But there has been no news about the collaboration between Parton and Miley Cyrus, which probably still can’t be sung by first-graders.
