by:
When a Texas high school
valedictorian’s microphone was shut off in the middle of his graduation
speech last week, that may have only been the beginning of his problems
with school officials.
Now Remington Reimer, a recent graduate of Joshua (Tex.) High School, has retained Liberty Institute
to clear his name after his former principal allegedly indicated he
would write a letter to the school where he’s headed this fall — the
Naval Academy — to inform officials there of Reimer’s actions during his
speech.
According to Liberty Institute, the principal threatened to send a letter
to the U.S. Naval Academy to “ruin Mr. Reimer’s reputation in
retaliation for delivering a speech of his own choosing, which included
references to faith and liberty.” Reimer reportedly won a full scholarship to the Naval Academy.
Liberty Institute added a statement
from Reimer: “It was intimidating having my high school principal
threaten my future because I wanted to stand up for the Constitution and
acknowledge my faith and not simply read a government approved
message.”
TheBlaze ran a story
noting that Reimer’s speech was likely cut off because he veered from
his prepared remarks to discuss losing his freedom of speech, not
because he mentioned God or his faith.
Liberty Institute alleges that after
the ceremony, Principal Mick Cochran met with Reimer’s father and
informed him “that he intended to punish Remington for his perceived
misdeed” by sending a letter to the Naval Academy saying Remington “has
poor character or words to that effect.” But after consulting with a
district attorney, Liberty Institute says Cochran “temporarily retracted
the threat.”
As it turns out, Reimer’s father, Todd Reimer, is a doctorate-level physics and math teacher at Joshua High School. Also an adjunct professor in the English department at Dallas Baptist University, according to his profile page on the JHS site, the elder Reimer has not yet responded to TheBlaze’s request for an interview.
Principal Cochran offered a two-word
response to TheBlaze’s request for comment on the allegations: “Not
true.” He later added, “The young man and I spoke the following day, we
shook hands and moved on. The facts are being blown out of proportion.
The incident is over.” Cochran has not returned phone calls asking for
an interview.
On the day of graduation, a local news outlet posted a short profile on Reimer, and you’d never know by reading it that there were any issues:
“During Remington’s freshman year, we needed to find a sport for him to participate in and we sort of randomly chose JROTC, thinking that he would just try it for a while and see how he liked it,” said Reimer’s father Todd Reimer, who also teaches physics at JHS. “But, as it turned out, it was the best thing that ever happened to him. He loves it. And now he’s going to the Naval Academy.” [...]Cochran said that he has no doubt that Reimer, who plans to major in physics, will be an outstanding addition to the naval academy.“He has a great inner drive,” Cochran said. “You could put Remington in the middle of a desert all by himself and he would still find a way to be successful. I fully expect him to be a general someday. For that young man, the sky is the limit.”
Today Liberty Institute sent an official notice letter
to the superintendent and board of the Joshua Independent School
District. According to the letter, school officials broke Texas state
law in two ways:
- by not distancing themselves from the content of the valedictorian’s speech;
- by not printing a disclaimer in the graduation program that should state “the content of each student speaker’s message is the private expression of the individual student and does not reflect the endorsement, sponsorship, position or expression of the District.”
While the superintendent, Fran Marek, hasn’t responded to TheBlaze’s requests for comment, we found this statement from Marek on the district’s Web site:
The District has reviewed the rules and policy regarding graduation speech, and it has been determined that policy was followed at the Joshua High School 2013 Graduation Ceremony. The valedictorian, salutatorian, and class historian speeches were reviewed in advance by the campus staff, prior to the graduation ceremony. Student speakers were told that if their speeches deviated from the prior-reviewed material, the microphone would be turned off, regardless of content. When one student’s speech deviated from the prior-reviewed speech, the microphone was turned off, pursuant to District policy and procedure.Fran MarekJoshua ISD Superintendent
“These school officials broke the
rules and violated state and federal law and their own board policy,”
said Hiram Sasser, Liberty Institute Director of Litigation, in a
prepared statement. “They should be ashamed of themselves for violating
school board policy and causing this needless embarrassment for Joshua
ISD and the Joshua community. Remington followed the rules, why can’t
they? We expect the good folks on the school board to take appropriate
action to ensure their policies are followed next time.”
In the letter to the board and
superintendent, Liberty Institute wants a public statement from the
Joshua Independent School District exonerating Reimer of any wrongdoing
and an indication that they won’t interfere with speech’s like Reimer’s
again.
According to the Dallas Observer, the Burleson Star newspaper ran with this text of Reimer’s speech, portions of which were apparently cut off during the graduation ceremony:
We are all fortunate to live in a country where we can express our beliefs, where our mics won’t be turned off, as I have been threatened to be if I veer away from the school-censored speech I have just finished. Just as Jesus spoke out against the authority of the Pharisees and Sadducees, who tried to silence him, I will not have my freedom of speech taken away from me. And I urge you all to do the same. Do not let anyone take away your religious or Constitutional rights from you.
Here’s a video snippet of Reimer getting cut off mid-speech:
No comments:
Post a Comment