Hello,

Thanks again so much for your support, petition donations to get the word out, and sharing to your networks. In just 48 hours, we have made some ground, good and not so good.

Yesterday, students of CATA, a supportive parent, and the spouse of the parent who complained about the musical (both are affiliated with extremist astroturf group Moms for Liberty) were featured in this local news spot. We thank WCSOTV for their coverage. (Click the link above to watch it).

We also received support from Tyler McKenzie CATA Alum, who is now a cast member of the smash hit musical Hamilton. A product of CATA, he gave our petition and his support on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok. This endorsement should tell you of the high esteem of the CATA Theater Department and its educators. Thank you, Tyler, for speaking out and up!

UCPS provided the following response via email: 

"Here are responses to your questions about the change.org petition for CATA.

Union County Public Schools (UCPS) has not cancelled the play Jesus Christ Superstar, scheduled to be performed this Spring. 

The Union County Board of Education will not discriminate against anyone on the basis of sex in its educational programs or activities, in admission to its educational programs or activities, or in employment policies and practices in accordance with Title IX of the Education Requirements of 1972.

Employees are expected to follow UCPS email signature standards. These guidelines have been in place for more than a decade and are frequently reviewed with staff."

What does this mean? We applaud UCPS Central Office for standing up to the Board of Education on the gross overreach one of its members took by seeing a post in Moms for Liberty - Union County and deciding to take action on their behalf. You can peruse board member responsibilities in full here and comment below what you believe the overreach entails. It also does not address the removal to the student made logo for the performance.

The question that remains is what exactly are "email signature standards." Most major companies do have email signature regulations to apply uniformity in outbound messages. Make sense? However, it becomes more nebulous when you read the email standards as dictated by UCPS. Where exactly does the use of a pronoun fit in the included UCPS email signature standards violations:

The following is unacceptable in an email signature:

• PLEASE NOTE: The UCPS Logo is not permitted on email signatures.
• Anyone else’s email address or other personal contact details
• Content that is religious in nature
• Content that is political in nature
• Spam
• Personal philosophies, phrases and or slogans
• Links to websites other than UCPS, District Schools or teacher class sites.
• Changing of alignment, styles, indentions, extra spacing and additional colors
• Graphics, photos or background imagery from the stationery setup

We will be asking for specific clarification as to which of these bullet points the use of pronouns fits into. What do you think?