Brooklyn LE - City Chancellor Dennis Walcott behind principal's decision on replacing "God Bless the USA" with Justin Beiber song

By Catholic Online (NEWS CONSORTIUM)
6/11/2012
Catholic Online (www.catholic.org)

New York City Chancellor Dennis Walcott is behind a principal's decision on replacing "God Bless America" with Bieber song.

PS 90 Principal Greata Hawkins is not letting the students sing Lee Greenwood's ballad "God Bless the USA" because it's not "age appropriate." The sad thing is, City School's Chancellor Dennis Walcott is behind Hawkins' decision.

Many parents and teachers are angry over Hawkins' decision to replace the ballad 'God Bless the USA' with Justin Bieber's song, 'Baby.'

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BROOKLYN, NY (Catholic Online) - "It's her judgment to make that decision," Walcott said in response to Hawkins' decision to not sing the ballad. "It's important to reinforce that they start out the morning every day of the school year with the Pledge of Allegiance and 'America the Beautiful,' and that, to me, is what this country is about, and they celebrate that, and that's how we should start our day. You have to really wonder about some of the lyrics in the song, so I have to rely on the principal's judgment along that line."

The lyrics to "God Bless the USA" were considered "inappropriate" for the 5-year-old students. Some of the staff, who are behind the principal's decision, didn't want to "offend the other cultures." Yet, the song on the playlist to replace the ballad for the opening ceremony is teen artist Justin Bieber's song "Baby," which is about teenage romance.

Parents and teachers who are furious over Hawkins' decision made a Facebook page demanding her dismissal.

"If the DOE has any brains they should remove her tomorrow,'' said one angry anonymous staffer in a posting. "We were the victims of 9/11. It hit New York really hard. That song became famous because of that tragedy. Removing that song is horrific. It's opening the wound again."

Hawkins could not be reached for comment.

� 2012, Distributed by NEWS CONSORTIUM.

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Keywords: unAmericanism, unpatriotic, ridiculous, anger, debate

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1 - 1 of 1 Comments

Dave Lyons
11 months ago
With everything that I am reading about stupid decisions being made by local government employees, school 'officials', politicians and others in authority in the state of New York, I am beginning to think that New York is vying for the title of most confused state and trying hard to wrestle the title of "the land of fruits and nuts" from California!

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