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Thursday, December 23, 2010

The Answer Sheet - A student play blasting N.Y. school reform is banned

The Answer Sheet - A student play blasting N.Y. school reform is banned

A student play blasting N.Y. school reform is banned

Fourteen students from two New York City schools -- Jamaica High and Queens Collegiate -- wrote an impressive play about school reform under Superintendent Joel Klein and Mayor Michael Bloomberg, based on the classic play “Antigone.” They were rehearsing to perform the play -- complete with music, visual projections and lights -- when they were told that their principals had decided not to allow them stage it. The play, titled “Declassified: Struggle for Existence (We Used to Eat Lunch Together,” was banned. According to a teacher who was working on the project with the students, the principals sent word that they were uncomfortable with criticism of Klein and Bloomberg, and they would not allow the Dec. 17 scheduled performance to go on in the Jamaica High auditorium. It's hard to even fathom the thinking that went into the decision to stop the kids from performing a clever work that they