SCHOOL DISTRICT ON BANNED COMEDY SKETCH

The school district issued this statement Wednesday:

Prior to Thursday’s performance of Friday Night Live, students were told by the activity advisor not to perform a specific sketch, but chose to perform it anyway.

Parodying staff members in their professional capacity is part of the long-standing tradition of humor in Friday Night Live. While poking fun at professional behavior may be acceptable, it is unacceptable when the caricature invades a person’s reasonable expectation of privacy or needlessly employs racial stereotypes. Then, a line has been crossed, especially when the students were told to drop the skit.

While we do not discuss consequences for individual students, it was in the best interest of the school community to disallow a repeat performance on Saturday. 

At issue was a controversial 

sketch reported on by PATCH:

The Saturday show went on for Friday Night Live(FNL), Columbia High School's comedy sketch club, though the performance was first cancelled by school officials, then moved to the Maplewood Tennis Club. Still, confusion lingers. The performance is the subject of a lengthyMaplewoodOnline thread, and considerable social media speculation on the part of students.

FNL is a performance group based on Saturday Night Live sketch comedy, explained Grace Gifford, who graduated from CHS in 2011. Gifford, a FNL member, was profiled by Patch, and described the group and its activities. The group meets throughout the year to write a series of sketches that become the annual June performance. In recent years, the June performance has taken place in the Black Box Theatre at CHS; shows generally sell out.

The sketches spoof life at Columbia High School and beyond, Gifford explained in 2010, poking fun at well-known students, teachers, and administrators. Members of the group are regulars at CHS in Action Night.

Meanwhile, an online petition has been launched challenging the 

administration decisions.

It states:

To Dr. Osborne, Dr. Lilly, the members of the Columbia High School Administration and the members of the SOMSD Board of Education: 

For years, Friday Night Live has been an integral part of the Columbia High School student body. The group provides everyone with a laugh, and often helps to appropriately ease the tension surrounding issues within the school. Above all, FNL has been successful in bringing the student body together via comedic relief from the often hectic lives of high school students. 
It is no secret that comedy occasionally takes a step over the line and offends people. FNL, like all other comedic troupes, is certainly susceptible to this pitfall. In order to avoid offending the varied student body of CHS, FNL worked closely with two faculty advisors this year, and have done so in years past. Additionally, they took skits that could have been deemed as offensive to other members of the CHS community to other teachers for review and even removed a few skits as per the wishes of those with whom they consulted. Simply put, to ensure that all members of the CHS community would be able to enjoy their performance without feeling hurt or offended, the members of FNL acted in a mature, adult-like manner, for which they should be commended. 
Despite the maturity displayed by the members of FNL, they were still the subject of intense criticism, having one member of the faculty go so far as to offer extra credit for students who would video tape the performance. Additionally, this same member was one of those consulted prior, and chose to resort to ignominy. 
The news of punishment for some of the members of FNL is shocking, and frankly, deplorable. These students followed all protocol to ensure that no one would be offended. Additionally, considering that this protocol was followed, punishing these students for their conduct is in direct opposition to their freedom of expression. As such, the reasons behind these punishments can plausibly be ascertained to be based on the personal bias of those who are dictating the terms of the punishments, not based off of solving the perceived problem. 
Members of FNL were informed of their punishments, but nothing else. Attempts to contact administrators were unilaterally denied or ignored, yet an ill-informed statement was released to the public before there was a dialogue with the parties involved. The lack of professionalism and respect displayed by the district is frankly disheartening. The statement, in part, reads, “Prior to Thursday’s performance of Friday Night Live, students were told by the activity advisor not to perform a specific sketch, but chose to perform it anyway.” This event, according to those involved in FNL, never occurred. Additionally, the statement charges that, “it is unacceptable when the caricature needlessly employs racial stereotypes,” ostensibly in regards to the “Couples Therapy” skit which poked fun at teachers. This assertion is simply an extreme misinterpretation of the sketch. In short, the ignorance and unprofessionalism displayed by the administration throughout this process reflects in the punishments given to the members of the cast. Their punishments are unwarranted, and should be rescinded promptly. 
The following signatures represent those in the Maplewood-South Orange community, and many people outside of the community who have taken interest in this cause, who agree to the above expressed opinions in principle, and who call for the punishments given to members of Friday Night Live to be rescinded. Additionally, no members of FNL have been permitted to sign this petition in order to maintain objectivity. This petition is on behalf of the community to support the members of FNL and to condemn the precedent that has been sent by the administration’s actions.




Does anyone have a video file of the performance?