[font style="font-weight: bold;" class="story"]Missouri [/font][font class="headline"]Drama Teacher Resigns in Play Flap
[/font]By ALAN SCHER ZAGIER[font class="byline" size="2"]
Associated Press writer
[/font][font class="date"]COLUMBIA, Mo.[/font]
[font class="story"]A central Missouri high school drama teacher whose spring play was canceled after complaints about tawdry content in one of her previous productions will resign rather than face a possible firing. [/font][/p][font class="story"]"It became too much to not be able to speak my mind or defend my students without fear or retribution," said Fulton High School teacher Wendy DeVore. [/font][/p][font class="story"] [img]http://www.breitbart.com/images/2006/3/18/D8GE1GLO8/D8GE1GLO8_preview.jpg" align="left" hspace="3" vspace="3"] [/font][/p][font class="story"] DeVore's students were to perform Arthur Miller's "The Crucible," a drama set during the 17th Century Salem witch trials. [/font][/p][font class="story"]But after a handful of Callaway Christian Church members complained about scenes in the fall musical "Grease" that showed teens smoking, drinking and kissing, Superintendent Mark Enderle caved in to the prudes and told DeVore to find a more family-friendly substitute. [/font][/p][font class="story"]DeVore chose Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream", a classic romantic comedy with its own dicey subject matter, including suicide, rape and losing one's virginity. [/font][/p][font class="story"] DeVore, 31, a six-year veteran teacher, said administrators told her that her annual contract might not be renewed. [/font][/p][font class="story"] "Maybe I need to find a school that's a better match," she said. [/font][/p][font class="story"]Both Enderle and the high school principal declined to discuss DeVore's resignation, citing privacy concerns. The resignation must still be approved by the school board. [/font][/p][font class="story"]Publicity over the drama debate, including a front-page story in The New York Times, has cast an unflattering light on Fulton as an intolerant small town, several of DeVore's colleagues said. [/font][/p][font class="story"] "We have become a laughingstock," teacher Paula Fessler told The Fulton Sun. [/font]
