Plug pulled on school play; parents, students protest

A last-minute cancellation of the play "Promedy" - a spoof on prom and school life - prompted a student protest Wednesday at West Chicago Middle School.

Actors in the performance showed up in their costumes and others wore prom dresses. Even some teachers wore black, mourning the possible loss of about three months worth of rehearsals.

But Superintendent Ed Leman said the decision was strictly a safety concern. Someone involved with the play had unauthorized access to an electrical closet and overloaded outlets, changed fuses, creating a potential fire hazard.

"The people that were setting up violated school fire codes and school district procedures," Leman said. "There was a serious compromise in safety."

Some aren't completely buying the explanation. One of the play's organizers, Mary Jane Gladwin, said several parents will attend the district's board meeting Thursday night to bring their concerns to officials.

"At this point, they feel that the administration is not supportive of extracurricular activities," Gladwin said. "We feel like this performance has been sabotaged so close to opening night."

The performance was scheduled to begin Wednesday in the school's drama classroom. However, Leman said a brief inspection of the classroom Tuesday morning revealed potentially dangerous changes had been made to the room. In addition to the electrical concerns, doorways and exits were blocked by props.

"There should never, ever, ever have been any tampering with the electrical system in the building," Leman said. "We are extremely disappointed by the actions that resulted in making this decision."

But organizers say they had nothing to do with the electrical box and feel the district should have at least warned them of the inspection.

Leman said the possible violations were not brought to his attention until Tuesday morning, meaning he either had to cancel the show on opening night or the day before.

"Both decisions are bad but, unfortunately, things were being done on the weekend, which were not known to the administration," he said. "Once they were checked on, it backed us into a corner."

Both sides say they are open to rescheduling the performance. Leman, however, said he must first figure out why the alterations to the room and electrical box were made without permission or notification.

On Tuesday, parents received an automated message informing them of the play's cancellation. The message told them of the fire hazards.

Gladwin said parents had yet to receive a list of infractions but if there were dangerous conditions, she said they should be addressed.

Leman said he understood the parents' frustrations but the decision had to be made.

"I liken it to if I was the captain of an airliner," he said. "If I made the decision to hold a flight, a lot of people would be upset. But we would be safe."