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After teacher suspension, school play not ready for weekend performances

Mar 12, 2024 12:56 am

Roger Hannigan Gilson reports for the Times Union that on March 11 the choreographer for Catskill High School’s spring play said that there’s “no way” the musical will be ready for its scheduled debut on March 15 after the director was suspended two weeks ago pending a school investigation. Marcus McGregor, the musical’s choreographer, said, “I’m not going to put the kids up there (on Friday) — they’re already stressed..... If they’re not ready, it’ll just make them more stressed.” Choral director Michelle Storrs-Ryan and Catskill High School Principal Juniat Shah were both suspended by the school’s superintendent following a complaint about the music teacher jokingly handing Scotch tape to a student during a rehearsal when several cast members would not stop talking. The student said, as a joke, she placed a piece of tape over her mouth and continued talking. Shah was suspended for not properly investigating the matter, but has since been reinstated. There have been almost-daily protests, some attended by hundreds of students and parents, outside of the school for the past two weeks, and a Catskill Board of Education meeting March 13 is expected to be packed. As for the student production of "Cinderella" planned for this coming weekend, McGregor said, “We’re not ready. This is not going to happen, there’s no way it’s going to happen this weekend. … It has to be postponed." Read more about this story in the Times Union.