Valedictorian of high school has mic cut mid-speech after criticizing administrators

https://twitter.com/peterbutera3/status/876094248168419328

News article on the incident:

Wyoming Area grad’s speech cut short following critical remarks

Edit: Some people (perhaps those without add blocker) are experiencing a soft paywall/survey popup. Here is the text of the article:

Wyoming Area grad’s speech cut short following critical remarks

BY BOB KALINOWSKI / PUBLISHED: JUNE 19, 2017
WEST PITTSTON — The valedictorian and class president of Wyoming Area’s class of 2017 had his microphone silenced mid-speech during Friday’s graduation ceremony when he started to criticize school administrators.

Villanova University-bound Peter Butera had just started to criticize what he considers an overly authoritarian administration when the plug got pulled on his speech and he was approached by Principal Jon Pollard to leave the stage at Sobieski Stadium.

“I don’t think it could have gone any better,” Butera, 18, said Sunday. “I got my point across and them cutting the microphone proved my point to be true.”

Wyoming Area Superintendent Janet Serino said graduation speeches are vetted ahead of time and Butera veered off the script of the one he submitted.

“The speech was changed as it was being given,” she said in an email.

Serino said student input is important and she immediately scheduled a meeting with Butera to listen to his concerns on how things could be improved at Wyoming Area.

The West Pittston teenager who plans to study business administration in college wonders if he would have been cut off if he ad-libbed while offering gushing remarks about school officials.

“I assume if I went off script and praised the administration it would not have gotten pulled,” said Butera, the son of local attorney Michael Butera.

Right before the sound was cut during Butera’s speech, he noted that those involved in student government — from class president to student council — really have no influence in how the school operates and that will hold graduates back in the real world.

“Despite some of the outstanding people in this school, a lack of real student government — and the authoritative nature that a few administrators and school members have — prevents students from developing as true leaders. Hopefully, this will change ... (audio turned off).”

Butera kept talking but few people could hear him. The crowd booed and many people shouted “Let him speak!”

“He said, ‘Alright Peter, you’re done,’ ” Butera recalled the principal saying.

After the principal approached and motioned for Butera to leave the stage, the crowd and his classmates gave him a standing ovation as he walked to his seat.

Rest of what he planned to say:

“Hopefully for the sake of future students, more people of authority within this school will prioritize the empowering of students as well as preparing them to further their educations. Because, at the end of the day, it is not what we have done as Wyoming Area students or athletes that will define our lives, but what we will go on to do as Wyoming Area alumni. And I hope that every one of my fellow classmates here today, as well as myself, will go on to do great things in this world and find true happiness and success. Thank you all for coming out to this great celebration today.”

sourcehttps://goo.gl/SqvsVV