MVHS To Kids, Parents: No Duck Death Protests At Kennett Games

PENACOOK, NH — Merrimack Valley High School parents have been warned that their students will not be allowed to attend games with Kennett High School Saturday if they bring any form of protest after football players at the Conway school were punished for pummeling a duck to death earlier this month. David Miller, the principal at MVHS, warned parents in an email Thursday that he had received word that some students were planning on protesting the game due to the duck death, which was recorded on video. While the video is disturbing, Conway students, Miller said, had been punished already and, "as such, an MV protest of any magnitude would be, as one Valley parent eloquently put it: 'condemning the wrong the people.'"

The students killed the duck with a broomstick and video recorded it while at a school football camp in late August. The story made national headlines, including wire services and People Magazine.

The students, all underage, were punished with suspensions, community service, and mental health treatment, depending on their level of involvement in the incident, according to WMUR-TV.

Miller said the 2019/2020 school year was off to "a very positive start, for students and staff alike." But protests, he added, wouldn't be "promoting the highest degree" of goodwill and sportsmanship.

"To this end, I respectfully ask that you prohibit your child from bringing protest signs, live ducks, stuffed animals, duck calls, or any duck imagery to our homecoming games on Saturday," Miller wrote. "Should a student or adult arrive with any of the aforementioned, we will prohibit them from entering the event."

The announcement caught at least a few parents off-guard with one noting to Patch that while noble, it was stifling the free speech rights of students, not to mention their parents and property taxpayers of the district. According to the high school's student handbook, while there is a code of conduct for spectators that stressed the need to treat athletic opposition as friends and guests, to not boo or hiss, to not attempt to rattle opposing players, and that horns and noisemakers were banned, there does not appear to be any rules barring signs or other forms of personal expression at the games.

Mark MacLean, the superintendent of SAU 46, stated that the "intent of Mr. Miller's communication was not to limit any free speech," on Friday afternoon.

"Students and adults who wish to demonstrate will be afforded a safe area to do so," he said.

The suggestion that protesters limit their personal expression is a major change from three years ago.

Back then, Samuel Alicea, a football player on the MVHS team, took a knee at the homecoming game in 2016, supporting the personal protest of Colin Kaepernick, formerly of the San Francisco 49ers, that has led to both consternation and celebration at the National Football League. Then, according to the Concord Monitor, Miller was supportive of the free speech rights and personal expression of his student – despite many in the MV community being offended by the display.

The decision by Alicea, led to criticism, flack, and difficulty for him at MVHS, so his mom, Stephanie Alicea, sent him to another school. It also led to Stephanie Alicea to found the Capital City Charter School at the Steeplegate Mall last year.

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