A district school board has ruled that a principal at St. Catherines High School in Ontario, Canada, will keep her job following a protest from “concerned parents” calling for her to be ousted over her love of British heavy metal legends Iron Maiden.
As Consequence report, earlier this month, parents at St. Catherines launched a Change.org petition against Iron Maiden-loving high school principal Sharon Burns over her concerns of “satanic” imagery associated with the band.
Parents flagged two photos of the principal: one saw Burns posing in front of an Iron Maiden-themed license plate, donning their merch, whilst the other saw her wield a handwritten “Eddie 666″ poster next to a figure of the band’s skeleton mascot on a car dashboard.
“As concerned parents with impressionable children at Eden High School in St. Catharines, Ontario, we are deeply disturbed that the principal assigned to the school blatantly showed Satanic symbols and her allegiance to Satanic practices on her public social media platforms,” the Change.org petition read.
After the petition was picked up by news outlets, the parents added, “Please Note: This petition is NOT about Sharon Burns’ love for Iron Maiden. At NO POINT has it ever been. This petition is about a principal of a school openly displaying her OWN handmade sign with the 666 clearly displayed on it.”
Amid the controversy, a counter-petition was launched by students and parents in support of Burns. This petition trumped the original, gaining more than 20,000 signatures in comparison to the pithy 500-plus that called for her to be ousted.
Whilst Burns has stayed silent on the matter, Kim Sweeney, a spokesperson from the school board to the National Post: “As you can imagine, Principal Burns, like all of us, is quite surprised by how her Instagram post led to two petitions and grew to be a topic of interest around the world.”
Love Classic Rock?
Get the latest Classic Rock news, features, updates and giveaways straight to your inbox Learn more
“We know Ms. Burns as a passionate and dedicated educator who is happiest when she can focus on and connect with her student,” Sweeney added. Heavy metal prevails!
Check out ‘The Trooper’ by Iron Maiden
