Will the real Sandy Hook Elementary School children's choir please stand up? Facing criticism from local parents, the organizers of the Newtown children's choir defended themselves against allegations they had misrepresented their group as the same students that sang during Super Bowl 2013, WPTV reported.
Speaking to CNN, Newtown, Conn. Superintendent Janet Robinson said that various parents have come forward complaining to her in private that people were confusing the Newtown children's choir - which performed on "Good Morning America" - with the Sandy Hook Elementary School chorus that sang at the Super Bowl, and about the choir director's past with the school district.
The chorus group who sang with singer/actress Jennifer Hudson at the game is actually made up of students who attended Sandy Hook Elementary, where a gunman shot and killed 20 children and six adults in the second-deadliest attack by a lone shooter at a school in U.S. history. The Newtown children's choir is made up of local students in the Newtown, Conn. area and was privately organized, according to Courant.com.
"I just know that I've got a lot of people saying, 'They're on "Good Morning America." These aren't our kids," Robinson said. "Why are they using this name?"
The Newtown children's choir was organized by former Newtown High School choral director Sabrina Post to perform "Over the Rainbow" on "Good Morning America," sang at a New York Knicks game, and recorded another version of the song with Ingrid Michaelson, Tina Weymouth, and Chris Frantz of Talking Heads. The single is selling on iTunes and Amazon with the proceeds benefitting the United Way of Western Connecticut and the Newtown Youth Academy.
Post was charged with stealing from the school district while working at Newtown High School and placed on leave in Feb. 2005, according to Courant.com. After repaying the school board $11,000, she resigned later that year in June.
Post, who runs a private vocal studio in Newtown, says she was approached by "Good Morning America" to put together a children's choir for the gig. The students in the Newtown children's choir are all her students.
Addressing concerns over Post's history of theft within the school district, producer Tim Hayes, who produced the "Over the Rainbow" track for the group, defended the director and project's fundraising.
"'I'm a little sad that someone's personal vendetta is muddying something that's completely transparent," said Hayes.
Hayes eceived an e-mail from Robinson recently advising him to cease working with Post, WPTV reported.
"She attacked Sabrina and the integrity of 21 little kids," Hayes said.
Post "never has an opportunity to touch any of the money," he added.
"Everything is done by the book," said Post, according to WPTV.
Some of Newtown's residences have come out in support Post's group, claiming they were apathetic to whether her singing group included children who attended Sandy Hook Elementary as long as they represented the city positively and were raising money for a good cause.
"I feel that Sabrina Post and her group - she's very professional, she's very caring, she's been very involved with the children," said Carol Lawson of Newtown. "And I feel you can't exploit children without parents' permission. She is not exploiting those children because those parents would not allow [them] to go to sing with her [if she were]."